6 Months Old!

 It feels a bit surreal to say that we now have a 6 month old now!  Here are her stats at 6 months:

Height 26.75 inches - 85th percentile
 Weight 18 lbs. 2 oz. - 90th percentile
Head circumference 17 inches - 75th percentile

{Fair warning, this post may be boring, but there are a lot of little things I wanted to document.}  I remember thinking when Ella was born that 6 months seemed so far away.  I also remember looking at other babies who were around 6 months old and thinking how big and grown up they looked compared to my little newborn peanut.  And now she is one of those big grown up babies and I'm realizing just how fast time is flying by.  I have loved every stage, but this is my favorite stage and I'm trying to hold on to every moment.  We are in such a good groove right now and I want time to stand still.  I fall more and more in love with Ella every day and am experiencing a new kind of love that I didn't know existed before having a baby.

Cody and I have recently talked about how different Ella is now than she was just a month or two ago.   If I'm honest I can say that the first 4 1/2 months of Ella's life were both the most rewarding times in our lives, and yet the most challenging.  We were blessed with this amazing little miracle, but I don't think we were prepared for just how challenging some of the first few moments would be.  Let's just say Ella is a strong-willed and spirited little girl who is determined to get what she wants :).  We were exhausted after sleepless nights and traveling during the month of January didn't help the sleeping situation.  We decided to do some intensive sleep training when Ella was around 5 months old as I was determined to have our girl sleeping through the night by the time I returned to work in early March.  While letting your baby "cry it out" was incredibly hard and isn't for everyone (remember when I said Ella was strong-willed? She cried for 2 1/2 hours the first night), it certainly was the best thing we could have done for her and for us.  I am proud to say that we now have a baby who sleeps around 11 hours every night!  She usually goes right to sleep without making a peep and goes down for a nap just as easily.  I didn't realize just how much getting a good night's sleep affected her and us.  She also naps great usually taking one 2-3 hour nap in the morning and one or two shorter naps in the afternoon/early evening. 

With Ella's personality starting to develop more and more, Cody and I have also talked about what words we would use to describe our daughter - "sweet, happy, strong-willed, and spunky" come to mind.  It'll be interesting to see if those characteristics will stick with her as she grows up, but it's fun to see her personality coming out as she is interacting more and more with us.  The ladies who watch Ella while I'm at work and some of the other moms in one of my play groups have described her as "mellow", "easy-going" and an "easy baby".  Again, not the words I would have used a few months ago ;), but I agree that those words describe her these days.  In new situations, Ella tends to sit quietly while observing and taking everything in with a cute little expression on her face.  After she warms up to new people and places, her squeals, babbles, and giggles come out.

Before returning to work, I was worried that the transition of Ella being at other people's houses a few days a week would affect her sleeping/napping schedule and that she wouldn't take a bottle (she boycotted taking a bottle from Cody for a few days).  However, she has done amazingly well being with Tricia, Jill, and her Grandma Howell - she takes great naps for them, eats like a champ, and sticks with her schedule.  It feels like she hasn't missed a beat.  I think the best part of mine and Cody's days are when we pick her up after work and see her face light up with her smiles and giggles.  I can honestly say that being away from her a few days a week makes me cherish our moments together even more and I'm grateful for that perspective.  I look forward to her snuggles, baby hugs, and slobbery kisses all day and it's so rewarding to get them in after a long day at work.  I'm loving my part time work schedule and am so happy that Ella has adapted so well to being with new people in new places.

She is just starting to sit up on her own.  She is still a bit of a weeble-wobble when sitting but prefers to sit or stand over laying on her back or tummy.  She can roll from her back to tummy and tummy to back.  She's constantly drooling, mostly because of all the spitting and blowing raspberries she does.  She's started making more and more definitive sounds - I'm proud to say that she said "mama" as clear as day one time :).  She loves eating almost anything she's given.  She LOVES rice cereal and the only fruit/veggie that she hasn't been a fan of is peas.  Can't say we blame her.  I think she takes after dad in the dislike of green vegetables.

Here are some pictures from the last month...

Sitting up on her own

Enjoying some new tastes

Our little princess

Love her smile!

 We can't resist a cute tutu

 6 months old!

 Her after bath hair...we can't wait for the curls to come!  Right now it doesn't stay curly when it dries but we're hoping to see some curls as she gets older :).

Playdate

I think I've mentioned on the blog before that the teachers at my school are known for having lots and lots of babies...I think we counted 11 pregnancies in the past 2 years out of a staff of about 40 teachers.  That's a big baby boom!  When I was pregnant, there were 3 other teachers who were pregnant at the same time as me and we all delivered babies between the beginning of September and end of October last year.  It's been so fun to now get together with the other moms and babies and watch them grow and play together.  They're now at the age where they're interacting with each other and are so funny to watch. 

Here are the babies sitting so nicely on the couch...in order from youngest to oldest from left to right: Tyler (born late Oct), Ella (born late Sept), Kaia and Cooper (born early Sept)

 However, I think we need to teach Ella some manners and to not beat up the other babies ;).  She may not be invited back to any more playdates.  

Cooper just wanted to check out her fancy shoes...

Which apparently she didn't like and decided to grab his cheek, leaving the poor guy in tears...

Next she gave Kaia the stink eye...

And then she went in for the grab...

 Followed by the bite...

Lord help us...I think we have our hands full :).

Transitions

The last few weeks have been full of transitions for the Lamens household.  The first of these major transitions involved Cody and me celebrating our 29th birthdays within the last two weeks.  We are excited and determined to enjoy our last year in our 20's before hitting the big "3-0"!  For Cody's birthday on February 18th, Ella and I brought him cupcakes at work, took him out to lunch, and enjoyed a relaxing dinner with friends. For my birthday just a few days ago, Cody surprised me by showing up at work (another major transition was returning to work which I'll get to next) with Ella and nothing could have been better than seeing my sweet girl (and husband!) at the end of a long day with first graders.  Cody also planned a surprise birthday dinner for me - he wouldn't tell me what we were doing that evening, but we ended up at the Spaghetti Factory and I was surprised to see our friends waiting for us there!  It was the perfect way to end the day with friends and a yummy meal complete with party hats and cupcakes (thanks Alison!).  I was bad about documenting our birthdays with photos this year but here are a few from my birthday dinner...

Ella, Nate and Sophie at dinner

My birthday cupcake!

Sophie sporting her party wear

Me and my hubby

As previously mentioned, I returned to work this past week after 5 months off.  I loved and cherished this time I had with Ella at home while on maternity leave.  We are in a good routine of things at home by now so it actually felt like the right time to return to work.  I had been mentally preparing for it for weeks, but when the time actually came, it was a lot harder than I expected.  I am only working part time (Thursdays, Fridays and every other Wednesday) and we are lucky to have fabulous people watching  Ella, so it really is an ideal situation.  Ella will be in very good hands - she will be spending Fridays with my mom, Thursdays with Jill (I had Jill's son Blake as a 1st and 2nd grader and he is now a 5th grader! We love their family and have stayed close with them since Blake was my student) and every other Wednesday with Tricia (Cody got to know Tricia and her darling family when he helped coach her son's football team).  We are so blessed to have these amazing women in our lives who want to spend time with our little peanut!  Saying good-bye to Ella the first morning was hard and I definitely shed a few tears, but I can honestly say that I am so busy at work I hardly have time to think about it and the day flies by.  It's certainly a big change being back with 22 six-year-olds a few days a week!  After the first two days in the classroom, I already have a horrible head cold...ugh.  I'm sure this transition will continue to get easier on me, but so far, it hasn't phased Ella and she seems to be doing great with the change.

Another fun transition that we experienced this last week was starting Ella on solid foods!  We've only started her on rice cereal so far, but she seems to be into it!  She made a few funny faces after the first few bites but overall seems to enjoy it - she is a girl who loves to eat!  

Such a big girl sitting up and ready to eat in her high chair!

First bite

Not too sure at first...

Ready for more!

Success!  Well sort of - I think more of it ended up on her face than in her mouth!

She has been loving eating and playing with her spoon - fruits and veggies are up next. 
Check out her cute bib ;).