First trip to Florida

We got back yesterday from a lovely time in windy, warm Florida. Phoebe was a champ on the airplane going and coming, much to Mommy's relief! We got to catch up with Nana and Papa, Grandpa Alan, Aunt Debi and all the cousins. We were there for Aunt Carrie and Uncle Mike's big day. It was so fun to be part of the celebration and to do it all on the beach. Phoebe decided she was not a fan of the sand or the water, but loved being walked down the beach and feed the seagulls. We had over 400 pictures so here are a few of our favorites.

And I couldn't resist sharing these few of when we went to pick up Pita at YiaYia and Papou's:

New stages

I just wanted to post a couple videos for you all to enjoy. The first is our initial attempt at getting her to feed herself. She was very interested but it seems to have been a one-night event. If she can't pick it up with her fingers, she doesn't want it. Hopefully we'll be able to work on it a bit more each meal. The second was just of a very talkative moment during dinner. Her socks were falling off so I just grabbed them - she has a thing for socks - I can't explain it - and that set off a conversation unlike any other I've ever heard!

Thursday when I went to see her on my lunch hour they informed me that she'd thrown up but was acting normal. She seemed fine during my visit so I didn't think much of it. Then they called me at 3:30 to say she had a temperature of 100.3 so I went and got her and we headed to Target to get some Pedialyte just in case. By the way, does anyone have kids who like the apple flavor? She hates it!

But she hasn't thrown up and hasn't had a temperature since then so I'm not sure if it's more teething or if she just caught a little bug. Either way, she's been her old funny self. We went over to some friends of ours tonight for dinner and she was just captivated by their 2- and 4-year old boys. I think God definitely knew what He was doing when He blessed us with a girl as our first child! They are crazy but oh-so-fun - Phoebe was highly entertained, that's for sure! And she's officially on the walking track - taking multiple steps without holding on to anything - a bit scary at times (for me, that is) but exciting to see her venture out. I'll try to get a video of it soon.

Birthday Weekend

We started out the weekend with a visit from Nana and Papa. They drove all the way from Georgia to visit the family's newest addition: Chris & Corrie had a baby Monday night. We all got to visit baby Bailey Saturday morning. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long. It's hard to believe Phoebe was smaller than that when she was born. Hopefully we'll get some pictures of her uploaded soon. She slept the entire time we were there and she's adorable. Nana and Papa hadn't seen Phoebe since our visit at Christmastime so it was fun to show off all her new skills.

They left at 9:00 Sunday morning to head back to Georgia and we made it to church in time for the 11:00 service. We didn't want to go to Sunday school because Phoebe had a little eye gunk Saturday morning so we immediately started her on the pink eye drops we got over Valentine's Day weekend. Her eye wasn't pink but we weren't taking any chances. I even called her pediatrician today to see if we needed to come in and check if she had another ear infection. He said to hold off and see if she got a fever and stopped sleeping through the night - so we're praying she's not getting another one.

After church we headed to Granite City for brunch with YiaYia, Papou, Uncle Steve & Auntie Kate. Uncle Steve turned 29 on Thursday and I hit the big 3-1 on Saturday. After brunch, we headed over to YiaYia and Papou's for gifts and dessert. Phoebe is taking quite a liking to Kali (YiaYia and Papou's snoodle). You can tell she wants to snuggle but it comes across more as a head butt than a cuddle. She does the same thing with Pita.

Check out those four teeth coming in up top.

Here are a couple of pictures from the birthday celebration. Nothing wild or crazy, but it was nice to have the whole family together again. Steve had to leave that afternoon for Chicago (again) and Katie headed back up to Ft. Wayne.

We had great spring-like weather all weekend and I think all of us are looking forward to our little getaways at the end of March. The three of us are especially excited to go to Florida to see Aunt Carrie and Uncle Mike get hitched! Woohoo!