Merry Christmas!!

Hi everyone!

We didn't send out Christmas cards again this year.  For obvious reasons.  We aren't bringing in much money these days.  I will note a few highlights from this year.  Not all of them are happy but a lot of good came out of the bad things.

Kaylee started NURSERY at church which she loves and I have only heard good reports!

 Two sad things.  Both my Grandpa and my Grandma on my mom's side passed away while I was pregnant with Malcolm.  Grandpa in January where I was able to go to San Diego for the funeral.  Grandma I believe in April where I was too pregnant to go.  I already miss them a lot.  When I went to my Aunt's for Christmas I was thinking, "I wonder if Grandma and Grandpa are already here"  Then I remembered that that weren't going to be there.

HAPPY MOMENT! Malcolm Brent Sproul was born 5-7-2012!  He was/is the best baby!  Good Sleeper, layed back, and very happy!

He was blessed July 1st where a bunch of family came out to celebrate my little man!

Sad/happy- Kevin found out July 5 that his job was being eliminated and after reviewing and praying about our options we decided to move to my home town in San Diego.

 Kaylee turned 2!  I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

 We traveled to Utah because Allen became a bish and Britany became a bishop's wife!  Woah!

Halloween trick or treating with Aunt Claudia!  First time we trick or treated in our neiborhood!

I don't have a picture for this but Kevin and I started working with Staump Studios and I have 2 piano students set up for January 2nd!  YAY!

After MANY hours studying, Kevin took all 4 CPA tests and passed 3 of them the first time.  He will retake FAR at the end of January/beginning of February and hopfully be a CPA soon!  SO proud of Kevin and all he does to get us back on our feet!!

Oh and Dec 22 My little brother Charlie married his love Andrea!  It was a great day and a beautiful wedding. Congrats guys!

Also something I have been dreaming forever about is Claudia got engaged to a WONDERFUL man Julio Leon December 23!  I can't wait to help her plan!!  We love this couple and I am overjoyed that Julio will be joining our family!



This year has been crazy, but we feel blessed for family able to help us through this time and for the blessing we have.  Thank you all for your love and may 2012 bring you happiness, health, and success!

Still loving it

 So we are still loving it here.  It has been really nice living with my parents.  The amount of gratitude just grows as time goes by without a call about a job.  I wanted to share these pictures of Kaylee as I love her cute face!  It is funny how pictures of her become a little more blurry as she becomes more active.  She loves to move.  :-)

 We took these picture mainly for a Christmas present for my dad.  But they are fun to have and to share!  I think we were sneaky enough and I hope he likes his gift. :-)

I love both of these pictures!  I'm glad that we all get along so well.  We love you mom and dad!!

7 months~Malcolm

I started this post a few days after he turned 7 months but I was having problems with pictures not going where I wanted and such so now I am attempting again.

 So our little guy is now 7 months old!  He is healthy and happy.  Still no check up. One of the most exciting things that has happened is just a few days shy of 7 months he got his first tooth!  I didn't notice it until the day after he got his tooth.  But he got one! 

I love the above picture!!  He lightens up my life!  He is scooting all around and I feel like he will bust out crawling at any moment.  He is very smiley and happy.  He sleeps really good.  Takes 2-3 naps a day and about 10+ hours at night.  He would probably sleep more if Kaylee didn't turn on the light and make a bunch of noise when she wakes up.  Grrrrr...  But kids are kids. 

I hope that we can get him a check up soon.  His thrush is pretty much gone.  I am very curious to see how he is growing and I want to get his shots updated (we have an appt with WIC soon to see if we can get help)

Enjoy these pictures!

6 Months!

Seriously?  Half a year has gone by?  It seems like May was yesterday and I was in the hospital having contraction after contraction, having a c-section and hearing the first cry of my cute little boy.  Malcolm is indeed 6 months old, it is surely November not May, and I am still so happy that my little guy is in my life.  Malcolm has rolled over, but has not been put in the catagory of "mobile" yet.  He doesn't even roll around yet.  He still sleeps happily on his back, he rolls side to side to get things and he can scoot.  He has crawled over the boppy before when I put him on his tummy on the boppy.  But he isn't actually crawling.  If I put him down I know that he will still be no more than inches from where I put him down.  Maybe he will be upside down or sidways from where I put him down but it will not be far away.  Maybe it is because Kaylee is so active and full of energy that he just enjoys watching or he knows that I may not be ready for that kind of crazy.  I don't know.  I think I am ready to see this little man crawl around.  It is just so weird because Kaylee was rolling and scooting everywhere by this age!  Just prooves that each baby is their own person.

Right now we don't have insurance because Kevin has not been able to get a job yet, but here is what I know.  I weighed him by weighing myself and then holding him and weighing us together.  He is now 15.5 pounds! When he was 4 months old he weighed 13 pounds 14 oz. So I am glad he is growing.  He STILL has thrush, which has a battle in and of itself.  He had a spot of his cheek at his 4 months appointment and he gave me Nystatin to give to him and an ointment for me.  It was supposed to go away within a week or two.  Well that came and gone and he still had it and it looked bigger and I called and they just refilled he prescription.  It just kept getting bigger.  I then did my own research because of course at this point I have no insurance, Nystatin works 60% of the time.  They put sugar in the infant drops to make it palatable for babies to swallow.  But yeast likes sugar.  Sugar makes yeast grow.  Anyone who cooks with yeast can tell you that is true.  It probably isn't the same thing but it does act similarly.  So I looked up some home remedies to get me through until I find a doctor.  I have been using one cup water to one teaspoon baking soda.  I mix it until dissolved and I stick I Q-tip in it and rub it in his mouth.  It is almost gone.  There is still a line of it on both cheeks but it has decreased tremendously.  So I spent about $30 on that Nystatin stuff for him alone not counting my ointment and the home remedy which cost very little did the trick.  I have used it on myself as well since he has given it to me I think and I feel a lot better.  Not as much pain if any.  I still need to be more consistent which is hard with Kaylee running around getting into things. But I try.

Malcolm is really fun though.  He can say some consonants now.  Like "G"s and "D"s.  No dadas or mamas.  That battle is ongoing.  Although I do swear he said "mama" at a baby shower yesterday I doubt that is true. But it is fun to see what he does.  He is so happy.  He has the best as most addicting smiles.  He also will reach out for you to pick him up.  He loves being held and cuddled.  He also loves food.  He nurses well still.  He has also had Rice cereal, oatmeal (which is almost only what I actually give him), peas, apple sauce, butternut squash, and bananas. It is so fun to make baby food again!  I am so proud of that.  I only buy jars if we are traveling.  Otherwise he gets the homemade good stuff.  It took him 3 days to like peas but other than that he has loved everything else and eats all his peas now.  Just because they spit it out the first time doesn't mean you stop trying.  Keep trying adn they may just like it!

Well on to the next half of his first year.  6 more months until his first birthday, 6 more months of nursing, and 12 more months until he is in nursery!!!  YAY!

November so far

So we are having fun here in San Diego.  Well, we as in Kaylee, Malcolm and I.  Poor Kevin has been studying like a demon for his CPA exams.  Talking about the CPA exams, so far we know he has passed his first TWO tests!  Half way there!  He has already taken the 3rd test and will find out the results in another week or so.  He takes his 4th (hopefully final) test on November 30th and hopefully will find out all is passed beginning of December!  I'm SO proud of all the work he has done.  That will open so many doors for him. 

Anyway, here is some pictures I've taken.

It is SO nice to have a backyard!  My parents did a TON of work when they found out that we were moving in and it looks wonderful.  Kaylee loves playing outside with her toys and with our dog Carmen.

 Carmen is my dog that I bought in Yucca Valley, CA.  She has been basically adopted by my parents for the last 7 years but she remembers me and loves to have me pet her.  Kaylee loves to give her hugs and kisses and Carmen likes to give her kisses back.

 I got to go to the Science Center with my wonderful cousin Laura on the first Tuesday of the month and it was really fun.  This is Malcolm in front of the fountain in front of the science center.

 Kaylee eating a snack on a bench.

 I have rearranged their room many times but I think I have it right this time.  :-)  This is my mom spending some time with her grandbabies!

I had Kaylee show off her bed.  It isn't made right now.  I think she is pretending that she is sleeping. She is hilarious.  So yea that is a bit of whats going on here. 

Halloween 2012

 This year after much thought we had Halloween at my parents/our place.  It was really fun.  I will just caption the pictures.

 My mom was a pumpkin pi!  So clever!  She is a math teacher so she had fun sporting this at school and here at home.

Kaylee enjoying her chili and hot dogs

 

I made a jello brain!  I asked my mom to get gummy worms to drape out the bottom and she accidently got gummy bears which is hilarious and we used them anyway.  

We were going to make those sugatr

 

 This is the whole table.YUM!

Malcom was Mickey mouse.  I didn't like any I found at the store so we put this together and he is SO cute!

Aunt Claudia and out cheerleader Kaylee!  Go Cards!  haha  Claudia is a cat!

Grandma with a sleepy Malcolm

She got a lot of candy but she won't be eating it unless she does a good deed.  This girl is SUPER sensitive to sugar!

Oh and we were the "cool" parents going as "Ravers"  You can't see it really but we wore glow sticks ans Kevin played techno from his phone as we walked and he did some tricks with the glow sticks. (Late add: I found this one shows more of our awesomeness! Below)

The trick or treating gang!  I wish I got a picture of Claudia's boyfriend Julio.  He stayed behind and hung out with mom since he had surgery on his leg.  We had a great time!

Utah Trip

This last weekend we were able to go to Orem Utah to go see my brother in law Allen and his beautiful wife Britany and their cute boy Cameron.  Normally we wouldn't go take a trip while Kevin is still jobless and studying for tests, but we just had to go.  A week ago Allen texted Kevin telling him that he has just been giving the calling of Bishop!  Holy crap.  If you don't know what this means, let me try and explain this to you.  In our church (The Church of Jesus Christ fo Latter Day Saints) we aren't hired on or paid for the services we give to the church.  We are given callings by someone who has prayed and giving inspiration to give us these callings.  For example in my last ward, I was called as assistant librarian and Kevin was called as stake assistant financial clerk.  We were given these callings from our Bishop and the Bishop gets his callings from the Stake president.  So if you aren't of our faith, the bishop would possibly be a similar position as a minister?  Well there you go.  So it was a big deal.  For their whole family.  Being a bishops wife is no small task.  Especially for a pregnant wife with a one year old.  A one year old active boy that is!  But if anyone can do it, Britany can!  She is a strong lady and Allen will be a great bish.  

This was one of the reason we moved out west so we could actually make it out for some of these type of things.  I will tell you too that it was worth the trip!  We started our travels Thursday night approx 8:30pm and drove 10 hours through the night to Orem, UT.  Why?  Because we didn't have to stop to feed Kaylee, nurse/feed Malcolm, or feed ourselves.  We just stopped for gas and we snacked to keep us awake.  I pumped in the car using the outlet that the car provided. (Yay!) Malcolm slept great.  Kaylee only slept half the night but silently watched Winnie the pooh while awake.(Thank goodness for DVD in the car!) We all took pretty good naps when we got there!  Friday night we all went out for dinner at a chinese buffet.  Saturday we went to a corn maze/pumpkin patch/carnival type place.  It was awesome.  And the only thing I busted out my camera for.

 Uncle Chuck and Kaylee!!  My brother lives in Provo going to BYU and so he got to come and have fun with us.  It was actually his idea which is wonderful!

 Kaylee on one of her several trips down the tube slide!

 Grandma Sproul and Kaylee at the petting zoo!

 Kaylee petting a cow.

 Malcolm was such a good sport!  He took an extra nap making him eat an hour late and he didn't even care.

 Bishop Allen and his wonderful family!  I love this picture! Ok the top I took it before I said 1-2-3 and I love it.  The bottom one I gave them a cue. Both awesome.

 Britany and I braved the slide crowd where there was no one up there making sure that the big kids didn't crowd the little kids or that there was a line or that there was any sense of order.  We mom's had to go and make sure our little one's got their turn.  It was worth it.  Totally fun.  Of course one girl didn't make sure the slide was clear before sliding down and ran over Kaylee at the bottom of the slide. (Thanks to the parents of that girl who did nothing) But it really was fun.

 Britany and Cam ready to go down the slide.  She is really good with kids with all her teacher skills!  Jealous!

 Chucko and Andrea with us watching the pumpkins dropping off the crane!

 They dropped all of these into the pool that splashed out ducks and the duck that traveled the most won someone a free dinner.

 New one for me, nursing on a hay bail, the way they did it in the pioneer days I'm sure!  LOL

 Chucko and Andrea with my Kaylee girl! Below is Andrea and Malcolm.  It was fun to have them spend time with my kids.

 Look at that handsome fellow!  This is Kevin waiting in line to drop pumpkins, which we didn't end up being able to do because they took forever.

 Kaylee's first pony ride!  The pony's name is Bear.  She was all smiles the whole time and didn't even need my help.  Even though I wanted to hold her hand the whole time I resisted and she did great.  She held on to the sadle and was a total pro!

 See total pro!  I swear she smiled almost the whole time.  She got to go again with Kevin.  Semi funny story, there were 2 ponies and a 13 year old girl decided that it would be a great idea to ride a pony herself.  Keep in mind she wasn't the smallest 13 year old either she was tall and had a bit of chub on her. (As many do)  They actually let her on (fail) and the pony started bucking and trying to throw her off.  Needless to say the pony took a break ofter that.  I mean really, did she really think that was a good idea?  I mean apparently so.  And I guess someone needed to tell the staff it is ok to say no.  The pony's have feelings too ya know!

The whole group (above)  I had a lot of fun and if the kids didn't need to nap we could have spent all day there.  We didn't even touch the corn maze which Chucko and Andrea actually got to do except they got turned around.  Later that night we went to Britany's mom's house for dinner and singing Christmas songs (never too early) which was really fun!

Sunday we got to go and see Allen get called and ordained Bishop of his ward.  It was really cool seeing that happen and see everyone in anticipation seeing who the next bishop would be and me thinking (I know who it is nana nana boo boo).  That night we had a big Sproul family dinner at Aunt Nedra's which was fun.  I met some more of Kevin's family.  Made me happy! 

Monday I got to have a playdate with Anna Rich and her boys.  Anna is one of my Louisville friends that just moved to Orem just before we moved.  It was SO nice to see her!  We later drove through the night (again) back to San Diego. We came back tired and sick with colds, but it was worth the trip!  :-)