Meet Molly

This is our new puppy. Clay took the kids Wednesday morning to a shelter just to look for one. We were trying not to get our hopes up but there she was! :) We are hoping she will be house trained sooner than later...ya know?

First Family Car Ride

This is the "Hey Mom, please hurry and come out of the store face".



But Daddy knows just how to fix the problem. What a good Daddy.



I like the look of apprehension in this picture. It is like he trying to be happy with the situation of being in a car seat AND hungry but he just isn't too sure about it all.

Boaz the Kinsman Redeemer

We welcomed our new son, Boaz Yale Pearlstein, into our home last night at 7:54. He weighs 8 lbs, 3 ounces, he is 21 and 1/4 inches long, and he is wonderful. Here are some pictures we took today when Ellie and Nayshe met him for the first time. As you can tell by the pictures they absolutely love holding him.

Waiting...

God blessed us with a wonderful summer together as a family. Clay was home from teaching so that pretty much changed everything. Funny how the house is louder and more fun when Daddy is home. Not always as orderly but it was only 8 weeks. I would joke with my husband, "I am a lot more productive when you are at work." :) He got a grill for his birthday and spoiled me with many dinners. I made many thrift store runs BY MYSELF because it was 2 in the afternoon and he was home and was like you should go to a thrift store. Okay, I can handle that.

But the summer is over and hopefully I will get all those pictures up for you soon. Sorry to our family far away! This blog has not been fulfilling its purpose. Clay is back at work and do you know what we are doing? Waiting. Waiting for the next little Pearlstein to arrive. I feel a week and a half over due, even though my due date is not until the 23rd. I feel over due because on September 4th I did go into labor and labored from 4pm to 3am and made it to a 6 and then everything stopped. Yes, quite sad. I'll be honest I cried a lot that Labor Day. Not because I had gone through that but because we didn't have our baby to enjoy. But, by the end of the night all the great words my husband was trying to get through my head finally made it there. :) What our poor husbands go through to encourage their wives.

It was a really good thing that everything stopped. This labor was "different" than my last two. With Eleanor she was born from start to finish within 12 hours and Athanasius within 10 hours. But this little baby was posterior and it took me 11 hours to get to a 6. Maybe that wasn't the reason but I think it had something to do with it. I looked at Clay at one point and said I know I am not going to do well at the end, these contractions are already so horrible. Around 1am our midwife was encouraging me to lay down and rest some, I didn't want too because that was more uncomfortable but I eventually did. I was getting shaky and exhausted. Then I started falling asleep between contractions and would wake up for the contraction. I knew in the back of my mind this could not be good but I was so exhausted I didn't want to try and get up. Finally I did and I started noticing the contractions were farther and farther apart and barely anything. It didn't really sink in that everything was stopping, I was so excited to be in labor and see our baby. But after taking a walk in our neighborhood at 4am and trying some pressure points and our sweet midwife saying, "I'll be honest I don't think things are going to start up again." I was so sad. There is so must anticipation with labor. You have worked hard for so many months just being pregnant and then go through labor to receive your reward, that sweet baby. But we didn't receive ours that day. I am not depressed like I was initially. Now I feel calm and well, tired. :) I know he WILL be with us some day and hopefully that labor will go a little better. I will tell this child I went through labor twice with you! Poor Eleanor keeps talking to my tummy telling Baby he can come out now. She tells me at least twice a day how much she misses the baby, like she already knows him. :) In some ways this has been the most anticipated of our children because we have two other kids to share it with. And the fact that I already went into labor. If you are a young mother having babies I hope this never to happens to you. I have heard about labors stopping but didn't really think it through that well. On the bright side it gives me more time to nest and bake things for the freezer. So, when this baby does decide to make his appearance we will be a VERY HAPPY family. A family of five, that's exciting. :)

Park

Eleanor can do all kinds of things by herself now. And she likes it.



Buddy is trying to catch up with Daddy and Eleanor. Little legs = it will be awhile



Sometimes Clay will do things like this to freak me out. How do I cope? I take a picture. By this point Athanasius was swinging his legs and half yelling to get off. He is not a risk taker.





I have pretty much surrendered that I will look like a human apple with arms and legs by the end of this pregnancy. That's okay...I will have another little Pearlstein to hold.







This was Athanasius' one adventurous moment. I snapped the picture and started over to help him up; as soon as I did he was already coming down. The ground is better I guess.


This pretty much sums up Eleanor. :)








This is his "mad" face.



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Do you see the common theme in these pictures? Buddy pretty much just enjoys poles and mulch while Eleanor has to try EVERYTHING. I was snapping pictures and realized I only had a few of Eleanor because she was so hard to keep up with. :) But then I got busy and felt like I evened it out some.
A night at the park...simple and fun.

Happy Girl

In the beginning of the summer Clay painted the kids room. I wasn't really sure what I wanted so I just picked white. Before he started I knew I would like better than it was. One wall was burgundy and the other three this over the top camel/tan color. I really didn't like it for a kids room. But when he finished I realized I LOVED the white. The room has two big windows and gets a lot of sun, it is a happy room. With the white it seems so fresh and clean now. It was a long day of painting for Clay and me keeping the kids busy with stuff to do, along with looking at ALL their stuff in our tiny living room...but when bed time came it was so worth it. Ellie walked in with everything rearranged and looking fairly normal, she surprised us with loving the new room. She kept thanking Daddy for painting it and me for rearranging her furniture. It was so cute! Literally...all night, off and on she kept thanking us. Here are some pictures Clay got of her first night in the new room.


Four year old bedtime reading material...Your Big Backyard magazine. Good stuff.


This one is my favorite. She is growing up.

Camera

This is Buddy checking out Eleanor's new camera. It has become a favorite of both kiddos. The newness has worn off a very little bit so that now every time he touches it she isn't worried or hovering around him. :)



Kids are so great and funny. He must feel very good holding a real camera and being allowed to walk all over the place with it.

When Ellie knows there are a lot of pictures on her camera she is very anxious for Clay to "put them on the computer". She will ask him repeatedly if he has done it yet. We are not sure what her plans are, but at least they are on the computer and she feels good about them. :)

Ellie Speaks

Somehow Clay gets Eleanor to make all these crazy faces. I love them. And I will have to start entitling these posts "Eleanor Speaks". She has decided she just wants to be called Eleanor. When we accidentally say Ellie she will say, "Can I just be Eleanor?"

The other day we were talking about the new baby. And Eleanor said something like, "...when Mommy has the babies." Clay told her that Mommy is only having one baby. Eleanor said, "Oh, I know. But when she has the first baby then in a few weeks she will have another one." We have actually had this conversation several times, she is having the hardest time understanding that there will only be one baby. :) Little does she know that one baby will be plenty for us to handle.

The kids have been sick, it all started LAST Thursday. My temperament doesn't really thrive on being still or staying inside all the time. But, it is good for me, as hard as it is. Yesterday was our annual church conference and I was really excited about going. I had big plans about bringing a blanket and sitting in the back with the kiddos enjoying pipe cleaners, play dough, and coloring. I'm not sure why, with having small children, but it is one of my favorite church events. But because of the sickness, which is the never ending cough and annoying fever, the kids and I stayed home and Daddy went ahead alone. This morning Clay was getting ready for church, he was pretty much dressed and ready to go. I was sitting on the rug in the living room trying to jump start my attitude for the day. Another day of movies, activities to keep the kids busy (because they do not believe us when we tell them they are really sick, did I mention that Athanasius will sometimes stand at the front door and cry because he wants to go outside...sad.) another day of being cooped up. Clay asked me if I was okay. I said, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I just feel a little bored." Eleanor, with her great smile looked at me and said, "Mommy, we don't say bored." ha ha! That's right baby, we don't say bored. Needless to say Clay noticed the morale of the troops (mainly Mommy...) was on the line so he stayed home and we had a wonderful day. We did take the kids outside for a ride in their wagon. Daddy's just have a way of making the whole house happy. :) It is always really weird when we have to stay home on a Sunday. It feels unnatural. But it isn't the end of the world, and in the scheme of things sickness lasting over a week isn't that long. But at the time it feels so. I was so thankful for Eleanor's reminder. I firmly believe one reason God wants us to have kids is to help sanctify and purify our lives. I think our kids are doing a great job at that. On a side note I made homemade jello for the first time. I mean I used unflavored gelatin and fruit juice. I was pretty excited about the whole thing and felt very productive. You know you do not have much going on when you feel productive from the act of mixing gelatin and juice in a bowl and then sticking it in the refrigerator. Sometimes it is the little things that bless us. We are hoping we are on the tail end of this sickness and that Clay and I do not get it. Ecspecially since we have a wedding to do this coming Saturday. I don't think a photographer canceling at the last minute would go over well.

I wish I could think of more things Eleanor has said lately, she says a lot. :) I should really write them down and then I would have a more substantial post.

Garden

These are our first banana peppers. We are quite excited. They were lovely and smelled so good.




Some very sweet friends gave Eleanor her very own digital camera! It was probably the best thing they could have given her. She loves it. Yesterday she figured out how to do a slide show on the viewing screen? She wanted to take part in my pepper shoot. Although Athanasius doesn't have a camera he wanted to join the fun. The peppers ended up on the grill. I am so happy about little gardens and plants that don't die.