P.F. Changs

So last night I took my hubby Ray to dinner for an early anniversary meal at P.F. Changs. It was great. I made reservations for 6:30pm and it was A LOT more casual and A LOT less expensive than I thought it was going to be. The ambiance was nice and very comfortable, and the food was excellent. However, I have some news that may shock most of you, if not ALL of you. So sit down. Shortly after being seated and after our drink order was taken, our server came to serve our drinks and set a plate of Lettuce Wraps down. We told her we did not order the appetitzer, and she told us that it was on her. Ok. We were talking about ordering the Lettuce Wraps anyway. However, these weren't your ordinary Chicken Lettuce Wraps, mind you. Nope, these were the Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps, made with none other than Tofu. Hmmmm. Picky Gabbi apparently doens't like veggies and therefore probably won't like Tofu. Well, Picky Gabbi gave it a shot (because even though Gabbi is picky, she is still ADVENTUROUS and will give it a shot first!). Well, Gabbi must say it was quite yummy. Perhaps it was all the soy sauce flavoring, but since I've been wanting to give Tofu a try (yes I did just say that I actually wanted to give Tofu a try), I'll probably try it made some other ways again since it really was quite good. Anyway, so there you have it, I ate stinking Tofu. Oh yeah, and I even wrapped it in lettuce, and since as Ray would say, "Gabbi only eats lettuce in a salad, or in a Twister sandwich from KFC." and those are truly the only two instances I usually eat lettuce, now there are three instances. Ha. Ok, you can get up off of the floor now and quit laughing at me. Or maybe you fell on the floor in shock, either way, get up. I like Tofu. So what? There have been stranger things to happen in the world you know.


(By the way, I recommend trying P.F. Changs sometime if you haven't already. We had three different things we orered, plus two sodas and before tip it was only $34. Not bad at all.)

Nate Mumbo Jumbo

So, my little, yet big Nate-dog had his 15 month check up on Tuesday. Nate, my friends, is growing wonderfully. He is a whopping 33 inches tall and weighs 27 lbs. This puts him in the 90-95th percentile for height, and 75-90th percentile for weight. I must say, he has caught up quite nicely. Grace was 21 inches long at birth while Nate was only 18 1/2 inches at birth. Now, Grace is only 8 inches taller than him!! And she's 4! Well, his growth is actually slowing down at this point. I read somewhere online that girls and boys both are about the same height at 15 months while boys will be slighty heavier than the girls. On average, at 15 months they will stand at about 31 inches. By age 2, they will be about 33 inches and 27-28 lbs. Well, it seems that my three week early (any earlier and he would have been technically considered premature) child has the body of a 2 year old. Now, if only we could get him to talk like one..............

He is vigorously working on his vocab. He is trying to say more things, such as: That, More, Cup, Book. However, these are still a work in progress, but the dr said as long as he is using specific words or sounds for words for specific things, then he is grasping the whole vocab concept. He says dat for that, bah for ball, mah for more, cupakah for cup, at ah for uh oh, and bookabook for book. He says nigh nigh for night night and he can say bye bye. He says ah dah for all done, while he does his own version of the sign language for all done as well. He also does the sign for more. And he says ba ba for his bottle. And that I think is the entire Nate vocab as of now. But stay tuned and don't change the channel, as another vocab update will probably follow again soon.

Newton's Third Law of Weather

Newton's Third Law of Weather:
For every post Wendi makes about the weather in MN, there is an equal and opposite post Gabbi can make about the weather in FL. And thus, since Wendi has NOT blogged about the weather in MN, I will not blog about how it is hot here in March, once again. Nope. Not gonna do it! Instead, I will find something useless to post about.

Ok, so what then will I blog about. Good question. Nothing really exciting going on here. How about American Idol? American Idol kind of stinks this season, to tell you the truth. I always pick a favorite during the initial audition process and this year, she was voted out in Hollywood week. Now she did forget her lines but she was really good and I think she deserved another chance. Don't get me wrong, there are some good people on the show, but overall, I am not "crazy" about anyone in particular like I am every year past.

On another note, Grace has come down with her first case of pink eye. Now, this isn't a big deal because she didn't have to miss any school and no one else to my knowledge has contracted it from her. However, we did have plans to go to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday with her friend, Anthony, who no longer lives down here, but is down here until Saturday. So that had to be canceled. Poor Grace.

Nate will be 15 months old in 6 days. Wow, he is getting bigger everyday. He is already wearing 24 month and 2T clothes. He's a big boy! He's also getting himself into trouble. He has started consistently opening up the doors to the bedrooms, so now we have to chase after him more often. He is also climbing up onto the dining room chairs and trying to get onto the table at times.

On Monday, I go to the dentist to get fitted for my crown and to get my temporary put on. Yay. (Note: that was a sarcastic yay).

Well, thats all for now. If you think about me today, throw a prayer up my way (hey, that rhymed....didn't mean it to)

News

It has officially been decided that this fall, when Grace starts Pre-K4, she will attend the alma matter of so many other K's in her family. Wait! ALL the other K's in her family.................Go Crusaders! She is very excited about this, because why? Well, she really likes the playground there. Ha ha! Kids and their priorities.

Oh and check out my new featured song (on the right hand side). It's called Work by Jars of Clay.

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot!

Ok, so, yeah I know I live in the tropics, but this is ridiculous. Yesterday, I was driving in my car when my temperature gauge read 88........yes, 88 degrees. Today, I was again in my car, at 10:30 am when the temperature read 85.....IN THE MORNING!! Does anyone see anything wrong with this?? I do! I do! Its March 3rd. Summer is not for another 3 months, but even still, it doesn't usually get this hot until May. Why is it so hot? Bleh.

Anyway, enough of that, because I could go on forever about how hot it is here and how much I hate that fact.

In other news, my little Nate-dog is really a cutie pie. But seriously, he's becoming more toddler-ish and less baby-ish everyday. He's starting to talk more. He can say, "Bye-bye," and "All done," (in which he tries to do the sign language sign for it, but he has made it into his own version) and thats about all the new words so far. I think. I can't remember. Anyway, I had been showing him the sign for "more" off and on, here and there. The other day Nate was eating and I looked away to get him more food, and I turn to see him pointing his little index finger into the palm of his other hand, making the sign for more. Cute. I do believe he's been doing that for a while, slightly skewed a bit though. I see him point a lot to his tray when he is wanting more food. Perhaps thats the lazy boy version. Who knows? But he's a smart little booger. He also has a little temper, oh, and he loves to scream at the very toppest top of his lungs while shopping in grocery stores.

Almost Freezing

As I sit here and write this post, it is currently 36 degrees outside. That, my friends, is almost freezing. However, I am not complaining, since I haven't even been outside. However, my cable is out and is not working. So, is it too cold for the cable wires to work? I wonder.

Herein lies the problem in which I believe Floridians tend to be "cold" when the temps drop below 70...........we have NO winter attire. None, zip, zilch, zero. So we (Floridians, but not me) freak out when the temps are indeed below 70, and the news has nothing better to talk about except how everyone needs to "bundle up tonight" and that when the temps get back to 80, IN WINTER mind you, that everything will be alright again in the world. Ok, so back to 36 degrees. That, in science, is almost freezing. So today, or at least this morning, we can say its a little cold outside. So what am I going to wear to Grace's soccer game so I don't freeze? (and for those who say, "Gabbi? Freeze?" Yes, I freeze. I am human you know. Just because I LIKE it cold, doesn't mean I can't BE cold.) Actually, I think Grace may not go to soccer today, since she does not have winter attire and will probably freeze her little soccer shorts off. (It was 30 degrees warmer last Saturday, and she was a little chilly.) So there you have it my friends, the one day where Florida is cold. Yes, just one.

Soccer Pics

Here are pictures from last Saturday. It was Grace's very first soccer game. Sorry it took me over a week to post, but here they are:

Nate Keeping busy during game time:

Grace before the game:

Game pics:

Post-game team hand shakes:

Post-game team meeting and prayer:

Playing around after the game:

Pluto

The other day a show Nate loves called Little Einstein's was on and they were talking about the planets. They included Pluto, since I guess at the time they show was created Pluto still counted as a planet. So, I started explaining to Grace that there used to be nine planets, however, Pluto is no longer a planet and there are now only eight. Today, for some reason that I cannot remember the subject on planets came up and I wanted to see if Grace had remembered what I had told her the other day. So I asked her, "Grace, how many planets are there?" "

"Eight," she answered.

"How many did there used to be?" I asked.

"Nine," she answered.

"What was the name of the planet that used to be number nine?" I asked.

"Pluto," she answered. "But, now it's a dog."

Changes

What a difference a year makes!!

Publix Breakfast Bread

I have a new favorite thing. Although, it's probably not the healthiest, it does have cranberries, apricots, apples, raisins, and walnuts. It's Publix's new Breakfast Bread. It's really yummy. And apparently, Publix claims that two slices of the bread gives you one full serving of fruit. So try some!

Picture Page

Picture page, picture page, now it's time for picture page, time to get your crayons and your pencils.

Ok, well not really. But it is a picture page. A page of pictures. Not pictures that I drew....heavens no! That would be an awful page. Grace is almost ready to surpass my own people drawing skills. No, this is a page of pictures of Grace, and Nate, but mostly Grace.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN, today. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA (my friend, not Wendi and John's), tomorrow.

This is my new pic at the top of my blog, if you haven't already noticed. I think it's one of the very few we have with all of us together.

Grace and Ray at the wedding (Keith's) where Grace was the flower girl.

Say cheese!

This is a cute picture of Grace as flower girl.

Yeah, not quite sure of the face she's making, but I still think she's cute.

I see a pattern of weird faces here.


A very cute pic of Ray and Grace from the wedding.

The Decision Is In.........

The decision on school is in. I am.............................................

NOT GOING! After going back and forth through my mind, my wonderful, loving, awesome, caring, fantastic, great, considerate, kind, bestest husband in the world (did I mention that he's awesome and wonderful?) made the decision for me so that I would not have to feel as if I was quitting. Truth is, I am busy. And I am tired. And I would be even more busy and more tired if I went to school semester. So to say the least, I am a bit relieved.

FINALLY!

Ha.....this is a shout out to Lady Di, who has been prompting me to "update" my blog. I told her I would trick her by starting the blog with last blog's title, which so perfectly fits this title anyway.

So to update everyone, I ended the semester with an "A" in English, and a "B" in Chemistry. As of now, I am still debating what to do this this semester. If I continue going (I have until Tuesday to back out and get all of my money back), I will be taking Anatomy and Physiology I and Lab. I will let you know what I decide once I've decided it.

Since the end of the semester at school, I have been busy with out-of-town family members in town. The last of them left this past Tuesday, the 9th. Grace was also in a wedding as a flower girl, and she was so beautiful. She did a great job, which I was worried about since she went through spurts of "I don't want to walk down the aisle, I'm shy" moments. But thankfully, it went off without a hitch and she was not scared to walk down the aisle in the end. I will be posting some pictures soon, I promise. Other than that, not too much is going on. Nate has continued to sleep through the night, thankfully. Now we are working on getting to feed himself with a spoon or fork. We have a lot of work ahead :) but he'll get it.

So that concludes my update. Hopefully, I will blog a little more often, lest I come under the wrath of the Blog Update Police.

So there you have it. I have updated my blog.

FINALLY!!

Well, Nate has FINALLY decided to sleep through the night. He has done this before, however, for some reason, he regressed. I think it started sometime after August, since I can clearly remember on our Eglin-Tallahassee trip that he was sleeping through the night fine. But somewhere along the line, not too long after that trip, he decided that he was hungry in the middle of the night and needed to eat. He would wake up some time between the hours of 12am-4am, and some nights it would even be twice. But, the tides have turned. Nate has been sleeping for the last 5 nights all the way through. Is this the beginning of a new Nate? We'll see. Perhaps my blog just jinxed the whole thing. Hopefully not.

Grace's Profound Conversation

The other day, while driving in the car, my little Grace says, "Hey mom."

I say, "Yeah?"

Grace: "Um.....hey mom!"

Me: "Yeah?"

Grace: "Um....hey mom!"

Me: "Yeah?"

Grace: "Um......hey mom!"

Me: "Yeah?"

This continuted for another minute. After all that, I'm not really even sure she had anything to say.

Now, as for dear Nate, the one who I was hoping to be the "calmer" child, has been quite the opposite. He has learned how to climb on the couch much to my dismay. This means that I cannot leave him alone in the room by himself for even a minute. I learned of his ability to do this the other day while in the kitchen washing dishes. The kitchen looks straight into the living room, but I didn't think he need to have an eye on him at all times since there really isn't anything to get hurt doing. Ha ha ha. I'm working busily when all of a sudden, I look up and there Nate is standing on the couch, leaning over the edge of the arm. I screech and tell Nate to not move, not that he would understand me to listen. Perhaps he did, since he then looked at me with a big smile and took both hands off of the arm and raised them above his head, almost to say, "Look, no hands!"

Today, he has figured out how to open the doors. Granted, they are lever handled door-knobs, but Grace was never really into trying to get into rooms. I wouldn't be surprised if Nate started climbing out of his crib soon. Then, I don't know what we'll do around here.