Alex wiggled around enough on the changing table that he crawled right off of the changing part and ended up with all of the diapers. He thought it was a great adventure.
Last weekend we had several Christmas parties. The first one was with our multiples group. Lots of twins and triplets everywhere. Before we were ready to party we had to fuel up. 
Mommy and Alex (he's eyeing the cookies and can barely contain himself)
Miss Helen
The Bouncy House was fascinating. We were not big enough to be get in but we loved watching all the other kids jump around.
Feeling it bounce around was pretty exciting too
Are you my mother?
Picture with Santa - even this went well, although notice that I am still holding Helen
Sunday was the Cauley Family Christmas at our house. Ella instantly made new friends.
Helen and Mommy with Alex and Christina behind us
Ella gets Uncle Jerry to walk around with her - she cannot get enough walking and will walk with anyone who can tolerate the aching back
Alex on a wonderfully warm day - we had to break out the short sleeves for the 80 degree weather!!
Queen Ella with her mantle of rings
Our new shirts to keep track of our birth order :)
Ella and Helen getting ready for Christmas
Alex loves to pull all of the books onto the floor
Happy Helen
Helen has decided that the fireplace is the new most interesting place - and her siblings are happy to follow suit
We tried spaghetti and loved it. Unfortunately Ella was one spaghetti covered mess. Good thing it was bath night!It has been really busy getting ready for Christmas. On top of the Cauley Christmas and our other party last weekend, we also had a neighborhood party. They had a horse drawn wagon going through the neighborhood. The kids did that too and loved it. The sides of the wagon were the perfect height for them to stand there and look out. Helen was a little skeptical but Alex and Ella were smiling and laughing.
We now have lots of new tricks too. Helen and Ella can clap and wave bye-bye. Alex thinks he is clapping but he is really waving bye-bye. Every time I say "Yeah!!" when Helen waves bye-bye, Alex thinks saying "Yeah!!" means its time to wave. So while the girls are clapping when I cheer and say "Yeah!!", Alex starts waving. Too cute. And he's so serious when he does it - like he knows it is a test and he's looking at me to make sure he is doing it right. I don't have the heart to tell him he's got it backwards. At least he is not clapping when I say bye-bye!
The biggest news is that Ella took her first steps last night!! She's been cruising and walking around holding onto only one of my fingers but last night I moved a few feet away from her and held out my hands. I could tell she was a little nervous and hesitated, but then in pure Ella fashion, gave it her all and just went for it. She took a few steps and then fell into my arms. Then she repeated her trick again when Daddy came home. So exciting!! Helen is doing a great job of standing on her own so I suspect she will not be far behind but she's always been a little more cautious so I'm not sure how long. As soon as I can convince Alex that there's more food if he walks, I'm sure he will do it.
Last week I took Alex to the doctor because he was not always keeping his bottle down. Of course I diagnosed him with reflux and decided that he needed some medicine. The doctor did not agree. She said I was overfeeding him! So I've had to cut him back but what's a mother to do when the human eating machine drains his entire bottle and eats everything I put on his tray and STILL looks at me like "Where's the rest???" No doubt he is a healthy thriving boy!
This weekend we are going up to Georgia to visit Cecil's family then next week it is off to Ohio for Christmas. Say a prayer to the flying gods that these three kids are relatively well behaved on the plane :)
