girl's day

After I dropped my little monkey off at school today, I met my Mom, sister in law, and niece at the nail salon.  

Mom had a gift certificate that was expiring tomorrow so she asked us to join us in a little spa treatment.  We didn't mind since all their services were 30% off!! 

 I was absolutely amazed at how well Olivia did getting her manicure.  She didn't move a muscle the entire time. She was a perfect little angel.  All of the ladies were eating her up.  I'm sure she felt so special getting the royal treatment and lots of attention.  

 Ashley and I just got manicures, but Mom got a pedicure too!  When Olivia was all done she had to go show Lolly her pretty pink nail polish.  

One of my New Year's Resolutions (in 2013) was to quit biting my nails and although I didn't officially complete it 2012, I can officially say that I have quit biting my nails.   They are all finally grown out, so today was a much deserved manicure!! Now if I can just keep them this way!!  

#thelinkhomeeveryday2014 {week 4}

Day {22}

This kid loves to go to church.  He literally runs to his classroom every time we go! I love that he loves to go to church already. 

{Day 23}

It was super cold on Thursday so it was a perfect night for chili and cornbread.  I used a new recipe from a friend and it was sooooooo good!! While I was stirring it in the crockpot Nash decided he wanted to try it too.  

{Day 24}

The whole family celebrated my Mom's birthday at Joe Willy's. Mmmm I love their hamburgers!!

{Day 25}

We only let Pearson watch TV on Saturday mornings.  TV during the week was getting to be such a battle.  He would watch one show then throw a fit when we had to turn it off.  It wasn't worth the 30 minutes of freedom I got to deal with the battle afterwards.  So now, on Saturdays he gets to watch one show in bed with Daddy while I make breakfast.  He always looks forward to this special time since it's his only time to watch TV (other than special family movie nights)

{Day 26}

Every morning when I fix Pearson's hair he loves to smile at himself in the mirror and check himself out.  

{Day 27}

Pearson is always asking to sit on the potty.  He will sit there and read his books but has only actually tee-teed in the potty a few times.  I'm soooooo ready for him to be potty trained, but he just isn't quite there yet.  We'll hit potty training hard sometime after Nash is here.  I really don't want two in diapers for long. 

{Day 28}

We got to peek in on our sweet Baby Nash one more time before he is here.  The sonographer said everything looked perfect and that he was measuring right in the 50th percentile at about 6lbs 7oz.  If he gains a half a pound a week from here on out he'll be about the same size as his big brother at 7lbs 15oz.  My cervix is still long and closed so right now it's looking like we will make it to our scheduled c-section date of February 17th.  We'll see though!!

meal planning monday

Monday: Out after Hospital Tour

Tuesday: Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Taquitos

Wednesday: Chuck Roast w/ Peppercini

Thursday: Grilled Cheese & Tomato Basil Soup

Friday: Parent's Night Out

Saturday Breakfast: Hobo Pancakes & Bacon

Saturday Lunch: Roast Beef Sandwiches

Saturday Dinner: Fajita Pizza

Sunday Lunch: Out to Eat

Sunday Dinner: Super Bowl Sunday Party at The Hjertstedts

baby no. 2 {36 weeks}

how far along? 36 weeks

how are you measuring? measuring right on track
size of baby? size of a head of romaine lettuce
heartbeat? 145bpm (at our 34 week appointment) 

total weight gain/loss? 33lbs

maternity clothes? Yes, and surprisingly I'm not tired of them yet.  I feel like I have been able to have so much variety this go round because I have a ton of solid maternity tops and I mix and match it with non-maternity cardigans, scarfs and jewelry.  I have enjoyed winter maternity clothes way more than spring/summer maternity clothes.  
stretch marks? Ugh, they are starting to pop up on the center of my belly.  This is about they time they first showed up with Pearson so I have a feeling I might gain a few more "baby tats" before this pregnancy is over. 

sleep? Sleeping sounding while I'm actually asleep, but I wake up often to switch sides of go to the bathroom.  I probably need to go to the bathroom 4-5 times a night but I hold it and only go about 3 times because it is so incredibly painful to walk to the bathroom at night.  I'm fine while I'm laying down but as soon as I wake up my sciatic nerve hurts so bad.  I limp to the bathroom, and then moan and groan to get back into a comfortable sleeping position.  And I say comfortable very loosely.  I'm not so comfortable these days.  

best moment this week? I got my new breastpump that was covered 100% by insurance in the mail this week and I got my hospital bag all packed.  We are ready for our sweet boy to be here!!

movement? Yes, and he is still in the same position he has been in for a few weeks now.  Head in the lower left side, legs and all the kicking on the upper right side.  I think he's officially out of room to move positions. 

food cravings? Lots of ice water and girl scout cookies and of course anything sweet.  This sweet tooth is KILLING me.  I'm definitely going to have to cut back after he is born or I will never lose all my baby weight.

gender predictions? BOY!!!! Nash Matthew Link

what i miss? Being comfortable.  I'm definitely to the point in this pregnancy where I'm just uncomfortable…….especially in the evenings.  
what i'm looking forward to? Two date nights with my handsome hubby.  Monday night we are touring the new hospital that we are delivering in and then going to dinner.  Lolly & Pops are keeping Pearson overnight for us!!  Then, Friday is Parent's Night Out at our church so we might go try to catch a movie!!
how are you feeling? No belly pain, minimal, heartburn, but LOTS of sciatic nerve/butt cramp pains in the night and TONS of Braxton Hicks contractions in the evenings.  I've definitely hit the point of this pregnancy where I'm soooooooo ready for it to be over.  It's been a fun ride, but I'm ready to get this baby out!!!

comparisons to last pregnancy? I've been much more grumpy and complainy this go round.  Poor Matt. I know he's ready to have his sweet wife back!!

Here I am 36 weeks with Pearson and 36 weeks with Nash

whose birthday is next?

We celebrated Mom's birthday last night and then we had two birthday parties to go to today.  After the second birthday party Pearson asked "Whose birthday is next?"

We've partied hard this weekend!!

Next up is Uncle Bryan's birthday and then it's our sweet Baby Nash's birthday!!!!!!

We started our morning off at Naomi's house for an Octonaut Party.

Christine had the cutest spread of ocean themed food.  These little marshmallow pops were my favorite!!

Miss Naomi was a fan of them too!

Pearson's favorite part of any birthday party is the cake.  He knows it comes after we sing Happy Birthday so he was constantly telling us "Sing Happy Birthday!" He was a happy camper when we finally did and he got to dig into his cupcake. 

Daddy and Pearson made a cute little ocean scene after he ate his cake. 

 When it was time for presents Pearson was all up in Naomi's business!  Birthday parties right after Christmas are a little hard to understand.  He wanted to help open presents so bad.  

And after she opened up the present we gave her he sort of re-claimed it.  I had to explain to him that it wasn't a present for him but a present from him. 

After Naomi's party we came home for some lunch, a little playtime and a very short-lived nap and then we were off to Miss Alice's birthday party.  

His little friend Aisley was also at Naomi's party so they were happy to see each other again!!

Alice's Mom is an amazing cake maker, so the activity for the party was to decorate little cakes.

Pearson had trouble squeezing out the icing at first so I helped him decorate his cake. 

He never really got anything out on his own, but he sure did enjoy decorating his cake.  

Here is our masterpiece!!

 But here was the real masterpiece……..I told you Alice's Mom was an amazing cake decorator!! And not only did the cake look amazing but it tasted amazing too.

We had such a fun day partying!!

Looking forward to the next birthday!!!

happy birthday lolly!

This morning we sent Lolly this little video to start her birthday off with…….

…….and then this evening we celebrated at Joe Willy's with the whole family.  

We gave my Mom three picture frames to start a black and white photo gallery.  I put our Christmas card picture from last year in one frame and in the others I am going to put one of the pictures I got of Pearson at my maternity session and then save the last frame for one of Nash's newborn pictures!!  

Happy Birthday Mom! I hope your day was just as wonderful as you are.  

We love you so much!!

pearson {31 months}

I think I say this every month, but you get more and more fun each month.  You keep us laughing all the time and bring us SO much joy to our lives. 

• You are a super cleaner upper.  You know where all of your toys go and you always help us in the evening to clean up all your toys. You definitely didn't get the clean gene from me!!
• You follow directions so well. We can tell you to go get something or go do something and you know just what to do!
• Your vocabulary is expanding every day and that is mainly because you ask "What is dat?" about EVERYTHING.  Last month you said "What's dat" but this month it's "What is that?" You literally ask this about 100 times a day!! I love your curious little mind though!!
• You had strep this month and you loved taking your medicine.  Each morning and evening you remind me that "Pearson need medicine!"
• You say two different prayers at dinner time.  Either the ABC prayer for the New Blessing.  The ABC prayer is "ABCDEFG Thank you God for feeding me." We call the other blessing the New Blessing because we introduced it last month.  It's no longer new, but that's what you call here.  Here is how you say it.  "God is great, God is goot, let us thank him for our foooot." I love how you make all the words rhymes.  It's the cutest thing ever. And you always drag out your Aaaaaaaaa-men.
• Anytime you fall or hurt yourself you say "I hurt da head" or "I hurt da hand"
• You don't say "my" you say "I" so it's "I milk" or "I shirt".  I guess we live in a world of I's with our iPhone and iPad so it's quite confusing!!!
• You like to dip your green beans in ranch.
• You love cucumbers and celery and ranch.
• We hear you say "Wemme do it!" a lot!!
• You have asked about a million times this month "Where Christmas go?".  You were so sad to see all the Christmas lights and our decorations come down.
• Anytime you see a P you say "Hey, P Pearson!"
• We started associated letters with words this month and you know can tell us what all of our family members names start with and you can tell us at least one word that each letter starts with. (ex. A-Ashley, D-Daddy, M-Mommy N-Nash R-Rocketship, Z-Zipper, etc.)
• One night I made Tator Tot Casserole and I told Matt that you probably wouldn't eat it.  Much to my surprise you were scarfing down the beef mixture and saying "Dis chicken is good!!"
• You are constantly asking "What dose people doing?" You want to know everything about everybody.
• One day when we were eating at Firehouse Subs and really large man walked in and you said (quietly thankfully) "Hey, wook, it's a giant!"
• Your longest sentence you said last month was "Hey Mommy, Yook at Dos Christmas Yights Ober Dare." 
• Anytime you say something is big you say "Big-O".  I couldn't figure out why until I caught myself always saying "Big Ole".  For example, I made a Big Ole pot of Taco soup for dinner tonight.  Or that's a Big Ole truck over there.  

Funny Words you Say
picko- Pillow

puter- Computer

jommas- PJ's

fwippers- Slippers
wakkles- Waffles

#thelinkhomeeveryday2014 {week 3}

I'm loving how easy this project has been since I have the freedom to take a picture of whatever I want. I also love how it's kind of like a week in review.  I'm trying to take pictures that really reflect each of our days.  

{Day 15}

We spent the day going through all of Pearson's old clothes and washing them to get the ones that had stains magically appear while they were in the attic.  So frustrating, but I'm happy to report that most of the stains came out.  

{Day 16}

 Around 4:30/5:00 my body totally poops out on me and I am just flat out exhausted.  If Pearson is still napping I like to go sit in the chair in Nash's room and pray for little love.  

{Day 17}

Dad came over to help hang some stuff up in Nash's room.  Pearson was mesmerized with all of Pop's tools.  He kept saying "What is da?t" or "What's Pops doooooing?".

 {Day 18}

I came home with a trunk load of diapers from my diaper shower on Saturday.  Such a blessing!!

 {Day 19}

When the sun gets in Pearson's eyes he says "I hurt my eyes".  He's just recently started wanting to wear his sunglasses.  He hasn't quite mastered how to get them on correctly. 

{Day 20}

Lunch with Pops and Daddy at Pei Wei.  This kiddo ate the heck out of my rice!!

 {Day 21}

I think it's funny that there is an expiration date on Girl Scout cookies.  Do anybody's ever actually last that long.  I'm not even going to admit how fast this box was eaten.  

chocolate cherry brownies

This is a special recipe to me because it's the first thing that Matt and I cooked together.  When we were first dating, Matt had to make a dessert for a work event.   He got his favorite recipe from his Mom, we headed to the store to get all the ingredients and made these brownies together at his apartment.  I didn't get to try them because he had to take them to work, but at the end of his day he told me that all of his co-workers loved them.  Once I made them again and got to try them for myself I knew why everyone loved them!! They are so yummy and definitely one of our favorite desserts to make!!

Chocolate Cherry Brownies

1 (16 oz.) jar maraschino cherries 

2/3 c. butter or margarine

1 (6oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips, 

divided

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

1 ¼ c. flour

¾ c. oatmeal

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. vegetable shortening

Heat oven to 350°. Drain cherries; reserve 12 and chop reminder. In large saucepan, melt 

butter and ½ cup chocolate chips over low heat; stir until melted. Remove from heat; cool 

slightly. Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Stir in combined dry ingredients, and chopped cherries. Spread into greased 9 X 13-inch baking dish or pan. Bake about 25 minutes or until 

brownies pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely.

Halve reserved cherries; place on top of brownies. In heavy saucepan over low heat, melt 

remaining ½ cup chocolate chips and shortening; stir until mixture is melted and smooth. 

Drizzle over brownies; cut into 2 ½ inch squares. Store in airtight container.

**I don't put the chocolate drizzle on mine because I think it makes it a little too chocolatey, but if you are a true chocolate lover then you won't want to skip out on the extra chocolate drizzle!!

Enjoy!!

meal planning monday

Monday: Chicken and Waffles

Tuesday: Enchiladas, Rice & Beans

Wednesday: Bagel Sandwiches, Chips & Fruit

Thursday: Chili & Cornbread

Friday: Out for Mom's Birthday

Saturday Breakfast: Pigs in a Blanket

Saturday Lunch: Panini's and Chips

Saturday Dinner: Spicy Sausage Pasta

Sunday Lunch: Out to Eat

Sunday Dinner: ABF Leadership Meeting

baby no. 2 {35 weeks}

how far along? 35 weeks

how are you measuring? measuring right on track
size of baby? size of a honey dew melon

heartbeat? 145bpm (at our 34 week appointment) 

total weight gain/loss? 31lbs

maternity clothes? Yep!
stretch marks? Just the two new little ones that showed up last week. 

sleep? Sleeping okay, but I wake up ever 2 hours either to go to the bathroom or to switch sides.  My left hip (sciatic nerve) still really bothers me at night.  I literally limp, moan and groan all the way to the bathroom and getting back in bed.  I sound pretty pathetic, but it really hurts.  As soon as I'm up for the day it doesn't bother me at all.  

best moment this week? I had a surprise baby shower at Bunco and a Diaper Shower from my ABF.  We also got a couple of things hung up in Nash's room.  It's getting closer to being done.  

movement? Yes.  He likes to nestle his head way down in my groin on the left side and then kick me really hard in my ribs on the right side.  He also gets the hiccups atleast 3 times a day.  He always gets them when I am trying to go to sleep.  I can't go to sleep until they are done because I feel like my belly is twitching. 

food cravings? I've just been really thirsty lately.  I'm drinking tons of ice water which is a good thing!

gender predictions? BOY!!!! Nash Matthew Link

what i miss? Being able to keep up with Pearson.  I'm REALLY starting to slow down and it's getting harder to do things with Pearson.  Sitting on the floor to play with is uncomfortable, he's too heavy for me to pick him up, and in the evenings when he still has tons of energy to play all I want to do is sit on the couch and rest. 
what i'm looking forward to? Finishing Nash's nursery.  We had a little hiccup with the shelves I was planning on hanging in his room.  The ones I had aren't going to work so I've got to go find some new ones.  I am really hoping I can find some this week so I can be done with his room.
how are you feeling? No belly pain this week….Praise the Lord.  Since I didn't have any belly pain this week I was able to work hard during the day on getting things done around the house.  However since I would work so hard during the day, I tired out by about 4pm.  After that I'm pretty much good for nothing.  My body starts to ache, I start to waddle, and the Braxton Hicks contraction really start to pick up.  I seriously have so many Braxton Hicks contractions.  I should probably keep track of how often I have them, but I always forget.  I know it's not real labor so I'm not too concerned.  Oh, and heartburn decided to join me this pregnancy.  I have never had it in my entire life, so I didn't really know what was going on at first.  It only seems to bother me when I lay down at night.  A sweet friend of mine hooked me up with some TUMS so hopefully that will help it stay away!  Thankfully it's just now joining me.  Only 4 more weeks!!!

comparisons to last pregnancy? I feel like I'm moving much slower this go round than I was with Pearson. 

Here I am 35 weeks with Pearson and 35 weeks with Nash

diapers galore

Two of my sweet friends from church, Jenny & Courtney, hosted a Diaper Shower at Corner Bakery for me today! A while back when lots of our class started having 2nd babies, we decided that instead of doing "real" showers hosted at someone's house that we would do diaper showers at a restaurant for all 2nd babies.  No need for decorations, real invitations and everyone pays for their own food.  It's a simple shower to host and a great way for all of us girls to get together!!

Our class is so busy with our kids and lots of new babies being born that's it's hard for us all together. (We've had 6 babies born in the last 5 months) We picked a good date for the shower though because there were so many girls that were able to come to my shower.  It was so fun hanging out with everyone. 

{Holly, Ali, & Julie}

 {Christie & Jennie}

 {Denise & Kristin}

 {Amy & Natalie}

 {Jenica, Courtney & Jenny}

 {Julie & Amy}

 {Me & My Mom}

And just because my food was soooooooo delicious I had to include a picture of it!!

 The majority of my gifts were diapers and wipes so we didn't even bother opening them.  I did open a few of them though that had other things included like this cute and cozy little outfit from Baby Gap. 

My Mom also made a cute little gown for Nash to wear in the hospital.  It will probably swallow him up but it will make changing diapers in the hospital easier since there aren't any snaps!! 

 When we got home from the shower I couldn't believe how many diapers we got.  We filled up one entire side of Nash's closet.  We wet so incredibly blessed by the generosity of our friends in our ABF. 

**And I guess here is a little sneak peak of Nash's nursery.  You'll have to wait to see the rest until I get everything up on the walls.  Hopefully that will be soon.  I'm so ready to be done with it!!