happy 1st birthday, Natalie

newborn nat nat!!

Natalie Muse,

Happy first birthday, baby girl!!

We were so excited to celebrate your first birthday!! We chose your name Natalie because it means "born of Christ" or "born on Christmas", and what a special and most important time of the year this is for us to celebrate the birth of Christ our Savior and the birth of our precious, precious little girl. We chose your middle name Muse after my great-grandmother, Audie Corrine Nixon Muse, who is about to turn 100 in January!! She is a woman of strength and faith, and you are the fifth generation Muse.

This past year has been so amazing, Natalie. You are the most special blessing in our lives. You bring us SO MUCH JOY!!!

It's hard to believe what we were doing this time last year. I wanted to write down your birth story, so I don't forget!! I haven't done this yet...Your due date was December 18th, 2007, and I thought that I would surely have you in my arms by Christmas last year. I had early labor signs for several weeks, but the weeks and days went by and by with no sure sign that you were coming. On December 26th, we went into Northside Hospital to begin the "induction" process. They placed the cervadil at about 7:00 p.m. Then, your dad went to Chipotle to get me my "last supper" because I couldn't eat after midnight. They started the IV pitocin at about 6:30 a.m. the next morning. Your dad was so sweet, because he thought he was going to have to share his birthday, 12/27, with you. The contractions were rough, but I still wasn't progressing. At about 1:00 in the afternoon, Dr. Marshall decided to break my water to see if things progressed. After that I continued to dilate about 1 cm per hour. I was eventually able to get the epidural, which was so helpful! Throughout the day, so many of those that loved you arrived to anxiously await your arrival. Gam and Pappy, Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Bob, Katy and Lonnie, Steve and Tom, and Whitney all came to cheer you on. And troopers they were...as they had to wait a LONG TIME!! At about 10:30 p.m., Dr. Marshall said, "it's time to start pushing"!!! I was so glad that you were almost here. You remained the stubborn and independent little girl that you are, and kept me pushing until 12:14 a.m. the next morning! We were sure that you wanted YOUR OWN birthday and didn't want to share a birthday with your daddy. And there you were, the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. Absolutely precious. Eight pounds of you. 20.5 inches of perfection.

And the past year has been wonderful, amazing, perfect, and everything that I had ever dreamed of and more. You bring us sheer joy, miss priss, and we love you more than you will ever know. Looking forward to many fun times in your second year!!

Love,
us

happy 30th birthday, dave...

I love this picture of you...you are so strong to hold this girl up like that!!

I met you when you were 25!!! I can hardly believe that you are 30...happy birthday Dave!!
In 2004, we met.
In 2005, we got engaged and bought a house.
In 2006, we got married.
In 2007, we had our precious Natalie Muse.
In 2008, you turned thirty!! Wow, it has been a crazy and fast five years.


You are such an incredible husband and father, and I love you so very much.
I pray that this next year is full of good things for you.
Natalie and I wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

(not a) santa fan

somehow, these pictures got in reverse order, so i'll tell the story backwards!
this is natalie, glad to be heading home after her stressful meeting with santa claus.

so glad to be in mommy's arms, and not santa's!

"i don't like that santa claus!"

"get me out of here!!!!!!!"

more tears!

this is natalie, just seconds before daddy walked her up to santa...

pointing out the ornaments on the big phipps tree :)

I was actually really surprised that she didn't like Santa. She generally likes everyone, so I couldn't believe how upset she got with him. Maybe next year, she'll like him a little more!!!

merry little christmas

Updates!

"what are you doing with that camera again?"

Our first attempt at a pic for the Christmas card didn't go so well. We'll have to try again!

Stylin in her new boots!

My little punkin!

I got to meet precious Zoe today!!!! She is just beautiful!

Natalie and Sadie watching Nat's favorite, "Eebee baby!"

Natalie and Cosette at baby Harper's welcoming party!

Going to look for her first Christmas tree!

She LOVES getting into the baskets!

Going for a walk with Gam and Pappy!

Sorry for the absence lately! I pray that you and your families are enjoying this most special time of year!

thanksgiving

the "girls" table...my plate was very sad due to my missing tonsils and the pain they caused!

nat and her pappy

playing the piano with uncle lonnie

eating away!

posing with the turkey...

a stroll with pappy on thanksgiving morn...

It was Grandma Ruth's (Dave's Grandmother) 85th birthday on Friday...happy birthday Grandma Ruth!

All the yummy food I couldn't eat

My favorite...the dessert table...I will have to make up for this at Christmas!

Daddy and Nat Nat

chowing down on her "biter biscuit"

natalie's little spot!

I wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I hope you all had wonderful times with your families. We have had a bit of an adventurous thanksgiving, as I had my tonsils out on Tuesday. It has been a far rougher recovery than I anticipated. I am still in a lot of pain, but hope to be doing better soon. It is really painful, I tell you!

Above are some pics from the Sprinkle Thanksgiving adventures...Natalie went down to LaGrange on Monday night to stay with Gam and Pappy, as my surgery was Tuesday morning. Dave and I headed down to LaGrange on Wednesday and spent the night...we headed back up to Dave's parents for dinner in Norcross, but I was unfortunately passed out with pain by that time and didn't get any pics from our second Thanksgiving adventure. I am especially grateful for my precious family this year. I think Natalie had a very fun Thanksgiving at the Woodward's and Sprinkle's.

happy 88th birthday, grandpa!!!

My precious Grandpa Calvin (Natalie's great-grandpa) turned 88 today. He is such a blessing to our entire family. What an incredible man he is...full of honor, wisdom, love and faith. I am so grateful for you, Grandpa! You have taught me more than you will ever know...

We love you...

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Joshua 24:15

sick day

Tuesday, Natalie was home with a 102 fever and some sort of virus/rash. She doesn't look sick though...what a little stinker. Dave took the first half of the day off, and I took the second half off to be with our little miss priss.

Being the Gail-inspired and trained mother that I am, I pulled out one of Natalie's Christmas gifts to give her a little present after we got home from the doctor's office. Of course, she loved the Baby McDonald DVD case just as much as the movie itself!

All smiles after her first steps!

And you will have to excuse my looks in this video, as I am looking very scary. But Natalie took her first steps while I was home with her that afternoon, and I had to post them for our families to see....thus the sub-par video by Kelly of Nat's first steps below! She's not "walking" yet, but taking steps on her own! She is so proud of herself. She just giggles and giggles!

little bulldog

My Nance

Meet Nancy. I sure am grateful to the Lord that I met her...the summer after second grade. Nancy and I became fast best friends, and shared many an adventure growing up. I think the beauty of our friendship and the reason it has lasted is because it is rooted in the love of Christ. Nancy shared this verse with me several years ago in a note she wrote to me, and it sums up how I feel about her perfectly: "...the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." I Samuel 18:1

I am so blessed when I get the opportunity to spend time with this sweet friend. She lifts me up, encourages me, and never ceases to make me laugh, laugh, laugh! It doesn't matter if it's been two days or two months since we last talked, we pick up right where we left off. She is now not only an amazing friend, but an amazing mother to two beautiful children. What a joy it is to see her love those two. I know where she learned it, though. You see, Nancy's mom is the picture of beauty, strength, joy and dignity herself. Mrs. Sharon is so amazing, and she has blessed my life in more ways than she will ever know, just as Nancy has as well.

There was a time growing up when I needed to hear the Word, and hear it clearly. Mrs. Sharon led Nancy and I through several bible studies, but two of the ones that stick out in my mind were the Experiencing God study and a study on the book of Ephesians, my favorite book of the Bible (probably because of that study!). She is a woman of God, and a blessing to so many. Mrs. Sharon is not only a warrior for Christ, but she has also been battling a horrible disease: pancreatic cancer. I write this post to ask you to pray for her. Pray for her healing, pray that she will feel comfort from her pain and from the symptoms of chemo, pray for her precious family.

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:14-21

Thank you for praying.

I love you, Nancy and Mrs. Sharon.

little pumpkin

happy halloween...

love,
pumpkin natalie