Grandma Susan's Birthday

The Family

Arabella and Grandma sharing a hug.

Arabella looking on with delight as Grandma opens the gifts she picked out for her.

Grandma and Arabella holding Grandma's
new squirrel tape dispenser.

Green Butterflies and Twittering Birds!

What Arabella wants you to know today:


Green butterfly. Butterfly likes to flap his wings. My teddy goes with my green butterfly. Play with the book - Elmo book. 






What Gretchen wants you to know today:


We have a twitter account know at @whatarabelladid. And I have no clue what I am doing!  Anyone who does know how to use Twitter HELP!  How can I get rid of skeevy followers (or can I)? And how do I see what other people have answered when people ask questions? It's so not Facebook.

Here's a cute random picture of Arabella thinking hard that I dressed up using Pixl-r-Matic - I already got the 411 from Arabella and I know what she was thinking hard about. But we want you to guess. So leave a comment what you think she's thinking and/or a funny caption!  Happy Monday!

Arabella 4th of July pic

Forgot to post this on Fourth of July!

Blast from the Past - Arabella's First (and only) TV Appearance

From February 2010 (Arabella about 3.5 months old) - Thank you Samantha Lowman for figuring out how to put this on Youtube.


The video is from when Arabella and I went to Herself Moms (www.herselfmoms.com) for postpartum sculpting class.  Herself Moms is a great resource run by the fabulous Julie Hurst for prenatal and new moms for breastfeeding support, prenatal massage and yoga, and classes.  We went to the location at Sierra College and Douglas right on the Roseville/Granite Bay border, but there's also another location in Downtown Sacramento at 1925 U Street. It was a great experience until Arabella was crawling age, and I met some cool moms and babies there - best of all Julie Magee and Arabella's BFF Allison!


Viewing Instructions: I highly recommend fast forwarding through the first 20 seconds, and then watch but with the sound off until 45 seconds in b/c the offsite reporters keep inanely interrupting Stephanie and inferring that the other offsite female anchor is pregnant - listen if you want, personally I think the way that it went down was possibly sexist and unquestioningly obnoxious. And I'm saying this as someone who is usually a big fan of Good Day Sacramento. (Also as a wannabe stage mom, I had to use a lot of self-control to keep myself from yelling "Shut up so she can talk about my baby!") - Stephanie had plopped down right next to us and asked Arabella's name right before the cameras rolled, so I was pretty sure we would get a shout-out!. They cut to Arabella at 24 seconds in and boy is she cute - and I'm saying that both as a average TV viewer and her doting mother. She literally gets about 15 seconds of fame and they say her name on TV.  From 1:45 -1:50 in is a peek of Julie Magee and Allison in the back!




Speaking of Julie Magee, she now runs these awesome Signing Time classes at Herself Moms which I highly recommend if you want to sign with your baby and/or toddler!  It is VERY hard to find baby signing instructors in the Roseville area (at least it was during Arabella's preverbal days in 2009/early 2010) and Julie is highly effective and very reasonably priced. Plus it's a great time to meet other caregivers and babies (I say caregiver instead of mom b/c I've also seen dads and grandparents at the classes - it's beneficial to everyone who cares for the baby to know what they are "saying" with their signs.)


I copied the following from http://www.herselfmoms.com/classes.html :

Signing Time Classes

Signing time is recommended for ages 2 months and up. Learn how to communicate by 
signing with your child on a wide variety of subjects. Your little one has a lot to tell you 
before they can speak! We will engage their 5 senses while making learning fun. With a little 
hands-on practice you can become spontaneous and natural with your signs. You will learn 
how to take advantage of key opportune moments throughout your child’s day and use them 
as natural learning moments!

For more information call Julie Magee @ 916-955-2144
Classes are ongoing; join anytime
Cost: 4 weeks $60.00  8 weeks $100  12 weeks $120.00

1: Natural Energy Park | 6 Future Playgrounds That Harness Kids’ Energy While They Play

1: Natural Energy Park | Future Playgrounds That Harness Kids’ Energy While They Play 

I don't have time to write anything but I thought this playground was super cool - and it creates energy! My favorite part is the Rainbow stair rail. There's some more cool playgrounds if you follow the link:

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680066/6-future-playgrounds-that-harness-kids-energy-while-they-play#1

First Tiltshift Photo try

View of the Alameda County Fair from the top of the Ferris Wheel - I used Tiltshift to make it look like a miniature

New Arabella Story - oh yeah, oh yeah

Arabella wrote this story by telling it to me in the car sentence by sentence, then making me stop after every sentence and read the whole thing back to her. So this story has been highly verified for accuracy by the author.

Kitten named Ariel lived in a castle. Her had knees. Her walk on the sidewalk. Talks to horsie. Grandma named the horsie named angel horsie. New princess named headband. Ariel can't let cat hurt the dog. Kitty kat say "ME-ow". Trees rush down the slide. Then purple bear talks to a horsie. Horsie, live in grandma's house. Then he get curious and he get in ferris wheel. You didn't crash in the teddy bear and him get in the trees, then him sit in him princess lap. Horsie doesn't tell my story to princess. Then horsie rushed down the slide. Then sit down on the slide on butt with them. Grandma susan get in shoes, gets princess drew. Then old lady put in the shoe. Now girl walked in the tunnel. You can't come. Oh yeah, me come over and talk to you. Oh yeah, oh yeah. The end