dancing with daddy

come on ladies... you know we all did this with our daddy when we were little. i still remember doing it with my dad up until i thought i would squish his toes! we were playing in the grass the other day and i know this melted stephen's heart when she walked right up onto his feet. (by walking - i mean as she was holding onto his fingers!)

H 2 O

i have a few blogs that i follow and i came across one today that left me speechless. here is what i saw...

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charity : water

did you know that...

imagine having to give that dirty bottle to your baby? i know it is hard to imagine, but for many this is a reality.

please join me in donating and raising awareness for charity : water.

make this one of the first gifts you buy this holiday season.

$10 dollars will provide one person in africa clean, safe drinking water for 10 years.

$10

~ that's the cost of...

2 starbuck's coffees

a cd from itunes

a pizza

$10 can change someone's life!

click on this link ~~> charity : water

click on the blue donate button.

all donations are tax deductible.

100% of your donation will go directly to fund freshwater projects in developing nations.

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today i am reminded how thankful i am for water. clean, wonderful water that i am able to make lots of bottles with, to bathe my little girl in, to wash my dishes and clothes with. i am thankful for water.

love squared

crunchy leaves

chilly weather

weekend away in our old hometown

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

seeing double?

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

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

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

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

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

candy. cAnDy. CANDY.

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

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

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

our little pumpkin

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

8 months

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

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

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