Some New Sayings and Preparing for Football Season...

So, I've been trying to post this for almost a week, but for some reason, blogger won't upload the video! I finally just uploaded it to youtube.com because I got too frustrated. Hope you enjoy!






Well, no one can accuse of us of not trying to give her good self-esteem! We're hoping that she'll have the cheer down by the first game. Now, I just have to see if her cheerleading outfit from last year still fits! Go dawgs!

Belly Pictures and Some Cute Ones of Elle

A few people have been asking how big my belly is now, so I figured I would post some pictures on here. I'm currently in my 28th week, and I definitely feel bigger than last time, but I'm sure I'm not the best judge.

And since I'm posting pictures, I wanted to post a few cute ones of Elle from the other night. She has been the pickiest eater recently and refuses to eat most of the foods she once loved. A couple of nights ago, we had chili, and I decided to try and see if she would eat it, fully expecting her to refuse. At first, she would rummage through and pick out only the black beans, but eventually she decided to dive in with two hands and thoroughly enjoyed her meal--here are a few pictures!

A Visit from Nana

As most of you already know, I was put on bed rest a few weeks ago. Luckily everything seems to be fine now, and I have been upgraded to decreased activity (meaning I can't exercise, walk for long periods, do vigorous cleaning, etc.) for the rest of the pregnancy, as long as I have no more symptoms of preterm labor! When I got put on bed rest, my mom really came through for me and booked the first flight she could to come help. It was soo nice to have her here! She helped organize and clean so many areas of my house and helped me get the baby clothes washed and put away, and I feel much better about being ready for this baby to arrive. I know Kyle didn't want her to leave!

Elle has been pretty shy about most of her relatives thus far, since she takes a while to warm up to people, and she doesn't see them very often, but this visit, she fell in love with Nana! I think part of it is that, since she is my mom and all, we do a lot of the same things with kids, and so Nana felt comfortable to her, and Elle had a blast singing, dancing, and creating with her Nana. One of my favorite memories from the visit was watching Elle dance in the mirror in my mom's room until 11 pm one night (she did NOT want to go to bed and loved entertaining Nana!). Elle cried when we dropped my mom off at the airport, and I'm sure she will be excited to see her next time. For days afterwards, Elle would say, "Bye, Nana," when we left the house, or try to hand invisible Nana a bean bag to join in a song. Even a few days ago, as we walked up the stairs to go to bed, she waved toward the guest room and said, "Night, night, Nana," and kept walking as if it was totally normal. She's too funny! I hope the Elle can develop this close relationship with all her grandparents!

Excitement

Elle has definitely become more of a daddy's girl recently. She cries a lot of times when he leaves or if we go somewhere without him, and she constantly asks where's he's at when he goes to work. She also gets really excited to see him in the morning (if he's working nights) or when he comes home from work in the evenings (if he's working days). She can be calmly playing or reading a book, and as soon as her daddy walks in the door, she starts running around and acting crazy. Here's a sample of what she does:




She gets pretty excited about other things too, including being around her friends. Last night, a number of her friends came over with their moms and Elle was soo happy! Someone commented that, "Wow, she's really intense," and I tend to agree; she just can't contain her excitement when she's really ecstatic about something. She kept chasing down her friends to give them hugs and running around shrieking with delight. This video is a few weeks old, but it will give you an idea of how crazy she can be sometimes!