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

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

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

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

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

A Magical Year

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

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

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

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...

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

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.