Meet the Monkeys

Riley Henry is my first born, my Monster Monkey. 

He is smart as a whip and possesses more wisdom than any six year-old has a right to.  He is built like a man-child but has a gentle soul.  He is me to a T and no person on this Earth can make me crazier. 

I have higher expectations of him than anyone else.  I have to remind myself all the time that he is a kid regardless of the fact that he thinks like an adult. 

I love him madly.  He is creative and crafty.  He is a high achiever and thrives on approval. 

He was the first to cause me to ask the question "Am I  Doing This Right?" and where he is concerned I think I will always be wondering...

Owen David is my Middle Monkey. 

He is my snuggle and my heart.  Easy going, laid back and the best sleeper of the bunch.  We have taken a LOT of naps during his four years.  He just like my husband, body and soul. 

Compared to his brother (which I try not to do) he has more slim build.  Slightly on the scrawny side he is scrappy as hell.  He takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. 

He is the most likely to be airborne and the least likely to be found cleaning.  He has become accustomed to allowing others to do things for him.  It is sometimes the most difficult task of my day to wrangle his limp body into his clothes because he claims he "doesn't know how."

When he was learning to sit up as a baby, he would sometimes topple over and would NEVER make the effort to sit back up.  He would contentedly continue playing with his toys in the prone position, as if the world on a horizontal angle was a completely acceptable alternative to vertical.

He is a spitter, a hitter and when necessary a biter.  He too is exceptionally smart but saves it up for rainy days. 

Avery Jessalyn is my baby girl, my Mini Monkey. 

She is cute and cuddly, a curly blond beauty.  Her angelic looks and devilish disposition match both my sister and my sister-in-law, her "fairy godmother." 

Somewhere along the way I had delusions of a daughter who would love animals and dirt the way that I did.  Man, was I wrong!  I thought I was going to steer her away from "pink."  Wrong again.

She is the girliest girl in the world.  A diva in diamonds.  Anything can be a "baby" if you wrap it in a blankie.  She entertains herself by reading to her dolls and disciplining them for being "not nice."

She is the most likely to throw a tantrum.  And the most likely to get her way.  Due in part to a fringe of dark lashes that shade her gorgeous hazel eyes and partly due to the sheer exhaustion I feel after a marathon of child rearing for the past six years.

She is the baby in the truest sense of the world.  I am enjoying every delicious moment with her and I am in no hurry for her to grow up into the amazing young lady that I know she will be.