And they called it Puppy Love....

I know you all thought Colton was our first-born child, but you're wrong. Our first born child was our black lab, Piper. :) We got her when she was just a new-born pup! Let's just say Brian was the victim of cute puppy syndrome. When we lived in Queen Creek, he was still a motorcycle officer. Well, he was cleaning his motorcycle out in the open garage one day when some neighbors came by wondering "would you like a puppy?"

Well, as if all the stars aligned, the puppy they had to offer was a FEMALE, BLACK LAB. Understand that those were literally the 3 criteria Brian had for ever owning a dog for our family. And what's more, she was the RUNT which was even better! So Mr. Softie comes into the house where I believe I was making Shepherd's Pie and says, "Honey...? Can we get a puppy?" Well, even if I had tried to resist, once I was escorted down the street into a house full of brand new lab puppies and shown "the little black one", I was doomed.

And so, that is how we got our first born child, Piper. She was little, she was fiesty & she was DIS-O-BEDIENT!! . I'm recalling a carpeted house full of muddy puppy paw prints, and a entire house covered with a roll of shredded toilet paper. I also recall that my arms and legs being permanently marked from puppy bites and scratches....Trust me when I say this- there were days I wanted to give her back.

But, she outgrew that puppy phase and has grown into the most loyal dog you can imagine. She was my sidekick during my pregnancy and I knew she'd come to love our babies as much as we would. She used to sit on the couch beside me and rest her chin on my giant belly. :)

And now, our babies are here, and Piper is the best big furry sister they could have hoped for. She is calm (99% of the time), she's gentle and only occasionally howls with the crying babies signifying her annoyance with the noise once in a blue moon! When I wake up with one of the babies in the night, she always joins me in the nursery while we rock back to sleep, or even joins me downstairs. I take the big couch, she takes the small couch. Sometimes I am jealous of Piper because she simply has to walk past any one of the babies and they erupt in giggles! They love her dearly. Often, she stays downstairs with the babies if I have to run upstairs to do something. I know that she is watching over her babies.

What's more, she is already tolerating having her tail pulled and her gums tugged...Our family is perfect. I love that someday (30 years from now), we'll all look back at photos of "our first dog, Piper" and remember what a wonderful dog she was!

So I couldn't help myself. I was upstairs making laundry piles with Ethan on my bed. Well Piper came up and politely asked if she could also hop up on our bed. So I, of course, let her and just watched them interact. Too darn cute not to run downstairs for the camera! :)

So this is the story of Ethan...

and Piper...
and Ethan...

and Piper.

Best Friends

No worries, that was a yawn not a bark!

Tired of saying "cheese"

Paws-itively adorable!