The Pearl Family

Baby Pearl

2011-10-21T11:11:00.001-05:00

Baby Pearl is a girl!! Were beyond excited! :)

11 weeks

2011-08-27T12:08:00.003-05:00

*Well tomorrow I'll have completed 11 weeks! yay!
*My morning sickness has gotten a little better. It's not every morning now. And I've learned if I eat something "heavy" before bed that I don't get sick in the a.m.
*So far I fluctuate between up or down 1 lb!
*With Will at 11 weeks I was about in maternity clothes and I believe up 15ish lbs!
*I still fit in my jeans :)
*My next midwife appointment is On September 8th!
*My energy comes and goes. But mostly goes.
*I think I can feel my uterus just about my pelvic bone :)
*No strong cravings, I attempt to watch what I eat.
*My stomach sticks out...I know it's not baby, it's bloat and my body getting ready. But I wouldn't say I'm showing yet.

March 18th

2011-08-15T23:04:00.002-05:00

Our long awaited baby #2 is here!
Due around March 18th.
Dayzy and Chayse are excited and hoping for a girl.
William loves pointing to my belly...or anybody else's and saying 'Babeeee!"
I feel miserable and throw up almost every morning. (Hoping that's a good sign)
Today, Monday, I'm 9 weeks 1 day.
I feel like I'm already showing. My stomach has been sticking out since the end of week 7. It may be baby or it may just be bloating.
I gained 4lbs, but have since lost 2lbs.
My midwife put me on a strict diet because I'm "fluffy"
I walk 2 miles almost every day.
I eat 6 small meals a day and I'm constantly STARVING!
I refuse to gain 75 lbs with this baby like I did with Will.
Scott and I don't care what gender baby is at all. Some days I want a girl more and some days I want a boy because I already have everything.
William will be 2 1/2, Dayzy will be almost 9 and Chayse will be 7 when baby arrives.
As of now front runner name for baby if it's a girl is Charlotte Kay, no clue for a boy. We're open to any suggestions you folks have.
I can't help but still check how far along I would have been with last baby, but am so excited for this baby that the obsession doesn't make me sad.

Days gone by...

2011-08-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

Here I am once again. Waaaaaay behind on blogging. I promise one of these days I'll get back into it.
Well from my previous post you all know that I'm now the General Manager of the Pizza Ranch. I love it so far! I actually thought it was going to be this huge headache and a lot of work, and in fact its not. But ask me in a few months when things start to break, etc. haha.

School starts soon for Dayzy and Chayse. Dayzy is going into 3rd grade already, and Chayse is in first. It's nice at the kids' school that Chayse will always have the same teacher that Dayzy had. That way the teacher already knows the family. So if Will would go to their school some day he would have the same teachers as them. They claim to not want to go back, but I think they'll be excited when they do. They are getting bored at home and with each other fast these days.

Will is as cute as ever and every day his personality gets bigger. He's latest love is Angry Birds. He cries for my phone and even has a specific sound he makes when he sees any poster/game/icon. He loves Barney and his Nani's (Bananas) He's still a little guy weight and height size, but I'm to too worried and we go back to the doctor sometime in September.

We haven't been doing much this summer. On sunny days we swim at Lake MacBride. Other days we shop or stay home. We wanted to go on vacation but Scott and I both are working lots of hours, and never decided on a place to go. Oh well. There's always next year right?

I'll update new pictures sometime again soon. I realized my banner has pictures from 6+ months ago!

New Job!

2011-07-09T11:49:00.002-05:00

It's been a whirlwind of a few weeks here. My boss at the North Liberty Pizza Ranch came to me and said that out of the blue she was given an opportunity to move on to a different restaurant. She went through her interview process and told me that if she would get the job she would love for me to take over as General Manager.

I debated back and forth if I wanted all the responsibility and if I thought it was a right fit for me. I was planning on having another baby whenever the good Lord blessed me with one, and then was going to start looking for a career.

She was offered the job a mere 2 weeks or so after the opportunity for her arose. I set my demands and they were all accepted by the owner! So I took the job promotion at the Pizza Ranch. I'm so excited!

So now begins the training on the few things I don't know how to do. Did I saw how excited I am?! I love Pizza Ranch.

It's where I had my first job at 14.
It's where I met my husband.
It's where I've met amazing friends as workers and guests.
It's whats been feeding my belly for the last 12 years ;)

AHHHH!!!!

Blighted Ovum

2011-05-20T12:09:00.003-05:00

**I've debated about writing this post for a few days now. I'm really not all about broadcasting my personal business out there for all to read. But writing about it has helped me heal along the way, and my hope is that somehow someone will google and as a result get this post and that it will help them.**

Scott and I found out April 21st that I was pregnant! We were very excited! We had been trying for awhile now (around 6 months). William happened the first month we started trying!

I was tired, but had very few other symptoms. I thought I was lucky to have no morning sickness!
We had told a few people that we were expecting. I cut out my Diet Coke and started trying to eat a lot healthier! ( I don't want to gain another 75lbs with a pregnancy.) All was going well. We decided that after my first appointment we would tell people at work and the rest of the family. I would be 7 weeks and a few days. The baby's due date was December 29th. Which was perfect! It's when I roll into my 3rd year of work, so I could squish 2 weeks of vacation from the 2nd and 3rd year back to back to help with maternity leave. Not to mention, Scott already had met a lot of our deductible and the hospital this year, and the tax return in a few months would be nice!

The appointment was on Monday. Saturday I started spotting. I freaked out a little bit but it was minimal and stopped. Sunday it started up again. It was a lot more and I was clotting. But I had no cramps and I called the OB department. They said if it wasn't too much and I had no cramps that I wouldn't need to come in, and since I had my appointment tomorrow it would be ok if nothing changed. I was at work, and called someone in to cover me and left to go home and rest.

Monday the cramps started. I go in and explain that I'm almost positive I'm miscarrying. After checking my cervix it was open and they confirmed I was. They sent me to get an ultra sound to just double check and to make sure it wasn't an ectopic (outside of the uterus) pregnancy. It wasn't. It was a blighted Ovum. Meaning that when the cells split, the gestational sac and placenta developed, but no baby did. Hormones were released and that is why I got a positive pregnancy test. No baby was formed most likely because something didn't match up with the chromosomes. It's amazing how smart our bodies are!

I now had the options of continuing to miscarry at home, to take meds to help me with it, or to have a D&C. I was very uneducated on the subject. My Midwife was a little concerned at how much I was bleeding so I chose the D&C. They procedure happened the same day and only took about 30 mins start to finish! I highly recommend it. The pain was gone right after the procedure and I think it's helped me with the process of dealing with the whole situation (To have it done and not prolonged). I keep telling Scott that it's crazy a week ago I was pregnant, and none the wiser, and now I'm not pregnant and it's just weird!

So while Scott and I are sad, because the baby would have been at a good time for us, we know that God's timing will be better. Knowing that a baby never formed has helped me deal with the fact that I didn't lose a baby, but I did lose the thought of one. I go on knowing that if I carried this baby, that I would not be carrying the next baby, the one we hopefully will get to hold in our arms someday. I also am thankful for my Will, who has been climbing all over me as I'm trying to type this. That I was blessed with him. Hopefully in a few months we'll get to share good news of a baby joining the Pearl household! :) Thanks for reading. And a very special Thanks to those that supported Scott and I during this time. We appreciate it and you mean the world to us!

Tulip Time

2011-05-14T15:49:00.004-05:00

Well I apologize. I said I was back and then I didn't feel like I had anything interesting to blog about, so I haven't.

But we recently went to Tulip Time in Pella. The kids and I went down Sat morning and Scott joined us for in the evening after he got off work. Here's some pictures we took Sunday morning before heading back to IC.

St Patricks Day

2011-03-18T11:04:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, the kids, me, a few people from work, Sophia her son James, and Ariel plus a few more, and Dayzy and Chayse's Mom Chrystal and half brother Cyrus went to a St Patrick's Day Parade. We traveled to Cedar Rapids to watch the parade. It was fun, but not as good as Pella's tulip time or any 4th of July parade. But since the kids are on spring break it was nice to get out and do something.

I'm Back

2011-02-23T13:00:00.004-06:00

Well I've been a horrible blogger. Which I'm sorry about, for those of you who don't see my family on a regular basis, and for myself, because I use the blog to fill in Will's baby book.

We had a great holiday season. My parents came up to Solon and we helped Jane and Tom (Scott's mom) move into their new house on Thanksgiving day. My dad and I did some fun black Friday shopping and I went to work the next day for a 12 hour shift.

Christmas was fun, we spent time in Pella and bounced between all the family in the Iowa City area. I missed out on a few Christmas parties to work. Christmas Eve Chayse turned 6!

We brought the new year in celebrating Christmas in the afternoon at Jane's and then coming home and being extremely worn out. Scott and I stayed awake to watch the ball drop and headed to bed ourselves!

Scott spent a few days in the hospital (even the MICU for a stint) already this year for his diabetes. He went into DKA. We think the problem was he had a few sores on his hands and one on his forehead, which turned out to be strep, which proved to hard for his body to fight off on its own. Therefore everything spiraled.

Will's buddy turned 1! (That's my Manager from work and her son James)

So here it is Feb 23 already.

A few days ago I received my diploma in the mail from Calvin College! And withing 48 hours I had already received a call asking for a donation to Calvin. haha. So now the job hunt begins. I love Pizza Ranch, but I want a career with a bigger paycheck.

Halloween

2010-10-30T18:34:00.005-05:00

So I've been a terrible blogger... But here's some Halloween fun we've already done:

Carving Pumpkins

William digging in the fun

William helping Chayse

We put down a table cloth on the floor to help avoid a mess

My Pizza Ranch had a Halloween party so the kids dressed up to take part in the festivities!

Chayse as Darth Vader

Love this! Brotherly Love!

Diva Vampire...minus the fangs in this picture

Knight in Shinning Armor...

Our three kids!

Sunday they will head to their cousins house in Anamosa with Daddy and Grandma Janie to go trick or treating while I work :( But of course I'll reap the rewards and have lots of candy when I come home :)

Life

2010-10-04T22:18:00.003-05:00

I realize I haven't blogged for a while. Life's been busy. Have I mentioned that Scott puts in at least 60+ hours a week at Brueggers? I work around 30ish, taxi the kids around, and play with my wonderful baby. Oh and I'm finally finishing my degree, by taking an online class from Kirkwood Community College. So in December I'll have a Bachelors degree from Calvin College! It is seriously hard to do homework or read when a baby is around. He likes to thumb the pages of my book, steal my pens, rip paper out of my notebook. Needless to say, I've tried to do most of it while he's napping. :)

Here's a picture for those who haven't seen William for awhile.
William fell asleep playing on the couch. He must have gotten tired and cuddled up into the corner.

Kids do the Darndest Things

2010-09-24T23:32:00.002-05:00

William is so cute lately (not that he wasn't before...)
I just want to quit write down some of the stuff he's doing so I don't forget!

If you say "Hello Daddy, Hello Mommy" He'll hold his hand to his ear like he's talking on a cell phone. He also puts our phones to his ear, his play cell phone, and about anything else that resembles one!

The other day he grabbed the dvd remote and pointed it at the t.v. and pushed buttons...waiting for the t.v. to change channels.

He can now climb up on the couch. Either by grabby our legs and pulling himself up, or if there is a pillow in front of the couch he'll use that. He thinks he's big stuff when he gets up to the couch.

When any music plays, he shakes his little booty and dances.

The other night he slept for 6 hours straight! I was amazed and awoke in a frenzy when I realized it had been that long...but yup he was still breathing :) The next night he woke up after only a few hours.

He is trying to walk so much. He can do a few to 15 steps at a time!

The doctors said he isn't growing on the same curve he was before, so now we have to go back in a few months to just check up. So I've been trying to feed him a lot more than before. He eats a lot, and prefers to feed him self without using his hands, or having us feed him.

He now has 7 teeth. 3.25 top teeth...one is still barely poking through. He has 2 on the bottom, one of which is finally broken the gum but isn't completely up all the way. He is also getting a molar! It's on his top left. It's not his "fang" tooth, but next to that. He likes to bite cereal with his teeth.

I love him. He's the best baby ever!

William's First Birthday!

2010-09-12T21:03:00.003-05:00

I can't believe my baby is one already! The year has flown by!
Here are some pictures

Here is what Will is up to:

He has taken a few steps here and there

He has started waving bye bye

He is getting his 4 top teeth in, and looks like his 2nd bottom tooth is also poking through

He wears a 9 - 12 month

He fits in shoes 6 -12 months

He wears a size 4 diaper

He weighed 20 lbs 2 oz and was 28.5 inches at our last vitamin D

He eats baby food, lots of table food, and still nurses at night, around nap time, and before bed.

Hello Cupcake

2010-08-06T15:49:00.005-05:00

I just bought the book What's New Cupcake. It has a lot of great ideas. If you make it to William's first birthday party...you might just get a cupcake from this book. Anyway its the second book the authors have put out, the first was Hello Cupcake.
It's fun, but make sure you have plenty of time to mess around in the kitchen. I kid you not it's an almost all day venture! But fun none the less. The directions are super easy and nothing is hard at all. Dayzy helped out a lot with the Ducks!

Cupcake Mums

Duckies..chickens...whatever!

I almost love the ones that are just the ducks butts, but I don't think people would get it if I just had a tray full of those, and none with heads. I've also decided the eyes look a little creepy, but I live in a super super small town, and went to the local grocery store (Sam's market...yeah so small not even a chain!) so instead of picking up brown mini M&M's I went with chocolate chips.

I'm also being a really good girl, and bringing the extras to work, so I don't sit at home and eat them!

Tunnel of Love

2010-07-20T17:21:00.003-05:00

Sometimes You're Just that Tired

2010-07-16T00:14:00.003-05:00

Scott sent me this picture from his phone while I was at work tonight.
Poor guy was TIRED! He even has snacks all around him he probably dropped before falling asleep.

10 months & Summer

2010-07-13T12:38:00.003-05:00

My lovely William is 10 months already! The months are flying by, and soon I know he will no longer be a baby. But for now I will enjoy the moments.

Look at the cute gummy smile!

William now will stand by furniture, so I bought him a Walk n' Rider

Yes! That's finally a tooth popping through his gum. It's his lower left one! He has been amazingly good through out the process!

He has bruises all over his head. He loves to crawl and stand, which leads to many falls, or trying to crawl right into chairs.

In a crawling pose

Standing and playing with a toy

So some quick facts about entering month 10.

As you can see from the photos, William has mastered crawling, and even now pulls himself up on anything!

He wears a 6-9 or 9 month clothing. (he's a little guy)

He snugly fits into size 3 diapers, but has been transitioning into size 4

He eats a lot! He loves a variety of baby food, and baby cereal snacks

He still nurses throughout the day, and quite a few times at night

I often find him in his crib sitting up or standing up when he's ready to wake up

He's getting his first tooth! I put him to bed one night and noticed a slight fever. The next morning there was a hole in his gum and now a little tooth poking through!

He loves playing with balls, and anything that makes noise.

He's busy moving about the house and loves to get into the kitchen and attached bathroom. He likes to play with the boxes of pop cans, and anything else he can get his little hands on

If anyone has ice cream or a freeze pop, he's right at their side, begging for bites.

As summer is in full swing we try to go to the lake and swim, but recently we've had "cooler" days and lots of rain! So we spend the days inside.

This is Chayse playing on the computer, he is found here almost constantly throughout the day

Dayzy spends her time, if not on the computer, on the couch watching t.v.

4th of July

2010-07-06T12:16:00.009-05:00

We had a great 4th of July full of fun and family!

William and I started our day by going to the Coralville parade with Grandma Jane. Doug (Scott's step brother) and Kathy met up with us and so did cousins Sidney and Laura. Scott had to work, but got off early just in time to catch the last few minutes of the parade.

William eating snacks from Grandma before the parade.

Sidney, Laura, and William waiting for the Parade.

This clown made me laugh, he never smiled!

Uncle Sean driving the Quailty Care Truck!
Grandpa Tom
Grandpa Tom had to work, but sadly he went to a parade also. Tom is the one in the flight nurse uniform on the left hand side. He flew to Bellevue to help with the tragedy there. Here's the story.

In the afternoon my parents headed up from Pella. They brought along my aunt Mary and Grandma from Michigan! The last time we saw them was in November at William's baptism. We had a small grill out at our house and we even got Grandma Jane to come over! It was a lot of fun catching up. William of course decided to be crabby because he had not napped. He didn't want to because he knew a lot was going on and he did not want to miss out on the action! So I spent awhile trying to get him to sleep with no success.

If you've noticed the kids have matching outfits! Grandma Janice and Grandpa Pearl bought them for the kids. They were so cute!

Dayzy and I found leftover Halloween make up and put the eyeshadow on before we went to the fireworks at night.

This is our sassy photo :)

We ended the night going to the Coralville fireworks. The rain stopped long enough for the festivities and started up again after we got home. William did well, but he was tired so he cuddled a lot. Surprisingly he did not cry once at the noise. We we're very close to where they lit them off, a few times fireballs happened and we could feel the heat! We sat with the Pearl clan and had fun. When we got back to Solon all three kids were asleep and could barely get out of the car they were so tired. haha.

At least Once a Day

2010-06-30T12:26:00.001-05:00

This is a daily activity for William

Willbo

2010-06-29T10:50:00.002-05:00

So we just got done with William's 9 month check up at the doctors office. No shots today! woohoo!

I just wanted to jot down a few things on here, so I can always look them up later.

Today he weighed 19lb 5.7 oz. ( I use vitamin D study for the side info...if you're wondering) His height is 71.5 cm. His head is 47 cm.

So that weight puts him in the 25th percentile for his age. At birth he was in the 80th percentile.

His height puts him in the 40th percentile for his age.

His head is at almost 90th percentile. It's cool, he has a big brain. He'll be smart like his mommy :)

For his weight for length he's 50 percentile, so perfect.

9 Months

2010-06-15T23:35:00.002-05:00

He's officially been out of the womb longer than he was in!

William turned 9 months on June 12th!

We've had a busy month so far. We went to Utah as my last post states to welcome Henry into the world. Then on a last minute invite William and I went to the Pizza Ranch summer meetings in The Wisconsin Dells. My parents were already going to be there to baby sit my nephew Samuel (Jeremy and Hilary's son.) It was a lot of fun, and it was me and my manager Sophia, her brother Mic and her son James who is 5 months. William and James loved each other! William likes to pull hair though, and James didn't care at first, then realized it hurt.

Ok so back to the 9 months. Here are some fun facts:

- Height and Weight will come next week at his Vitamin D appointment. Which means after this next one, as far as they are concerned I could start William on Formula if I chose. I plan to keep breastfeeding to at least a year old. He will have one more appointment after this, in September!

- Still no teeth

-Wears a 6-9 months or 9 months

-Has a big head and certain shirts won't fit over his

- Wears a size 3 diaper, but Target brand runs small so he should be in their 4's

-Is so close to crawling! He has army crawled a few times, but still prefers rolling

-Tries to lift himself up on the couch, but only gets to his knees

-Has gone from laying down to sitting up on his own a few times

-Dada is heard a million times a day, more in sound than actually to Scott

-Loves to self feed, which is awesome with baby snacks, not with random cruddies from the floor

-Still nurses multiple times a day

-Doesn't sleep through the night yet, but usually only wakes 2 times and goes right back to sleep

-Likes to yell back when he hears other kids yelling, or laughs when someone else does

-Likes to "sing" along with radio in the car

-Is busy trying to pull cords and touch things (like the cable receiver) he's not supposed to

-Loves the lake and splashing in the water, in either some one's arms or his new floaty.

-Tries to drink the lake water by lapping it up like a dog

-Has the worlds cutest smile :)

-Cries when people leave the room even if it's into the kitchen that is connected

-Throws fits when something is taken away from him...a toy, cell phone, or remote

He quite certainly has a little personality of his own now. It's been amazing watching him grown and learn new things constantly. Overall he's an awesome little man!

Utah

2010-06-01T12:59:00.011-05:00

William and I just got back from a trip to Salt Lake City Utah. (ok well the area at least)
So I'll share our trip with pictures. We traveled along with my parents.

William and Grandma in Cabellas...doing the Western Theme

He did such a good job being in the car a lot this trip!

The first night we stopped over in Laramie, Wyoming. Which happens to be the place where a friend from grade school lives! Luckily I was face booking from my phone and she was paying attention! I haven't seen her since 3rd grade! Jenilee and her son Wesley walked over early in the morning to visit!

The view in the Looooong state of Wyoming...

It made Will bored... :)

We stopped in Little America, Wyoming on the 2nd day to eat lunch. William got a bread stick cracker.

Finally in Utah! We went to Costco where they had double carts. William is sitting with buddy and cousin Patrick! They were fast friends.

Patrick got a tent from Ikea and the kids loved it! Patrick was amazing at getting William to laugh!

A trip to Antelope Island

The whole reason we came! Henry Jon was born on May 26th to Patrick's parents Brandon and Wizzy!

Grandpa with his grandsons

My happy boy!

Over half way through the trip, and he was still doing well riding in his car seat a lot!

Patrick sleeping on the way back from meeting his new brother!

Look at that comb over!

Wizzy's mom, Chris gave William his first hair cut!

He did well, but wanted to see what she was doing with the scissors so he moved a lot. Even Keira(the dog) wanted to see what was going on!

All done!

Finished product! He looks good!

Trip to Olympic Park

Holding a torch in the Olympic Museum
Where the Nordic Skiers practice, they slide on plastic and jump into a pool! It was about 50 degrees this day

The view from the top of the real Nordic Jump. Very high up!

Trying to stay warm...at the top it was about 40 degrees

We had a ton of fun! But we're now glad to be home and back to Daddy, Dayzy, and Chayse. We do miss Patrick, his new little brother Henry, and Momma Wizzy and Daddy Brandon though!

8 months

2010-05-17T14:34:00.004-05:00

On the 12th Will turned the big 8 months! I've been meaning to blog about it, but kept forgetting or getting side tracked...darn facebook :)

* Weight: 19lbs 2 ounces Height: 26 7/8in
Here are some quick stats:

*Size 3 diapers

*Shirts anywhere from a 6 mo - 12 mo, same with pants.

*No teeth yet!
*Still only breast milk...none of that icky formula ;)

*Loves baby food bananas, tolerates apple sauce, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots

*Hates baby meat and Rice Cereal and the likes

*Rolls everywhere to get where he wants to be

*Almost ready to crawl...but not quite there

*Wakes up a couple of times during the night

*Takes two naps a day, around 10 and 2

*Falls asleep for bed anywhere from 6 - 9p.m.
*Loves baths, especially after a blow out, in the sink, and then splashes everywhere!

*Babbles a ton!

*Puts toys in his mouth and drops his hands...he's such a cute puppy ;)

*Belly laughs are the best! He is ticklish on his back.

*Loves playing with Big Brother Chayse and Big Sister Dayzy!

*Loves cellphones and cords or strings

This weekend William and I leave for Utah for a little over a week! We're excited and I'm excited for William to see the mountains. We'll see how the 18ish hour car ride goes!!

Jean Diapers!

2010-05-17T10:13:00.004-05:00

Scott and I were walking thru Wal-Mart the other day and I found these in the middle of an aisle!
I thought they looked cute but was also like uhh seriously? But then I wanted them so we bought them. They are too cute! I like that they are Huggies. I've been reading some disconcerting stuff on Pampers lately. Granted its from a facebook group but it freaked me a little. So if Huggies holds in blowouts better, this household may be making a switch!

And here's my little model!

Dayzy's Early BDay!

2010-05-17T09:54:00.004-05:00

Miss Dayzy will turn 7 on May 26th! I will be in Utah for the arrival of my nephew Henry!
We decided to have an early birthday party for her, so last night Scott and I both had off from work so we celebrated!

Dayzy loves Justin Bieber and had asked for a Justin Bieber cake. We'll I'm far from being a great cake maker/ decorator. So I decided to do a Wedding cake for Dayzy and Justin. It was a lot harder than I thought. I baked two 9x13 cakes and figured I could just cut and stack them. I wanted it to be more square so I decided that I would cut the individual slices and it'd be more like building blocks. It was haaaard! The cake was higher in the middle and lower on the sides. It was hard to frost the cake when it wasn't a side piece. So this is what I came up with. She liked it! That's all that matters to me.

For her birthday she got both of Justin Bieber's CDs, earrings, a Disney Mix Stick, red glittery shoes, and a BoomBox!

She got to pick what she wanted for supper also. First she picked tacos, and I said that was fine and I needed to go to the store to pick up stuff, then she changed her mind and wanted PB & J. Scott vetoed the PB & J. So we went to the store and walked around and she picked out bread sticks and then after a little convincing she picked Lasagna! So we ate it, had the cake and then hung out and ending the night with a walk around Solon!

Tulip Time

2010-05-10T09:21:00.007-05:00

Another Tulip Time has come and gone! Its so different not being constantly busy during the 3 days. In high school between working in the church booth, to working at Pizza Ranch, and marching with the band, I ran around like crazy!

Now it was a lot more relaxed and still fun! Dayzy, Chayse, Will, and I rode down with Grandma Jane on Friday night in time to watch the night parade from the Opera House because it was FREEZING outside! Scott drove down that night after work (Last night hopefully ever at the Pizza Ranch! bittersweet for him.)

Saturday I helped Jane Dutch Dance to break the World Record for the most people dancing in one place in wooden shoes. I decided to dance last minute so Jane let me borrow some shoes. They were big...but better than the too small ones I had at home. Anyway we had to dance for 5 minutes! I was spent at like 1 minute, and then my pants ate my sponges so my shoes were a slippin and a slidin'! Ahh! But it was still a lot of fun! Plus we got Jane in Wooden Shoes...so next year when she wears a Dutch Costume...it won't be such a hard transition :)

Saturday during the day parade Dayzy, my mom, Will and I marched in the baby parade. Again it was coooold! William fell asleep at the beginning of the parade and stayed asleep the whole time! Dayzy lost her sponges in her wooden shoes right before the parade started so she stopped walking with us when we saw the family.

They might not have Dutch blood in them, but don't they make cute little Dutch kiddos?

We braved the cold and also went to the Saturday night parade. I really didn't eat that much Tulip Time food this year...nothing appealed to me. I ate stroopwaffles though, and they were delicious! We very much missed the Utah Heersink's at Tulip Time!

Choo Choo

2010-05-04T19:00:00.002-05:00

William got this train at Christmas from his Great Aunt Teri and Great Uncle George. It's for 9 months and up, so I just pulled it out yesterday and he loves it!

Check out the world's cutest smile at the very end!

Plants!

2010-05-04T17:24:00.004-05:00

Growing up my dad always had a garden, always had flower beds, always had potted flowers and plants inside and out. I've only had bamboo shoots.

So Scott and I decided we want some plants! Plus it should be fun with the kids to plant stuff and watch it grow and add some decoration to our deck!

So we headed to Lowe's and were looking for a Hibiscus tree, instead we found some cacti! We each picked out one! We then headed to Wal-mart and found the Hibiscus tree I wanted and bought clay pots to plant to re pot our cacti.

Scott working on his pot

Dayzy and Chayse just starting on their pots!
Yes that is stuff all over their face...don't worry I bought it at Halloween last year, its markers for skin. They love them and always draw on their faces!

My Hibiscus Tree! It has peach and pink flowers!

Will wanted to join the fun, and would not let us put him down. He was fed baby food and smeared it on his face!

(It looks like I'm pregnant...I'm not..still baby weight to be lost!)

A look Scott sees often!

From Left to Right
Mine, Scott's, Chayse's, and Dayzy's

Again our plants. Dayzy's isn't planted yet, she wants to add glitter to her pot yet so we'll do that before planting hers. I took a long time working on mine, in between the baby crying and kids needing baths and to go to bed. So eventually I gave up and just put a LOT of glitter on mine!

When it rains...it POURS

2010-04-27T22:59:00.002-05:00

Seriously our household has had an awesome past few days! Truly our prayers were answered!

I was getting worried about finances as our savings is slowly depleting:
THEN...

We unexpectedly got a check in the mail with most of our rent deposit from Mt. Pleasant!

I got a raise at work!

Scott officially got sent a letter offering him the job at Brueggers for what we wanted...hourly not salary, so options for even more money! Plus Bonuses!

God provides!

William had a Vitamin D for 7 months
- Height 26 5/8 inches
-Weight 18lbs 15 oz

So since last time he's gained 8 ounces and grown a 1/4 an inch. He's nursing or drinking less during the day, but eats a lot at night! Now he's more and more mobile and sideway scoots across the floor and rolls everywhere! That takes energy right? Plus he's blownout every morning for the past few days ..:) Scott gets those joys!

Today I was getting ready for work and couldn't find my work jeans. I frantically started looking in my bin of old clothes...as in pre pregnancy clothes, for another pair. I found a pair and tried them on...still too tight, then I found a pair that fit! WOOHOO! I'm down 65 pounds from the day I was induced...so obviously that's including baby and water and blood etc. Just 10 more pounds to go and some flab to tighten up and I'll be back to my old self!

Friday Nights

2010-04-23T19:24:00.009-05:00

We always have the kids (Dayzy and Chayse) on Friday nights, and usually Scott works. So it leaves me to entertain the kids! We had fun messing around with the camera! The weather was rainy, so after eating, and playing with the camera we finished the night with Up which Chayse and William fell asleep during!

Dayzy with my garder

I love sad baby pictures :)

Chayse's mouth, a self taken picture

Chayse, William, and I

Trying to get me, Dayzy, and William, but Chayse was focused on a sad baby picture.

William and me at the computer...Look I'm even on Blogger!

Just realized it looks like I'm flipping the camera off..I swear I'm not! Doesn't William look cute? He wouldn't let me put him down.

Dayzy pretending to be pregnant. Isn't her face precious? Her Mom is pregnant now, so for the last year plus, she's had a mom or step mom pregnant.

What was actually under that prego belly pic. Notice it from William's Halloween costume and his Easter pictures!

Chayse getting in on the prego fun!

My 3 kiddos takin' a silly picture!

My baby cakes playin in his circle of fun! This was right after a major poop blow out, where I had to give him a quick bath in the sink. I got my self covered in poo, him, and the sink!

I love Friday nights!

In other news thank you all for the prayers for Scott and finding a new job! We just found out that he will start working at Brueggers on May 10, and they are writing the draft for an offer! Verbally it was agreed on from the beginning that Scott would make what he did in Mt. Pleasant!

Easter...almost a month late...

2010-04-23T19:13:00.006-05:00

The kids and I decorated Easter eggs on Good Friday. It was a lot of fun, William was being good in the living room, and I was in the kitchen with the kids. Our new place has a counter with I guess bar seating, that opens up right to the living room. It was perfect!

Lucky 7...already?

2010-04-14T22:29:00.002-05:00

On the 12th William turned the big 7 months!

I don't have any stats because his next vitamin D appointment is at the end of the month and he doesn't have another doctor's visit until 9 months.

But he does roll like a mad man. He has figured out how to position his body and roll to get into whatever he sees. Lately he likes any cords he can get his sweet little chubby fingers on.

He still breastfeeds/ drinks only breast milk. He also is still on baby food veggies and fruits.

He is in size 3 diapers.

He wears a Large or 6-9 month or 9 month shirts. I bought him baby shorts in a 6-9 month size that fit him very well!

He is one sweaty baby. The AC in our car needs to be recharged and so it doesn't work at full power. In a 10 min car ride he'll be completely sweaty and have sweat soaked hair! I on the other hand will feel very comfortable. We even have a car that has a vent in the back part of the middle console so the backseat def. gets some air.

He is using his voice more and more and likes to scream and make little short sounds.

He laughs in a high pitched laugh, and now also more in a belly laugh...its the cutest thing ever!

No teeth yet! He's been drooling like a mad man since 3 months, but recently he seems to have stopped drooling as much. But he does like to use his spit to make spit bubbles and blow raspberries.

He loves to pull mommy's hair and Dayzy's hair, and touch and pinch anything he can get his hands on.

He flirts with anyone and everyone who will pay him any kind of attention.

In other news Scott interviewed last week in store at Bruegger's. Both the area and district managers were there. Now they are just waiting on results from a Background check and Financial check. They were hoping to get the results and make an offer by the end of the week as long as all goes well. So we're praying to hear something soon!

On the drive home from work tonight Scott told me to quick run outside and we totally saw a meteor in the sky! It was super bright and exciting!

Chayse has kindergarten round up tomorrow! Almost every day he asks when he will go to Dayzy's school and start kindergarten. He doesn't want to wait the whole summer and is ready to go now!

William

2010-03-31T20:12:00.007-05:00

So William weighed in at 18lbs 7 oz and was 26 3/8 inches long! His weight is in the 80th percentile and his height is like 50 percentile. At least he now does not need to get shots for another 6 months!

The doctor said he was such a good baby, and wished all babies were as good as him. When he went to look in his ears William didn't squirm or scream, when the doctor went to look in his mouth William opened it on his own for him. It was great! We really like this doctor. He's the one that circumcised William and he's seen him a few times when he was still teeny tiny. We even stumped him! He asked if we had any questions and so I asked when do babies grow knee caps, since they aren't born with them. He didn't know, and neither did the other doctor working! Ha!

We also asked about getting teeth, because William still has none. He said it's 2 by 6 and 6 by 2. This means that usually babies have 2 teeth by 6 months...and 6 teeth by 2 years. But it's completely normal for babies to start teething any time from 6 - 12 months. Plus I was talking to Grandma Janie (Scott's mom) and his sister didn't have teeth until about a year old, and I do believe that teething is hereditary as when they come in. As a nursing mom I'm kinda glad he has no teeth yet, because he sure does like to gum everything and that can hurt!

If you remember William was a monster for Halloween...
Well doesn't the body of the suit look a little bit like an egg? I think so. So while shopping this past weekend I also picked up a pair of a dollar bunny ears to put on William...and this is what happened...

Photos are Fun for everyone!

2010-03-28T20:55:00.008-05:00

William is busy trying baby food! I tried giving him baby turkey. He HATED it! We were at a resturant waiting for our food so I decided to feed him. He was sitting on my lap facing away from me. Scott said his face was priceless. Won't be getting turkey anytime soon.

I'm trying to get in the habit of taking more pictures, so here are a few.
William will always be a Cubs fan...he has no choice, its Scott's favorite team.
The new way William sleeps. This is a picture from our old place but look at the sweet baby butt.
A happy boy in his play thing. He likes to play with his pacifier, brings his fists to his face when he's happy, and likes to try to suck on his fingers and his pacifier!
Trying to suck on both his finger and his pacifier.

Fun after eating green beans!

Who doesn't look good in a green bean mustache?

6 months already!

2010-03-23T15:44:00.002-05:00

So it's been a busy few weeks.

On March 12th William turned 6 months! I cant' even believe it already. While I was pregnant 6 months crept by, and now that he's here it's been nothing but time a flyin'!

A few weeks ago I was reading something baby related and it said that you should allow your baby to be a "tripod" and let them try to sit on their own with out support. Obviously though, I watched him and was there to catch him. Anyway I set him on the floor and lo and behold he sat all by himself for like 15 seconds! I was amazed. He does tend to lean forward a lot while doing this, but sometimes he sits up pretty well too. It must be all those stomach crunches he does when he's lying down, and wants to sit up and waits for someone to prop him up!

I've started him on real baby food. So far he has had applesauce which is probably his least favorite. He's also had bananas, squash, and sweet potatoes. He eats half a container at a sitting. Its hit or miss when we give it to him so he's still nursing the majority of the time. He throws up rice cereal when Scott gives it to him, so I'm going to ask the doctor about it when we go at the end of the month, and maybe switch him out to something other than the rice version.

He laughs a lot, and loud and it's possibly the cutest thing ever! He smiles his big gummy smile a ton now too. Yup gummy...he has no teeth yet, and none are poking through, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't slobber and chew on anything his little fingers can bring to his mouth!

He wears size 3 diapers.

Clothing totally depends. I have 3-6 month pants that fit well, and 6 month pants that are too short, and 9 month pants that also fit well. Who knows. I do think he has a big head though, some shirts and onsies are hard to fit over his noggin'.

He really likes to be sang to and laughs and smiles when you make him dance to the song also.

Lately I think his time clock is all messed up. This daylight savings has had the opposite effect on him. He used to go to bed at 7 now he goes to bed at 6. Which means he's up at like 6 a.m. when I'm trying to sleep! He wakes to feed at least 3 times in the middle of the night, and doesn't eat much during the day with Scott. Oh well...it's less pumping for me to do and hassle with while at work.

I'll post stats after we go to the next doctor appointment. I think at his latest vitamin D he was just under 18lbs and was 25 and 5/8 inches long.

I'll take pics when I find my camera after unloading boxes.

I turned the big 25 on March 13! I worked the morning and came home to back up in Mt. Pleasant. My wonderful parents were there to help pack and even brought me out to supper! The next day a lot of family helped us pack and move to Solon, where we now live and love the 10 min drive to work as opposed to an hour drive!

Nothing else is new, we just need to finish unpacking and settle in, I'll eventually post pictures, I promise. We're waiting for Scott to start working at Brueggers, and I'm really settling into my job at the North Liberty Pizza Ranch!

Good News!

2010-03-04T19:12:00.002-06:00

So Scott pretty much has the job. What I mean by that is, he's met with the area manager quite a few times. This guy LOVES Scott. He's offered to pay Scott more than a general manager usually makes (but what Scott wanted) just to get him in the door. Finally Scott is being recognized for his amazing managerial talents! And they will have space for Scott in 4 - 6 weeks! Ok but he still does have to meet with the regional/district manager. Who Scott isn't worried about meeting, nor is the area manager. Scott will also meet before he officially starts, with the head marketing person for Bruegger's Bagels! Oh and instead of having to go to Minnesota for training, he can train in Cedar Rapids! Which is very nice, so I can continue working and don't have to take a big chunk of time off work!

GOD IS GOOD!!

We move into our new place really soon! March 14th. It's amazing how everything falls into place!
Now we just need to get rid of two black male neutered de-clawed cats! If you want them...Let us know ASAP!

Wednesday

2010-03-02T17:22:00.001-06:00

Wednesday at 11 a.m. Scott meets with the area manager from Brueggers Bagels.

Please pray with us that we will find out if they have a job opening for him!

Busy Boy

2010-02-24T20:21:00.005-06:00

For Christmas, from Santa, William got a Graco Baby Einstein Discover & Play Activity Center.

The only reason we got it was because at work certain food items have little tags on them that are from Food Service Rewards. I have been collecting them and entering their codes into the computer. Anyway it's actually really awesome, and you get free stuff with your points. It includes shipping also. We also got his Pack N' Play from there, a clock, and a birthday present for Dayzy. I would probably have never spent the $70 on it myself. Anyway to our surprise William LOVES it! The first time we put him in it, we had to lower it to the lowest setting and he teetered in it, from foot to foot, and didn't really know what to do.

Within a week he was a pro. His feet both touch the bottom, he does complete 360's. He plays with all the things on it! It's been a nice life saver to put him in it and quick do laundry or the dishes. (If he's on the floor he rolls too much and gets mad when hes stuck on his belly!)

As you can see there is quite a bit to play with on there! They are all pretty interactive, whether they bend or make noise or move. He loves it all!

If you look at the bottom right hand corner you see a blue, yellow, then red tower of shapes. They are cloth and move a little bit. The bottom blue one has tags on it, not really for playing but probably just saying something about it. I kid you not, I think William plays with those tags the most!

I especially hear him moving everything else a lot, then it'll get quite so I check on him. Sure enough he's focused on those little tags!

In other news the croup and RSV are pretty much cleared up. He still coughs occasionally but nothing like before!

RSV

2010-02-18T20:03:00.003-06:00

My poor little man has RSV now. :(
The Doctor told Scott ( I was at work so Scott took him to the dr. ) that William was the happiest little guy she's seen with RSV though.

It just means that he still has a respiratory infection. The same stuff is used to cure it as croup. He will still get his steroids, and the humidifier will help.

Scott didn't want to because Dayzy hated hers, but they offered a nebulizer. I wanted to get one if it helped William. So I picked one up after work and got the albuterol medicine to go in it. William was not fond of the little mask that covers his face. He cried most of the time. But I got a few good stretches with no coughing or fighting the mask. But I've noticed since then that he's been a little shaky after having it. I've heard and read a few things that say it can be a side effect. Don't go to www.medications.com the stuff they say is a little scary.

So I guess I really don't know if I want to give it to him again or not. I'm nervous and would obviously rather be more safe than sorry. As in stop doing it. But I really really want William to get better. What a pain, now is when I wish he could talk and let me know if it's too much for him or if it makes him not feel well.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T21:53:00.003-06:00

I have the worlds greatest husband.

So for Valentine's Day I really wanted a Bagolita.

They are very popular in the Iowa City Area and are spreading. I didn't realize how expensive they were though! Anyway the lady who creates them is from the Iowa City area. The headquarters are in North Liberty (where I work) I have driven by the store many times on deliveries. So I made sure to point it out to Scott many times! Anyway he had a sneaky plan to meet his mom there to pick out a purse for me. Well they went Saturday and it was closed. In all fairness I'm not even sure if this place sells them, or if you have to go to a purse party to get one.

So instead they headed to Gordman's and Scott picked out a purse for me all by himself! He knows I like them to be big with a zippered top. The flashier the better too! This is the Kathy Van Zeeland he came home with:I LOVE IT! Isn't it cute? His mom told me that he picked it out all by himself! He also bought me two pairs of cute earrings. :) Plus he has no clue about name brand anythings...let alone purses! PS this purse online is $110 he paid less than half of that price!

Ladies...I've trained him well :)

Ahhh Croup

2010-02-15T21:44:00.002-06:00

So a few days ago William started getting stuffy, and had a low fever. It was 99.0 and he usually runs 97.9. I figured it was a little cold. Then he started getting a nasty cough yesterday. It got worse and continued today.

I wanted Scott to call the on call doctor/nurse to ask if we should bring him in. Well that was such a mess but finally they found an opening and Scott took him in. He has croup. Basically the symptoms above happen before the coughing starts. It's like a bark coughing. William cries when he coughs and it just makes it worse. Poor guy. Anyway he will now take a steroid for 5 days and we also bought a humidifier for the bedroom. Hopefully this takes care of it!

Also update on the poop. A. My son has the smelliest farts ever, he gagged the whole car when it was Scott and the kids :) B. Scott asked at the appointment about the constipation. The nurse told him that babies sometimes go a week or two without pooping because their body is just absorbing everything. So unless it's 3 - 4 weeks, seems painful, or the baby starts to change colors everything is a - OK. C. Thanks for all the comments last post! I like to read what helps!

Ok next question. William is getting too big for his car seat. If and When did you upgrade to the next car seat and what did you get?

5 months

2010-02-13T20:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, February 12 my baby turned 5 months!

I totally can't even believe that! He's as cute as ever though!
Ok quick hi-lights on what he's up to now-

We have one of those circle play things that baby sits in the center and they can stand up and move and play with toys 36o degrees. William LOVES his! He smiles the most in it and really enjoys it. He does wear out fast in it though, and after 10mins he's done and starts crying.

He still rolls only to the left, but will do it as much as possible, and still gets mad when he ends up on his belly. But he does tolerate being on his belly longer now.

His last vitamin D appointment he was around 17 and half pounds, so I bet he is now at least 18. He's almost 26 inches long!

He wears size 3 diapers

He wears 6 months pants, and 6 or 6-9 month shirts and full body outfits.

He has yet to wear shoes. He's worn booties a few times, but those don't stay on long.

You know that sound you make when you fake a door creeping open? William does that really loud now...at all hours of the day and NIGHT!

He screams and laughs out loud.

He smiles and flirts with strangers

He goes to bed at around 7 p.m. he wakes to nurse around 11 pm, about 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. He will then not eat again until 10 ish a.m.

He is the most active and smiley in the morning right after waking up

He's still the baby love of my life :)

Ahhhh POOP

2010-02-13T20:12:00.002-06:00

Sorry Wizzy this blog really is about poop.

So William has always been a good pooper! Even so much that half the time he pushes so hard that itgoes straight up his back and soaks his clothes, and barely dirties his diaper. I'm not even joking when I say this probably happens about once a day.

Well I recently started him on rice cereal and since then he completely stopped pooping. I got a little worried around a week. I massaged his belly and gave him a bath and hoped something would happen! My mother in law suggested I use vaseline and a rectal themometer. I really didn't want to do it, so I was giving William one more night. I woke up to feed him before work and he just pooped everywhere! Lots and Lots of POOP! His poop was different than it used to be, it was thicker, but he seemed a lot happier, and his belly shrank back down!

Anyway I thought maybe the cereal had just made him constipated. Well it happened again! It was getting closer to the week mark. I had maybe fed him rice cereal 1 or twice that week. Again I massaged his belly and gave him a bath. Oh in the morning we also mixed prune juice and water...like 1.5 ounces. The latest doctor appointment said that he can start having juice. (whatever this will be the one time he gets it for now.) The prune juice did nothing. So I waited and woke him up at 11pm. Scott was mad because I fed him, and then massaged his belly more, and it was waking him up. But he then pooped a lot again! He even pooped on my hand as I was trying to switch out diapers.

Luckily though, He pooped today twice already! (it's been like 2 days since the previous poop) He even had a blow out and got his back and car seat while Scott was visiting me at Pizza Ranch. Haha :) Thanks Grandma Janie for changing that mess!

So William is still breastfed and given rice cereal every few days. He's not a huge fan of the rice cereal, but he doesn't hate it! Anyway to you Mom's out there...any advice or knowledge what may be happening with my poor little guy?

Sorry I know it's a little too much info. But I like reading blogs where the people talk about the crazy stuff, so I know that this stuff happens to everyone, and I like if I encounter the same problem that I can learn from what they did!

Love

2010-02-06T17:18:00.004-06:00

Update

2010-02-05T19:57:00.003-06:00

Ok Here's an update on our lives:

William now rolls over constantly. He hates being on his belly so when he rolls from back to belly, he proceeds to cry. I've been trying over the past few days to upload a video of him rolling, but Blogger is not uploading it!

At his latest Vitamin D study he weighed 17lbs 6 oz and was 25 and 5/8 inches long!

Scott is going to start working at my Pizza Ranch in North Liberty! This way we can leave Mt. Pleasant and move on! We've been hurt and disgusted by the owner there. Anyway this should only be temporary as he heard back from Brueggers Bagels that he will start there in late March or early April!

We are currently looking for a place to live in the Iowa City area! We need a 3 bedroom and frustratingly they are all almost 1000 a month or more (before utilities!!) We've found 2 that were a little less but they are both a little too small for us. So the hunt continues.

Dayzy is reading more and more every day. She'll watch t.v. or play computer games and I'm amazed at the words she knows!

Chayse is doing well and having fun at preschool and learning a lot. I'm afraid he's hit that weird boy stage where they think being rude is funny and farts are the most hilarious thing ever. (I know that it stays with them for awhile!)

Rice Cereal

2010-01-26T20:22:00.008-06:00

On Monday William had his 4 month doctor visit. Poor guy got his shots. He did better this time but still cried, and I still made Scott hold him. I nursed him before we left and then he fell asleep in the car. I then headed to work and Scott went to hang out at his Dad's house until Dayzy and Chayse got out of school.

That night William had a slight fever and was a little crabby, but over all good.

Oh my though, we had some crazy weather on the drive home. Seriously like the worst driving conditions Scott or I have ever seen. It was dark, and there were points when the wind was blowing the snow so bad that we had to pull over, because it was a complete white out (in the dark!) Then we came upon big flakes of snow also blowing like crazy. We saw many cars in the ditch, and even quite a few semis jack-knifed. It was crazy, but we made it home safe.

Ok so at the appointment I asked if I could start William on rice cereal. The doctor was weird about it and said I don't need to and kinda leaned away from it, but then I asked again to just clarify and he's like oh yeah you can a lot of parents do at 4 months. So whatever I fed him some tonight.

I mixed it super watery with breast milk. I waited for William to wake up from a nap and gave it to him. He wasn't very interested and pretended to choke on it! It's new so I'll try a few nights a week until he gets used to getting food from a spoon.

He also wasn't super interested because he took a big poop in the middle. So when he's working on a poop he's a bad eater weather it be bottle or breast, so spoon wouldn't be any different. He still is not feeling well from his shots also.

Yeah you can see how he leaned his head back and wasn't into it.

On the good side though awhile ago we bought a swing for William. He hated it! But yesterday and today we put him in it and he's actually enjoyed it, and he falls asleep in it! Woohoo!

Bridesmaid dress

2010-01-19T20:14:00.003-06:00

So I'm super excited to be in Sean and Dish's wedding (Scott's twin brother.)
It's October 15th in the St. Louis area.
Today I went with Dish to look at bridesmaids dresses. She had picked ones out with her girls in St. Louis and wanted me to see it, or to see if I wanted something else. We're both totally easy going and really don't "care" as in, whatever is cool.

So I want to match the other girls and I love the dresses! ahh! They are Plum which looks beautiful with my hair. And if you don't remember I had a baby 4 months ago, and I gained 75 lovely lbs. Yeah...my baby weighed a little over 8 lbs. Anyway the dress is very flattering even on my big o' belly!

I do plan on trying to lose 50 lbs by the wedding. That's 5 lbs a month for 10 months...totally doable right? I think so! Id be skinnier than I was at my own wedding! Woohoo.

Anyway here's a link to the dress...I think. It looks like the dress I tried on, but I'm not sure if it's the right number. Anyway its really close. Again it's the plum, and I'll either do a Plum belt thing, or Dish had mentioned doing the light Rose one.

And sorry no spoilers on Dish's dress. She can tell you what its like if you know her, or you'll have wait until October to see the pictures!

Splishin' Splashin'

2010-01-15T00:34:00.002-06:00

William now takes "big boy" baths.
As in I removed the little hammock thingy and now he gets to sit on a plasticy benchy seat. He LOVES it. Usually when he's crabby or fussy I can give him a bath and he calms down.

So I wanted to take a movie of how excited he gets, and how much he splashes around.

And fair warning my commentary is dumb, but oh well :)

4 Months!

2010-01-13T20:37:00.003-06:00

Yesterday William turned 4 months!

So when I was pregnant and when William was first born everybody said time will fly by. I secretly didn't believe them. But holy moly has it ever!

Here's some highlights:

At our latest Vitamin D appointment he weiged 16 lbs 9 oz. (Doubled his birth weight of 8lbs 4 oz!) He was 24.75 in.

He has rolled over from belly to back once for me.

When placed on his back he often rolls to his side and then is content to stay there.

He is a droolin like a mad man. I don't think I feel teeth, but he whimpers in pain a lot, and sucks on his hands constantly, and even has rosey cheeks. So I doubt it will be long, or the teeth are starting to set.

I'm very excited on the 25th at his doctor's appointment to ask about staring him on FOOD!

Still completely 100% breast milk (Scott feeds him from a bottle when I'm at work)

Laughs out loud and at Christmas found his voice and squeals in delight a lot!

He wears size 3 diapers. I like pampers, they are the softest. He does have a lot of blow outs...were amazed if we go a day with out one.

He is in 6 mo shirts. Pants I can still get him into 3-6 length wise. Pj's he's in 6-9 months. Socks are at least 6+ months.

He sits up supported. When lying down he tries very hard to lift himself up to sit up, especially while in his car seat, or at a more slanted holding position.

He loves to watch t.v. or to watch his big brother and sister play nearby.

He goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up at least 2 if not 3 times to nurse during the night.

He's still the cutest little guy around :)

How do they know?

2010-01-06T19:21:00.001-06:00

How Do they (babies) know...
to poop in the fresh clean diaper you just put on them.

to smile at the sound of your voice, to brighten your day.

to wake up abnormally early, and stay up, on one of mommy's days off when she could have slept in.

to be hungry right when mommy's food is done and nice and hot....(cold food isn't too bad now ;) )

to wake to fed every hour from 1 - 5 a.m., when mommy is finally deep asleep and has to wake up early.

to play fine on their own, until mommy leaves the room, then the crying starts.

to spit up on mommy's freshly changed clean shirt.

they are the world's greatest blessing and can get away with it all.

10 years

2009-12-31T22:47:00.002-06:00

So my sister in law did a blog post about the past ten years, and at the bottom asked what we have done in the past ten years. Reading hers was fun and interesting so I decided to do it myself.

2000: I was a Freshman/sophomore in High School. I worked at the Pizza Ranch. I spent New Year's in Florida because the high school marching band was marching in the Citrus Bowl (maybe the Orange bowl...I can't remember.) We took buses from Pella. It was a big deal, because it was fun, we brought in the new year at Epcot center and parents were freaking out that because it was 2000 that maybe gas pumps would stop working and we wouldn't be able to get home.

2001: I was a sophomore/junior in High School. I saw Utah for the first time when I went to my brother Brandon and his wife Wizzy's wedding. I played high school soccer and still worked at the Pizza Ranch in Pella.

2002: I was a junior/senior in high school. Still worked at Pizza Ranch. I spent the New year in California because my high school band marched in the Rose Bowl parade! It was a lot of fun, I even saw Eddie Murphy at Disney!

2003. I graduated from high school! I headed off to my first year at Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan. I had great friends, but didn't like college. So I went home after the first semester.

2004: I went back to college in the fall. After working at the Pizza Ranch and at a cafe I realized that I needed more in life! This time I had a lot of fun, I roomed with my best friend Bianca. I headed East to watch my brother Jeremy get married in Ohio.

2005: I was a sophomore/junior in college. I spent the fall semester in Honduras. I had a blast traveling around Latin America and learning Spanish!

2006: I was a junior/senior in college. I had a lot of fun just living life. I partied, I lived freely, I learned a lot in class. Life was good. I also met the man who would be my future husband in August. I worked with Pizza Ranch as a corporate Store Opener/Trainer. I helped with the Iowa City Pizza Ranch. There I met Mr. Scott Pearl, one of the assistant managers. We flirted, we hung out while I worked there for 2 weeks, then I went back to college. We continued to talk on the phone randomly and soon it developed into a relationship. I would try to visit him as much as possible.

2007: I "graduated" from Calvin. Well I at least walked across the stage and got my diploma holder. No diploma yet though. I'm 3 credits short, because of the semester I took off. I thought I would have to go back another semester, but wasn't going to do it for just 3 credits. I moved to Iowa City to live with Scott and another guy named Dave. I got a job as an assistant manager at Brueggers Bagels. In November we got engaged!

2008: In March a job opportunity opened up for Scott and me to be managers of a new Pizza Ranch in Mt. Pleasant Iowa. We accepted and Scott became the general manager and I was an assistant manager. So we packed up our stuff and moved, a month before the floods destroyed the house/apartment we were living in. On October 18 Scott and I got married!

2009: Jan 1st I found out I was pregnant! The year was busy with preparing for a baby, working at the Pizza Ranch and driving back and forth to Iowa City for Dayzy and Chayse. On September 12, 2009 William David was born and life has been great ever since! In November Scott was demoted at work for who knows what. So we are currently searching for new jobs in the Iowa City area.

We are very excited for what 2010 has in store for us! It's been a crazy last decade for me and as a couple it's been a whirlwind since 2006! We hope to find careers, not jobs soon, a place to call home, and open a new chapter in our life! We hope that 2010 treats you all well also!

Christmas X's a few

2009-12-30T21:20:00.007-06:00

Ok I know I already did a Christmas blog, but seriously we have sooooo many! But we love every one of them, and consider ourselves lucky to have so many people to share this time of the year with!

But I would like you to know that they are not easy to plan out.

We Have:
Grandma and Grandpa Heersink's
Grandma Roma Pearl's
Grandma Janey and Grandpa Tom Toycen's
Grandpa Jim and Grandma Janice
Our own personal Pearl Christmas

Plus on top of it, we share custody of the kids with Scott's ex, so we have to plan when we can have Dayzy and Chayse, work around work and everybody else's schedule! WHEW! But we manage to do it every year. Oh yeah and like I mentioned before Christmas Eve is Chayse's birthday so that day is always split between us and his Mom and Step Dad.

It's enough to tire one out....Just like it did to William, during presents time!

So It's a crazy fun few weeks around the holidays. At least this year we missed the crazy weather too. Thankful for us personally it wasn't bad getting to where we needed to go. Unlike my brothers ad their families who headed west and forged the snow!

Our Final Christmas at Grandpa Pearl's

Thanks to Grandma Janice for the new cute outfit...which was needed because William had a blow out in the outfit he wore there!

One last picture of William with Great Grandma Roma Pearl, she came to Grandpa Pearl's Christmas, which I'm sure she enjoyed because she got to hold William a lot! At her house Great Aunt Teri was in all her glory holding William, and even Daddy's cousin Lisa got to hold William for awhile...and during that time he managed to spit up and poop on her!

Birthdays!

2009-12-27T21:37:00.007-06:00

Happy Birthday Chayse!

Chayse turned the big 5 on December 24th! I met him when he was just a year and a half old. I can't even believe that he is already 5. Time sure does fly by.

So because the poor guy gets a birthday the day before Christmas I wanted to separate a time out for him to get a little party. He is in love with Monsters Vs. Aliens so he wanted that for a cake. He always likes to look at them at Wal-Mart. Well I'm not paying like 20 bucks for one of their cakes. So I decided I would attempt to make one myself. I think it turned out pretty well! It's B.O.B. Chayse really liked it!

Every party has it's pooper!

And of course the other amazing birthday celebrated is Jesus's! We went to Pella and had a lot of fun because both my brothers and their families were also there. I haven't seen Brandon and Wizzy for awhile and Patrick has grown so much! I see Jeremy and Hilary a little more, but still not often enough and their son Samuel has grown a foot I swear since I last saw him in August!

Ok So the major Christmas news we've had is a little funny and a little maddening.

So usually in the mornings I get up and go to work, Dayzy and Chayse are usually up watching t.v. while I'm getting ready. Scott stays in the bedroom for awhile taking care of William and sometimes he sleeps in a little longer. (the kids wake up at like 7 a.m.) Anyway they decided to open their Christmas presents either before I woke up, or while I was getting ready, or after I left for work. We didn't notice it all day long. I did look over at the tree and thought that it looked like there were less presents but thought nothing of it.

Scott and I didn't buy presents for each other, and only bought for the kids because money is a little tighter this year. So there weren't a ton under there to begin with. Anyway that night was fine the kids played in the living room and we had a normal evening at home. Chayse fell asleep watching a movie on the couch and so I let him sleep there and was going to have Scott move him when he got home from work. So I went to tuck Dayzy into bed and found a toy on the floor. It was a Bakugan toy. I was like, "huh...Dayzy is this from Mommy's? Because I swear we also got Chayse this toy." She just said uhhhh I don't know. I then saw the box/ plastic to it. Then I saw the wrapping paper. I asked if they had opened presents. She admitted it right away.

Come to find out that they had seriously opened almost all of their presents and all of Chayse's birthday presents! They hid them in their room, they also hid the wrapping paper in their room. That means they knew what they did was wrong. I told Dayzy that I'm taking them all away. And I searched their room for the presents and they had to find the rest the next day.

Ok so what do you do when this happens? I put this as my status on facebook. Most people laughed, many told us to re wrap them and give them back.

NOPE! Scott and I decided that they had to learn their lesson. So I took all the toys away that they opened, and even the ones they didn't open. If they had left it in a box it got returned. If it was opened I re gifted to my nephews, or sold some toys to a guy at work. They got nothing from us, no stockings either.

Amazingly they've been really good about it. They realize what they did was wrong, they didn't complain. Santa didn't bring them presents at my parents. (yup they woke up early to look) They asked where the presents from him were. My mom asked if they had been naughty and they said yes. Chayse lost out doubly because he opened birthday presents too! He got 1 movie that I hadn't wrapped that he hadn't opened. They saw my nephews get what they had opened and said oh I really liked that...but then walked away.

I know many years from now we'll laugh about this and probably bring it up every Christmas. But I was so mad! Half the fun is seeing the kids' faces when they open them. I wanted to see their reactions.

But on the plus side, Scott and I work opposite schedules and the time we do have off together has been spent going to family Christmas events. So we didn't know when we were going to do our family Christmas at home. Now we don't have one! :)

Swimming!

2009-12-14T22:29:00.005-06:00

Tonight we decided to go swimming as a 2nd year tradition for Chayse's family birthday party. The poor guy has his birthday on Christmas Eve. He's too young to realize he gets double presents at Christmas, and none the rest of the year. He'll get his presents and cake on his real birthday when we go to Pella to spend time with the family. So for his family party though we go to Fun City in Burlington, IA.

They have an indoor/outdoor waterpark. Obviously the outside is closed. So the inside is open with 2 slides for bigger kids and a pretty big play area for younger kids. It's only $3 a person and a lot of fun.

Tonight though it was not being manned, so I had to search for someone to ask what was going on, and to explain that the internet said it was open. So after the worker searched for awhile and found someone else that had no clue what was going on, they decided we could go in for FREE! But there was no life guard so we couldn't go on the big people slides. Which whatever, that's fine with me. So William got to go swimming for the first time!

He loves bath time so I was excited to see how he did in the water.

He did fine, but the water was a little bit colder than I would have liked it to be, so after 10 - 15 mins I took him out. Dayzy and Chayse had a lot of fun too, because they were the only kids there for most of the time. We put life jackets on them and Dayzy even swam around the whole pool! Chayse learned to trust Daddy and had fun "swimming" also.

It was fun and a great way to spend a random Monday night!

Snow Day & Santa

2009-12-09T21:06:00.009-06:00

So at Pizza Ranch Santa came to visit!
He was kinda awkward and I really like the Santa's that have real beards, not fake ones, but you gotta take what you can get.

Again Chayse did not want to sit on his lap. But he did stand away from him and tell him what he wanted! :) Dayzy and William did sit on his lap again.

If you've been watching the weather channel you can see that it's a WHITE OUT in the Midwest. We've gotten 6ish inches and lots of wind. On top of that last night it rained so we have ice also. This all translates into a SNOW DAY from the Pizza Ranch and a SNOW DAY from school! We've had the kids longer than usual because the roads are too bad to bring them back to their mom. That's ok! We love having them!

They are getting cabin fever. So I did go into work today, because if we were going to be closed I need to go to Wal Mart anyway and it's really close by the Pizza Ranch. So I went into work for 30 mins and then we got the call we were not going to open for the day. So I headed over to Wal-Mart to buy stuff to make Christmas cookies! We had fun, and the kids did awesome. We still have to teach them about portion control on the frosting...we do want it to be edible.

Smiles

2009-12-06T10:32:00.005-06:00

Does it look like his hair is getting redder?!?

Look at that cute double chin!

William sleeping on big sister Dayzy

He is watching t.v. in this picture, he very much likes to be faced outward so he can see what is going on, and when the t.v. is on (which is almost always) he points his attention that way.

It's been a while

2009-12-04T22:09:00.002-06:00

Yes to those of you faithful readers...if I have any, I'm still alive, we all are and doing fine.

Since everything has happened at work I've sprung into going back for 5 shifts a week as the person in charge. Therefore I close on Sunday nights and work at least 7ish hours during the day shifts. And I am tiiiiiiiiiiired. William is still breastfed so it's extra pumping for me, and I still get up with him atleast 2 - 3 times at night. So I spend my evenings napping on the couch with William or watching movies with Dayzy and Chayse. My house looks like it's exploded but oh well.

We've heard a little back for opportunities for Scott. They ( a hiring agency for restaurants) wanted to have permission to contact references and to do a credit check. I think the guy called on Monday...so hopefully we'll hear something this coming week! But we were not given any kind of time line. The restaurants thrown out were Ruby Tuesdays or Red Robin. Because neither of those restaurants are in Iowa City, were assuming they are in Cedar Rapids. I'm ok with living there and I've been told it's a lot cheaper to live there than in the Iowa City area. The drive will be a lot less than Mount Pleasant.

We had a good thanksgiving in Pella with my parents. It was my family of 5, my parents, and my Grandma! The food was good and Dayzy loved helping anyway she could. My dad is a big black Friday shopper. I decided that I wanted to do it this year. So we all went! Dad made us get up at 2:30 a.m. Dayzy and Chayse were up before Scott and I and they were chipper and ready to go! We were at Kohl's in Des Moines by a little after 4 a.m. We then hit Wal-Mart, Bass Pro Shop, the Jordan Creek Mall, and went to eat at Prairie Meadows. By that time everyone was getting crabby and tired. Poor Chayse had a few meltdowns because he was tired, but they were Grandpa's little helpers so he got to deal with those.

I allowed my dad to show the kids the buffaloes in Prairie City on the way home. We saw some right by the car and the kids thought it was awesome! (and maybe it was so awesome because the buffalo was licking his nose and then eating it) We then went home and everybody wanted to nap. Well the kids slept in the car and didn't want to nap because I don't think they wanted to miss out on anything. They didn't sleep and then they were told by Scott to go downstairs after they had gotten up once. But they got up again a little later and woke my poor Dad up. So he was on grandpa duty and had to play while the rest of us slept.

If you're wondering how William did...he did awesome! If we couldn't grab a cart I had a front back pack with him in it. He slept the whole time! He was awake a bit when we got home and I wanted to nap, but after awhile he fell asleep again. It was fun, but Scott and my mom said they wouldn't do it again. I loved it, the rush of getting in the crowds getting what I wanted. But we had nothing major to purchase and just went for the fun and the few good deals.

Now the tree is up, and I can't believe how time is flying by. I don't think it feels like Christmas because it hasn't snowed here yet! I have about half my shopping done. But I need to get more for our brother sand their wives/fiance, our parents, and birthday presents for Chayse.

Question to the moms out there:
Were tighter on money this year and since William is 3 months do I really need to buy presents for him and put them under the tree? He'll get atleast one from Santa because the other kids still believe in him. What have you done in the past for little ones?

Big Boy

2009-11-17T17:54:00.002-06:00

William had his 2 month doctor visit on Monday. He has been battling a cold and so have I. The doctor didn't seem concerned with his at all. Will did have to get his shots though. I made Scott hold him, everyone says how horrible they are. While we were waiting for the nurses to come in, William even fell asleep in my arms. Scott laid him on the table though and they both attacked him at once. Poor little guy. He screamed! Then he was crying and got so mad that he didn't breath or make a sound for 10 seconds! It broke my heart. After we got him calmed down we put him in his car seat and left. He was ok the rest of the afternoon. He slept the whole time and didn't really wake to feed at all either.

By the time we got home he was really fussy and had a fever. We gave him Motrin and just held him and comforted him as much as possible. At night he didn't sleep very well if he wasn't in my arms. Which meant he slept with me, because I had to work this morning, and wanted slept for myself, and I am too fighting a cold. But he did wake to nurse a lot, so he made up for not eating a lot earlier in the day.

Today he seems ok, Scott had him this morning/ afternoon and I just got him at 4. He doesn't feel as if he has a fever, and he is able to be put down in his vibrating chair thing. He still does have a cold though, little coughs and sneezes with lots of boogies!

His weight at this appointment was 13 and half pounds ( I hate how not exact they measure him from metric.) They never told us his height either. Anyway for height and head he is in the 50th percentile. For weight he is something like 87%. The doctor said everything looked good, and was amazed at his strong neck muscles!

Sorry I don't have a picture, I haven't been taking many...and I need to!

Update Time

2009-11-13T22:09:00.002-06:00

It's been a bit, I've been lazy and busy and our world here has been turned upside down!

On the 12th William turned 2 months! My little man is growing up so fast.

He feeds every 2 hours for 10 mins, with a stretch sometime during the day with out eating for probably 3-4 hours.

He is still only breastfed. I can't imagine having to get up and fix bottles for him..yuck.

He wears size 2 diapers.

Clothing - 0-3 pants (for length) but some are too tight on his little belly. Shirts are 3-6 or 6 months.

At our Vitamin D study he weighed 13lbs 13 oz! and is 23 inches long.

He will get his shots this coming week.

He loves baths, and is almost too big for the little "hammock" thing that sits in his.

He holds his head up very well!

He laughs a little and smiles A LOT! Especially for mommy.

He is getting used to his swing and actually fell asleep in it the other day.

I am now back to work. I was going slow and working about 3 hour shifts. But I actually pumped at work last night and worked for 5 1/2 hours.

Speaking of work there has been some changes. Were looking at the positive side and realize that God is giving us our push back to Iowa City, where the kids go to school, and Scott's family lives. So as soon as we can find jobs, we'll be heading back that way. We're excited for new opportunities and less driving! No matter what we've learned a lot at the Pizza Ranch and have had a fun ride.

Complete side note, I love for those who blog that there are suggestions for "Labels for this post: e.g. scooters, vacation, fall." Those are 3 things I love! Scooters (Scott's nick name) , Vacation (who doesn't love time off from work and getting away), and fall (hence why I had a fall wedding, it's my favorite season!)

I Love Sleep

2009-11-06T23:46:00.009-06:00

I love sleep. Granted I don't get as much as I used to, and some how my body is ok with it. I could easily sleep over 12 hours a day if I was allowed to.
Anyway, its not just me who loves to sleep, so does my family!

Except sometimes, Chayse especially, will be up on non school days at 7 a.m. They have good little internal clocks. It doesn't matter what time they go to bed, Saturday morning they are up long before Scott and I. I think they secretly race to get up early, so they can control the remote and watch cartoons and the t.v. they want to, before we wake :)
Chayse sleeping in the car

William sleeping on daddy

Sleeping during the phase where William didn't like to sleep in his crib, and mommy did anything to get him to sleep, so she could sleep.

William sleeping in his crib awhile back. No he does not have a mullet even though this picture looks like it. This shirt hardly fits him anymore also. He's a growing boy, therefore he needs his sleep.

The cutest picture in the whole world! William and Daddy sleeping on the couch.
This one melts mommy's heart.

New furniture

2009-11-06T22:40:00.004-06:00

For the first time in our adult lives we have brand new furniture. Yes, not just "new to us" but straight from the store!

We decided that with our next tax return we would buy a new couch and love seat. We weren't planning on buying it already. But a furniture store in Iowa City was going out of business so we thought we'd quick look before we had to get back to a meeting at work.
The place was majorly going out of business as in 2 weeks left and eager to sell. All the signs on the couches were being slashed lower, and we could even make an offer after that price and see if they would take it! Needless to say we found something we liked, for a price that we both liked, so we went for it! (Thanks Discover Card!)

It's amazing because the decorative pillows actually match nicely with our area rug and blend nicely with the living room curtains.

Here is the couch!

Not a happy model!

The love seat is the same, just smaller. I'll take a picture of the living room when I have everything where I want it. I'm very much a visual person, and poor Scott has already moved stuff around twice. I'm still not sure I like how it is. :)

Back to work I go

2009-11-03T23:24:00.002-06:00

Today was my first day back to work.

It wasn't bad at all. It was nice to be missed. Fellow employees welcomed me back, and even a customer (guest in pizza ranch terms) came up to me and welcomed me back. :)

It helps that Scott is the one at home taking care of William, not some strangers at a day care. If we ever got to the point where we couldn't work opposite shifts, I would probably stay home. But fortunately we can work it out this way that we both work, and William is always with one of us!

We'll see how it goes as my working times increase...today I only worked 3 hours. So I did not have to pump at work, I pumped and fed him before I left, and came home and fed him.

Swingin'

2009-11-01T23:00:00.003-06:00

William 6 weeks

Dayzy, Chayse, William

First off...there are some fun pics. They will be upfront of my parent's church on Sunday when William will be baptized!

So I have gone back and forth on whether or not to buy William a swing. Some babies absolutely love them, while others hate them. I didn't want to waste the money if he was going to hate it.

He is a fussy baby though, at night that is. He has to be rocked, and patted on the butt to calm down. Well rockin/swingin same thing right? We were blessed with quite a few gift cards to Wal-Mart recently so we decided to buy a swing.

We bought this one. It was cheaper than some, and I liked that it was "smaller" or so I thought... I think I was mistaken. But I like that it can change into different things. Such as a swing to an infant seat, to a toddler rocker

Well it seems that little Mr. William HATES it! He cries almost instantly when he gets in it. Sometimes we can get him in it for a whole minute before he throws a fit. He is a spoiled baby, and likes to be held. I'll continue to try to get him comfortable with this, but time will tell.

On a totally different side note, I LOVE yahoo answers. I read them a lot while I was pregnant. I would search for something on google in a question form. It's nice because it's normal people answering, so you get a lot of "advice" from people out there. Obviously you need to take it with a grain of salt. But now I like to go on there, and answer other people's questions, like I'm an expert! Go now, if your bored, and give it a try! Ok some people ask stupid questions that you don't need to waste your time on, but others really are fun! I do believe this is the website.

2009-10-31T18:26:00.002-05:00

I do believe that this may be the first year for awhile I'm not doing anything Halloween related.

I trick or treated almost all through college, or at least passed out candy.

Since being with Scott we've had the kids, or if I worked we dressed up or passed out candy there.

We don't have the kids though, and I'd bring William around...but I think people would be suspicious how a baby can eat the candy. ;)

In other news, I go back to work this week. I'm not super excited but it's OK. I think it'll be good for me to get out more, talk to more adults, and allow William to bond with Scott while I'm gone. I'm only working 4 days, for a few hours each day.

I also sell Avon now! I would love to make enough to not have to work. But I think you have to work really hard at it, which would mean it in itself is a full time job. So for now I'll sell to my friends and family to make a few extra bucks...because Christmas is coming!

Anyway if you would like to purchase some Avon visit my site!

Click Here

Rub a Dub Dub

2009-10-26T14:48:00.004-05:00

We gave our kitties a bath last night.

They did surprisingly well.

They are shedders, and rub their dirty cat butts on our carpet.

Hopefully this will help.

Car Seats & Costumes

2009-10-24T19:42:00.005-05:00

Today we dropped the kiddos off to their mom at Wal-Mart in Iowa City where she works.

As we drove in we noticed the Rotary Club was doing free car seat checks. We knew ours wasn't in quite right and jumped at the chance to get it looked at!
The base was not level and Scott had been meaning to put a pool noodle under it to keep it level. It turns out that the base had a hidden piece that came down to make it level. So the Rotary people got it all fixed and properly installed. William was in his car seat which he was sitting in properly.

In Iowa, for a kid to not have to be in a booster is 80 lbs or 4'9". I would like to say there are some kids in Middle School or even High School that aren't bigger than that. Granted these are very petite people but still! And apparently they should not be in a booster until they are 6.

Chayse has been in a booster about a year. He was too big for his last seat. The kid is almost as big as his 6 year old sister. Oh well. I think we'll keep him in his booster, his seat belt seems to fit him properly. We've been pulled over by a cop before with Chayse in the back and nothing was said.

But I would highly recommend getting your seat checked, it's free and a peace of mind! Plus at this location they checked to see if our seat was in recall, if it was they would have given us one for free! How awesome is that?!

Side note about the Iowa City Wal-Mart. William was hungry after the drive to Iowa City. The kids' mom had told us to use the dressing room. We went to the dressing room to feed him, and the lady was rather rude. She said she "guesses" we could use the handicap fitting room. But probably as soon as I got in there, there would be a Mom with young kids, or a handicap person who would need it, so I would have to get out if need be.

EXCUSE ME?!

Anyway I was in there for like 10 mins and had no one that needed it. But still, I'm sure if someone did come up that needed to use it, they would have let me finish. It's not a toilet...trying on clothes can wait. Plus nobody was trying on clothes there the whole time I was in there. So we told the kids' mom and she was going to tell her supervisor how the lady was rude.

We're debating writing a letter to the Wal-Mart to complain about how rude the lady was.

Whew! Got that off my chest... which I guess is an inconvenience at that Wal-mart if I feed from it!

William and I are home alone tonight so I decided to do a mini photo shoot with his Halloween Costume!

I bought it because usually we bring the kids trick or treating. But this year we've decided to leave it at whoever's night trick or treating falls on, gets them. Plus this person is the one who pays for the costumes also. This year we don't have them. Oh well. Enjoy!

Growling like a Monster!

And today William is 6 weeks old!

Baby Showers

2009-10-23T18:57:00.008-05:00

So this is long overdue.

Us Pearls are very loved! We've always known it, but some very special people have also gone way out of their way to let us know it, and to help us welcome William into the world.

We've had 3 baby showers!

Our first one was thrown by our co-worker Peggy, at the Mt. Pleasant Pizza Ranch. Thank you Peggy!

look at all those presents! I was so overwhelmed and appreciative!
Playing a game, where we had to guess the flavor of baby food!

Grandma Janey (Scott's Mom) threw me a baby shower in Iowa City for the family that lives there! Again overwhelmed with the generous amount of gifts. We had a lot of fun there too!

The kids loved helping us open presents, but were a little confused why all the presents were for the baby!

Thursday my mom had a baby shower for me in Pella. Again same, very overwhelmed and appreciative of all that we received!

We played games, and passed the baby, and ate some great food! Granted Will was a little crabby, but he's been going through a growth spurt, and gets crabby at night.

Thanks to all that came to help us celebrate, and prepare for William!
Also thanks to those who couldn't make it and gave us a gift!
We love you all!

Prince Charming

2009-10-20T14:47:00.005-05:00

A few photos of William.
This isn't his Halloween costume.
Pictures of that will come later :)

A Magical Year

2009-10-18T18:47:00.001-05:00

Today Scott and I have been married a year!

A lot has happened this year. We got pregnant and already have a 5 week old baby! (Those of you trying to do the math, he's not a honeymoon baby, he was concieved in December.)

We continue to work and thrive at the Pizza Ranch. :)

Facts about our wedding day:

I bought my dress at a trunk show. Meaning there was a possibility it wouldn't be included in the line, and I could have been the only girl to ever have it. (It did get added to their line...I forget the brand name)

My lovely ladies were:
Liz Terborg
Dish Dobson
Wizzy Heersink

Scotts men:
Sean Pearl
Doug Toycen
Keith Pearl

We got married at the methodist church in Solon, Iowa. This is Scott's grandma's church.

The weather was perfect. Probably in the 70's.

Our flower people who threw leaves were Dayzy and Chayse.

The girls and guys wore brown. It was a fall themed wedding. Sometime ill get pictures up!

We honeymooned in Chicago. It was fun to bum and do what we wanted. We rode the Amtrak train there and back. :)

It was fun and amazing and flew by.

Soon we will eat the top of our cake. Which we only ate the pieces we fed each other that night.

But here's to many more years with the man I love!

Loose Ends

2009-10-14T16:36:00.000-05:00

William will be baptized at Faith CRC in Pella on November 8! If you're in the area come join the celebration!

I'm finally now thinking of going back to work. :( I don't want to, but it needs to happen. So Ill slowly go back starting in a few weeks.

Ill have to pump at work. That will be interesting. There is really no private area. No closed office. I'm not pumping on the toilet! So ill do it in a corner right before we open.

I've thought about also donating my milk. It burns calories, and foremost helps premie babies. Its through the university. I have to donate atleast 200 oz once I sign up. Nursing moms...is this plausible? Keeping my baby fed and pumping for when I'm at work and then enough to donate?

Were getting our desktop fixed so soon I can put up pictures!

And I'm super excited to announce that Scott's brother proposed to his girlfriend last night! I don't know any plans for the wedding but we are all super excited!
Congrats Sean and Dish!

One Month Old

2009-10-12T14:39:00.000-05:00

Today William is already a month old! Time really does fly!

Weight: 11lbs 1 oz.
Length: 21 5/8 in.
Head: 38.2 cm

At birth he was

Weight: 8lb 4 oz
Length:19 1/2 in.
Head: ??

He is now in the 90th percentile for weight and 50th for height.

He now focuses on faces.

Likes to pee when the diaper is off... Latest victim is the wall.

Has a very strong neck and arms. He will push away from your body when holding him, and hold his head up for atleast 5 seconds.

Can be crabby for no reason, which usually passes with time or his pacifier. Or warm arms.

Feeds every 2-3 hours. Usually for 10 to 30 mins. Only breastfed, and for now only from the breast.

Smiles when gassy and its the cutest thing ever!

Does not want to sleep in his crib. Mommy got in the bad habit of having him lay on her, so she could sleep. Now that's the only way he'll stay asleep at night! (Any suggestions how to break this and allow me to get sleep and have him in his crib?)

Wears a 0-3 month or 3 months clothing.

Does well during bath, but hates being cold when out of the water!

Is now in a study on vitamin D deficiency. He is given daily vitamin d drops. He will be checked monthly for growth and occasionaly by a heel stick for vitamin d levels. He'll be in this a year. He has to be breastfed the whole time (no formula), and can not eat food until 4 months. Everytime we go he gets 25 bucks! On heel stick days he gets two small packs of diapers!

We decided to save his money and put it in a savings account for him. He should have atleast $300 by his first birthday!

He's amazing and ever changing! He most definetly has stolen my heart from day one! He is worth the sleepless nights, the poopy diapers and the crying! We love our little man!

To be or not to be...baptized

2009-10-07T09:57:00.000-05:00

Scott and I are going to Pella tomorrow to talk with the pastor of my parents church. We want to get William baptized at my childhood church.

Were uncertain of what Scott's role will be because he's not a professing member of a church. He was baptized as a baby though. Anyway usually this would mean that he or the person would make profession of faith and then be able to take full part.

I don't want Scott to have to jump into profession of faith until its on his own terms and something he wants to do.

So pray for us so tomorrow we can find out what our options are, and what role Scott can take part of.

I wish it was simple and the "politics" could be taken away. We want to promise William to God. We want this about William, not about what Scott and I have or haven't done with the church.

Shop til I drop...

2009-10-06T21:31:00.000-05:00

Shopping is very depressing now. I've never been skinny but never was huge either. Well I feel huge after today.

Its so hard to go from flaunting my belly when I was pregnant, to hiding the extra fat and stuffing it in my clothes.

I was shedding the weight nicely, and now I've stopped. I know its only been 3 weeks, but I'm ready to get out of my maternity clothes, and into regular clothes that fit nicely. My belly is a nasty sight.

But I understand I need to work at it, which needs to happen soon! I've saved a pair of jeans that I love, that I don't think I've fit into since high school/early college. My goal is to fit back into those pants.

Plus for Pizza Ranch Scott has an opportunity to win a trip to Jamaica, and I don't want my baby flub hanging out! This trip will be this coming March!

So here's to me getting motivated...and sticking to it!

Hold me accountable if we talk, or on here. I'll be completely open and honest, I have nothing to hide.

I was 190 when I married Scott last October. On September 10th I was 280. During my pregnacy I gained 75 pounds. I now weigh 245. I would like to be 160. Wii fit don't fail me now!

All I need is some bon bon's

2009-10-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

I wish I could be a stay at home Mom forever. I enjoy sitting in my chair holding my little guy all day long.

We sleep in until 10! Granted we usually have a 2 - 3 hour wake fest in the middle of the night.

I seriously move from bed to lazy boy. Granted I know stay at home mom's work really hard and do a lot! Right now William won't sleep during the day without being held. So I sit and hold him and watch tv. And the house work piles up.

But I know these days are short lived. Eventually I go back to work. We can't afford me not to. Well we may be able to but we couldn't live as freely as we do now. We pay our bills and have money for fun. But Scott and I both have a fair share of student loans. We also spend a lot on gas to drive to Iowa City for Dayzy and Chayse. And believe me they are most definetly worth that.

We are fortunate enough to have Scott make the schedule so we won't need to put William in daycare. Scott and I have always worked opposite schedules. So one of us can always be with Will. Ill start pumping, and Scott eats with me so I can nurse him on my break too. We stay strong admist our time apart and cherish our time together. That's also why the time off now is nice though, I actually see my husband on a regular basis!

But I do wish we could win the lottery and not have to worry about work, and could spend more time together. But I guess it would help if we actually played it!

Right now I'll cherish my house being messy, and spending my whole day with my beautiful baby boy in my arms.

He must be dutch

2009-09-28T22:03:00.000-05:00

Today William and I had our doctor appointments.

Again they forgot about me, and then were confused why I was there. Anyway I got my bloodpressure checked it was 112/80! So I don't have to go back until my 6 week post partum visit.

William just had a general check up. Last week he was 8lbs 9 oz. Today he was 9lb 6 oz! He is now also 21 inches long! What a big boy! Those two and his head were all normal and in the 50 - 70 percent ranges.

Anyway a pound in a week is crazy to me. But he has been cluster feeding a lot lately. I don't like these when they are in the middle of the night, or because he doesn't know when to stop, so he spits up. Poor guy. I hate it when he spits up or chokes from getting too much milk. I think I have a fast let down. But I'm still glad I'm making enough milk to satisfy my boy. I mean he is half dutch. Which means he needs all his meals and coffee times and snacks. Ask scott about the dutch eating schedule.

Everyday he is more aware and is awake longer. I love it!

In other news, Dayzy was sick last week at her Mom's. Chayse got sick last night at our house. He complained of his stomach hurting. Scott and I both passed it off as nothing. He always says it hurts when he doesn't want to eat. We went to Pizza Ranch, and kept telling him to eat.

As we were leaving and were by the front counter Chayse let's go and throws up right were people stand to pay. Poor guy got it all on himself. Anyway I went to get a mop bucket and Scott told Chayse to stand in the back. Well he came looking for me, and threw up in the pick up area. So we rushed him to the bathroom.

The wonderful employees cleaned up the mess. I took Will from Scott, because I was gaging, and everything was soon fine.

Chayse was fine today and went to School. I hope nothing gets passed to me, Scott, or William.

Anyway the manager last night was upfront on the phone taking an order when this happened. Today someone called into work to complain about last night that the employees stood around and did nothing. It was taken care of in 2 mins. The manager was on the phone with an order! He can't hang up with them until they were done with their order! What Jerks! They didn't think it was cleaned up fast enough and complained the manager just stayed on the phone.

I now will end this post, I have a hungry, crying, baby!

What's in a Name?

2009-09-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

The story behind William David is family.

I originally had picked the name Miles, and told people that's what his name would be. After awhile though I couldn't decide if I still loved that name. Scott said we can change it. I wanted a family name for him.

My dad sent me my family tree. It went back to I think the 1600 or 1700's. I'm dutch so most of the names were dutch. William (Wilhem on the tree most of the time) was a named that Scott and I liked and agreed on. It mostly was our favorite because it was my paternal grandfather's middle name ( he passed before I was born), my dad's middle name, my brothers, and his son's middle name also.

My dad told the story also that William was a relative that helped sponsor my fathers mother, my Grandma De Boer's family to come over from the Netherlands.

William is a name to be proud of.

David is Scott's middle name. It is also Scott's fathers middle name. I wanted William to be named after his daddy!

What we didn't know was that David has a story behind it. Scott's grandma, Roma Pearl was read stories as a little girl by her father. Her favorite was David and Goliath. When her little brother was born she was allowed to pick his name. She choose David. When Roma and her husband Don had their third son, they chose to name him after their brothers. He got the name James David. When Jim and Jane (scott's parents) had their twin sons they were named Scott David and Sean James after their father. Therefore David has been passed down the line! And maybe William will some day pass it along also.

In other news William is two weeks old already! He is changing constantly. He doesn't sleep through the night, but will sleep for 2 to 3 hour shifts and nurse for 20 mins when he does wake up. He sleeps a lot during the day though! He will focus more and look at you now.

He is pretty good at holding his head up for a few seconds. He kicks his legs a lot and can push with them!

His stinky umbilical cord has fallen off.

He smiles when gassy...and it is the cutest thing ever!

He has made two trips to Pella and atleast 3 trips back to Iowa City.

Both William and I have doctor appointments on Monday.
His is just an overall check. Not sure what mine is for. I went last time to get my bloodpressure checked. I was almost forgotten about. Anyway they checked it and I left. A few hours later the scheduler called me to say a nurse said I needed another appoinment.

In other happy news while pregnant I gained 75 lbs. Woops! But in two weeks I've already lost almost 40 lbs! I haven't even been trying yet. But I do need to get this loose skin tightened back up. Yuck. But hopefully it will continue to melt away.

William David Pearl

2009-09-21T15:12:00.001-05:00

The birth of my wonderful son goes as follows:

I went in Thursday the 10th ( my due date) for a scheduled appointment. Williams heartbeat was fine, his head had not dropped yet, but my blood pressure was high. I was getting my nasty headaches again and to me I was swollen more than normal. My midwife didn't like my blood pressure and since it was my due date she ordered yet again another 24 hour urine test and I was to bring it in on the 11th. She also wanted to do a NST. I told her he was still moving a lot. I told Scott we'd do the Non Stress Test and be on our way in 20 mins.

Well his heart beat would move from the 130's to the 150's but not fast enough. It didn't fluctuate like they wanted. I got pop to make him move and a radio to place on my belly. The nurse showed my NST to the midwife who then said she wanted to meet with us.

That hadn't happened the last time. She said the baby looked ok, not great but def not bad. She then told me I was being held hostage! We were told to quick grab food, and head up to labor and delivery to be monitored more. Labor and Delivery was extremely busy so we sat in an ultrasound room. Again William's heart rate didn't fluctuate like they wanted. So 2 other midwives said they were going to talk to the doctor and decide my fate.

I was to be induced once a room opened. Luckily Scott and I had brought everything with us! Anyway I was being induced because I had always been borderline pre-eclamptic and they didn't want me to pass over or to become pre-eclamptic. Remember that can cause stroke or seizures. The only cure is to deliver the baby.

We asked to leave the hospital because they didn't have a room and we'd come back, but they said no. So they found us a room to sit in and watch tv in the mother/baby unit. Plus I had to start my 3rd 24 hour urine test!

We were told we'd get a room around 5 or 6. I was to get the next open room. I think we finally got up there around 7:30. By 8 they had the cervidal in me trying to dialate me.

The cervidal lasts for 12 hours so at 8 am they checked me and really no progress was made by the morning of the 11th. So they put another one in.

My parents came that afternoon and we played the waiting game. They debated on wether or not to get a hotel room or go home. The nurses and doctors said to go home, this is a slow process and they'd have plenty of time to come back. But my parents wanted to wait until 8 at night came around to see if the 2nd cervidal worked. I was also going to get a billyball (I don't know what it's called) to inflate in me to get me to three centimeters. Oh by this time my urine test came back and I was spilling protein which means I was official pre eclamptic, I had to have doctors instead of the midwives.

When I was checked I was at 3 all on my own. So they didn't have to use their thing. My parents then decided they'd rather be safe than sorry and got a hotel. I was left to rest.

I was dilating but my cervix wasn't thinning and the baby wasn't dropping.

They put support hoes on my legs, the baby bed was brought in, I was hooked to a blood pressure machine that went off constantly!

They checked me awhile later and I was at 4 cms. The dr debated wether or not to break my water. She decided to wait a little longer and told me to get my epidural whenever. I wasn't having painful contractions. But those exams hurt! So around 1 or 2 I wanted my epidural before I got my water broke.

During my epidural Scott fainted! Not because of it, he just got hot in his mask and bam! Was out! His blood sugar was high and he started throwing up. Poor guy was throwing up and sick until I had William.

Ok so by the time I had the epidural I was feeling good!! I probably looked like a machine though! I wasn't allowed out of bed because I was on a magnesium drip. This helps prevent seizures. That crap is nasty! It made me hot! And later it felt like I had the flu. Anwyay I wasn't allowed out of bed on that. So I got a cathater, I had the baby/ contraction monitors on, pitocin drip, fluids (I also couldn't eat or drink on the magnesium), I had leg massager things to prevent blot clots, and the blood pressure cuff, and lastly the epidural drip. But I did sleep ok.

I think around 4 my water was broke and I slept more. I woke up at 7 and they checked me and I was at 7 cms. I called my parents and told them to eat, and come in. Not too long later I was feeling the contractions! I told some random guy I feel like I had to poop. He said uh ok and left the room. I'm still not sure who he was. The epi was not helping with the pressure!

Scott called my parents back around 8 and told them to hurry up and get to the hospital. They said I was progressing fast.

I believe by the time my parents got to the hospital the doctors were letting me "labor down". Which means to let the contractions bring the baby down. Holy Moly these were intense. Like I said it felt like I had to poop really REALLY bad!

Soon the doctors checked me and I was at 10 cm finally! The baby had a little more to drop. Like from your second knuckle to the tip of your fingernail. The doctors left the room thinking it'd be a bit. I was allowed to push with the contractions while the nurse was in the room. I went through maybe three rounds of pushing and you could see Williams dark hair! (I say doctors because the University is a teaching hospital, so I had normal docs and residents and med students. I believe there were atleast 6 doctors in the room). Anyway Scott felt ill again during this and sat in the corner and my mom held my leg.

The nurse quickly called the doctors back. They later told me there was no way they thought it was me paging them because I was a first time mom. But guess what...I was ready! By this time it was around 9:30 and the docs were ready to have me start pushing!

10 mins later William was born! 9:40 am, 8lbs 4 oz. 19 1/2 inches long!

I didn't scream I just pushed like a bangee! I heard them say it should take me about 2 - 3 hours. I was not going to have that!

Words can't describe finally meeting my little man! He was perfect and handsome and amazing!

As soon as William was out, Scott was up and cut the cord and felt a lot better! Poor guy had sympathy pains.

I was honored to have my mom, dad, and Scott there to witness our miracle!

Ill skip the boring recovery part, and on the following Monday we got to bring William home!

Tonight is the night...

2009-09-08T20:01:00.000-05:00

Hopefully, tonight is the night I go into labor. If this was a perfect world I would choose tonight, to guarantee a 9/9/09 baby! But alas if it was a perfect world I would have a stork drop my baby off to me, and not have to go through pregnancy. Don't get me wrong its not all bad, and I know its worth it, but dang! God wasn't kidding when he punished Eve with painful childbearing/ birth. I'm sure I've barely expeirenced anything yet, I know the true pain will be labor.

If tonight isn't the night, that's ok too. I'm getting more and more anxious/nervous for delivery. Plus my belly button hasn't popped yet...so my bun isn't done. :).

So again today I made Scott walk the mall with me. For lunch I had subway and put pepper jack cheese on my sandwich along with southwestern sauce. I ate the new spicy chipolte chips from sun harvest. I sat on my exercise ball for an hour moving all around trying to swing the baby down. I ate tabasco sauce with mashed potatoes for supper. I went for a good 30 min walk. I took a warm bath. See all that I'm doing William to get you out so we can all meet you! Please hurry up! I just want to hold and cuddle you. I want to see my toes standing up, I want to put my wedding ring back on, I want to wear all my old shoes again, I want to sit/ stand up with ease, I want no more swelling of my feet or my sausage fingers!

In other news my parents came down for Old Threshers. For those of you not familiar its a big ole tractor reunion. Its 5 days ending labor day. There's lots of vendors of worthless crap, little old western shows, a craft show on the square and of course a lot of tractors on display. Also events at the grand stand. Of what I do not know. And every night there's a country band that plays. It was ok. I wouldn't travel from far away to see it, but a lot of people do! But it was fun to hang out with my parents, and to walk around. Tulip time is way better.

Sorry, I still don't have picture loading capabilities. When I was at a computer, I tried to set it up to text my pictures, but silly me I forget my Sprint blackberry doesn't text pictures, I have to email them. That I did not sign up for. Someday though, I will have lots of pictures!

Good News Everyone!

2009-09-03T20:59:00.000-05:00

My title should be spoken like DR. Farnswoth from Futurama. Don't know him? Well then you are missing out!

Today I had my end of week 39 appointment! And amazingly everything was awesome. My bloodpressure was something like 122/70 or 80 something! I think that's the lowest yet. My midwife thinks its because I am no longer working. She said in Europe pregnant woman don't work at the end of their pregnancies, and get paid for it! I think Pizza Ranch could take a lesson from the Europeans!

My urine had no protein in it today also and my 2nd 24 hour urine test had 180 something, compared to last time of 280 something!

She didn't check my cervix at all so I don't know how that's doing. But she seemed really optimistic, and it doesn't sound like an induction is going to happen anymore. She told me not to be concerned if I go past my due date. I have another appointment scheduled next Thursday anyway. But since everything is looking good, I think were going to let nature take its course.
(Baby, cover your eyes at that, and hurry up! A lot of people are anxious to meet you!)

That doesn't mean I'm not trying to get this baby out. I swang again tonight, took a mini walk, and a bath. Oh and for lunch I ordered cajun chicken...but it wasn't spicy!

I don't think I've mentioned that this past monday Chayse went back to headstart pre-school! He loves it and is really glad that his best bud Sidney is in his class. Scott said his teacher seems nice also.

I guess at school they did a BMI on the kids. Apparently Chayse is boderline overwieght. EXCUSE ME? Chayse has no fat on him anywhere! He is a skinny boy. He does have a big head though. ;). But seriously there is no belly, no rolls, not anything fat about him. I do believe he is big for his age but don't they take height as one of the factors?

Scott and I shop while the kids are at school. Today we had the appoinment and then took grandma Janie and a friend from work out to lunch. Thursdays are early release days in Iowa City, so we had little time to shop. Which is good for our budget! Anyway the Dollar Tree is a must hit. I bought each kid a Dawn of the Dinosaurs watch. I don't think either of them shut up the whole car ride home about the watches. I love the cheap thrills in life. :)

I also got my very own cheap thrill, a Coupon organizer! I feel so old lady but I wanted one because I keep getting coupons in the mail for baby stuff or to clothing stores. So this way I'll know where they are at. Not sure though if Scott is thrilled by it. I'm a sucker for sales and clearance. I can then justify buying about anything if I can get a good deal on it! :).

Well then soon to be momma needs to head to bed and get as much sleep as possible before baby is here!

It's the final countdown!

2009-09-02T21:47:00.000-05:00

A week from tomorrow is the supposed big day! Man how time continues to fly! I was afraid the last month would drag on, bit it hasn't. Luckily we've been busy with work, family, and the kids going to school!

I had a dream last night that I had William. But for some reason I don't remember giving birth, or being in the hospital. I saw him in a car seat next to my brother Jeremy. My baby was CUTE! He had dark hair and a lot of it, and it was thick! I asked when he was born and someone showed me a piece of paper that said September 11. Then I woke up. We'll see if my dream predicted anything. ;)

I'm doing all that I can to get this baby out. I'm going on walks, I'm taking baths, I try to eat spicy food, I swang at the park. I don't really care if he's early or not, I just want to help the process.

If he is early and is born September 4th, I may have to give him two middle names. It will be 8 years ago that my maternal grandfather passed away. I would love to add Henry into Williams name in honor of him.

I also hopes he's just one day early and comes on the 9th so he can be my 9-9-09 baby. No one would ever forget his birthday then.

I don't want September 11 because its a negative day. But if he chooses that day, it will always be a positive day for me!

In other news I bought cute flannel to make my hooter hider and so far I have the strap done! Woohoo! The rest shouldn't take long either. I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow. Then maybe Ill figure out how to put pictures on here from my phone!

Junk in the Trunk

2009-09-01T22:29:00.000-05:00

What a crazy day. Did I not just say that I was looking forward to do nothing!?

I went with Scott to Iowa City today to drop the kids off at school. Then the plan was to go to Village inn for breakfast and JoAnne's Fabrics to find material to make a hooter hider.

Well we had just dropped Chayse off (thankfully) and were headed to Village Inn, when the excitement began. We drive through downtown Iowa City, where the University is located. Traffic isn't horrible but its there. The cars in front of us were moving slowly and so were we. When all of a sudden BAM! Some stupid college girl who wasn't paying attention nailed us from behind! I screamed and immediately started crying. I was startled and scared for baby. No air bags went off luckily. Scott thinks she was probably going 20 when she hit us. Scott got out to check out the damage. Luckily neither car had anything, not even a scratch! So scott didn't think to get info and they decided to go on, and not report it because it would just cost money. And he wanted to check back on me as soon as possible.

I was still shooken up, but not in any pain, and wondered what to do next. We called labor and delivery and they said I should probably be monitored. Well they monitored me for 4 hours! But baby's heartbeat was really good the whole time! I think part of the reason they kept me there so long was to also make sure this didn't put me into labor and cause contractions. It didn't. But I did have super high bloodpressure right away. I think it was 159/90. By noon it was 117/67. ( I don't remember exact numbers but it dropped a lot and was really good by the time I left).

We finally left the hospital and went to go get food. Scott still wanted his pancakes from village inn so we went there. We never did go to JoAnn's fabrics because Scott needed to get home to work.

I came home and slept two hours! Today wore me out. Baby and me are doing fine, and he's still moving a lot! (Hopefully he's moving towards the light) :p.

But I'm very thankful that no one was hurt and that nothing happened to my car. People joke its a grocery getter. Well my grocery getter must be able to withstand a lot! (Its a 2000 or 2001 Chryslar Concorde). Thank you car for your junk in the trunk!

Pasta with a side of Boobs

2009-08-31T21:12:00.000-05:00

So today I had an appoinment scheduled to drop off a 24 hour urine and have my blood pressure tested.

They dipped my urine while I was there also. I'm not sure which one they were talking about but my urine today was fine with little overspill of protein. My midwife also said that my previous bloodwork looked really good. My kidneys and liver are doing their jobs. I had packed my hospital bag, and the baby car seat just incase I was told to stay. I honestly half expected it.

But I got to come home. Which is bittersweet. I want to meet William, but I also want him as healthy as possible, and if that means in my belly, well then there he will stay.

The midwife checked my cervix. Which side note, it doesn't sound like they do often, just because its uncomfortable and not entirely necessary if I'm not in labor. Remember midwifes are all about comfort and not making this a medical process. Anyway she asked to check me because if I happen to be far along, or almost ready, they may have sent me to be induced, knowing it wouldn't take much and this maybe/maybe not preeclamsia could be dealt with. Remember delivery is the only cure. But alas I am 1 cm dialated and I think the baby is at -3. Or is it positive 3? Forgive me, I was reading the info as she put it in the computer, she didn't tell me what position the baby was in and I don't remember if the further away is negative or positive. (Feel free to correct me) Anyway my cervix wasn't very ripe either. So no baby today atleast!

That makes Grandma Heersink happy because A. She has asked for time off starting the 10th. B. She bought a brat pendant for her necklace with a September birthstone for William. :)

Back to the baby. They don't want to induce me because it can be a slow process that leads to a C section. I asked how likely it is that I get induced and the midwife said that it depends on my blood pressure (today 130's/70's) and my due date. They do not want me to go much past my due date. At this point I'm thankful to be with a midwife. I have 2 sister in laws that had C sections. One needed to because she has preeclampsia and had a complicated pregnancy her whole time. The other was doing fine, and wanted a very natural birth. But she believes from the beginning her doctor wanted her to have a c section. So she didn't even get the chance to push before they made her have one.

So I'm lucky my midwives are looking out for me, and my baby, now and for the whole process. They want me to have a pleasant expierence, and hopefully we will!

And for now I'm not on the schedule at work, but I may go in and work short shifts if needed. The midwife thinks if I work too much it will elevate the bp. But she also reminded me I do not have to be a couch potato. It feels great to have nothing planned at all! I'm going to make a hooter hider. You know those fabric apron like things that cover your girly top parts when you nurse. And I'm going to finish cleaning and organizing the house!

Before I end this long post, I have to tell a story.

Olive garden has unlimited pasta bowls for 8.95. YUM! So Scott and I went there for lunch today. Well a few tables over there was a mom nursing her daughter. Scott was completely embarassed. Ill be honest it was akward. This momma had no hooter hider. She lifted up her tank top, and had on a nursing bra. We had the side view so I don't know how much was seen. Well the daughter who was atleast 6 months pulled away, and the mom didn't realize it for a few until she jerked fast to cover her exposed nipple. I've talked to Moms about nursing in public. Some are for it some against it. Which is completely fine, I don't know how I feel yet. But I do think if you're going to nurse in public cover the goods! I don't want boobs with my pasta.

PS Anyone know good ways to get this baby out and ripen and dialate my cervix?? And no castor oil please!

I do believe my dad did tell me one way was to have crazy wild sex. :)

Next appoinment is this Thursday! Maybe baby!?? That'll be the end of week 39!

Date Day

2009-08-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Scott was supposed to do a golf outting for Make A Wish. In the eastern part of Iowa this week it rained a lot. I think we got 10 inches in a night here in Mt Pleasant. Needless to say the ground is wet and golfing was cancelled. Since Scott and I both had the day off we decided to head to Iowa City to go shopping and quite possibly have our last date night without a baby.

We decided the day of to head to Cedar Rapids to get a membership to Sam's Club. Since Scott's mom lives inbetween Iowa City and Cedar Rapids we called to see what she was doing. She happened to be shopping in CR so we wanted to met up with her. But first, I wanted to get a pedicure. It's hard painting your nails 8 and half months pregnant! Well it so happens Jane was also planning to get a pedi. So Jane and I went to get pedicures while Scott walked JC Penney.

We then went to lunch at Texas Roadhouse. YUM! (Thanks again Jane). She then headed home to mow and Scott and I started shopping. Our main goal was to find a Cubs outfit to take home baby in. Well most places are switching to football gear so we couldn't find any that would fit. But we did buy A LOT of other things.

And we never did get that membership to Sam's. Those of you that have one is it worth it?
We ended the night by driving back to Coralville and eating at Bennigans. Then heading over to watch The Ugly Truth. We thought the movie was hilarious but it is a little crude at times.

It was a good day together!

Today has been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! I want to be prepared to go to the hospital at anytime, and not have to come home to a mess.

Today I'm doing another lovely 24 hour urine test. Yuck. I have an appointment tomorrow where Ill drop of my urine, do bloodwork, and check my bloodpressure. I don't/ haven't had headaches as bad this week. Hopefully everything is ok. I'm not to worried though. Oh but from yesterday and the cleaning today my feet are swollen! But my hands are not. We'll see if they say anything about my feet tomorrow. I've had them swollen before and they haven't said anything. I'm ready to just go with the flow with all of this. No matter what he'll be here before we know it!

38 Week Appointment

2009-08-27T21:52:00.002-05:00

Today is the last day of week 38! Woohoo!

I got the results from my 24 hour urine test. Apparently I'm 4 away from being bad. But I thought she said my number was 256 for protein in my urine, and 300 is the "bad" number. I really don't know how it's calculated. Anyway it just means that I get to do it all over again! Im at the point where I go to weekly appointments, every Thursday to be exact. Monday I need to turn in my urine again and have my blood pressure checked, and possible do more blood work. My blood pressure this time was 132/80. Not horrible for me. But I guess I gained 5 pounds in the last week. The most concerning things is the headaches I get. They aren't horrible, but it feels like my sinuses dry out before I get one, like I should be getting a bloody nose. Tylenol doesn't really help them go away. They can last all day, but sometimes at work I get busy, and I stop noticing them. I think they are termed "pressure headaches."

The midwives just want to be more safe than sorry. Im flirting really close to the edge of having preeclampsia. This is why I'm having all these tests done. Today my midwife said that most likely if I do not go into labor soon on my own, that I will be induced. She said there is no way they would let me go to week 41. I'm half expecting to be induced next week sometime. Nothing is definite yet though. But baby is still doing well with all of this! He has a good heartbeat, and is very very VERY active!

I'm not too worried or nervous about all of this. I will go with the flow. I know they are watching me to make sure I'm ok, and told me to call if anything happens at all. And good news... I do not have Strep B so no antibiotics when I give birth!

For those of you not aware of preeclampsia, if it gets bad it can cause me to have a stroke or seizures. They are not sure why pregnant women can get it, or how. There has been a lot of research done on it, but nothing in conclusive. The only cure for it is to give birth. Then usually all symptoms and the risk goes away.

But the exciting thing is I could be a mommy by this time next week!

Post Secret

2009-08-27T01:05:00.000-05:00

Frank warren from postsecret.blogspot.com was at the University of Iowa Tuesday night. Scott and I went and really enjoyed it. If you don't know what postsecret is visit the above web address. Sorry its not linked, I can only do so much from my phone.
Any way, people send in their secrets on postcards, to heal and share. They can be about a fear, an event that happened in the past, or even something funny. They cross the whole spectrum. The blog is updated every Sunday. So check back weekly!

Frank shared how this started as an art project, and kind of took off from there. When people kept sending in their secrets from across the USA and other countries.

I like to read them, its a thrilling,almost dirty satisfaction of knowing strangers inmost thoughts. I've related to some, and have been completely appaled (sp?) By others.

Anyway Frank challenged us on our way out to share a secret with the person we came with. Something we've never told anybody about before. Scott knew the one I've talked about sending in. I won't share it though. Sorry. Maybe when you check the his blog you'll find it.

Scott shared one with me that was very touching. Its something he's never told anyone and it made me feel so much closer to him. I honestly didn't know how to react to it, and I hope he wasn't disappointed by my momentery silence and lack of words following.

So to you out there that read this, share with your spouse, boyfriend/ girlfriend, or best friend your secret, or mail it to Frank.

It'll change you. It'll help you grow.

Complete side note: It really bothers me when I read other's blogs and find spelling and grammatical errors. So I apologize if you find them on mine. I try my best, but my blackberry keyboard is little, and I usually blog in bed right before I go to sleep.

Also Hey La Shay! Thanks for visiting my blog, and I hope you enjoy the update!

Pregnancy

2009-08-22T22:08:00.000-05:00

I really should have started this blog earlier to record important things during my pregnancy. I think it would be fun to go back and read everything I was feeling and thinking at the time.

So while I still remember some fun pregnancy stuff I will share it.

Scott and I knew for awhile we didn't want to wait long to get pregnant after we got married. Mainly the fact he has two kids, we didn't want all our kids to be extremely far apart in age. Dayzy will be 6 and half years older than William and Chayse will be almost 5 years older.

Scott and I would have insurance starting December 1, 2008. So we decided we would start trying then. If my due date is correct we should have concieved on December 18th. I hadn't missed a period yet but decided I wanted to take a pregnancy test on January first. Scott said it was too early and we bickered in wal-mart about it. :). I got mad and then got my way. I went home and took the test and it was positive! I was so excited and couldn't stop smiling! Scott was happy too and even made our cat dance in excitement.

My mom was the first to know. I don't remember how long we waited to tell her, but it wasn't long because that's a hard secret to keep!

It should be known that from the beginning I said we were going to have a red haired girl, and Scott said it would be a brown haired boy. We're expecting a boy. :) We'll see who is right about hair color when Will gets here.

We started telling other people we were pregnant earlier than we planned but that's ok. My step grandpa passed away at the end of January, so Scott and I made a trip to Michigan. My family had asked my parents if Scott and I were going to try to have kids soon. Of course we were already pregnant, but my parents kept their mouths shut and said yeah I think so.

Well as newly weds, and as a bride I vowed to not be one of those girls that went on crazy diets before getting married. Needless to say I was slowly gaining weight and I do carry it in my belly. Well as newly weds and me having a belly a family friend asked if I was pregnant at the visitation. I didn't see a need to lie so I said yes. Slowly it had came out that I was. People had said they wanted to ask but didn't want to be rude. I remind you that at this time I was like 6 weeks pregnant. My baby was no bigger than a nailhead. Obviously I wasn't showing! Oh well I got to tell family in person, and it was exciting news to celebrate life after we were mourning the loss of a loved one.

We told Dayzy and Chayse I was pregnant by showing them my first ultrasound picture and asked if they knew what it was. They were very excited and by this time I was 11 weeks pregnant. Soon after I started telling people at work, and Scott's family and my brothers were told.

Those first 3 months were crazy! I swore I never wanted to be pregnant again! I got a little morning sickness, but it was when I rushed out of bed, and it was only bile. But I had nasty nausea. I had plenty of days where I parked myself on the couch right after work and stayed there all night. Thankfuly Scott does a lot around the house, because I had no energy to do anything.

It got better and the second trimester went by fine. My energy level came up, and I felt good. I ate a lot! My mind set was healthy food for the baby, then I ate the junk food I wanted. I probably gained a good 40lbs during those few months.

We chose to find out the sex of our baby to help plan and buy things for. Originally we picked out the name Miles David Pearl. We told people his name also. After awhile I couldn't decide if I was in love with name Miles. David stuck because it is Scott's and his dad's middle name. I really like family names and my dad sent me a family tree to get ideas for a different first name. We chose William. It is my Grandpa's, Dad's, Brother's, and Nephew's middle name and a step uncle's first name. I could have gone with the dutch version Wilhem. :) We like William and think its a strong name. Please though, if my son is fat don't call him Willy, because I will be reminded of the movie Free Willy. You know the killer whale who is in captivity.

I remember finally feeling the baby move. I had the mind set it would happen in the beginning of April by the book standards. It was towards the end on the last day of week 20. It was probably 3 weeks later when he kicked hard enough that Scott finally felt him also. The kids didn't feel him for awhile after that but they loved when they would push on my stomach and Will would kick back.

Everything since then went smooth. We started buying baby stuff and I had to look at baby stuff if the store carried it.

I started month 8 with a burst of energy. In 4 days I had dumped half my apartment. I organized shelves and cupboards, I cleaned everything spootless. Sadly the energy level decreased and its a little messy now, but a lot of useless crap was dumped.
I've written about highblood pressure, but it never bothered me, and didn't seem like an extreme pressing issue until recently.

Now that my pregnancy is almost through I have two complaints, well it could be rolled into one. I am the clumsiest person ever! I spilled a glass of pop on the floor at work the other night. I knocked over kid's cups and lids, I spilled chalk on the floor, I knocked over our gift card stand, and while bussing I dropped chicken bones and silverware everywhere! Its embarassing, and I feel like I'm all thumbs! I also can't go a meal without spilling on my self. I honestly think all my maternity shirts have stains on them. So all you pregos out there, don't buy white maternity tops, they don't stay clean.
As of today I've gained 65lbs. Woops! Luckily in the past three weeks I've gained maybe a pound. I did take the eating for two a little too serious, a little too early. But you live and learn.
The pregnancy has been an expierence. It has gone fast yet slow. I'm nervous for when my son is born. It overwhelms me to think that someone is going to rely on me 100 percent of the time. It means my freedom is gone, and nothing is going to be the same or simple. Yet this also excites me to no end also. To start a completly new chapter in my life. I love being a step mom, and can't wait to be a mom! I know everything that I've expierenced and the fears and tears will all be worth it when William is born.

Here's to my last 2 and half weeks of "freedom." May they go fast, yet slow. May I get all done that I need to, but not go crazy waiting for the big day.

Week 37 appointment

2009-08-21T07:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the last day of week 37! Which by most things I've read I'm full term! Any day now this baby could pop out and he'll be fine!

I had my weekly doctors appointment also. Well technically midwife appointment. I go to a midwife because originally I could get into an appointment with them faster than with a doctor. I'm not with them to go for a normal natural childbirth. Ill most definetly take an epidural please!

Ok back to the appointment. I knew I was going to have labs done because of my borderline highblood pressure. When I got into the room they took my bloodpressure and it was 139/72. A little high. I told my midwife how I get pressure headaches that can be a sign of preeclampsia. She was a little worried. Hence why now I have to do a 24 hour urine test, get blood drawn, and did a Non stress test. I'm doing the urine test sat - sun. The lady who drew my blood was flying through people before me, taking blood like it was nobody's business! She gets to me, and feels my vein, pokes it 5 times! Shoving the needle in and out really hard! And guess what?? She wasn't in a vein! So she goes to my other arm, where from my days as a plasma donor I know has small veins. She looks, doesnt find one so she draws blood from my wrist! So I had a bandage on each arm, and looked like I had been beaten! In the Non Stress Test you're hooked to a monitor that reads the baby's heartbeat, my uterine contractions and my pulse. William did well when he started off increasing his heartbeat. He is supposed to increase his heartbeat by 20 beats for atleast 10 seconds, but then go to normal. He did one right away but then stayed steady. So the lady gave me some sprite and Will took off! He was moving which made the heartbeat go up. Which is what we wanted! Sometimes he moved so much the machine lost his heartbeat. Needless to say I was fine, he was fine and we were let go. They also took my blood pressure on that machine (usually machines make it high for me) and my bloodpressure when we started was 117/72! Pretty sure that's the best I've seen for me! So hopefully everything will be fine. If not and I do have preeclampsia I'll probably be induced to get the baby out. Because usually the body will return to normal after delivery and preeclamsia goes away, as long as it hasn't been turned into eclampsia.

I was worried before this appointments but am relieved now that the NST was fine, so we'll see how the blood work comes back and the urine test!

Onto other news. Yesterday was Dayzy's first day back to school! She had fun, and is glad to be back. Only two of her friends from last year are still in her class. And apparently NO cute boys. So Nick Jonas you still have Dayzy's heart... For now. Chayse kept asking if we missed Dayzy. He really did yesterday. His play buddy is gone and he has over a week until he goes back.

Once I learn how get pictures from my phone to my blog sans computer, I will liven this blog up with pictures.

Scott is home!

2009-08-19T00:04:00.000-05:00

Scott is finally home! Luckily it only took 5 and a half this time instead of 7 and a half on the way there! He is re-energized on the Pizza Ranch!
He got home at around 8:30. I for once actually felt like going for a walk so I met him outside and away we went. We walked in a huge circle, but it felt good! My hands did swell up like sausages but suprisingly my feet seemed to de-swell. I realized that around the square in Mount Pleasant there are street lights, but once you go down side streets there aren't any. Hence why we walked in a big circle where the lights were.
It truly is an odd little southern Iowa town.

I promised my self when I started my blog (like 2 days ago :) ) that I would not bitch about work on here. We'll I've now decided since its a public blog, that I won't bitch about co-workers, but our "guests" are fair game!

Ill start with the background first. Our lunch buffet is from 11 until 1:30. At 1:30 we shut off the buffet lights, and stop selling the buffet. Otherwise people would straggle in all day and want it, and it would not be busy enough to keep a fresh well stocked buffet. We have had this policy since we opened over a year ago. Well today as I got off break around 1:35 an older gentlemen came up to me and asked if buffet was over because it looked like it was. I said yes it is, we stop selling buffet at 1:30. I went into the dishroom, and was busy in the kitchen. The old man and his wife and 10 year old granddaughter ordered and sat down. They had asked my cashier for buffet and she said that we had stopped selling it. Well she was watching them. They had only ordered 2 one trip salad bars. How 3 people were to eat that, I don't know. The cashier then told me that one of them had gotten cheese stix which were on the buffet and not part of the salad bar. She came up to me again and said this time they had gotten chicken, and pizza. I had to go up to them and demand that they pay for the food that they had taken when they knew they were not supposed to. Now what makes me more mad than anything is the fact that they told their 10 year old granddaughter to steal food, and taught her it was ok. When I confronted them, the 10 year old was very nervous and ashamed and the grandparents acted like it was nothing! I made them pay for a buffet, and then tool down the buffet, because all the other guests were done with buffet.

I hope that in my actions I'm setting a good example for Dayzy and Chayse and not teaching them to steal or cheat people.

What have people come to these days!?

Monday Pains

2009-08-17T21:55:00.000-05:00

Monday funday.

Scott is still in Orange City so I was at home with Dayzy and Chayse. They were very well behaved this morning, and let me sleep in until 10! Oh the wonders of teaching your 6 year old how to work a remote. :)

I think today was a first in the Pearl hosehold. I cooked all 3 meals at home! Breakfast was lovely toaster struddles and a clemitine. By the time we had those ate it was pretty much lunch time. So I made the oh so healthy mac and cheese! (Hey I'm pregnant and it has sounded good for awhile). We also ate pudding I made from a box and fresh peaches. Supper we had chicken tenderloin strips I grilled on the george foreman along with a little salad and white rice. :). It was good! I've been a little sick of eating pizza ranch constantly. But I do love free meals and actually seeing scott if he works or if I do. The kids also liked the food at home, but missed the ice cream we usually get at pizza ranch.

Pregnancy news: I had a little scare today. I've been borderline high blood pressure my whole pregnancy. I chalk it up to something that runs in my family. Anyway it means I get my urine tested everytime and get lectured on what I eat. Anyway at my 36 week appointment my midwife told me that if I expierence extreme bilateral headaches, blurred vision, or sharp pains in my liver area to call right away! Well twice this morning a had sharp pains around where I assume my liver is. Luckily each time it only lasted about 10 seconds. And it hasn't happened again. I may just be a hypochondriac because I know Scott can't be here within minutes. But I did research on preeclampsia and if your bp is above 140/90, your at risk. My top number last time was 150 at first then awhile later it was I think 136. The number can jump around a lot in my appointments.

As I write this William is moving like crazy. He's causing sharp pains in my side. Maybe he's trying to get all the amniotic fluid that tastes like the pistachio pudding I just ate.

Finally my very own blog!

2009-08-16T16:06:00.000-05:00

I've finally decided to start my own blog! I don't know how many countless hours I spend on my blackberry viewing other's blogs. So now maybe my rants and raves will entertain those of you out there that read this.

Here's what's currently going on in our life.

Dayzy will be starting FIRST grade on Thursday! The summer has flown by! But she is ready to go back, she's still at the age where she really enjoys school, and misses all her friends like crazy! She can almost read! Shouldn't be much longer and I'm sure we'll have a little book worm on our hands.

Around the 30th Chayse will be going back to headstart/preschool for another year. He too is very excited to see all of his friends again!

I'm 36 (and a half) weeks pregnant! I'm hoping baby William will be born a day early so he will have the birthdate of 09/09/09. Granted I wouldn't mind him earlier. But I know he'll come when he's ready. This pregnancy has actually gone by pleasantly fast, but at the same time I feel like I've been pregnant forever. I'm in the last stages where sleeping is uncomfortable, I have terrible heart burn, and I don't feel like I can get any bigger! I swear the poor little guy has to be smooshed in me. I feel his every move (which I'm thankful for).

I recently had my first baby shower and had so much fun! It was thrown by a lady at work named Peggy. She had hilarious games. We had to eat baby food and guess what flavor it was. We also had melted chocolate in diapers and had to guess what kind of candy it was. People's faces were the best! Anyway many other fun games were played, and I was very overwhelmed by all the amazing gifts I received. William is one lucky little guy!

Scott is doing well. He left today to drive to the big city of Orange City. He is going for Bulls Eye bootcamp. Its a mini training session for the Pizza Ranch. He won't be home until very late Tuesday night. I have the kids until I bring them to their mother Tuesday morning. Hopefully nothing babywise will happen while he's gone!