5 weeks old already!

Sorry no Ella updates in awhile! She has been changing a lot. She's definitely starting to look less like a newborn and more like a baby, if that makes any sense! She smiled at us for the first time last Sunday, at 4 weeks and 1 day old. Yay! It was so sweet. She actually smiled at Rusty first and then at me about an hour later. Since then, she's smiled at us a few more times but the smiles are still few and far between. Can't wait until they are more regular! I've been taking lots of pics to try and capture her sweet smile but no luck so far.

Things are getting a little better every day. Ella is a really good baby. She's going 3 hrs between feeding during the day and will go 5 hours at night. She's had a few fussy nights where she gets a little confused about it being night instead of day, but that's only happened a few times. She has a fussy time of day, usually from about 7-9. We had her 1 month dr. appointment this week. She weighs 8lbs 4oz, which is in the 29th %. We're still having some trouble with nursing and weight gain. She's taking about an hour at each feeding plus taking a supplement of pumped milk at 4-5 feedings per day. Its wearing me out! Eating is definitely our biggest challenge so far. Here is
Ella's 1 month picture:

Last Sunday Rusty and I took Ella to the orchard to take some pics. Unfortunately, it was super windy, kinda cold, and the orchard was really small and didn't have many good picture opts. But we did take a few...

Last Sunday was also Ella's first time to church! It was a lot of work to get her ready in time and coordinate her eating schedule. She did really well during the service until the last 20 minutes. She started getting really grunty so I took her out to the foyer. But it was fun to show her off and it was so nice to be back at church! We didn't get a family pic like I wanted but here is one of her getting strapped in her carseat. Notice how HUGE her tights are! None of her clothes fit her yet!

I can't believe Ella will be 5 weeks old on Saturday. The past 5 weeks have flown by. I feel like we have new triumphs and new challenges every day, but each day seems to be getting a little easier and more rewarding. I can't wait until Ella can start interacting with us more and more! I'm also really looking forward to the holidays with her!