Rice Cereal

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

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'

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!

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?

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

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

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!