Celebrating

4 years + 1 day ago… I dropped my nephew's birthday present off at my brother's house. We weren't going to be able to stay for the party.

4 years + 1 day ago… I took my baby girl, just 20 months old, to her best friend's house to spend the night.

4 years + 1 day ago… I ran from the car to the ER entrance of the hospital, dragging my hubby behind me. (It was 2 degrees outside, with a wind chill well below zero. I wanted to get inside as fast as possible!)

4 years + 1 day ago… We called our parents. We waited and we wondered.

4 years ago today… We became a family of 4 when our sweet, lovable Monkey was born at 1:21 AM. RIGHT on his due date. It was a hard labor—he was posterior, and I pushed for two hours. But it all disappeared the second I saw that little person.

We didn't know if we were having a girl or a boy—well, actually, I was almost 100% certain we were having a boy, but we didn't find out at the ultrasound or anything. The nurses, though, are so used to people finding out, that they forgot to tell me. I was exhausted and hurting and many other things, but I sat up, looked at him, and announced to everyone else, "It's a boy!" J

Happy birthday, Monkey. You are a delight. You love to wrestle and rough-house, and you love to snuggle and give kisses. You are the comic relief, and the tender heart. You live in the moment and love every minute. You have taught me so much, and we're just getting started.  It has been such a joy to watch you grow from this...

to this...

...well... maybe THIS...

And to help us celebrate, Krystal from MonkeyBuns has donated a beautiful bracelet to give away to one lucky reader. I am completely hooked on Krystal's jewelry, and you will be too. Check out this gorgeous piece that one of you will soon be wearing…

Isn't it beautiful? The Honey Coils Wire Wrapped Bracelet is one of my favorites--and it's just one of many, many pieces from MonkeyBuns that I would like to have filling up my jewelry box.  A great big THANK YOU to Krystal!

So how do you win this treasure? It's easy… Go to MonkeyBuns on Etsy and leave a comment here telling me your favorite piece. You MUST do this one first to be qualified. But you can also get an additional for any (or all) of the following:

• Become a follower of the blog (Click the "Follow" button on the right-hand side bar)
• "Like" MonkeyBuns on Facebook
• "Like" Diary of a Zookeeper on Facebook (It's new!)
• Share this giveaway and/or blog on Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other social media outlets (StumbleUpon, Digg, Google Buzz, etc)
• Blog about this giveaway (leave a link in the comments)

Just leave one comment for each entry you snag. The contest ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, February 7. The winning comment/poster will be selected by random.org and will be announced on Tuesday, February 8.

Good luck!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONKEY!