The Waiting Game

38 weeks 3 days

So I will be 39 weeks tomorrow.  Tomorrow is also the first day in May.  From what I can tell at this moment, I feel like I will definitely have a May baby.  :-)  Contractions have increased in both frequency and intensity.  But they taper off now and then telling me, "Now is not the time."  I try not to be disappointed and tell myself over and over that he will come on his own and at a good time for us both.  It is helping, along with Kevin reassuring me that all is fine and that I am progressing.  Which is true.  At my doctors appointment on Friday I was 3 cm dilated and 60% effaced (Kevin told me he heard her say 60% I didn't hear it so I didn't know that until last night).  She said that I am "more favorable" and that she hopes that she will see me before my next appointment. (Which is next Friday).  Time will tell.  No matter what I will have a beautiful baby boy in my arms in a week-ish time.  FOR SURE before mother's day.  There is still so much to do, but I also can't wait to meet his face.  I also can't wait to see my mom! We are definitely keeping our minds in the positive and pushing all fear aside.  In the meantime, let me tell you what we have been up to the last few weeks.

So I have been doing all sorts of things to try to help me progress.  I have made a bunch of spicy food.  I have made some "Labor Inducing" recipes found online such as general taos chicken and Labor cookies.  Both were tasty...except let me tell you.  The cookies were yummy like ginger bread cookies, but it contains Cayenne pepper which gives you a huge kick in the mouth afterwards.  I've eaten an entire batch (not at once).  I've had contractions, but no baby.  I also love my birth ball which is just a fitness ball that I call my birth ball.  Same thing really.  It is awesome.  Not only does it help relieve pregnancy discomforts when they arise, it is fun to sit Kaylee on top and bounce and roll her around.  HAHA  She also likes to roll it across the living room which I find entertaining.  We also have been taking walks.

Kaylee studying nature

Kaylee and I like to go to the apartment park sometimes which is both a blessing and a curse!  I have to REALLY watch what she picks up and make sure she doesn't stick it in her mouth.  Like for some reason, there are Popsicle sticks everywhere!  At least around the actual playground stuff.  I usually take her to the more grassy area and let her walk around or climb on and off the bench for 40 minutes.  Yea she wanted to do that once.  She took a great nap afterward.  Kevin and I also like to take nightly walks with Kaylee in the stroller so I can REALLY get moving.

Kaylee trying to touch my belly

Kaylee loves to sit on the "chairs"

We had a WONDERFUL weekend this last weekend.  We went to the zoo with our friends Josh and Kinsey.  They were already planning on going so we just asked if they wanted to come with us too.  It was great I got in a lot of walking and then we had lunch where Kevin had to park on the opposite side of the mall from Red Robin.  So more walking YAY!  Then a wondrous long nap for all 3 of us.  I like to get the naps in as I know they will be far too few very soon. 

Love my Kaylee hugs!

At JC Penny, Can you tell it is Derby Season?

Kaylee, where's your head?!

Kaylee has been so loving and funny lately.  Some loving stories, we decided to just go ahead and bring her to our appointment last Friday, and when Dr. Nett went to measure my belly and listen to the heartbeat Kaylee flipped out.  Dr. Nett said they are always so protective of their mamas.  :-)  Another sweet story was I think Saturday she tried to brush my hair.  I had done my hair with twisties as I call them and if she brushed them I would have to re-do it so I ducked and Kevin said, "Careful!" So she thought she had hurt me.  I told her I was fine that I was not hurt but her heart was already broken and she came to me crying with lots of hugs, kisses, and cuddles.  I just held her said that everything was ok, she did nothing wrong and that I was fine.  It is so sweet that she cares so much about me being in no pain.  I love her heart!

One funny story with Kaylee recently is about a week ago she unnecessarily woke up at like 6am.  So I got up and took her to our dark living room hoping she will sleep on my belly/shoulder until she was supposed to wake up.  Well right when I thought she might be a sleep baby Malcolm goes kicking away.  Kaylee lifts her head, looks at my belly with a concerned look and says, "Baby!!"  She then tries again to sleep and then he starts kicking her again, and she looks a little more annoyed and exclaims, "Baby!"  I knew that sleep would not be in our future until nap time.  It was funny how she reacted especially since she never reacted before when he kicked her. 

Never forget Pooh!

So we went down to Lexington the weekend of Thuder of Louisville because lets face it, Louisville is crazy with traffic and such around that time.  We wanted far away from it.  If you don't know what Thunder over Louisville is, let me tell you.  Thunder over Louisville is basically the kick off to Kentucky Derby season.  It involves an air show, lots of food stands, and then that night basically the biggest firework show ever.  Sounds fun right?  Yes it is pretty dang fun if you go in the early morn to reserve a spot, make a day out of it, maybe have some friends with you eat yummy food and don't mind driving over an hour to your home that would normally be like 15 min.  I've done it WAY back when before I moved here and I had a great time.  But between Kaylee and me being big and pregnant we weren't going to go and our only other options is to stay inside all weekend or go to Lexington.  So we planned a fun trip to the Lex. 

Anyway, so we had a great time and Sunday we packed up all our stuff checking and double checking all the rooms we had been in for our stuff.  Then we were off.  Back to Louisville we went.  We were almost home before we realized that neither one of us remembered packing Pooh Bear!  Now to you Pooh Bear may be just your average silly ol bear, but to Kaylee this was her one and only true love of a bear.  Her Aunt Claudia had given this bear to her as a baby in the womb.  We tried to trick her into holding her dolly at night and falling asleep seemed to be a breeze...until she woke up without him!!

 Yea this picture was taken after one of her naps.  When she woke up she kept exclaiming. "Uh Oh!!  Pooh!" and she would frantically look around thinking she had dropped him somewhere!  Poor girl!  When I got her up she cried on me for about 45 min. strait.  Then off and on for a bit after that.  Pooh HAD to be recovered.  Well when we had realized that we left him we called up "Nama and Campa" Sproul and they sent Pooh along with her jacket which we also left to the mission home with some missionaries on transfer.  So I was able to pick him up on Wednesday. 

What a change right?  I immediately had that song stuck in my head, "Reunited and it feels so good!"  I am so happy he is back in our home and in her arms!

Grandma Genie

Some of you probably know that I recently lost my grandma Genie about a week and a half ago.  We have known for awhile that this was going to happen.  I think it was about 2 years ago the doctors gave her a year to live.  She had some major issues with her lungs.  Well, she beat that but in the process of everything, she started having serious dementia.  This was really hard on all of us.  A lot of the time, I was Sally (my mom) and I think sometimes my aunt was Marcia (her sister who had passed away years back) and she just wasn't Grandma anymore.  We would see glimpses her and there.  I wasn't around when it got to it's worst.  But I still remember her as the happy grandma she was.  This time I am too pregnant to attend the services.  So it has been pretty hard on me.  It is nice that I also have Malcolm to look forward to.  He's keeping me happy.  But there are so many times that I randomly cry because I remember how she used to do high kicks in the front yard to wish us good bye, or how she would always give me a big hug when we arrived at their house.  She loved hearing me play piano.  She just loved having us around I think.  Now it is weird because she is not going to be there anymore.  Well, here are some pictures.

 This is my grandma is a little girl. 

 This is my grandma ready to go to California to be with my grandpa :-)

 My grandparents eloped in Yuma, AZ.  Their families were very excited.

 My grandma hadn't had children yet when this picture was taken.  She made these dolls for the neighborhood children.  It goes to show you were her heart was.  In the right place.  :-)

 She made this doll along with 2 other dolls for Kaylee when she was born.  She also made one for me when I was a little girl and I'm sure she made them for her kids.  :-)

 Above is my grandma with her daughters, my mom on the left and my Aunt Ruthie on the right.

 Grandma made me and Kaylee blankets.  Well she made mine in 1999 that would be 8th/9th grade.  She made Kaylee's when I was pregnant with Kaylee.  Mine is the red one and the blue one is Kaylee's.  Kaylee's is really big so that she can basically use it forever.

 Grandma even sewed on a note and the date.  Looks like it was 9th grade.  I love that blanket!  And yes that is my pregnant belly at the bottom of the picture.

This picture was taken in August 2011.  Grandma just LOVED Kaylee.  Who doesn't but it was nice that we were able to go over and take some pictures with her and Grandpa.  They build that gate for Kaylee too.  So that she could walk around and not fall off the cliff.  Isn't that sweet?  The funeral was this morning.  My family made sure to have it video taped for me.  I wrote an arrangement of the song, "He" for the services.  I actually just arranged the vocal parts.  I kept the accompaniment that came with the song my mom had.  I'm sure the services were just as beautiful as my grandpa's.  I got a text from my friend Joey telling me that my brother was so cute talking and my mom was hilarious.  That is true.  My mom is very funny and I'm sure has many funny stories of grandma.  I can tell that she is so sad about her mom.  I would be.  I love my parents SO much I told Kevin that they aren't allowed to die until they are like 100 years old and it should be peacefully in their sleep.  No one else die in 2012 ok?  This is too heartbreaking. 

(I wrote the above yesterday) I heard the services were beautiful and everyone had a great time considering the circumstances.  HERE is a link to her obituary with pictures and a video slide show of her life.  The slide show is VERY good and I highly recommend you watch it.  It is on the right hand side of the page.

Full Term

Can you believe it?  The end has come.  Well, almost.  I am 37 weeks 3 days pregnant.  I feel....very comfortable.  I am excited to see my boy, but there is room for him to grow.  I had a doctors appointment today, I have gained 2 pounds so 2 more pounds until I get to my pre-pregnancy weight.  I know, I'm lucky.  I am 2 cm dilated, and 60% effaced and so probably not in the next week.  But hopefully soon.  I talked to her today about how long I can keep him in before something has to be done to get him out (whether that is breaking my water and crossing our fingers or a repeat c-section) and she said that I can't go too far over due because of the increased risk of my uterus rupturing (ow!).  So we know it will be at most not long after May8th.  I'm ok with and April or May baby.  I think a May 5th baby would be awesome because of cinco de Mayo.  But I'm a nerd like that.  I've decided that if he is born in May at all he will be getting a cinco de Mayo first birthday party.  We make pretty dang good mexican food with homemade tortillas.  Anyway....

This is me taken yesterday at 37 weeks.  We went out and had Kaylee play outside.  Mainly walking around and picking up nature.  I feel the best while walking.  I could walk all day I think.  Well, I will keep you all updated.  This is a crazy time.  We still have so much to do and clean!

Something I haven't talked about

 I wrote this post probably about 2 1/2 years ago.  It was so hard to talk about that I never actually posted it.  I was thinking of my lost baby yesterday during a conversation at a baby shower and I wanted to make sure baby sproul made it to my blog.  Baby Sproul is always in my heart and he/she has made me appreciate my Kaylee and little Malcolm that much more.  I think that because of this experience in life, I have gained a better appreciation for what I have.  I complain less, and I get through tough times better.  With Kaylee I had the baby blues for at least the first month.  Losing baby sproul helped me remember that babies are miracles and to figure out what I needed to do to get rid of it.  I didn't have anything but the above picture to remember him/her by. (I always felt like it was a boy) Anyway, you can read on.  Like I said I wrote this a long time ago:


This post is dedicated to our Baby Sproul. That is what we call him or her. Kevin and I lost a baby by miscarriage on November 21, 2009. Although it is a hard thing to go through, and it will never leave our hearts, I wanted to share the good memories we have of the only time we had bonding the baby we never really got to meet.

When I found out I was pregnant I was SO excited! I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember. Knowing that Kevin was the daddy was even more special. Kevin and I didn't want to tell everyone too soon, but we knew that if something went wrong, we didn't want to go through it alone. So I made the appointment for the next Monday and spent some time making pretty cute cards for Kevin's and my parents on Friday. When we gave my parents and Kevin's parents the card there was so much excitement in the room. I remember my Dad in law mentioned this would be the third grandchild, and although that seems like a fact, it was an exciting fact. I got to then stay up with my family and talk about how I was doing and everything. I knew before I got the test results that this was going to be the month. I felt it. I didn't just feel a little pregnant but I just had that feeling like this was it. I started bonding with that little fetus before I even knew for sure it was there. I just remember smiling all the time. I loved Baby Sproul so much. I still do, and even though I don't know everything about what happens after the baby is gone, Baby Sproul is still in my heart and always will be .

These are thoughts that make me happy. Even if it is sad. These make me happy.

Happy Birthday Kevin

Kevin's birthday was Monday the 16th and it was a great day! I had been planning for his birthday for awhile and I thank God for giving me the energy and strength to carry out every plan.  First Kevin opened his card that I had bought in San Diego back in February.  (Video Below a must see in my opinion) I was excited to finally give it to him!  We then got dressed up and headed to Olive Garden with some of our gift cards!  The food was delicious and we got to bring home left overs for the next days lunch.  We then hit the grocery store and then to cold stone with Kevin's coupon he got from cold stone's email. 

We then headed home and put Kaylee to bed.  She had a great time telling daddy over and over "Happy Birthday!" along with a stranger here and there! It made us all laugh! Even today she welcomed daddy home by exclaiming, "Happy Birthday!"  It will be his birthday for awhile I guess!  At least she can say it to her little brother here soon.

After Kaylee was in bed we got out Kevin's present!  I had been looking at foot spas for months and finally asked for recommendations on facebook.  Kevin's best friends mom replied that she had one that we could have.  It had only been used once.  So Kevin and I decided that it was a double birthday present.  (Thanks Sandy!)  So I filled it up for him and put in my bath salts.  He soaked in that for awhile and then I rubbed on a foot scrub I had from bath and body works.  After that was soaked off, I put on some lotion!  All massage like.  I need to take some lessons from my sister.  I'm sure she could do a better job.  But he said he had a wonderful day!

The next day I made him a birthday cake!  It was a cinnamon bundt cake that I made from a recipe I got from my wonderful friend Amy!  I was nervous that it wouldn't be as delicious as hers, but it was as I remembered.  Tasty! Kevin loved it too! (Thanks Amy!)

Here are some pictures of the day.  I didn't take many. 

Yea that was it just the card.  LOL But here is a video of him opening this card and of Kaylee saying Happy Birthday.  Oh and she isn't supposed to have those fisheys.  She stole them from the diaper bag. Oh and I'm a dork...

Nursery Time!

That is right.  Kaylee Jayne Sproul will be 18 months tomorrow and because the nursery leaders are AWESOME they let us take her to nursery for the first time on Easter.  We were subbing for our friends The Jones in their primary class so this was a huge help!  She did great.  Kevin dropped her off by himself because she has been more attached to me lately.  She didn't realize she was staying and tried to follow daddy out the door but Paula, the nursery leader and awesome person, said "Kaylee, come to me!" and Kevin took that opportunity to jet out before she knew what was up. 

When we went to pick her up Paula told us that she did great.  She didn't want to put her hand anywhere near the finger pain, but she did leave with some artwork!  (Our first piece to display!) Kaylee was busy playing with bubbles with Katie and gave her a nice hug before she left.  She also got a goodie bag before she left.  :-)  In the parking lot we ran into the primary music lady Linda and she said that Kaylee did so good during music time.  She pulled a song out of the bucket and handed it to Linda and at the end of music time she ran up with all the big kids at the end to give her a hug!  YAY!  We love nursery!

 This is Kaylee giving Katie a big hug.  It is a bit blurry but it says it all.  Kaylee loves nursery!

Here is the piece of artwork Kaylee left with!  Not sure how much she actually did being one of the 2 who didn't want to touch the paint haha but it looks amazing and I think I want to keep it forever! Wouldn't you want to?

One wonderful thing that we think happened because of nursery is when we got home we immediately put Kaylee down for a nap. She slept for 2.5 hours!!!  This is a miracle ladies and gentleman!  I recently switched her to 1 nap and it is slowly getting better but it usually varies between 1-1 hr and 45 min.  Usually more like 1 hr 15 min.  So heck yes!  A nice sunday nap like that works for us!  I feel bad because since I have been pregnant, I haven't been able to go and tire her out as much as I want.  Nursery apparently does the trick!

Happy Easter!!!

Yesterday we had a wonderful Easter!  The Easter bunny cam e and delivered Kaylee a basket of goodies.  :-)  I think she loved it!  I will let you be the judge.  (Ignore my morning self in these pictures)

 This is her Easter Basket (I don't know why Blogger made it side ways the picture isn't originally like that)

 I love how she is puffing out her belly in this picture!!!

 She got a headband

 Which she promptly wanted on, along with her necklace (necky) and bracelet (bracey)

 She also got a bunch of books!  I love it when her book collection grows! (I just hope she stops biting them up soon!)

This is possibly my favorite picture of the day.  Captures the intense love she had for her Easter basket!  I am glad she liked it so much.  It was really fun watching her discover all her goodies.  We had her then say Thank you to the Easter bunny.  Then she went on to play with all her books with daddy while I made us all creamed eggs on toast an Easter Sproul tradition.  You melt 3 TBS butter in a pan add 3 TBS Flour and some salt and pepper.  Then you remove from heat and add 1 cup milk, you bring that back to boil and whisk until thick and bubbly and then add hard boiled eggs sliced up.  Then you put it on toast.  Sprinkle a little paprika.  YUM!  Yea I wasn't sure I was going to like it until I tried it for the first time and LOVED it.  Kaylee had it for the first time and loved it as well. 

We had Easter here in Louisville for a few reasons.  1-We just went to Lexington for Grandpa Don's birthday last weekend and 2-We were singing in the choir for Easter and I even accompanied a song for my wonderful friend Adrienne Feldmann at church.  We couldn't leave everyone hanging.  So we stayed. :-)

 Me and my princess ready to go to church

 Kaylee playing with her books with her Easter dress on!

 She didn't really want to smile.  But she really looked cute wearing her dress and her new jewelry that she got for Easter!  She REALLY wanted to wear her necklace and bracelet.

Anyway, It really worked out because we got to have the Feldmann's over for Easter dinner.  I wish I remembered to take any pictures of dinner and our friends.  I spaced it.  In my defense I got like 2.5 hours of sleep the night before.  But we had a lot of fun and yummy food.  Adrienne made these delicious what we will call Cinnamon Roll Carrots.  They were SO good!  Along with asparagus (yummy) and cupcakes (double yum).  I made a turkey breast, with gravy, mashed potatoes, and Kevin's grandma's rolls.  I basically made all the less healthy stuff!  It was all seriously tasty and made my tummy happy!  Kaylee loved it all too except she is still skeptical of asparagus.  But maybe she will warm up to it!

"Crack" Bread

So you know how pinterest is awesome?  So Kevin is also totally addicted to it as well.  We also actually make the things we pin on pinterest.  Especially food.  So here is one of Kevin's recent creations that he found on pinterest.

CRACK BREAD!

 So what you do is take sour dough bread (which we found by the bread bowls after a LOT of searching! You would have thought it would have been easy to find) Then he cut it all criss crossed like.  He stuck in the cheese and he topped with bacon

 He then melted butter and mixed it with a packet of ranch and drizzled it over the top of the entire thing.  YUM!

 Here is him in action! Probably drizzling away!

Finished product!  LOVE!  The recipe can be found HERE!

But let me tell you what we would have done different. First I think we would have put half the ranch mixture on first and then put the cheese and bacon on and top it with the rest of the ranch mixture.  We would have also kept it in the oven for just a bit longer.  (I think he took it out early because the cheese looked melted) the cheese wan't all the way melted so that was a little awkward.  Otherwise it was still delicious!

Spice up you life!

So I'm pretty much a serious Spice Girl's fan.  Yea they make me happy.  When I was growing up My sister and I would get together with our friends Annette and Monique Bresee and make up dances and basically try to be them.  I was ginger spice because my hair was closest to red out of all of us and she was my fav.  Monique was Posh because she looked so much like her, Claudia and Annette usually alternated between Baby and Sporty because they were both blond and SOMEONE had to be sporty.  Sometimes we would have our friend Stephanie play scary.  Ok, yea we are spice girls nerds...Guess who I am converting next?  hehe....



Yea this is our new activity and it gives us both exercise.  It is my new favorite Pandora station.  I love it! 

Kaylee lately

I can't even begin to tell you how smart Kaylee is.  She amazes me everyday.  Almost every word you ask her to say she will repeat.  Not always perfectly, but she is a pretty clear speaker.  She can also identify a lot of pictures.  Not just of people, but the other day she points to her shirt that has a flower on it and says "flower!"  I was very impressed. 

Some things she has been able to do lately are:
*Identify body parts: Head, Ears, Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Fingers, Belly Button (or Pee Kah), Toes, and bum
*Identify some animals by name and/or sound.  When she sees a monkey she goes "Oooo Oooo Oooo" and when she sees an elephant she kind of makes an elephant noise while putting her nose in the air.  When she sees a dog she goes, "Doggy Doggy! Woof!  Woof!" and for a cat she usually just goes," Neow Neow" even though she knows how to say kitty.  She knows duck and loves them.  She says "Pengy Pengy!" When she sees penguins.  Probably some other ones too.  She loves animals.  The zoo is so much more fun with her now!
*Kind of walk down and up stairs.  I don't like her practicing with the ones at our apartment because they are the kind with the space in between.  But Kevin had her practice at church and she is getting quite good.  She just needs to learn ONE step at a time, NOT TWO!  She is trying to give me a heart attack.
*One really sweet thing she has been doing lately is giving lots of hugs and kisses.  And if she can't give them to you (or her toy) immediately, she sends them by blowing kisses and/or making a hug motion and saying "hug hug"  It is absolutely WONDERFUL!

 Ok so this one is blurry, I was trying to get a picture of her in this cute outfit and she kept moving!!

 This is the best I got in this outfit I LOVE it!

 Kaylee LOVES her grandparents and she loves it when grandma Jayne comes to visit!  How cute is this picture!  Also how cute is Kaylee in that dress!

Don't mind the mess behind her.  But look at that cute face!  She is full of love.  Imagine that little face saying, "Kiss!  Hug hug!"  You can't help but let her love you!