Arabella Cuteness

For the grandparents... Here she is again. Laughing her head off!


And here is the link to my Youtube page... You can check out the other videos of her (laughing, mostly ;-) www.youtube.com/user/geminiprincess77

She's got a Ticket to Ride

It's official; Arabella has dual-citizenship! We just got her Spanish passport today (her American passport arrived a few weeks ago). What a lucky girl! Now she can travel all over the world (including Cuba :-)) and can live and work anywhere in the European Union or The United States. I'm so jealous. Well, wait! I guess I have the same privileges now, except the Cuba part.

I hope she takes advantage of the endless opportunities. I can't even express how much I've learned from living in a foreign country, trying to speak a foreign language. It's been an invaluable experience.

While Arabella will obviously grow up speaking both Spanish and English, I truly hope she learns a third language at some point. How humbling it is to lose your ability to communicate - to try to express yourself using the simplest sentences you can put together, and to know you don't sound nearly as educated as you are. It makes you think twice about how you treat foreigners in your home country. It teaches you patience. It can make you completely uncomfortable and awkward, yet sometimes, if you really work hard, it gives you a feeling of complete satisfaction and accomplishment.

Here is a fun little video I took of me working on my Spanish vowel sounds : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTxudEqUzAg For some reason, Bella thinks it's really funny. I feel better knowing that she thinks it's just as funny when Alex does it! Alex used to give me all kinds of hell because my Spanish vowel sounds were too American-sounding. I hope I'm getting better!

She's SOOOOO Dangerous!

Bella's rolling over. You know that already. OLD NEWS. What you don't know is how seriously she is taking this rolling business. She keeps waking me up in the middle of the night with kicks to the face and ribs. She's practicing, you see. It doesn't really matter where she is, or who is in the way. Apparently every flat surface is fair game... she even tried rolling over in her stroller today.

Now we all know that along with rolling over comes rolling OFF. No, she's not done that yet (give me some credit, she's only been rolling over for a WEEK), but she is testing us. Today while changing her diaper in The Bohemian, she tried to roll right off the bench. What a little rascal!

Here is a video of me talking to her right after she tried to roll off the bench.

NOTE: I know, the end noises... DORKUS MALORKUS- But I SWEAR TO GOD she copied me today after I gave her some raspberries on her tummy. Seriously. Can you say "GENIUS baby"?

I'm a Steamroller Baby

She's a rolling fool, my girl! She has finally turned over from back to front. Last night she woke up at 2am to practice for about an hour.

In her custom embroidered Green Acre Designs Diaper

Here is a link to a video of her doing it this morning (the second time on a completely flat surface. The bed doesn't really count). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS9PlTsm-xE It's three minutes long, so may be a bit boring to some. There's also terrible interference toward the end, so I'm going to say it again: "Sorry about the quality". Oh, and you may need to pause it to let it "buffer" (let the faded pink line underneath reach the end). It seemed to take forever when I watched it. (sigh) C'mon, Technology, can't we just get along?

¡A la Playa!

We went to the beach yesterday evening with our friends, Bradford and Bea and their daughters, Julia and Anna. It was the first time Arabella touched sand. She seemed more interested in Anna's toys, though.

Since she's still too young for sunscreen, we were careful to go when the sun's bite wasn't as strong. We call Bella our "vampire child" since the bright sunlight makes her writher and squirm (I think she is truly meant to grow up in Seattle). At 6:30, however, it was still in the low 80's, so we spent our short visit there under a nice big beach umbrella while Julia ran around kicking up sand and causing the men to worry about their nice, clean cars.

After about 30 minutes beach time, we treated outselves to horchatas and made it home in time for a Alex to read a bedtime story.

All in all it was a nice, relaxing Sunday afternoon in Valencia.

What an Onlooker Sees

I've been waiting all week long for something interesting to happen, which would, in turn, give me a good story to post. Well… Still waiting... When I got to thinking, however, I realized that plenty has happened, just not to me.

I'm just going to give you a quick recap of the week through the eyes of an onlooker....Geoffy and some of his friends started a web series! It's called "Casanovas" and it's HILARIOUS! You can view it by following this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyPeptZd38w For those of you who don't know, my brother is a producer/director/writer/actor... I suppose a little bit of all down in Los Angeles. He and his buddies come up with some pretty funny stuff. Check it out. (p.s. I hope it's ok, Geoff, that I posted this pic here without permission) Arabella has entered into the "Try to Fit EVERYTHING in My Mouth" stage. She's also drooling non-stop. Guess those teeth are starting to push up. She made a new friend this week too (courtesy of Aunt Tammy)! Her name is Penélope and she's a bunny. The poor thing now constantly has wet ears.
On a sad note, one of my friends suffered a miscarriage this past week. This is now the THIRD friend of mine who’s suffered a miscarriage in the past six months. I too went through the same experience before I got pregnant with Arabella, and I know how difficult it can be. If one of your friends goes through this, make sure to give her plenty of extra squeezes, and just be there if she needs you. Even if she says she's fine - be there. It's a lot harder to go through than it seems.

Lastly, staying true to the onlooker I've been, I secretly (and very poorly, I might add) videotaped Arabella listening to Alex singing his version of "Boom Boom Ain't it Great to be Crazy": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj9OeP_I6jI. She LOVES this song (the original AND Alex's version). “AT LAST! MWUAH HA HA! BEHOLD the key to smiling for the camera and cranky moments!!!” It's true that we probably are a real sight as we walk down the street bobbing our heads and making overly animated faces as we sing. Whatever. Gotta abide by to the song.