wonderful family :)

Wow, thanks everybody for the birthday greetings!

I have to say that I have the sweetest hubby ever :) He let me sleep in on my bday (always great with a 1year old!) and did that blog post as a surprise :) Then, because I had a big RS activity to attend that night (I'm on the planning committee, and I was accompanying all of the music), he baked a cake while I was gone. I completely wasn't expecting it :) THEN, today, his mom showed up out of the blue. ... we were doing glamorous things like collecting garbages and sweeping the floor (our floor seems to be always dirty with Gabby running around...) ... but she "popped by" with seemingly nothing else to do but to visit with us and play with Gabby, who she hadn't seen in awhile. Which was weird, because she's not the type to just "pop by" unannounced. But during her visit, Paul just happened to slide 2 tickets out to see the movie that I've been wanting to see for months but we just hadn't had the time to go... :) I was totally surprised, and it was so much fun! Gabby didn't seem too concerned about the fact that we were leaving during her dinner, and she was asleep by the time we got home. Fa. Bu. Lous!!! And the movie was really really fun! I totally want to read the books now :)

And of course, I have to post the latest Gabby-updates :) This little girl is hilarious!!! Some of her recent funnies:

~ Gabby is a cuddly girl. She loves it when you wrap her in a blanket and sit her down with a book or with a dolly. Or on your lap, all wrapped up together. This afternoon before her nap, she actually went to her room, got herself a blanket and dragged it into the living room, and climbed up on her chair with a dolly and covered both of them up all cozy.

~ Speaking of dollies, Gabby has started showing love to the dollies and stuffed animals. She likes to pass them to us to cuddle for about 3 seconds before she wants them back, and she gives them big hugs when we return the doll/stuffed animal to her. She also wants them for bedtime. Thankfully, she doesn't seem to have a favorite, and any doll or stuffy will do. Same with blankets - she doesn't care which one, she just needs one.

~ She likes to carry around a blanket, or her sleepsack, or even a sleeper. Yesterday, she emptied her diaper bag and found a white sleeper with flowers and butterflies, and carried it around with her all morning. She ended up in front of the big mirrors in our entryway, and started draping it over herself and admiring herself. At one point, she even wrapped it around her waist and jutted her hips forward to see better in the mirror. What a girlie-girl!!

~ She's figured out how to stack her stacking cups. We've delegated them to be bathtub toys now, since they're both fun AND useful there, and they can't get lost under the couches when they're bathtub toys. She's SO proud of herself whenever she puts one more cup on her tower. Too stinkin' cute.

~ Yesterday, she said her first non-person/imitation word. In the morning, we were reading a word-book together, and after the picture of "ball", and I read the word "ball", she also said "ball". That was a first. Later in the afternoon, she found her pink princess ball, walked around carrying it, and saying "balbalbalbalbal". Aside from that, so far she's said "mama" and "dada" and "uh oh" and "hi" and "gwamma" and "tay-oo" (thank you).

Anyway, that's all I can remember for now. We've rearranged our furniture so that our office spaces are blocked off, and so is the kitchen... but she has free access to all of the apartment now, more room to run around. She seems much happier for it, even though our apartment now looks... funny :)