love squared

crunchy leaves

chilly weather

weekend away in our old hometown

... oh, how i love fall...

seeing double?

ok, so what's the chance of a woman having twins? triplets? or even sextuplets? well, let's just say that it is more likely (obviously) to just have one at a time.... and NO this isn't my way of saying that i'm expecting. actually, on the other hand, i applaud those moms who do have more than one child.

sometimes i wish there were two of ME, especially with a sick child...

being a mom is hard work. it seems it's every profession rolled into one: chef, comedian, fashion designer, therapist, and especially nurse. natalie has been trying to get over a cold. it's going on the third week, so today we took her to the pediatrician. thankfully, no flu, no H1N1, no pneumonia - just a cold. the dr. said it just has to run it's course. keep up with the saline drops, nose sucker, and humidifier. - hopefully, we are on the tail end of it.

again, sometimes i wish there were two (or 3) of ME! natalie has been more attached to me and stephen and cries the second we leave her sight. and we won't even mention the lack of sleep that this "little" cold has caused us. luckily, during the day she is her normal awesome self, it just gets really bad at night and first thing in the morning.

so, to all the moms out there with a sick child (or children) - i wish i could duplicate you to make our job somewhat easier!

candy. cAnDy. CANDY.

as all parents know, halloween changes when you have children, - especially when you have a young one to dress up. natalie was a ballerina for her 1st halloween. she of course had no clue what was going on. we all went over to "aunt" laura and "uncle" dean's house to eat dinner and hand out candy to all the trick or treaters. the guys enjoyed (i think) watching the carolina/tennessee game while laura and i had some fun with natalie.

in celebration of the 31st, natalie had her first lollipop.

natalie even did a little trick or treating of her own! : )

our little pumpkin

today we took natalie to harmon's farm for a little fun. we heard about this place from my friend cortney! it was natalie's first time in a pumpkin patch and i do believe that this will be a yearly event for the cope family. harmon's had a little bit of everything: pumpkins, animals, a hay ride, and even a corn maze.

8 months

that's right, eight months old today. our sweet, little, laughing, babbling, wanting to walk so badly baby girl is only 4 months away from the big one!

i know that every month i talk about how natalie's changed so much as each week passes. if you have a baby, then you know exactly what i mean. well this month is no different. first off, to ring in her eighth month, natalie is now a whopping 12 pounds. this is huge for her, we honestly didn't think she would be this "heavy" till her first birthday. we are so excited for her - and who knows, maybe she will be 15 lbs. by the time she turns one! now secondly, natalie is "talking" more and has so many new facial expressions. stephen and i really do think we have heard her say "okay," "thank you," and "i love you." natalie is now very familiar with "mama" and "dada" and some of her other favorite babbles are: bababa, nahnahnah, and yayaya.

natalie loves to entertain. she can sit and entertain herself with a pile of toys or sit and play with her hands. the other day, we took this video of her on our bed right before we went to the mall. i guess she was excited about going shopping!

strong fathers, strong daughters

"men, good men: we need you. we - mothers, daughters, and sisters - need your help to raise healthy young women. we need every ounce of masculine courage and wit you own, because fathers, more than anyone else, set the course for a daughter's life.

your daughter needs the best of who you are: your strength, your courage, your intelligence, and your fearlessness. she needs your empathy, assertiveness, and self-confidence. she needs you. our daughters need the support that only fathers can provide - and if you are willing to guide your daughter, to stand between her and a toxic culture, to take her to a healthier place, your rewards will be unmatched..."

this piece sets the tone of the book entitled strong fathers, strong daughters by meg meeker, m.d. she wrote this book to provide insight on 10 secrets that every father should know. i personally have not read this book and neither has stephen, but i found the chapter titles so fascinating that i automatically began to think of the relationship that stephen and natalie already have formed in the nearly 8 months that she's been here. stephen is an amazing daddy to our little girl. she seriously lights up when she sees him whether he just came home from work or walked out of the room for a minute and came back. natalie adores him. i love their daddy-daughter time and i know they do too by the laughing i hear from them as they play together. it is unexplainable, the love that i see between them and i cannot wait to watch it grow.

chapter::

you are the most important man in her life -1

she needs a hero -2

you are her first love -3

teach her humility -4

protect her, defend her (and use a shotgun if necessary) -5

pragmatism and grit: two of your greatest assets -6

be the man you want her to marry -7

teach her who God is -8

teach her to fight -9

keep her connected -10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i pray for God's wisdom and strength to fill stephen as he continues to mature as a father so he will know how to help raise natalie into becoming a healthy young woman.

chew toy

recently, natalie has come down with a bit of a cold. you know, the coughing and runny/stuffy nose. well, to try and relieve her of some of those symptoms, stephen and i got out our trusty sucker (attention!!! it is a must that you keep your sucker from the hospital! no other sucker, i repeat, NO other sucker matches up to the hospital sucker's standard.) so, after about a minute of snot removal (and horrendous yelling on natalie's part) we were done. however, afterwards natalie found a new toy to play with... i couldn't resist! feel free to post your own caption on these "sucky" photos : )

*side note: no children were harmed in the taking of these photos. we did clean out the nasal sucker BEFORE any of these photos were taken

: )