"A house does not have to be perfect to be a home of joy, a child does not have to behave perfectly to love and be loved, and every moment of life does not have to be perfect to be of value. Too often, I realize, we fail to see the glorious reality of the simple joy that abounds in the seemingly mundane routine of day-to-day living. Instead, we tend to idolize the past, idealize the future, and devalue the present.... What better way to show our appreciation to Heavenly Father for what we have than to embrace our lives, albeit 'ordinary' and 'unexciting,' with joy?"

--Winnie Dalley; Ensign, March 1998

Monday, January 25, 2010

Four Weeks Old!

I can't believe Piper is four weeks old already... it seems like she was just born! She is changing, growing and developing so much every day, it is just magical to watch.



Sunday, January 24, 2010

Multi-Tasking

Justin and Piper getting a little XboX time in...

Monday, January 18, 2010

Sleepy baby...

Here is Piper today, at three weeks old. She is taking an extra long nap... perhaps in an effort to make up for that really long awake period she had last night between 11:45pm and 3am?! Doesn't she look cozy? I just want to curl up and go to sleep with her...

And, all three adorable kiddos in one picture!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Cute Kids

Chloe making a pizza:
Cooper being Cooper:
And Piper showing off how much she has grown:




Friday, January 8, 2010

Friday Night Movie

We had a movie night this evening and watched Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. It was a really cute movie.

The crew, all cozy, waiting for the movie to start:

A self portrait of Coop and I:


Piper thought the movie was boring:

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Piper and her older siblings!

Chloe and Cooper came home from church today seriously Piper-deprived! The three hours was apparently too long to be away from her. Here they are showing her some love:



And apparently trying to get all three in one picture together was pushing it:

Friday, January 1, 2010

Introducing Piper Sofia Baron!

She was two weeks late, but worth the wait! Piper made her fashionably late arrival into this world on Sunday, December 27th at 10:06am. She weighed in at 7lbs 3oz and measured 19.5 inches long.

The story of Piper's birth:

Possibly, in an effort to make up for making me go two weeks past her due date, once she decided it was time to be born, she was all about business! I woke up Sunday morning at 4:30 having regular contractions, but nothing painful. As I'd had quite a few episodes of contracting for hours only to have them peeter out, I didn't give it too much thought and got up and started making myself busy around the house. At about 5am, I noticed the contractions were getting closer together, I woke Justin and we decided to call my mom to come watch the kiddos and called our midwife to let her know. She told me to head to the hospital when I felt like I needed to and call her when we were on our way. My mom came over and we hung out for a little while as the contractions continued to get closer together. We got to the hospital at about 7:15am, my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. My water broke a bit after 8:30, at which time the contractions became quite stronger and closer together. The nurse "decided" I got to stay (I hadn't informed her that I was NOT leaving without giving birth first, no matter what her opinion was... I was two weeks over due, for goodness sake!) and we left triage and went to a room. I was in a lot of pain, asked to be checked, and was dialated to a six. Based on my loooong previous labors (48 hours and 26 hours), I figured that I had hours to go still and decided the pain was too intense to last that long! I requested an epidural and the nurse went off to page the anesthesiologist. 15 minutes later, the anesthesiologist made his arrival and started prepping my back for the epidural. Suddenly I felt tons of pressure and the urge to push... the nurse checked me again and suprigingly, I was fully dialated and baby Piper was on her way out! No wonder the contractions hurt so bad-- I had been in transition! With a smile on her face, the nurse said to me, "Unfortunately you know what this means... too late for the epidural!" I was quite aware of this before she made it a point to tell me. My midwife was on her way to the hospital from another birth, so the nurse hopped on the intercom and hollered for them to send anyone available in, because there was a baby coming quickly. Seven or eight contractions later, Piper was born!

We're all home and settling into being a family of five! Chloe and Cooper both adore Piper and want to know where she is or what she is doing at all times.


Just Born:


Taking a bath with mom to get cleaned up:

Happy Daddy:


All loaded up and ready to go home:

Trying out the swing for the first time:


Five days new, ringing in the New Year with Mom and Dad: