I know I'm not the greatest at updating, but this is one time that I HAVE to update you about how awesome Ella is. She walked last weekend! Just 2 days after her 13 month birthday, Ella took 5 consecutive steps. I'll admit it, I bribed her with a tasty banana, but I'll do whatever it takes! Also, just 4 minutes ago, she took 4 consecutive steps toward me. Slowly but surely, she's walking! Yeah Ella Girl!

Ok, so it has been forever since I last updated. I've been so busy! Teaching, going to school, and taking care of a sweet baby girl is hard work!

Let me see, since I last updated so much has happened! Ella had her first birthday - woo hoo!! We had a huge party and everyone had a great time. You can see pics of the party in Ella's gallery. She received so many wonderful gifts, and we are so happy that so many people love her so much! We had about 25 people packed in our tiny house, not including 4 babies! Thanks to everyone who came - I can't say how much we appreciate all of you in Ella's life (and ours, of course).

We also got some family pictures made to commemorate Ella's first birthday. Poor Ella girl was not happy about getting her picture taken by a strange man, she cried most of the time. Luckily we were able to distract her long enough to get a few good pics out of the deal. I'll try to get those online ASAP.

Ella sort of walked for the first time, too! She is getting more and more brave about letting go of things to walk around. She took 1-3 steps on her own so far. After a couple of steps she freaks out, sits down, and usually starts to cry. She is so silly. The funniest thing is when she lets go of whatever she is using for balance, she grabs onto her chest. I don't know why...

Ella also went to the pediatric opthamologist about her right eye. For whatever reason, the pupil of her right eye is larger than that of her left. So, we had it checkd out and so far the doc can't find anything "wrong" with her. I guess no news is good news.