A Very Busy April

April was a very busy month for Ella (and us)! Grandpa Marc and Grandma Linda came for a visit and Ella had an Easter egg hunt...which was probably more fun for Aaron and I than it was for her. Then we went to visit Grandpa Jim, Grandma Pat, Uncle Tom and Aunt Kelly in Florida. Ella had a lot of fun in the pool and getting spoiled by everyone. Ella also had her NICU reunion and we got to see some of the wonderful nurses who took care of her. And finally Grandpa Kevin and Grandma Debbie came for a visit! Trevor and Lyndsi it looks like it's your turn to visit...hint, hint :)

Ella's Easter Egg Hunt

Trip to Florida

NICU Reunion

Tara - Ella's amazing nurse who helped us give Ella a bath for the first time. You may remember her from Ella's white-knuckled pictures after it took us 45 minutes to give her a bath. Thank you Tara!!!

Visit from Grandpa Kevin & Grandma Debbie

Ella went into my closet and pulled down this purse and then put it on her shoulder and carried it around with her...Aaron is very scared :)

She's a walker...

Ella has been a full-time walker for the past few weeks...which is probably why we haven't had time to post anything new. We're tired! She is very busy running around the house and harassing poor Desmond (the dog). Here are some recent pictures. It was beautiful here last weekend and Aaron was off the entire time, so we went to the museum and Ella loved the animals!

A few more pics and videos (almost walking...)

Happy 2010!!!

We hope everyone enjoyed the holidays :) After a lot of requests/harassment and a few technical difficulties (Andrea's user error), we have finally updated the blog! We didn't realize how many people check for updates until we fell behind in our posts; thanks for keeping up with Ella!

A lot has happened since Ella's birthday. She had her last planned surgery in November and we hope it's the last one, at least for a very long time! She took longer to recover from this surgery and got very sick as a result, but she's doing great now.

Ella got to celebrate Halloween with all of her buddies from playgroup...she was a bee. Unfortunately we weren't able to join the family in Florida for Thanksgiving, but we had a house full of residents over for dinner who were also stuck at work like Aaron for the holiday. However, we did get to go to Michigan for Christmas this year! We celebrated with family in Royal Oak and then Grandpa and Grandma Burnell came to see us in NC right after Christmas...we missed Uncle Tom and Aunt Kelly, but we hope to see them soon.

Here are some recent pictures and we'll have some videos up soon, too.

Ella's 1st Birthday!

We can't believe that Ella turned 1 on Sunday! Mary and Betsy were our special guests in town to visit for the weekend and help us celebrate with Ella...they made it much more of a party! The huge banner you see in the pics is thanks to Betsy!

And since there have been quite a few complaints about the lack of posting lately, here are a few other recent pics...

Ella has been busy!

Here are some new pictures and videos of Ella. She is on the move all the time now which keeps us busy and tired. Ella has been cheering on the Wolverines and has even perfected her own "hike" pose. And we had a nice visit from Uncle Howard, Aunt Ellen, Rachel, and David!

I guess this is what Ella thought of the food we offered to her...

And here she is practicing the "hike" again...