Baddest Most Beautiful Babies in the Land

True story. They are cuh-razy, but oh-so-cute.

Jericho is a mischievous little man. Ok, he's not little. But you get the point. In this picture, you'd think his sister's hands have acid on them. I'm not gonna swear they don't, but I doubt it. He's like the Hulk, honestly. When allowed to run free and do as he pleases he's fine. Make him mad and I literally cannot hold on to him. I need to somehow restrain the beast, but as my husband recently told me I've "created a monster", because he knows, oh how they know, when I think he's funny.

Merrick has gotten better about staying put while I take pictures as he's gotten older. (Thank goodness! At least ONE stays where I put it.) But despite being in the right spot, often I look at a picture I've just taken and realize in his efforts to be still and not move, instead of looking like he's smiling he looks like he's being pinched. He's trying to smile, and in his head he thinks he is, because he argues with me everytime. (Through his unintentionally serious face and gritted teeth) "Mom, I AM smiling! See?"

Tirzah, bless her little hot-tempered hide. Always comes down with a case of "I'm a vampire" when we take pictures. Suddenly, even on cloudy days and under a shaded gazebo, she cannot...stand...the...sunlight. It's burning...my eyes...I'm melting...what IS that flaming thing in the sky? She has literally stood there, in the shade, and refused to open her eyeballs because she can't. She just...can't. And when Tirzah can't, just go on and call it a day. She's the unmovable stone of stubborn and to proceed would be just asking for it. But alas, she got that stubborn from her mother, so we do usually proceed.

I do typically get a few good ones. Ones where Jericho isn't trying to bite his sister and isn't intentionally running away. Where Merrick doesn't look constipated and Tirzah hasn't got flames sprouting out of her eyeballs. Those pictures, where the three people I love most in this world's little toothy grins are all right there together and melting my heart, make me forget the other ones where those toothy grins are sunk into a sister's arm.