Lovin' Indiana in the fall

Friday morning started out at YiaYia and Papou's so I could go to my annual eye exam. Then, Phoebe, YiaYia and I headed out to get 18 month pictures taken. I should say an attempt was made because the poor guy had one heck of a challenge with Phoebe Rae. She didn't warm up too well and we had a rough go of it - instead of 100 shots, we got 42 and only a handful were truly frame-worthy, but rest easy, Auntie Kate, 18 months now will be preserved forever... Here's a sneak peak:

After pictures, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Anderson to visit with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Newell. Again, it took Phoebe awhile to warm up, but she quickly made herself at home.

She found great joy exploring their house and had loads of fun climbing around Great Grandma's organ!

See? She did warm up and gave great hugs and kisses when it was time to go.

We had an incredibly unseasonably warm weekend here in Indiana so we decided to head south on Saturday and visit Brown County. My family used to take numerous trips in the spring, summer and fall and I can imagine that as Phoebe grows, the Wallis family will do the same. Since she fell asleep on the way down, we skipped the state park (no sense paying to go in if you can't get out and hike!) and went straight to Nashville. The place is NOT stroller-friendly, but the weather was so darn nice, it was just great to be outside and not in jackets!

I think if we'd been down a few weeks earlier, we'd have seen gorgeous foliage - instead, we just got to trek through the fallen leaves - which Phoebe probably enjoyed more anyhow!

In honor of Veterans' Day...when Phoebe is a bit older, we'll try to explain how much we owe to those that have served...we're so grateful.

Phoebe is quite the little singer. When she's not singing, she likes to be sung to (and mommy and daddy's repetoire is only so big). Forgive the voice (turn the volume down) and just enjoy her endless energy!

I think the sunshine did us ALL a wonder of good this weekend!

A LOT of finger-munching this weekend - so it's no surprise that her last two eye teeth on bottom have poked through. Hopefully it'll be awhile before the next set of molars decide to show themselves!

Sunday after church, we headed over to YiaYia and Papou's again because Uncle Steve was in town to move some stuff out of his condo - AND praise the Lord, he thinks he's got it rented - woohoo! Phoebe doesn't get to see Uncle Steve too often now that he's back in Chicago, but she is quick to love on him and he gets giggles out of her that no one else can!

Phoebe had great fun outside throwing sticks for Kali to fetch. That is, until Kali decided to just jump up and knock Phoebe down and take matters into her own hands, er, paws... Phoebe handled it all in stride - one day, she'll weigh more than Kali and then things will be a bit different...

Phoebe also enjoys a good round of "Ring Around the Rosie" and boy, does she like to sing it over and over and over...we do it lazily - sitting down and swaying back and forth and then crashing to the ground. She gets a kick out of it just the same and it allows the grandparents and the tired parents to enjoy her playful tackles. Even Great Grandma Newell did a few rounds from the couch when we were in Anderson on Friday! And sorry for the picture being sideways, I'm stumped on why it's loading this way...just wanted y'all to get a glimpse of what grown adults will do to entertain 18-month olds when they're related to them...

Hope everyone has a great week and stays healthy. We miss our family in Georgia bunches and bunches and are already super excited about spending time out there during Thanksgiving! Just make sure all the dogs are prepared - Phoebe has developed some fierce loving she likes to give to little dogs and I think they're all going to be in for it when we arrive!

October's End

Two weekends ago, Ryan headed to St. Louis with his buddy Rob to catch the Colts' game from the front row. They had a great time on the riverboat - probably enjoyed the buffet table almost as much as the craps tables!




Friday night we headed to church as we'd signed up to host a trunk at the Fall Fest's Trunk or Treat. Due to the weather, it was brought inside so we took over the choir room and made our door into a bug jungle - fitting since our little one was a lady bug...



Saturday we ran some errands. Phoebe is a big fan of horses and every time we're at Costco, she's got to get on these little rocking ones that gallop and neigh.

And we tried out the race car carts at Home Depot and she had a blast "driving." I think if they had these everywhere, shopping would be a more enjoyable experience for all!

And as some of you know, Ryan is not a fan of being home on Halloween so we headed to YiaYia and Papou's for dinner and to help out with their trick or treaters. Here's Phoebe after sharing YiaYia's cupcake. She's a frosting girl - wonder where she got that from!?

She still very much enjoys books and especially books with Elmo in them.

And she's really warming up to Kali - as long as Kali doesn't play with any of her toys!

Phoebe also got to enjoy a sucker for the very first time - a very wise person recommended I use a bib - I had no idea a dumdum could produce so much drool!

Sunday after church, Phoebe entertained herself in YiaYia's office.

And I just had to include this profile shot I took tonight before bedtime. Her belly was pretty full. We're still adjusting to the time change in the mornings, but I bet she'll be back to sleeping in in no time!

18 Months and Counting

When I picked Phoebe up from daycare Wednesday, I was informed she had a 101 degree fever. After I told YiaYia on our way home that Phoebes had a fever, she quickly responded, "Oh Rose, it's the swine flu..." which I did NOT need to hear. So after paging the on-call pediatrician, I went online and did some research. After chatting with her, she said it sounded more like croup than anything else. Either way, she wasn't allowed at daycare the next day - even though she woke up and stayed fever-free the rest of the weekend. I stayed with her in the morning and caught this poor picture of her. She loves the Elmo slippers I picked up last weekend and even wore around Auntie Kate's candy corn hat. Daddy came home around 11:00 so I could head up to Fort Wayne for an open house at our newest office.

Friday morning we had her already scheduled 18-month appointment, only to discover she had a double ear infection - thus the fever on Wednesday. Our pediatrician was surprised she hadn't been exhibiting any signs other than not sleeping through the night. Nana said that Daddy was the same way when he was a kid - I cannot wait till she can tell us when she's not feeling well! She weighed in at 22 lbs. (25th percentile) and measured 32 1/2 inches (75th percentile) staying pretty well on track for her.

Saturday we hung out at home in the morning and then ran a few errands before heading to a party for a co-worker of mine celebrating her son's end of treatment for leukemia. Three years is a long time so it was well-worth celebrating! Phoebe experienced her first "sugar high" thanks to Daddy giving her orange punch and cookies after dinner. She was crazy, running around and then falling down and kicking her feet up in the air. We came home and she was a wild child - she definitely has a dare devil streak in her. She wanted us to stack her chairs and then sit on them. C-R-A-Z-Y. And then she crashed after her bath (but was up for a couple hours at 3:30 this morning).




This afternoon was quite lovely out in the mid-50s so Ryan finished up painting the trim on our garage doors and Phoebe tried to help!

She has a little plastic rake so I was trying to show her how to pile up the leaves, but she just wanted to play in them. What fun! We found her a winter coat this weekend - it's a 2T so it should last all season. Because she's so long, her tops have to be between a 2T and 24 months but because she's so skinny, even 18 mos. pants fall off her - the 12 mos. fit her perfectly in the waist, they're just too short for her long legs (just like her mama's - ha!?).

Here's to hoping this ear infection is nothing like the last one we had back in February that landed us in the emergency room 10 days after antibiotics. We all got our flu shots this week too, so we're praying for a healthy season.

Fabulous Fall Weekend!

We had a fabulous weekend and are not ready for Monday to start! Friday morning began with our carpets getting cleaned and who doesn't like clean carpet!? Then Mom and I made plans to have lunch and run a few errands. First, Phoebe and I headed downtown to Lucas Oil Stadium to pick up a few things for Ryan (it was our 5 year anniversary) since he's headed to the front row of the Colts' game in St. Louis in a couple of weeks. Then we headed to meet Mom and it turned out Dad would be coming as well. Phoebe and I were literally shocked when Auntie Kate came in behind them! What a SUPER FUN surprise - she drove all the way from PA the night before to get some quality time with her family and I think especially Phoebe Rae!

So the girls ran our errands and ended up purchasing a set of band instruments to leave at YiaYia and Papou's house! They got to try them out later that night while Ryan and I had an actual date.



Auntie Kate and YiaYia put together an adorable tutu for Phoebe to dress up with - we're hoping she'll grow into it and actually start loving to wear the thing.

Saturday morning, YiaYia, Papou and Auntie Kate brought Phoebe along with Uncle Steve in from Chicago to meet us for breakfast. Since it had FINALLY stopped raining, we had planned on taking our annual trip to Tuttles. From the pictures, I think it's safe to say everyone had a fabulous time!

Here you can see Phoebe thumping the pumpkins to make sure she finds a "good" one!

Mama stepped in with Phoebe's very own pumpkin before we were personally responsible for 30 "thumped" pumpkins! *Note the necklace and bracelet - Phoebe had those on when they walked into the restaurant for breakfast (I'm sure YiaYia had something to do with it) and she left them on most of the morning - I think the bracelet may still be at Tuttles...

I think Auntie Kate was a bit worried that Phoebe would forget about her once she moved to Pennsylvania but after spending some time with her this weekend, all her fears were relieved!

It was fun to catch up with my sister and learn more about her grown-up job and life away from Indiana. We sure do miss her when she's gone!

Even a sleep-deprived YiaYia had good fun with Phoebe in the pumpkin patch!

It's a good thing we brought our wagon, I think it would have taken three of the orchard's little red wagons to carry all our pumpkin finds back to check out!

Papou loved having his youngest daughter home for the weekend, too!

After we picked pumpkins, we had to make sure she was tall enough to play in their kids' area. Stay tuned for actual height and weight stats this Friday when we go in for Phoebe's 18-month appointment!

All things hay and corn related were at Phoebe's fingertips. She had a blast checking everything out!

And of course we had to try out the swing!

I think Uncle Steve got his fill of Uncle-duty following her through this little maze (or at least his back said he was done!). Phoebe certainly enjoyed being chased!

We had to check out their sunflower fields. Phoebe was more interested in the bugs on the flowers than the flowers themselves. She's got such an eye for detail!

After playing in the hay and inspecting the bugs and sunflowers, we headed off to pick a few apples. Phoebe is a huge fan of fruit and lately, her favorite has been apples so she got to test one out.

By the time we were done apple-picking, you could tell she was getting pooped!

Once our apples were weighed, we headed across the street to the store for the traditional (and oh-so-yummy) apple slushes! Phoebe neatly polished off I think 3 of the 6 slushes and then Uncle Steve bravely threw her in the air - much to her delight!

We'd never seen Tuttles so busy - we ended up having to park down the street next to their corn maze. Here's a possible Rousopoulos Family Christmas photo op...

Phoebe promptly fell asleep on the way home but got her second wind when Auntie Kate came back for another visit that evening. Auntie brought this candy corn hat just for her and she seemed to enjoy it (we're working on getting her to be a fan of things on her head and I think it's working slowly but surely).

We all got together for lunch after church today and were treated to one of Auntie's oh-so-good apple crisps before sending her on her way back to Messiah College. Thanks for making the trek Auntie Kate and Uncle Steve. It was SO fun to have my side of the family all home - Phoebe had a fantastic time, as did we! The only thing to make the weekend more perfect is for the Colts to pull off another win tonight! Things are looking good at the moment!

Gotta love her!

I know there haven't been many pictures of Phoebe since our trip so for those of you who look at this blog solely to get your Phoebe fix - here you go!

We're trying to get the parks in a few more times before the weather turns too cold. The girl just loves the swings!

And, oh does she love her wagon!

She still hates getting her hair rinsed but she gets distracted fairly well by bubbles!

Auntie Kate called tonight. I think this is a shot of them chatting right before Phoebe hung up on her! However, Phoebe said, "love you!" for the first time and it was to Auntie Kate. Ryan's not convinced...but Kate and I both heard it. We're enjoying the cooler nights and have opted to not turn the heat on quite yet. Ryan still isn't comfortable with the idea of a blanket in Phoebe's bed so I pulled out this Kirkpatrick hand-me-down and she's worn it the last two nights.

And when pictures aren't enough, here's a video capturing a particularly snuggly moment showing Phoebe knows who we are. You just gotta love her!