Our girl is growin!

Whew, sorry its been a few weeks! Ella and I are trying hard to get on a schedule and it just takes a lot of time. Thank you so much to everyone who has given me advice, it has really helped a lot! It seems like as soon as I think we are getting on a good schedule, something changes. Its really frusturating right now but I know eventually it will get better. I really can't complain. On Tuesdays, I go to a breast feeding support group. There are about 40 women every week and everyone pretty much just sits around and talks about everything baby. Sleeping/scheduling is a big topic. After listening to the other women talk, I think I have it pretty good with Ella! Most of the babies there are wanting to eat every 2-3 hours at night still (and they are the same age as Ella). Ella at least will go about 5-6 hours between feedings at night and is pretty consistent with 3 hour apart feedings during the day. This week she has seemed to want to eat a little more frequently during the day so maybe she is going through a growth spurt. She sleeps really well at night (knock on wood). Usually after her last feeding, she goes down right away, or within 15 minutes or so and then is out for about 5 hours. She wakes up, I feed her and then she'll normally go right back down for another 2-3 hours or so. I really hope this trend continues! A few nights ago, Rusty took the overnight feeding so that I could sleep. I was really excited about it, but by the time I got up and pumped and then tried to get back asleep, I was awake about the same amount of time as I usually am with Ella! Oh well! Rusty has been so great with helping out. He's pretty much on baby duty from the time he gets home until her last feeding. Ella is just getting to be so much more fun every day. She smiles at us a lot (she's most happy right after she eats), and makes lots of cute cooing sounds and has even started laughing a little.

So, what did I write about before Ella came along? Funny how I can't remember :)
I'm starting to get pretty excited about the holiday season. I've already started my Christmas Shopping. Rusty and I are going to see the Tran-Siberian Orchestra on 12/22, I can't wait! I tried all last year to win tickets on the radio but never got through. This year, his mom and dad bought us tickets, yay! I'd also love to see Jim Brickman, A Christmas Carol at the IRT, and The Polar Express at IMAX but I doubt we'll be able to fit that all in and that's a lot of babysitters to have to get. Oh well, maybe next year :)

Here are a few pics from the past few weeks, including a few more from the photo shoot with Amber. Those are a few weeks old but I like them!

Ella gazing at her Daddy :)
Right after bath time