baby cope

birthday post coming soon

2012-03-03T17:42:00.001-05:00

this little lady is loving begin three!

(i promise i will post all the party details this weekend)

favorite reads

2012-02-17T21:58:00.002-05:00

to say that natalie loves books would be an understatement. she has a bookshelf full both in our family room and upstairs in her room. her favorite changes from day to day, but lately her go to one is a disney princess halloween book. she has almost every page memorized. i bet she read it to me about 8 times this afternoon. i had to share... i hope you enjoy a little halloween treat in the middle of february!

happy valentine's day

2012-02-14T17:56:00.001-05:00

what a fun day! we started the day off by giving daddy a card that nattie decorated. i asked her what she loved daddy more than and then i started to list off some of her favorite foods/things - her response was "bacon!" so i translated that onto a card for her to give to him... she helped me glue the pieces on and she colored the hearts. we gave it to him before breakfast and he said that it was the best card he has ever gotten hands down!!! "i love you more than bacon!"

nattie and i stopped by the dollar tree on the way home from work and we bought a shiny red balloon for her to have along with all the other stuff she got spoiled with on this lovely holiday. when we got home we had a mini-photoshoot in the front yard.

to our sweet surprise, when we walked into the kitchen, the prettiest bouquet of flowers was sitting on our table. stephen had gotten us both a dozen roses. nattie claimed the white ones and said the red ones were mine.

little miss has an early bedtime tonight. stephen is grilling filet mignons for a yummy valentine's dinner for two! i'm so excited. and to spice things up (and be a fun wife) he also gets this surprise when he gets home from work... a note that says "welcome home from work! 2 things: 1) this gun with ammo is yours and 2) i have one too and you're under attack as of now...

i'm back - holiday recap

2012-01-16T00:19:00.001-05:00

i am so embarrassed that it's been so long since i've posted but we had a fabulous thanksgiving, christmas, and new year. we thoroughly enjoyed our family time at home and also visiting all of our family over the holiday season. we are soaking up every silly second of our almost 3 year old, and are also about to celebrate stephen's birthday at the end of this month. here's some snip-its of pics between when i last posted and now...

thanksgiving at nanny's house

downtown asheville for the holidays

at a november wedding

loving disney on ice (thanks mema & popsie)

becoming more expressive for the camera

holding sweet baby sophie

(this was the size of nattie when she was born)

having a lunch date with lilly (we love the alvir fam)

thanks nana & papa for her new patio set!

super nattie checking her watch to save the day

(belle crown, scarf, wednesday panties, knee socks, & runnin' shoes)

saw the nutcracker ballet at the koger center and chatted with santa

christmas morning

(she knows exactly where her ornaments are on the tree)

checking out every inch of her new jessie

so happy with her jessie doll

fall favorite

2011-12-07T21:34:00.001-05:00

fall is surely a favorite season at the cope house. the gorgeous colors, the crisp air, the breeze. we absolutely love our house that we moved into a little over a year ago, and with the house came tons of mature trees. it seems like we have layers and layers of leaves in our yard. natalie loves being outside and with all the leaves on the ground, it just adds to her excitement. she loves making them crunch under her boots and tossing them up in the air. she even likes to "help" rake the leaves!

taking a break from playing to rest on our front porch.
(of course wearing her "jessie boots")

Ramblings of a 2yr old

2011-11-15T20:37:00.000-05:00

halloween recap

2011-11-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

i know it's a few weeks past, but i had to share how much fun we had celebrating nattie's 2nd halloween. she had 3 costumes to choose from, belle, snow white, or a strawberry fairy... of course she went with her favorite princess (belle).

halloween was on a monday so the saturday before stephen carved our two pumpkins (with the help of natalie).

we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood (just our cul-de-sac and the street across from it). nattie was so excited to get candy from all the people to put in her purple pumpkin bucket. however, i think she had even more fun giving candy out to all the trick-or-treaters who rang our doorbell. she would race to the front door and give each person at least 2 pieces (sometimes even 3!) we let her enjoy a sucker and she split her kit kat with daddy.

belle and pumpkin

2011-10-27T22:42:00.000-04:00

this evening we ventured out to boo at the zoo!

we went with some of our dear friends, the cromers.

needless to say, natalie and kate are pretty much besties.

(and steinway made the most adorable skeleton!)

two silly girls ready to trick or treat

they held hands, talked, and giggled the whole time.

nattie kept saying "i have lots of tangs!"

and kate was so proud of her sucker!

kate wasn't too interested in the clemson tiger,

but nattie was fearless.

she told us she wanted to "do it all by myhelf!"

loving her merry go round ride with daddy on the elephant

peek a "boo" at the zoo

dancing with mommy to all the halloween music

we had a blast!

and a big thanks to mema for natalie's adorable belle costume!

"she thinks we're just fishing"

2011-10-10T23:27:00.000-04:00

we're not what you would call "country music fans" by all means, but this song by trace adkins totally hit home with stephen a few weeks ago when he heard it on the radio (she thinks we're just fishing).

last tuesday we were invited to go with mr. matt (a close family friend) to help put out corn for the deer on a hunting property he frequents. i know, i know, totally out of our element! however, we had a blast. stephen and nattie sat in the back of matt's truck and threw corn out by the handfuls. we even got to see a turkey. the best part came at the end of our outing when we went down to the pond on the property to go fishing. nattie had her pink princess fishing pole and to our surprise, she quickly had a fish on the end of her line. she was so giddy! stephen helped her reel it in and for her very first catch, she proudly held it for a "trophy picture!"

helping daddy throw out corn for the deer

mr. matt helping put a worm on her line

"i do it all by myhelf"

"i got a fish, i got a fish!"

daddy helping reel it in

priceless

welcome fall

2011-10-01T22:53:00.000-04:00

while in hendersonville for a quick weekend trip, natalie, my parents ("mema & popsie"), and i headed over to grandad's orchard. the weather was a bit blustery, but we had so much fun... or as nattie would say "i'm habing ho mutt fun!" pumpkins big and tiny, wheelbarrow rides, a tractor cow train, crates full of every kind of apple, and hot apple cider - ahhh, what a great way to start off october.

so proud, "dis is mine!"

showing it off to everyone

popsie helping her reach the best one

what could be better than getting IN the pumpkin crate

having a blast

"i do it all by myhelf mommy"

riding "teenie" with mema

we picked the perfect pumpkins

she's mommy's girl too

2011-09-28T20:55:00.000-04:00

there is no question that natalie is a total"daddy's girl,"

but i absolutely love stealing these moments with her!

2.5

2011-09-04T21:43:00.002-04:00

we knew it would only get better, but seriously??? this toddler melts us every minute of the day. natalie recently had her half birthday. she is so full of energy, surprises, giggles, sass, imagination and smarts. just the other day we took a stroll to the riverwalk and i feel that i captured every ounce of who she is...

here are some of the fun things that she is doing/saying right now:

she is loving anything to do with coloring and drawing

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she always wants to leave the house with a purse stocked full of at least 3 of her favorite toys of the moment

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she also loves to dance. she has a pair of dress up shoes that she calls her dancing shoes. (btw, she loved watching the episodes of 'so you think you can dance' that i dvr'd. she would seriously try and mimic the dancers on the tv. from kicking her leg into the air, spinning around, to falling on the floor!)

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she has at least 6 babydolls. two of them are definitely named baby kennedy and baby goliath (pronounced "baby lyith"). recently, we've had some of our friends deliver babies, so nattie has also had a baby steinway, baby gabby, and even a baby grammy (after spending the morning with our dear friend's mom!)

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she loves cinderella, belle, woody, jessie, buzz, and rex

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stephen: "natalie, i could kiss your cheeks off!"

nattie: "no daddy, these are my cheeks" (as she's holding them with both her hands)

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cindy: "yay, you climbed up on the rocking chair!"

nattie: "i did it all by myhelf. i knew i coulda do it! i go back and fort, back and fort"

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on our way to church...

nattie: "i can't wait to go to my favrit church. i go to large groop. i love and learn and tetch and pin around and cap. i hing da b-i-b-l-e, yes dats the book for me, i tand wone on da wood of God, da b-i-b-l-e. yay, good job!" "mommy dat er favrit church too?"

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back in the classroom

2011-08-11T23:05:00.000-04:00

this summer i was really pursuing a teaching position. it seemed like every other job was offered that i wasn't qualified for in the elementary schools... speech therapist, custodian, resource teacher, assistant principal. i really felt that this would be the year to transition natalie into "mommy's going to work" mode. she is growing up so fast and i have adored these 2 1/2 years at home with her. i love watching her learn and discover new things. she is eating so much better and packing on the half-ounces so quickly! i am so proud of the big girl that she is turing into. however, i almost came to the conclusion that since nothing was opening up for me in the classroom, that i was meant to stay at home with her one more year.

little did i know that God had something better in plan than what i had planned...

one evening, about a month ago, i randomly looked at some websites for private schools in the columbia area. ben lippen had a teacher's aide opening. it was a part time position and at their elementary school campus that wasn't but a 15 minute drive from our house. i will be honest that i almost passed it by as quickly as i had clicked on it, but i couldn't stop thinking of this possible position. stephen and i talked about it and both agreed that it would be worth a shot to apply. the benefits of only working half a day meant that i could still be at home with natalie for part of the day and stephen's schedule is flex enough that he could watch her while i would be working for 3 days out of the week. our sweet dear friend (whom i feel like i've known for much longer that a few months) also offered to help out in any way that she could. talk about perfect. application sent!

well, after some disappointing news of the position being filled, to me interviewing with the principal for a substitute job, the Lord was definitely about to blow my mind. she quickly informs me at the beginning of the interview that the lady who was hired for the TA job wasn't able to do it - so the interview in fact was for the TA position!

yada yada yada - 2 interviews later - i got the job!

i am so excited to be back in the classroom, even though it's not as the lead teacher! i am thrilled to go back to work and woo-to-the-hoo that i don't have to do lesson plans or bring home papers to grade! (being a teacher's aide has it's advantages). these next new steps that we will be taking as a family are going to be a transition for sure. i have full confidence that stephen is going to do a phenomenal job taking on the role as "mr.mom" for 3 mornings a week.

oh, did i mention that i got the job today, and i start tomorrow!

sandy toes & salty kisses

2011-07-21T14:11:00.000-04:00

who loves helping mommy put sunscreen on them?
who asks to "bring my tummy to the beach?"
who squeals and says "tums up" when they see the beach?
who can cover every inch of their body with sand?
who says "i having ho much fun at da beach?"
who is getting more brave in the water when the waves splash her?
who brings 5 buckets and 3 shovels to the beach?
who can eat a whole pb&j while they build a sandcastle?
who begs daddy to "couber me up" with sand?
who goes and shows all the people around us her painted toenails?
who gives friendly beach strangers hugs when it's time to leave?
who likes to crawl up in mommy's chair and "lay out in da hun?"

... this beach baby!

this calls for a celebration

2011-07-20T21:35:00.000-04:00

ever since natalie was born she has been, shall we say, petite!!! the first year it seemed like we didn't go a day without someone reminding us how tiny she was. when we dove into her second year, little miss soon began to slowly put on more weight. she is still not on the normal growth curve for her weight and height, however she does have a great curve (it's just below the 1st percentile). stephen and i use to let it get to us -all the comparisons to children her age. her nutritionist (whom we see every 10 weeks) is very pleased with the progress that nattie has made since we first started seeing her a little over a year ago. we really try to make each mealtime pack a punch/ and we are proud to announce that (for a few weeks now) natalie is now a part of the twenty pound club!!!

we know that it is just a number, but we have worked so hard for every single ounce. in celebration, we had a hot dog cookout and ice cream with some of our closest friends and family. we are so thankful that natalie is surrounded by people that love her and who pray for her. we are so excited that she has reached this milestone. this was just one of the many nutritional goals that natalie has accomplished!

thank you Jesus for our thriving little girl :)

enjoying her hotdog with ava

thanks mema for our new flip flops

one of her besties, kate

yummy congratulation presents!

thank you rodney and sandy for all of her "chick-fray" goodies

(those kid's meals probably helped her reach 20 pounds!)

thank you shelton family for the fun chalk and bubbles

lil' lady

2011-07-05T23:25:00.001-04:00

if i make the honest mistake of leaving my closet door opened, i can always find natalie rummaging through my shoes. she will choose some for herself to wear for the current minute as well as bring me a pair (not always a match) to put on. i find it hilarious that she will then go check her footwear out in the tall mirror in my bedroom. as of today, she is loving my flip flops, however a few weeks ago it was my heels. she kept calling them "boots" - she will quickly learn otherwise!

other than accessorizing her feet, she also loves to sneak into my jewelry drawers. necklaces, earrings, you name it and she will attempt to put it on. don't get me wrong - i'm not complaining that i have a girly girl on my hands. i love this lil' lady stage that she is going through.

p.s. to our auntie lawl - we giggled, but were sad for you at the same time about your little acrobatic mishap. that poor boot!!!

my big girl

2011-06-14T14:43:00.000-04:00

beach baby

2011-06-11T20:37:00.000-04:00

to say that natalie loves the beach is a major understatement. if she had her way we would go to the beach every day - all day. the sun, sand, and surf far out weigh playing at the park. it's a good thing that she will settle for a small pool on our deck for a majority of the time! once summer is in full swing, i'm sure we will be spending most of our fridays and saturdays at IOP! this video was from our beach ventures last year, and i have a feeling that it is only going to get better each year.

is she really just two?

2011-05-29T23:54:00.000-04:00

happy, happy, happy birthday

2011-05-25T21:44:00.000-04:00

may is a big birthday month for our family! we have really enjoyed celebrating with and singing to nana, papa, and mema. nana had a huge surprise party a few weeks ago that was a big hit, and we got to celebrate papa's big day in greenville. we ate at one of our favorite spots downtown! this past saturday, we spent the day with mema (and popsie). nattie wanted to "help" me make a birthday cake, so she had her own mixing bowl, spatula, and a little bit of each ingredient! and of course she had to add sprinkles to the batter!!! the (real) cake was absolutely delicious and nattie had so much fun singing the "happy birthday hong," helping mema blow out her candles, and especially eating her cake too!

happy birthday nana, papa, and mema!

we love you so much!

ear doctor

2011-05-25T10:52:00.000-04:00

from january to april natalie had 4 ear infections... all in her right ear. so, her (amazing) pediatrician recommended that we think about getting her set up for tubes. he said that 4 infections in 6 months is a lot, so 4 in 4 months was not starting us down a good path. last wednesday we woke up with the sun and headed to the surgery center for nattie to have what seemed like the quickest "surgery" ever. her tubes were in in less than 20 minutes. everyone was so great, all the nurses and staff doted over her! they all wanted to take her home with them. she was the perfect patient. we go back for a follow up this afternoon with her "ear doctor," as nattie calls him. here she is waiting to go back into surgery... she didn't have to wear the hat, but she saw all the nurses and doctors wearing them, ... and "what my baby wants - my baby gets, you know that!"

{10 bonus points for the person who can name that movie quote}

"i strawberry pick"

2011-05-22T19:26:00.002-04:00

a few weeks ago we took natalie on a little trip to 'the patch.' we knew she was going to be excited, but she totally squealed when we got there. we got her a bucket and off she went. nattie felt the need to taste each strawberry she picked before putting it in her bucket. it was so cute seeing all the strawberries with a little nibble taken off of them. we had so much fun, and we are glad we only had to pay for the strawberries we left with because we ate too many to count while we were there.

toddler duet

2011-04-05T13:59:00.002-04:00

kate and natalie are so funny when they are together. they giggle, squeal, hug, talk, play, and did i mention giggle! the other night these two put on a little performance for us...

to view their duet more clearly, click this

thank you newspring

2011-04-04T09:16:00.001-04:00

our church is currently doing a series called upgrade: taking your life to the next level. last sunday brad cooper preached an amazing message, titled impact. investing in children and students today impacts the church of tomorrow. he spoke so passionately about how many people aren't concerned with influencing the world in a biblical way, but God has given us a responsibility to do so. He has commissioned us to leave an impact on the people around us, as well as on generations to come, for the name of Christ.

when the sermon was over, i made my way to kidspring to go pick up natalie. as soon as i walked in, every single kid (from the babies in the nursery to the volunteers who check everyone in) was wearing a shirt that simply stated, "thank you newspring."

i personally want to give a huge thanks to everyone who is helping to pour into the life of my little girl!!!

your influence isn't limited to just your lifetime, but to generations to come...

how are you making an impact?

construction zone

2011-04-03T11:18:00.000-04:00

last weekend natalie was invited to evan's birthday. he was turing 2, and was having a bob the builder party. she had so much fun wearing her construction hat while playing at the playdoh table (btw, that was the first time she had experienced playdoh!) stephen's parents, nattie's papa and nana, also joined in on the fun. evan even had a big ball pit set up in their living room because it was too rainy outside.

papa and natalie making different shapes with their playdoh

evan rolling it out to make a tractor shape

nattie being silly (like always!)

loved all the fun birthday decorations

hard at work!

she makes a really cute construction worker!

loving the ball pit

the birthday boy blowing out his 2 candles

ice cream and cupcakes... so yummy

the party favors

happy birthday evan, we hope you enjoy being 2 as much as natalie does!

take me out to the ballgame...

2011-04-02T23:27:00.001-04:00

by all means, we are not what you would call gamecock fans. however, we do support our city's teams from time to time. two weeks ago we went with some of our friends, eric and emily, to see carolina play georgia. this was natalie's first baseball game! we talked it up all day to her, so by the time we actually got in the car to head downtown, she was about to jump out of her skin with excitement. we parked and took a shuttle bus over to their amazing new field. we even got to see their 2010 national championship trophy. the weather was perfect for a friday night game. we got front row seats down the third base side, so nattie had the ultimate view. she was wide-eyed and loving it. stephen even took her to get an ice cream cone and a bag of peanuts for them to share. we decided to head home around the 7th inning, but not before natalie got to meet cocky, carolina's mascot. (sidenote: she loves the cow at chickfila, so we knew she wouldn't shy from meeting cocky!) stephen carried her down the steps near carolina's dugout, where cocky was standing, and she literally jumped on his beak. she kept saying, "heeeeey, heeeeeey!" in her cute petite girlie voice to him. the whole ride home (and the whole week after) she continued to recite her evening at the baseball game. a big thanks to eric and emily for making nattie a huge gamecock's baseball fan!

(we just won't tell my dad, nattie's popsie, about her betrayal to his beloved bulldogs) hahaha. she still loves her little uga though!

afternoon diva

2011-03-23T17:11:00.000-04:00

who knew that a pair of $1 clip on earrings that i snagged at the handpicked warehouse sale back in january would become nattie's favorite accessory to wear after her nap today!

birthday extravaganza

2011-03-14T20:39:00.000-04:00

even though it's been over two weeks ago since we've celebrated natalie's 2nd birthday, i wanted to share with you some fun pictures that we captured from her special day!

* the birthday girl *

some of nattie's favorite foods were served: pb&j, ham & cheese, chocolate chip cookies...

vanilla dipped pretzels w/ sprinkles of course

rice krispie lollipops (again, with sprinkles)

chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing (and sprinkles)

one of nattie's new favorites, peanut butter m&m's

lollipop favors (thanks for being sweet!)

i guess she was trying to taste test one

cutie pie kate

more of nattie's sweet friends

hugs from addison

hudson wanted to help open presents

not sure who's showing who how to feed the babydoll

multitasking

tip-toe twirls in her new tu-tu

a small meltdown during present time (she wanted to play with each individual present after she opened it and she didn't like that we were trying to "rush" her!)

ta da... her amazing birthday cake

two tiny candles (even though it looks like one in this picture)

so fun!!! lauren is a genius

she had her cake... and ate it too!

a very special thank you to everyone who helped out:

sweet shoppe lollipop birthday templete :: the tomkat studio

birthday cake :: lauren @ burghardt custom cakes

birthday dress monogram and sash :: anna @ sew lovin' mommy

tissue pom poms :: mema (with a little guidance!)

sa-weet tea :: nana

the best chocolate chip cookies :: nanny

photography :: anna
birthday chef :: stephen
cupcake stand :: andrea
2" scallop punch :: anne

thank you, thank you, thank you to all our friends and family who love our little girl so very much

i have a TWO year old!

2011-03-02T18:25:00.000-05:00

i have a fun birthday post in the works, but until then,

i will leave you with the most adorable two year old i know...

(although there are a few close seconds)!

one more reason

2011-02-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

those of you that know our little family of three, know that chick-fil-a is a favorite of ours. well, this evening we learned of one more reason why it is so great...

tonight was spirit night for one of the elementary schools in our area. there were kids everywhere so the play place was pretty much off limits for natalie in worries of her getting trampled over. however, this didn't dampen our little love's spirit because there was a lady there doing face painting. nattie was such a big girl sitting so still while her cheek became the canvas for a dainty little flower! she was also chowing down her her nuggets because about every 5 minutes the cow mascot made his way over to her to give her a high-five. there was even a point where nattie was yelling across the restaurant saying, "hey mr. cow!" we definitely had to shoosh her a few times because she got so excited about our dinner experience.

when we got home she let me take a few pictures of her flower. she really liked showing it off!

my little valentine

2011-02-15T14:32:00.001-05:00

smelling one of the flowers stephen got her

i love this cheesy smile

helping daddy grill our fancy dinner

pouting because she didn't get her way

it was so nice to be outside and enjoy the sunset

... and this is what happens when daddy lets nattie help make chocolate covered strawberries for dessert

close up of the "sweet tooth" toddler

needless to say, a bath quickly followed!

confessions of a S@HM

2011-02-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

1 - chickfila has become a food group
2 - i can go a max of 3 days without washing my hair
3 - target outings are made weekly (sometimes even bi-weekly)
4 - my house is never as clean as it could be
5 - during naptime i catch up on crafty blogs while i should be doing laundry or cleaning up the kitchen
6 - oprah usually gets dvr'd everyday
7 - i can name all the characters on yo gabba gabba, and sing the theme songs to most of the shows on nickjr
8 - i act goofy at the table to get nattie to eat just a few more bites
9 - there are days where i don't get out of my pajamas
10 - i read more children's books in a week than i've read adult books in my life

if you're a mom and you'd like to share some of your top confessions, please don't hesitate to post them in a comment. (i'd love to hear them)

old mac donald's house

2011-02-03T23:11:00.000-05:00

i have been meaning to post about nattie's first mcdonald's date we took her on a little over a month ago. i know, i know, you're probably thinking "her first"??? i will agree, we did wait a little long to introduce her to the famous happy meal. she really enjoyed her hamburger, fries, and apple juice... and her little panda bear surprise. oh, and as far as the post title - nattie kept referring to the golden arches as "old mac donald's house!" she loves that song - lately, she's been asking me to sing it to her while we brush her teeth!

28 years

2011-01-30T17:52:00.005-05:00

today is stephen's birthday. we are celebrating his 28th

stephen,
i hope you have an amazing day and know that your two girls love you madly...
thank you for leading our family!

from our nose to our toes,
your girls

"wooooo!"

2011-01-22T09:45:00.001-05:00

feeling a little better from stephen cope on Vimeo.

vacation video

2011-01-19T22:48:00.001-05:00

Maine from stephen cope on Vimeo.

under the weather

2011-01-18T16:06:00.005-05:00

throw up + fever + restless nights + medicine + doctor visit + coughing + sore throat +runny nose + tissues = one pitiful little girl

rotating these every 4 hours

little ellie to the rescue

lots of snuggles under the "mommy-daddy banket"

(she loves the blanket from our bed)

... so ready for her to feel "all bedder"...

snow & ice

2011-01-15T21:45:00.009-05:00

almost one week ago we got FIVE inches of snow at our house. to some this may not seem like a big deal, but when you live in the famously hot city of columbia, any type of snow accumulation is means for a celebration! we enjoyed playing in the snow, but after a thick blanket of snow fell it began to sleet which made for a nasty situation. our city was basically a sheet of ice which made most businesses and all the schools shut down. the best part was having stephen home for an extra three days!

i love this little girl's kisses

sledding down the driveway with daddy

off with the gloves (that were 3 sizes too big!)

L.O.V.E.

daddy taught her how to drop snowballs in the pond

i love how our house looks covered in snow

our 2 resident "duckies" in our half-frozen pond

christmas re-cap

2011-01-09T15:17:00.011-05:00

... FAMILY... PRESENTS... SNOW...

we had one of the most relaxing christmases this year because we chose NOT to travel. instead, both my family and stephen's came to us. mema, popsie, and g.g. came on christmas eve day and nana, papa, and shanna came the day after christmas. while last year was nattie's first christmas, she was way more into all the presents this time around. she was so into everything, from the christmas cards we were constantly receiving in the mail, the wrapping (and unwrapping) of the presents, to asking me every day to watch frosty or alvin & the chipmunks christmas movies.

(prepare for a picture over-load...)

we had so much fun celebrating with our family and relaxing, just the 3 of us. the day after christmas we even woke up to snow! after breakfast, nattie and stephen made a little snowman on our deck. the snow came and went fairly quickly, but we were thankful to see an almost white christmas.

stephen and nattie's "noman" masterpiece (jingle bell hat, christmas tree sprinkles for his eyes, red button sprinkles) ... made with love

"merry kissmis"

2010-12-24T16:08:00.004-05:00

well, merry christmas eve!

from our family to yours...

6 minutes with natalie

2010-12-22T23:16:00.000-05:00

6 minutes with natalie from stephen cope on Vimeo.

december happenings

2010-12-21T20:58:00.004-05:00

since the last real post i did was way back when nattie busted her lip (over a month ago) many things have happened with the copes...

let's rewind back to thanksgiving. we spent the holiday in nc with both sides of our families. it was great getting to see some of our extended family that we haven't seen in almost a year! they all loved seeing how much nattie has changed since they saw her last. we ate entirely too much food and enjoyed being with everyone.

love this picture of nattie with her nana & papa

all the grandchildren + one great grand + nanny

l.o.v.e.

pearls and a stick... that's my girl

stephen and i usually never join in the craziness of black friday shopping, but our big christmas gift to each other this year was a new t.v. luckily we were able to find the exact same deal online that they were promoting in the store. thanks best buy. yay for a few more hours of sleep!

on our way home from spending time with our parents we drove through greenville to meet up with some great friends, jake and kristi. we miss this sweet family so much since we've both left the upstate. they headed to atlanta while we headed to s.c.'s capital city. they have two precious kids, logan and london. this was our first time meeting london. we had a great mini-reunion.

nattie getting some hugs from logan

peek-a-boo london

nattie loved meeting kristi

a big event that happens to kick off the holiday season is vista lights in downtown columbia. stephen had band practice for sunday so nattie and i picked up one of our most favorite friends and enjoyed a very cold night bundled up in the vista.

nattie all bundled up in her "karf" (scarf)

so many stores had decorated for the holidays

(this was one of my favorites)

nattie really liked the kids who put on a jumprope performance

her first "gingerbed man" of the season

so many laughs with our friend lauren

towards the end of november was when autumn was in full throttle. our new house was nestled in a blanket of color. we had the most beautiful fall that we've seen in years. i told stephen that it was thanks to living in a neighborhood that actually had trees vs. cookie cutter homes that don't have a tree for miles.

don't you love nattie's taste in fashion?!

we have 2 beautiful japanese maple trees beside our house

of course it's called fall for a reason... this is what it now looks like

stephen wants to frame this pic of our sycamore tree

we kicked off december in full swing with my birthday. stephen and nattie so sweetly sang happy birthday to me first thing. my mom came into town and spent the day with me and nattie. and a birthday dinner at the delicious travinia with some close friends was a perfect way to wrap up my day. however, to make my birthday last a bit longer, stephen took me out on a fancy date downtown to motor supply co. it was amazing. they hand write their menu because it changes daily. i had a great 27th birthday!

then came the horrific stomach bug. it hit nattie first. we lost count of how many times our little love lost it. thank goodness it was only a 24 hour virus, but it took her about a week to recover back to her usual self. two days after nattie's bug hit, it reared its ugly face to me and stephen. oh. my. goodness. let's just say that after it was all over we scrubbed and sanitized every inch of our house. supposedly the bug hit a lot of people - i hope you were more lucky than we were.

we've planned some fun things for each day this month to celebrate the month of december. here are just some of the fun things that we've done: decorating our house and christmas tree, watching christmas movies on our new t.v. (i bet we've watched frosty the snowman about a dozen times already!), making gingerbread man cookies, buying gifts for a 3 year old little girl that we adopted off of a salvation army angel tree, singing/dancing to christmas songs, reading the christmas story, coloring pictures of santa and his reindeer, wrapping presents, making party mix, baking more cookies, wearing one red sock and one green sock, reading books about elves, and driving around our neighborhood to see all the sparkly lights. we have a few more things planned, but so far we've have a lot of fun. stephen and i still are debating whether or not we are going to take nattie to talk to santa clause.

nattie's sprinkle masterpiece

she loved eating the "pinkles"

watching "frosty noman" with daddy

needless to say, this little girl likes cookies

the second weekend in december nattie had a grandparents weekend. stephen and i had some christmas parties that we wanted to attend, so mema-popsie and nana-papa were thrilled to each have nattie for a day (and night). we know that she had a blast due to all the fun stories she told us... i love hearing her interpretation on things!

some of our really good friends just welcomed their second boy, so we had fun visiting baby avery in the hospital. while me and stephen loved holding him, nattie was more interested in the hospital bed phone. too funny!

next up, we celebrated with shanna! she graduated from western carolina university with a degree in special education and mathematics. we are so proud of her and her new job she starts in january. we love you shanna : )

remember where's waldo?... where's shanna

walking the stage about to get her diploma

and last but not least, yesterday nattie saw some fingernail polish sitting on the bathroom counter. let me first tell you how slack i've been about doing my nails. my in-laws, however, have pointed me in the right direction in giving me $ for a mani/pedi as a birthday present. i am going to use it very soon, but nattie was so curious about the nail polish yesterday that i decided to give her her very first pedicure! first we "clip-clip" to trim up her nails. she loved seeing the pink polish show up on her tiny toes. she proudly strutted around admiring her "pawish". she even pointed to her pinky toe and said, "tiny pawish!" i'm sure this is the first of many for her!

for lawl

2010-12-11T23:14:00.003-05:00

i have been so slack posting lately due to the "busy"ness of both planned and unplanned events. i am hoping to do better in sharing our happenings in the next few days. i will leave you with some eye candy of the cutest toddler i know!!!

fat lip

2010-11-07T12:30:00.004-05:00

yesterday morning, as always, when nattie wakes up we snag her out of her crib and bring her into our bed to get some morning snuggles. she loves to lay on our pillows and play with the little fuzzy tassel balls on the blanket on our bed. after a few minutes of loving and tickling on her, she decided it would be a good idea to stand up (on our bed) and run towards the footboard. BIG MISTAKE! before either of us could catch her, she face planted onto the footboard. we swooped her up, mouthful of blood, all to find out that she had totally bit through her bottom lip. there are teeth marks right under her lip and inside of her gums. after all of us regained our composure, nattie realized that her "boo boo" needed lots of kisses (which we didn't mind!) here is the aftermath of her accident... a BIG FAT lip (and hopefully a lesson learned!)

go falcons

2010-11-01T21:43:00.005-04:00

this past friday night, we cheered on the a.c. flora falcons football team. the entire ride to the stadium nattie was in the backseat saying, "football game" over and over. my great friend and old college roomie, laura, invited us to come and watch dean (her hubs) for their last home football game this season. dean is a.c. flora's head football coach. his varsity boys have been playing amazing this season with a 10-1 record. nattie really liked all the lights and especially the pom poms that laura gave her! she and kaleigh looked adorable in their knit hats. we had so much fun capping off the night with a late night trip to chickfila. i think stephen said (at least 7 times) how much fun he had with his "favorite two girls" on our fun filled friday night!

nattie and kaleigh checking each other out

looking at all the lights with miss louise (laura's mom)

stealing kisses during the 1st half

kaleigh is such a happy little girl!

shoulder ride during halftime

she was trying to get the rocks out of the noisemaker!

shaking her pom poms and cheering on the falcons

all the girls : )

"nattie punkin dess"

2010-10-31T16:56:00.003-04:00

this has been nattie's favorite dress to wear these past few weeks. one morning i told her we have to go get dressed and she immediately responded with, "nattie punkin dess!" she sported this outfit to the library, the grocery store, the doctor's office, even to church! here she is one afternoon after we went and picked out some mums for our front porch.

g.g.'s house

2010-10-31T16:30:00.003-04:00

last weekend nattie, mema, and i drove down to savannah for a short stay at g.g.'s house. we had so much fun! nattie loved checking out every single inch of her house, and playing in her backyard. we also took a short stroller ride down to g.g.'s best friend margie's house. it was so nice seeing my aunt angie, uncle danny, and lindsey too before we headed back home. here are a few pics of nattie at her g.g.'s (great granny) house!

love bugs

2010-10-27T01:03:00.003-04:00

nattie and her friend addison...

you can see more of these cuties here!

part 3 :: 19 & 20 months

2010-10-26T21:51:00.002-04:00

so, in all the craziness of this past month, i neglected to do nattie's 19 month post. her 19th month was packed with busy days and a growing vocabulary. she is showing signs of being a little comedian also.

here's a list of some of the things that stand out in

"la la la la, la la la la la... nattie's world!"

(if you're a mom with young children then you know what that lyric is from!!!)

* fill in missing letters when singing the alphabet

* count from 1 - 10 with you

* understands that words can sound funny when she says them differently (ex. mommy can turn into "mooommay!")

* opens her mouth wide and dramatically laughs when other people are laughing with her

* everything belongs to someone (ex. "daddy's office, mommy's car, picture nattie, baby's seat")

* "uhn more book" doesn't mean one more book to nattie

* puts more words together in complete phrases and getting closer to making sentences (this a.m. she walked up to me with one of stephen's tennis shoes and said, "Wook mommy, daddy's shoe!)

* so proud showing off her accomplishments (she will do something by herself and with a huge smile she will say "did it!" a little over a week ago we did an art project together and painted some wooden craft leaves with fall colors. she shows it off to whoever comes in the door!)

* her curiosity is increasing (more and more she will ask "doing?" or "going?")

* everything gets a courteous "bye bye __________!"

* miss independent - "nattie dood it" (translation, nattie do it all by herself)

* if you ask her what her name is she will sweetly reply, "nattie cope!" and if i ask her who i am she will say "mommy cope" and so on down the line... everyone is ______ cope (welcome to the family!)

part 2 :: maine

2010-10-25T00:21:00.002-04:00

right after we closed on our house and moved our stuff in, we were off for a week long vacation to maine!

we had planned this trip months before we knew we were going to be house hunting/buying! a few years ago my parents started going on yearly fall vacations to the mountains. last year we went to tennessee with them, but this year they decided to go all out and venture up north... way north!

we flew into portland and drove up to bar harbor. we stayed in a 130 year old farmhouse that overlooked cadillac mountain, the highest point in acadia national park. yea - it was amazing.

there are so many things that i want to share about our vacation -

but, here is our top eleven list (in no particular order):

1) airplane ride :: if you were to ask nattie where she went, she would overexcitedly say "maaaaine... a-paine riiiide... (as she points straight up to the sky/ceiling) skyyyyy... kouds!" then if you ask her who she got to sit next to (after the plane landed), she would just as excitedly reply, "piiiiiwet... seeeat... dribin!"

she did so great during all 4 of our flights and the other passengers loved it when nattie would smile at them and say "hay!" on our last flight from newark to asheville nattie got her first set of wings from the nice "waydie" (lady stewardess) and she even got to sit in the cockpit with the pilot.

conked out after our first flight to charlotte

2) the house :: we stayed in a true maine farmhouse that was built back in 1879. a photographer and an artist used to live there and the their front porch views were the inspiration for much of their work. although we had some difficulties with the well pump and the furnace, we couldn't have asked for a better, more authentic place to stay.

3) bar harbor :: also known as "ba ha ba!" this little town on the water was full of little shops, lobster pounds, and brew pubs. it was the epitome of a new england town!

this is a view of bar harbor from cadillac mountain

getting some kisses while waiting on the pier before we ate at the fish house

i love all the boat names

just one of her many "holder" (shoulder) rides

bass harbor light house on a very foggy day

doing some shopping in freeport

4) acadia national park :: between the sea crashing on the jagged rock cliffs and the forested mountains, i can see why people say this is the most beautiful place they have ever seen. it is one of the most visited national parks in the u.s. mount desert island is the big island that houses acadia national park, cadillac mountain, and bar harbor.

otter cliff

sand beach (the water reminded us of the caribbean)

of course she loved playing at the "beeech!"

cadillac summit

we could climb the rocks and get so close to the water

the seagulls up there were huge! (i guess it's their lobster diet)

5) popovers :: these delicious baked treats are a mix between a croissant and a biscuit. they are really airy and sweet! we visited the jordan pond house where the dining traditions date back to the late 1800's. during that era teahouses were established to cater to the growing number of sophisticated summer visitors who enjoyed their tea and popovers with strawberry jam everyday at 4 o'clock. we enjoyed our lunch while overlooking jordan pond, penobscot and bubble mountain.

nothing like a cappuccino and a popover

nattie walking in the wild blueberry field by jordan pond with bubble mountain behind her!

6) lobster :: this is one of stephen's most exciting experiences of maine. one evening for dinner we went to a local lobster pound and bought 2 live lobsters. they boxed 'em up and they rode on my lap for the short route home. chef stephen prepared the pot to cook them in and after some funny lobster commentary, we took a few pictures and dropped them in the pot. that night we enjoyed them for dinner. nattie even became a "ah-bu-ster" lover during our week long vacation. in downtown bar harbor there was a giant statue lobster holding an ice cream cone - so thanks to that, every time we mentioned lobster, nattie paired it with "ice ceem"

i had to pick up them up first because stephen was a little nervous!

he was so scared : )

checking on their progress...

our delicious dinner!

nattie's "ah-bu-ster" holding his "ice ceem"

7) blueberries :: blueberry jam, blueberry pie, blueberry soda, blueberry wine, blueberry beer, blueberry ice cream, blueberry syrup, blueberry coffee, blueberry pancakes... i'm surprised we didn't turn into a blueberry while we were there. my favorite was the fresh blueberry pie!

so proud

she definitely tasted mema's blueberry coffee

mmmmm, sooooooooo good!

8) corner pubs :: stephen and i officially tried clam chowder for the first time and it was amazing. we both agreed that since we were at a pub in downtown portland it tasted so much better than if we had it from a can back home. it was great listening to local musicians play while we ate popcorn waiting for our food to arrive!

9) portland :: our last day in maine we headed to portland - maine's largest city! there we got to see the portland headlight which was commissioned by george washington in 1789 and is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. we also got to do a little shopping downtown. the city reminded us of a mixture between downtown greenville and asheville all thrown in together with the charm of maine.

portland headlight

mema and nattie trying to keep warm (it was so windy)

10) camden :: when we packed up our suitcases we decided to take the scenic route down highway 1 to see more of maine's coast. before we reached portland we stopped in the absolute cutest little town of camden. we had a snack and coffee at a little bakery called cappy's which was right on the water where all the boats were docked. fall leaves everywhere, a little white church on the corner, happy people, ... picture perfect!

delicious bakery and restaurant

playing with the puffin "burdie"

11) cadillac summit sunrise:: this left me speechless. one morning we set our clocks to get up super early to drive to cadillac mountain. this summit is the eastern-most part of the u.s. therefore, we were going to see the sun rise up over the atlantic before anyone else on sunday morning, october 3. it was so peaceful and quiet as stephen and i sat and snugged to keep warm. i've seen the sunrise a few times living at the beach when i was younger, but there was something so spectacular about this one! you could see everything from up there - we literally had a 360 degree view of mount desert island.

part 1 :: home sweet home

2010-10-12T20:59:00.008-04:00

around the beginning of august we got a letter from our apartment complex letting us know that our 12 month lease was coming to and end on october 1st. we also saw on the letter that their new monthly fees had increased dramatically. so, after much prayer and money talk we began the feat of looking for a house. at first we didn't know whether we were going to rent a house or actually go the whole 9 yards and buy one, but we got in touch with an amazing realtor and mortgage officer and began the hunt.

we looked at tons of houses online and visited about a dozen with our realtor and then we found a "too good to be true" house. i'm talking a beautiful shaded lot on a pond, in a great neighborhood, award winning school district, close to everything. it was perfect! we couldn't get this house out of our head.

yada yada yada, tons of paperwork later we went into contract on it at the end of august. could it be true... could we really get the house that we fell in love with???

well- exactly 36 days after starting the contract, we closed on it!!!

we already have a lot of projects on our to-do list, but we couldn't be happier and are excited to make this house our home!

this is one of my absolute favorite pictures of nattie. her barefeet, sweaty hair from her nap in the car, her cheesy grin... all on our front porch!

(p.s. she's not picking her nose!)

3 part series

2010-10-12T20:53:00.002-04:00

ok... needless to say i have been slacking on my posts. however, to say that i have been busy is an understatement! i am in the works of posting a 3 part series of what's been happening with the copes. be on the look-out and expect lots of pictures!!!

carousel ride

2010-09-19T13:37:00.004-04:00

a few days ago, mema (my mom) was in town, so with no plans on our agenda we headed to the zoo with our little love. beyond being excited about seeing the animals at the zoo, nattie gets really happy about going on a "rowwer riiiiiide," (translation: stroller ride!) she enjoyed our usual visit to see the penguins, the farm animals and of course the giraffes. we even saw the big bears taking a nap. since it was mid week and also a school day the zoo was kinda quiet. mema spotted the carousel and decided to take it for a spin, with nattie of course! two tokens later, round and round they went. mema (and mommy) agreed to pick an animal that didn't go up and down for nattie to ride on. nattie liked the baby elephant she rode on. even though these pictures didn't capture her smiling, we knew she had a good time on her first carousel ride when she got off and kept pointing back at it. she calls it the "round and round!" we sure did have a fun day with mema in town.

checking out the (scary looking) zebra...

showing mommy the peacock...

she sure does love her mema!

apples, friends, and chocolate ice cream

2010-09-14T21:15:00.005-04:00

during the labor day weekend we ventured up to hendersonville's annual apple festival. we went with stephen's parents and met up with some of our great friends. i remember me and my mom taking nattie to the apple festival last year, but i'm almost positive she was just a cute little bundle in the stroller. this year however, she was walking around and pointing to all the balloons and lights, and she even danced to the live music that was playing in front of the courthouse. i lost count of how many pieces of apple she ate through the evening. my weakness was a chocolate-caramel apple from kilwin's, but nattie indulged in nana and papa's chocolate ice cream cone! here are a few pictures from our evening...

i love this look on her face

she was looking at all the balloons that were strung across the streets

having fun with aunt shanna

making a move on jackson!

they were dancing to the live band music (so cute)

she dove in for this lick/bite

"more peeeaze!"

the next morning after her breakfast she wanted (whined) for this apple

i'm surprised she didn't turn into an apple that weekend!

18 months

2010-08-26T00:03:00.003-04:00

our sweet baby girl is 18 months old today! at 1 1/2 years old, this petite red-head is proving herself to be the definition of cute in every way. we want to share 18 things that are taking center stage right now in the life of nattie jane cope...

1:: manners rank pretty high with nattie. she will say "tank you" to every little thing you give her. if she wants to give me something (even if it is a piece of fuzz off of the floor) she will walk over to me with fuzz in hand saying "tank you" because she knows that is what i will say to her when i take it and throw it in the trash can. i also love to hear her say "peeease".

2:: speaking of the trash can, nattie likes to throw her dirty napkins in the "ash can". we use wipes a lot to clean off our hands after we are finished eating and she will wipe them clean all by herself and walk, sometimes run, to throw it away.

3:: nattie has always loved to dance, but just the other day she figured out how to spin around in a circle. she will twirl and twirl until the dizzyness sets in. she will clap after she is done, as will we. i guess she thinks she's putting on a performance.

4:: i love you. needless to say, natalie hears these three words countless times every single day. she has begun to say "luv you" without us saying it to her first. my favorite is when we are in the car driving somewhere and nattie will be calling "mommy" over and over in the backseat until i answer her, "yes, baby girl?" and she will loudly say "mommy, luv you!"

5:: nattie is also doing a great job at putting words together and exploring words. some of her current pairings are: "hey bob" (good job), "nite moon", "hold it", bye-bye whoever/whatever, "dirty diaper", "no ma'am", "whar they" (where are they). she also has fun saying words by repeating the first letter sound twice then saying the word. example) "ba-ba-baby", "ma-ma-mommy", d-d-doggie". she can pretty much do it with any word she knows.

6:: twinkle, twinkle; itsy bitsy spider; and old macdonald are some of her favorite songs to sing. she calls twinkle, twinkle "diamond" as she does the motion with her fingers. it's so cute to hear her saying "e,i,e,i,ooooo". if you ask her to sing she will go "lalalalalala" (i think she got that off of an elmo dvd)

7:: natalie can also recount her day if you ask her what she did. i love to watch her as she's thinking about what she is going to say. here is her memory of one day last week- "nattie, daddy, mommy, pool, water, ball, water, wimming, hunin, brett, anna, pool." of course she pauses in between each word and smiles!

8:: this girl loves the water. whether it's the pool, the beach, or even a rain puddle, she gets so giddy when she sees the water it's like she about to jump out of her skin!

9:: there are some days when all this little girl seems to do is laugh. just yesterday, she was a giggle box. she has a few of different laughs. i love her playful squeal laugh and even her can't-catch-her-breath laugh.

10:: nattie's imagination is becoming bigger. she has some play food that she will pretend to eat and as soon as she takes a bite i'll hear her say "mmmmmm." nattie sure does know what a phone is. she will take our phone, or the banana peel from her play food set, and hold it to her ear with her shoulder and "talk" to people.

11:: even though her first tooth didn't appear until her first birthday, she now has a mouthful of teeth. it seems that they came in overnight.

12:: whenever i tell nattie that we are going to church she immediately says "balls." she is almost obsessed with the ball pit that is in her wonder way classroom. she now loves to roll balls and she thinks that anything round is a ball (like the moon, an orange, and she flips when she sees the big red balls outside of target!)

13:: the kitchen has become an area of interest to natalie. first off, she loves digging around in our pantry. once i open the door she makes a bee line for the bottom two shelves. when i am cooking she will stand at my feet saying "hold you" until i pick her up to see what on the countertop or stove. we may possibly have a future chef on our hands!

14:: nattie never want's to leave anyone out. if i say popsie, she will say "mema." if i say nana, she will say "papa." she sure knows who goes with who. she does get a little confused when we know two anna's and two jon's, but she is figuring it out quickly.

15:: i mentioned it in an earlier post, but nattie is becoming more and more interested in the potty. she has still only had two successful potty times but i feel that she will do a great job when the time comes to fully dive into potty training.

16:: i love it when i feel nattie come up behind me and hug my legs. she does it a lot when i am cooking in the kitchen. she has become more and more affectionate between the kisses, hugs, and "luv you"s

17:: books, books, books. i honestly think that her favorite toy is her book collection. there are some books that she can "read" back to me. i love that with all the toys that get scattered around the house throughout the day, there are more books than toys. i enjoy reading to her everyday. she'll bring me a book, she'll sit in my lap, we'll read it and point to the pictures, then she'll go grab another one... it's a cycle i don't mind repeating.

18:: as i bring you this countdown, or should i say countup, i can't help but mention nattie's ability to count... to six. i'm not sure why she stops at six because we always count to ten together. she will count and point to the things she sees. she drags out the sounds of the numbers as she lists them off... "onnnne, twwwwwo, teee, four, five, ix!"

"chick-fray"

2010-08-24T20:40:00.005-04:00

needless to say, chick-fil-a is one of natalie's favorite places to eat (and ours). we can be driving down the road passing one and she will notice their infamous logo. she will immediately start saying "chick-fray, cow, mooo"! it is absolutely hilarious. she went with mema (my mom) on a breakfast date last week and got to play in their play place. she had so much fun. i do believe we help keep this place in business!

potty time

2010-08-20T21:09:00.002-04:00

yes... i said it!

natalie has officially used her little potty to go tinkle and poo-poo.

we bought her a potty about a month ago in response to nattie becoming more interested. by interested i mean that she will touch her bottom where her diaper is and say "poo-poo." (for a while i think she thought that whatever came out down there was #2!) i want to emphasize that i am not pushing her to become potty trained, i am just following her lead. let me also clarify that she has only successfully went tinkle once and poo-poo once as well. one evening before her bath she wanted to sit on her potty (and read!) so after we read a book and sang the itsy bitsy spider, she stood up and there was a little tinkle puddle in the bottom of her potty!!! then this past tuesday night we were watching nemo (for the umpteenth time) and all of a sudden she came up to me and said "poo-poo." so off to the potty we went. three books later and a few hard pushes we had success! stephen and i are so proud of our little girl and while we have had a lot of false alarms of just sitting and reading/singing in the bathroom with nattie - we will soon be on the lookout for some extra, extra, extra small panties!

afternoon @ the park

2010-08-12T15:04:00.002-04:00

i have been meaning to post this a few weeks ago but am just now getting to it - one afternoon we met up with some of our friends at the park. later we found out that it was one of the hottest days of the summer... a whopping 102 degrees! the kids were so hot and sweaty but i had to share these pictures i took of nattie before her little cheeks turned rosy red due to the heat.

i love my church

2010-08-04T16:46:00.004-04:00

this past sunday our pastor, perry, preached a message titled "i love my church". after the service our volunteers handed each person a pack of seven stickers to wear each day this week. perry challenged us to invite people to church as we proudly showed our love for where we get to worship every sunday. here are some cute pics i got of natalie wearing her "ticker" one day earlier this week:

umm, can i freeze this precious pose!

a few seconds later...

tiny tantrum because i wouldn't let her hold the camera

quick distraction...

"nattie can you twirl like a ballerina?"

bigger tantrum averted!

happy girl with her "baybee"

(of course baby got a sticker too!)

P.S. a huge thanks to anna for making nattie's super cute tu-tu. she ABSOLUTELY loves wearing it (even if we are just playing around the house!)

our 17 month old surfer girl

2010-07-27T22:43:00.005-04:00

i know that it has been more than a few days since i've blogged - i can blame it on a broken broadband card that has been faithful for a little over two years and finally bit the dust after natalie man-handled it while she was playing with the laptop (or what she calls the "pooter"!)

after wrapping up a big wedding weekend we headed to pawley's island and tacked on a long weekend in charleston for our family vacation. despite some bad thunderstorms during our week in pawley's the weather couldn't have been better at isle of palms. here is a little video that we put together to document natalie's fun in the sun...

this past monday also marked nattie's 17 month birthday! she is definitely growing up in more ways than one. she is getting so much of a girlie personality and her vocabulary leaves everyone constantly amazed at how well she talks. she will jabber on and tell me stories in one or two word increments about what she did that morning. here is one she told me the other day when we were waiting on daddy to finish grilling our dinner -

me: "nattie, what did you do today?"

nattie: "hunun..... poowl......ball......"

me: "did you have fun playing with hudson at the pool?"

nattie: "ball...... spash spash...... mommy......"

me: "you like to play with your ball and show mommy how to splash in the water!"

later at dinner she also told daddy all about her pool time with hudson.

one cute thing nattie does during her nighttime prayers is list off whoever and whatever she wants us to pray for. tonight this is who/what she prayed for... mommy, daddy, "brush" (toothbrush), bag, mema, popsie, doggie, nana, papa, "anna" (shanna), nanny, and gigi. (basically if natalie has spent the day with you, then you are also listed in her prayers!) and if you're wondering - yes!, natalie still occasionally goes to bed with toothbrush in hand... like tonight!

another new thing that i absolutely love is how natalie will come up to me and say "hold you" with her arms up. it is so cute that she has heard me say over and over "let me hold you" or "can i hold you" and she knows that now if she says "hold YOU" it really means hold ME!

natalie is also saying "love yew!" usually we have to prompt her but recently stephen left for work one morning and she said "daddy.... bye bye....love yew!" talk about melting your heart. she is also giving kisses to mommy and daddy and not just blowing them anymore.

you may not think it, but jumping is hard - especially if you're only 17 months old. natalie has been trying so hard to jump (or as she says "ump, ump, ump") when she tries herself it looks like she is just tapping her toe so she will say "hep" to get me or stephen to help her jump. i am in the works on getting a video of it.

our growing girl finally hit the 16 pound mark!! she is doing great with eating and she can now wear skirts. i guess those skinny hips now have a little meat on them so a skirt won't slide off them. she has four table food times and one bottle (4-5 oz.) after her afternoon nap. i still slip in 2 nighttime feedings that we call her "dream feeds".

we are so thankful for our nattie jane. thankful for her belly laughs, girlie squeals, full bellys, soft kisses and every single "love yew"!

wedding weekend pt.3

2010-07-27T14:46:00.005-04:00

i realize now how hard photographers work on wedding days! by the end of the night my shoes were off just like all the bridesmaids! i had so much fun capturing taylor and pj's special day with friends and family. also a big shout-out to my amazing husband who did some second shooting for me. i am still in the process of editing and doing some final touches on their wedding album so stay tuned for that post on my nattie.jane.photography site! here are a few pictures of nattie having fun at the wedding:

the beautiful bride

of course, natalie found the flowers

i bet you can't guess what she's doing...

playing with rocks!

she loved digging in the ground and picking them up

daddy stealing kisses

she had to show everyone her new silver shoes

i love this look

dancing with daddy

wedding weekend pt.2

2010-07-27T14:07:00.005-04:00

after the bridesmaid brunch (that nattie and i really enjoyed) we got all dolled up for the rehearsal dinner.

nattie with mema before we left

and after a very long evening, nattie found nana's shoulder!

wedding weekend pt.1

2010-07-10T13:39:00.003-04:00

i have been looking forward to this weekend for months! i have the amazing privilege of photographing this sweet couple's wedding. they are getting married tomorrow at a scenic spot overlooking gorgeous mountain views and the city of asheville. natalie and i were invited to the bridesmaid brunch this morning and needless to say, nattie was loving getting all the girls attention (and their pretty jewelry!)

so, natalie is now taking a much needed nap while i also rest up for an eventful evening and big day tomorrow! but, i will leave you with a quick pic i snapped when we got back to my parents' house after the brunch.

happy fourth

2010-07-09T23:36:00.004-04:00

for the fourth of july we were invited to a cookout by one of my best friends from college, laura. she and her husband dean have an adorable little girl, kaleigh, who is almost 5 months old. i'm pretty sure that natalie and kaleigh are best buds (they just don't know it yet!) it's great to live so close to them now that we are columbia residents. anywho, the cookout was at her parents' house and some of their best friends also joined in on the fun and fantastic food. natalie was miss louise's helper in the kitchen while the rest of us enjoyed good company and appetizers on the shaded deck. you can't beat a yummy grilled burger, friends, and fireworks on this patriotic day!

sweet kaleigh in her cute red dress

nattie sporting her red, white, & blue!

party girl

2010-07-07T15:02:00.008-04:00

this past saturday the three of us went to a birthday party for natalie's friend addison and her big brother hunter. hunter was turning 4 years old and addi will soon be 2. we had perfect weather so instead of holding it indoors we headed to their backyard and enjoyed the sunshine and shade! natalie had so much fun - the food, cakes, and company couldn't have been better. here are a few pics that i took at the party. (stay tuned for hunter's 4 year old pics on nattiejane.com)

hunter (a.k.a. batman)!!

cutie pie addison!

so excited!

she was running around and twirling in her cute tu-tu

nattie loved her party favor headband

(which matched oh so perfectly with her outfit!)

pin the tail on the donkey!

loving the pool

all the presents!!!

hunter got some really cool gifts...

batman cars, iron man costume, scooby towel...

addi loved all of her presents

(especially her doggie, hat, pearls, and dress up high heels!)

Happy Birthday Hunter & Addison!

summer + ice cream

2010-07-04T13:02:00.006-04:00

now that summer is in full swing, what could be better than an ice cream treat! the other night after dinner on our patio we heard the ice cream truck's music playing. stephen loved the thought of him and natalie going and getting some dessert to top off our evening. he grabbed a pocket of quarters, propped natalie up on his shoulders and off they went. they returned with a dora ice cream pop and a vanilla nutty buddy cone. all three of us enjoyed the ice cream, but i think nattie did the most!

this girl sure does love ice cream

oh, those sweet sticky lips!

she was telling us where dora's eyes were!

these next two pictures nattie's fingers got so cold from holding her ice cream that she didn't want to hold it any longer. (one day she'll learn to hold the stick instead!)

party time!

2010-07-02T14:27:00.004-04:00

two weeks ago we were able to celebrate with some great friends because their little girl, kate, turned one! the party took place at irmo's town park. although it was super hot and everyone was sweaty, we had a really good time watching kate eat her yummy cake and open all her fun presents. natalie really liked wandering all over the park and daddy enjoyed chasing her! here are some pictures that captured kate's special day...

anne, josh, and birthday girl kate

mommy don't you want a taste? : )

happy girl

so yummy!

one of the many times nattie wandered off to explore

my little cutie

present time kate!!!

blowing a few bubbles

(i think she was in the middle of saying "bubbles")

we are also excited about tomorrow's big party. natalie's friends hunter and addi are having a joint birthday party because hunter is turning 4 and addison will soon be 2!

newest accessory

2010-07-01T16:45:00.003-04:00

natalie loves to accessorize - whether it is a bow, necklace, bracelet, a purse, her baby doll, or even my shoes. however, i never thought that she would place a death grip on this certain accessory...

in a previous post i had mentioned that natalie just got her own toothbrush. she has been very eager every night to run to the bathroom sink after we put on her jammies to brush her teeth. i'm serious when i say that she really does do a good job brushing all four of her pearly whites along with her gums and tongue. surprisingly she even lets me brush them on occasion. well, after the brushing routine is over she literally cries alligator tears if i put her toothbrush back in the holder with mine and stephen's. i really don't make a big deal about it and i usually let her carry it into her room for the rest of her bedtime routine (reading a book & saying her prayers). but for the past few nights she has went to sleep with it in her hand. stephen and i both agreed that we never would have thought she would love her new toothbrush so much.

and if you don't believe me - check it out for yourself...

16 months

2010-06-26T12:44:00.000-04:00

natalie,

happy 16 months to you! we hate that a fever/virus welcomed you on thursday, but you are still so sweet even when you don't feel good. your energy is zapped right now, so we are praying that your little body will recover quickly from this nasty tonsillitis! however, you are loving watching your elmo music dvd over and over and over and over. (i think daddy is going to drive to target during your nap today and buy you finding nemo or another animal movie to give elmo a much needed break!)

you are into so many new things right now and it is all mommy and daddy can do to keep up with you. sitting still isn't in your agenda, but running all over the place is!

lately, you absolutely love brushing your teeth - so much so, that you and daddy wrapped up your date the other day with a quick trip to target to pick out your first toothbrush. i had to pry it out of your hands last night after you fell asleep in your crib because you didn't want to let it go- (daddy even told me later that you insisted on taking it into the smoothie place!) you look like such a big girl with your new haircut. it is just one more sign that every single day you become less and less babyish and more and more little girl. i have said it before, but you are a total girlie girl - if our bedroom door is open you make a bee-line to my jewelry. it is nothing new to see you appear in the living room with two or three necklaces around you. you also have become more attached to carrying one of your babies with you. you do so good rocking, hugging, and kissing them. yes, the pool is still one of your favorite places to go, however you now enjoy walking around socializing with all the people at the pool and dancing to the music just as much as splashing in the water. your vocabulary is amazing. you are truly a mockingbird and are saying full words much clearer now. there has been a few occasions where you have even put two words together. you also can answer common questions (when i ask you where daddy is during the day you reply "work") and do small tasks as well (getting a diaper, bow, or putting things in a basket or on a shelf).

i know we always tell you, but you are so beautiful and we love you so very much. it brings a smile to our face when we hear you now say "wuv woo!"

we "wuv woo" too,

mommy & daddy

1st haircut

2010-06-25T22:02:00.005-04:00

we visited hair doodles today to get natalie's first official haircut. she did phenomenal- the hair stylist, miss julie, said that she was very impressed with how well nattie did! she cut her hair into a cute little bob and natalie even tolerated her blow drying it at the end.

being the "always-camera/flip video-in-hand" parents that we are, of course we made a 2 1/2 minute video summing up a fun memory to look back on.

...and here are some fun pictures of the process...

doing so good during the blow-dry

the back...

side shot...

ta-da!

so pretty!

fishy faces

2010-06-22T16:16:00.000-04:00

fishy faces from stephen cope on Vimeo.

daddy's girl

2010-06-20T17:15:00.007-04:00

from the first moment stephen saw natalie he instantly fell in love with her. he was also the first one to kiss her sweet lips just a few minutes after she was born. a day doesn't go by where he doesn't tell her repeatedly how beautiful she is and how much he loves her. now that nattie's personality is full throttle, i love to see how madly in love she is with her "daadee!"

stephen, you are a "mayzee" (amazing) daddy to our little love and i am so thankful for your unconditional love that you pour out on nattie and me! happy father's day!

here are some of my favorite daddy-daughter pictues...

i am also so thankful for my amazing dad!!! and father-in-law! nattie thinks y'all are "mayzee" too!

fashionista

2010-06-16T21:41:00.002-04:00

natalie is ONE going on FOUR! yes, we have started the tantrums - and yes, we have also started the choosing of the clothes. if you are a mother you know what i mean! natalie chose to wear this outfit - she picked it out from the many others she could have worn. she began with the shoes. shoes are a big deal with nattie. i honestly think she would walk around naked as long as she had on a pair of shoes! she chose her minnie mouse crocs. usually she only wears these to the pool - possibly she thought that if she wore them it would persuade me to take her for a swim! then we moved onto the dress. not too sure why it caught her eye but i must agree that it is too cute. as i was getting ready she spotted my belts. she started with the "unh unh unh unh..." (again, if you are a mother you have heard this "desperate" cry). you guessed it, nattie wanted to wear the belt. i went along with her playful fashion sense and wrapped it around her about three times! before we left to go meet daddy for lunch i asked her to go get a bow from her room. (i had never asked her to do this but she knows exactly where her bows are so i was curious what she would come back with). she presented me with her yellow bow despite the fact that there was no yellow in her whole outfit except some small dots on her belt!

it looks like we have the beginnings of a true fashionista on our hands.

book house

2010-06-10T20:47:00.009-04:00

to say natalie has a few books is a huge understatement. this girl has so many books that we felt like the bookshelf in our family room was being taken over. to rescue our situation natalie got a new dollhouse that we are currently using as her own personal library. she is so into "reading" right now. if i can't find/or hear her she is likely to be sitting right in front of her bookshelf with books all around her. a little over a week ago natalie added something new to her bedtime routine. she gets a bath, lotion, jammies on, and when we're done with that she now will say "book." she goes and picks out a book all by herself from her bookshelf. we rock in her chair, read her book selection, say prayers, and she goes night night. stephen and i will take turns putting her down for the night and we both agree that we absolutely love that special time with her.

i love to hear her point out and say the things that she knows on each page

playdate

2010-06-09T16:41:00.004-04:00

after several weeks of crazy schedules hindering our addi/nattie playdates we finally met up at the zoo today! the girls had so much fun (and so did anna, lauren, and i).

anna brought this really cool wagon for the girls to ride around in

we visited the farm exhibit for the girls to check out the animals up close

checking out the bunnies

clucking like a chicken

the goats were very noisy today - nattie got really close to one that was scratching his back on the fence

the girls did a great job telling us what each animal said

of course we made our way to natalie's favorite - the "raffe" exhibit. both girls even got to feed lettuce to this giraffe. he slurped it right up with his long tongue!

too bad my camera battery died or i would have had more pictures to share. however, we had a great and sweaty afternoon playdate!

moooo

2010-06-05T16:38:00.003-04:00

have you tried chickfila's new spicy chicken sandwich yet? this past week you could sign-up and get a reservation coupon to enjoy one before they officially go on sale this coming monday. my sneaky husband went through all of our e-mail accounts (3) and reserved a sandwich. stephen loves the new spicy sandwich, however, i can only eat a few bites in moderation (they are pretty spicy!)

today we had a reservation at the chickfila on main street in downtown. this specific chickfila went all out to cater to the customers who had a spicy chicken reservation. we got a complimentary desert and two coupons for a free spicy sandwich to use at a later date. of course, natalie could care less about the new sandwich because she was mesmerized by the life-size cow walking around in a fireman jacket and hat (in promotion to the new spicy sandwich). he even brought her a mini cow as she was enjoying her nugget and french fries! i bet she said "moooo" about eighty-seven times in the course of our family lunch date.

posing with the "moooo"

i'm pretty sure she was in the middle of saying "moooo"

those cheeks are definitely stuffed with chicken and fries

(recently we've discovered nattie likes them dipped in bbq sauce)

"whassssssss"

2010-05-31T22:16:00.000-04:00

this is how natalie says glasses- and yes, she holds out the 's' sound for about 5 seconds! both glasses and sunglasses catch her attention and she will point them out on people passing by. on our shopping trip today she decided to do a little modeling of these cute "whassssses!"

15 months

2010-05-29T15:49:00.004-04:00

sorry for the slight delay - to say life has been a little busy is a huge understatement! with natalie's dr. appointments, prom and bridal photo sessions, and a big 4 year anniversary celebration we have been on the go, go, go!

we did get the opportunity to run at furman about a week ago (our absolute favorite running spot that we terribly miss). i remember running there with stephen before natalie was even a thought in our mind. i still vividly remember one morning running their 5k trail and later that same day i found out that i was pregnant! when we lived in greenville we frequently made daily trips to the campus. after natalie was born she had her fair share of stroller rides around their lake, stadium, and mall. however, the other day she got to experience her very first walk (in the parking lot) at furman!

natalie is now on the verge of running. she is always on the go and the word "no" still means absolutely nothing to her - we are working hard on that!! if you ask her what a cow, horse, bee, snake, sheep, duck, frog, dog, owl, cat, car, bear, lion, tiger, and bird say she will proceed to make the appropriate noise they make! i am in the works of getting it on the flip video : ) nattie really likes to dance and she loves her sesame beginnings "make music together" dvd. balloons are one of her favorite things right now- the other day we went into a store and they had balloons up on quite a few displays and she started pointing at every single one saying "moon, moon, moon!" she also likes it when we walk into chickfila because lately they have big purple balloons up advertising their peach milkshakes! she has yet to meet a stranger - most everyone that she comes across gets a big smile and a "heeeeeeeey!" she is slowly getting the pattern of saying "one, two, three!" whenever you ask her if she's silly she does a cheesy laugh - it's so cute. she has also learned how to stand up without anything around to help her. books are still a big hit with her - if you ask her to sit on her bottom she will plop right down and open up her book to read. lastly, as of yesterday she has learned how to "rock" her baby.

here are some pics from her playdate at nanny's house!

little love,

we love, and love, and love you! you keep us on our toes and we have so much fun chasing you around. we absolutely love hearing you say "daddy" and "mommy." you are such a beautiful blessing to us!

kisses & hugs, mommy and daddy

month of celebrations

2010-05-16T13:22:00.005-04:00

may is a big month for birthdays in our family and stephen and i also celebrate our 4 year anniversary this month. we also had fun celebrating mother's day last weekend! both of stephen's parents (nana and papa) just had a birthday and my mom has one coming up next week. we were able to celebrate papa's birthday this saturday. he just turned 50! we had a few close friends from our church get together to help us celebrate his big day!

my very good friend, lauren, made the most amazing cake for him. if you know greg at all you know that he is a huge clemson fan - so it seemed more than appropriate to decorate the cake clemson style! she even made it red velvet (which is his favorite.) here is a pic of papa with lauren and the coolest cake ever!

afterwards we walked around downtown and headed towards the state house. little miss natalie is definitely back to her strong-willed self. she didn't want me to carry her up the state house steps, so she climbed every single step of the state house with her right foot leading the way (of course she was holding my fingers.) stephen took this pic after we got to the top! doesn't she look like she is about to do something mischievous?

and why is it so hard to get 6 people to simultaneously look at the camera and smile?

thriving

2010-05-13T10:56:00.002-04:00

may 11, 2009 :: admitted to hospital with "failure to thrive" diagnosis after not showing sufficient weight gain - given an NG tube to supplement feedings. discharged may 15 weighing 1/2 pound heavier. you can read more about what led up to this admission here.

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

may 11, 2010 :: admitted to ER and transported to children's hospital for loss of consciousness linked to signs of a febrile seizure caused by a spike in temperature. due to the severity of the event she was placed in the PICU for monitoring and testing. procedures went as followed: first IV attempt failed, second IV placement success, EKG, ambulance transport, another EKG, needle poke for blood work, sterile urine collection, spinal tap to rule out meningitis, more blood work to recheck white blood cell count, and an EEG - in addition to vital checks every 4 hours.

pretty scary stuff, huh?!

wednesday, may 12 ~ natalie has made a total turnaround from tuesday morning. she is having fun walking around (and riding the wagon) charming all the nurses up and down the halls since being released to the lower floor after much improvement in the PICU. her blood work showed an increased amount of white blood cells which means that she is trying to fight off some sort of infection. very early this morning her nurses took blood, urine, and spinal fluid cultures to see if any bacteria was present. she tested negative for meningitis but given a very strong antibiotic through her IV to kill the infection (if it is bacterial.)

thursday, may 13 ~ all three of us got some much needed sleep last night, especially natalie. through the night they checked her vitals without disturbing her too much, but around 5:45 a.m. she got an unpleasant wake-up call. the nurses needed to take another blood sample to recheck her white blood cell count. they couldn't draw it from her IV so they had to do a double thumb prick to get enough blood to do the test. needless to say, nattie was not happy, but they were able to take her IV out. so as of right now the only thing that she is hooked up to is a heart rate/blood oxygen monitor (but, she only has to stay hooked when she's asleep.)

the resident doctor stopped by this morning and said that all of her cultures had come back negative for bacteria - which is great! they are pretty sure that her blood work will also come back normal due to the fact of her culture results. he said that most likely she attracted a very fast moving virus that spiked her fever which caused a febrile seizure. these types of seizures are very common in children under the age of 5 and only occur 1 to 2 times max. (stephen had one when he was 11 months old).

as we await her lab results - nattie is napping, stephen is preparing for sunday, and i am watching the today show while i drink a skinny vanilla latte from the starbucks downstairs. it is looking like we will be able to go home this afternoon! (if all her labs are normal)

UPDATE: the labs are all negative and her EEG came back normal! we will be discharged from the hospital this evening. so thankful for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement. our little love is well and thriving!

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

here are a few pics that i took on mother's day.

i am beyond blessed to be nattie's mommy!

flower vs. taco

2010-05-05T20:37:00.007-04:00

this afternoon the clubhouse at our apartment complex hosted a cinco de mayo taco bar. we decided to join in on the fun and take our chips and tacos outside for a little picnic. in classic natalie fashion, she chose to pick the flowers instead of eat her taco! here are some pics of our little flower girl in action!

she's still not sure how to stand back up

if nothing is around to "assist" her

red light

2010-05-03T18:01:00.003-04:00

today after natalie's doctor's appointment in spartanburg we made a little stop before the rainy drive home!

the ladies gave her a hat and she got to watch the doughnuts go through the icing "bath." she also had such a good time waving to all the people who were enjoying their hot doughnuts.

her nana said that it's never too soon to learn the importance of the "red light!"

get-away

2010-05-02T16:03:00.005-04:00

stephen and i just stepped back into reality yesterday as we returned from a (much needed) vacation. just the two of us went and my mom and dad (mema & popsi) came to columbia to take care of natalie.

pawley's island was our destination for wednesday night through friday morning. we have a wonderful family who volunteers at our newspring cola campus who invited us down to stay at their beach house. i had never been to pawley's and we absolutely loved it because we pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves. it was nice not having an agenda and i loved spending so much time with stephen.

this was my view!

picking up sea shells by the sea shore

just a few of the shells that i found for nattie

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

we headed to isle of palms on friday and it was the textbook beach day. clear cool water, hot sun, no clouds, great company, lazy agenda!

along with all the relaxation the beach brought - we also enjoyed some good food while we were gone. we went to a place called frank's outback in pawley's island and went to vickery's on shem creek in charleston!

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

needless to say, stephen and i really enjoyed our time away, but we were so antsy to get back home saturday evening to see our little love. it's crazy how much faster and better she is walking and how much older she is acting.

we can't wait to take natalie to the beach very soon. we've already decided that we like only being 2 hours from the ocean!

14 months

2010-04-26T11:13:00.000-04:00

hello toddler from stephen cope on Vimeo.

girls morning out

2010-04-22T15:33:00.010-04:00

this morning my good friend lauren, natalie, and i went to the zoo. we had a fun time hanging out and seeing all the animals. we also walked over to the botanical gardens to see all the pretty flowers. the weather was amazing and natalie even enjoyed some of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that i packed as we walked around! we ended our girls morning with a lunch trip to atlanta bread co.

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

i took a ton of pictures - so here is a glimpse of the fun we had!

we decided to start at the botanical gardens... these fun flowers made me think of the movie horton hears a who.

can you see the face in the petals of this flower? (it looks like a grumpy man with a mustache!)

natalie loved this pink elephant in the herb garden exhibit

of course, natalie found the water!!! lauren let her go splash in it.

we spotted a lonely little ladybug

these flowers were so neat looking

lauren and i called these clemson flowers! goooo tigers!

so pretty with the morning dew (or sprinklers!)

as the famous quote goes, "she's so tiny!" i will agree that in this HUGE chair my little love looked like a little bit!

do you spot the green lizard?

there were tons of lizards in this plant we passed!

we caught a ride with the trolley to go look at all the animals... natalie was very quiet as we rode! (i guess she isn't used to being forward-facing while she rides)

the first stop was her favorite, the giraffes! she pointed and smiled the whole time

natalie peeking over the edge to get a better look

he's sticking his tongue out at you!

this sloth was in all his glory... laid back, sun bathing, tongue out - livin' the life!

the elephants were extra stinky today! natalie saw one throwing dirt up in the air with its trunk.

is this elephant smiling?

praying over the very thick glass that is separating my baby girl from this gigantic gorilla. she was oblivious. she was cheesing it up at the onlookers who were telling her how pretty she was!

(miss social butterfly!)

natalie loves to sit on our patio at home and listen and watch the birds, or "berdie" as she sweetly says. if you ask her what the birdie says, she replies, "teet" (in her attempt to say tweet!) this parrot we saw at the zoo didn't say "tweet tweet" instead it sounded like it was yelling at us!

we were hoping the bear would make a splash into the water, he decided to chomp on a branch of leaves instead.

we ended our zoo trip by browsing through the gift shop. we saw some animal hats and thought it would be cute for natalie to try them on.

ribbit, ribbit

see ya later alligator

splish splash

2010-04-13T22:42:00.003-04:00

ever since i met stephen (back in high school) i knew from the start that he loved the water. the beach, the lake, the pool... as long as there was water involved he would rather be in it than anywhere else. ten years later (holy cow) and nothing has changed!

his little girl is e x a c t l y the same.

natalie gets so excited and honestly gets huffy (in a good way) just to get into the pool. she is also a daredevil (just like her daddy was when he was a little boy). our pool has a six inch deep kiddie pool attached to the big deep pool. natalie is confidently taking about 4 steps at a time before either falling or purposely crawling to her destination. lately her desired destination has been the big pool. we are trying to teach her boundries, but so far she has ignored them. however, to satisfy stephen's water itch (and natalie's need for the deep end) he holds her and swims in the big pool till they both get wrinkles!

i love these skinny legs!

right on the steps edge to get into the big pool

love.

2010-04-13T21:47:00.005-04:00

my friend anna took some much needed pictures of me and my two loves this past weekend. here are a few of my favorites:

(check nattiejane.com in a few days for some of the edited versions of these great shots)

fast friends

2010-04-11T16:59:00.005-04:00

a little over a month ago i ran across a great photographer's blog through a college friend. i emailed her in hopes of getting a few pointers about shooting my first wedding. we e-mailed back and forth and on top of camera, lens, and key shots advice - the Lord was in the works of creating a fast friendship. her husband, brett, was also in the ministry just like stephen! long story short, they invited us to stay with them at anna's parents house this past weekend in charleston. i was a little nervous meeting them even though we had talked through e-mail and ichat. when we got into town thursday night and finally exchanged hugs and hellos, i knew that we were in for a great weekend getting to know each other and our families even better.

anna and brett have a little cutie on their hands as well. hudson and natalie really enjoyed entertaining each other and needless to say, there was never a dull moment with these two!

here are the dads and the cutie pies waiting for some yummy hyman's seafood!

anna was definitely loving her some natalie all weekend!

i was told that hudson was not a boy who has ever liked to cuddle, so brett said this was a rare photo.

i think i lost count of how many hugs hudson gave natalie!

our sweet little charleston getaway! a huge thanks to debbie and ken (anna's parents) who let us stay in their guest house. it was so relaxing waking up to the sunshine and marsh on shem creek.

my easter bunny

2010-04-05T23:47:00.008-04:00

i had crazy busy week that led to an amazing weekend. we started last monday with a bang - natalie had some more labs done to make sure that nothing had changed since she was just a few months old (so far the results are all normal, thank you Jesus)! monday evening through thursday natalie hadn't been acting her normal self ... she just wasn't "my nattie!" she was always tired and very moody. her appetite had dropped (more than usual) and she didn't make her giddy sounds that am so used to hearing. i checked her temperature and it never got above 101, so i just gave her some tylenol and waited to see if she would start feeling better. by thursday mid-day i spoke with her nutritionist about the labs results and mentioned natalie's change in behaviors. she advised that i probably should take her to the dr.

low and behold, we have another right ear infection just five days after her first one cleared up! an on top of that, she also had a lot of puss in her throat. my poor girl!! we didn't do a strep test just because if she was strep positive she would already be on antibiotics for her ear.

onto friday - despite her ear and throat, 24 hours on antibiotic took nattie for a total turnaround! we took natalie to the pool and she was back to her smiling self : ) she looked so cute in her bathing suit with her hair up in pigtails. i have a feeling that this summer is going to be spent poolside with lots of sunscreen on my little redhead!

our church had 3 amazing easter services... if you missed it you can check it out here. stephen did a great job with worship and our columbia campus saw record attendance (817) and the most salvations we've seen on any weekend (14)!!!

because it was such a beautiful day we went and took some pictures over at lake murray. it is so funny whenever we go over there because natalie points and says "wawa" (referring to the water) over and over again. i wonder if she thinks it's a big bathtub? if you look closely (click on the first picture and make it bigger), you can see natalie's two front teeth have made their grand entrance. she is our little easter bunny!

this next picture is stephen's new favorite of his little love. seriously, did she just turn one or five! she gets prettier every day : )

my parents were able to join us on sunday for church and then a late lunch. it was a great weekend! natalie looked so adorable in her easter dress and my friend even made her a super cute pillowcase dress (she wore it on good friday when we went out on a dinner date with some friends!) i also put it back on her to take some pictures of her digging into her easter basket.

nana, papa, mema, popsie, and some close friends helped to contribute towards natalie's goodie basket. she got 4 new books, 2 stuffed animals (bunny & chick), some stickers, and bubbles. the bubbles were (and still are) natalie's favorite thing. it may sound funny, but she used to be scared of bubbles. i am glad to see that she now loves them!