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 ;).