Southern at Heart

Chris tore the tub out on Saturday. What a mess!! Not only did he rip the tub out but also tore out the drywall. Thank God he knows what he is doing because I am at a loss. So not my language. I am all about the designing and decorating! So day 1, tub is gutted, dry wall is gone, baseboards are gone, new insulation is installed and my house is a mess. Looks like a dust ball exploded. No turning back now.
Day 2 post coming soon!

I had one awesome birthday week. It started on Tuesday with going to lunch with JP. One of my favorite people on this earth. She took Chris, Kate and I out. It was so fun to catch up and spend time with her. Wednesday I got my hair done and am feeling like a new woman! My parents took Chris and I out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants around town, Wood Ranch. Mmmm! Thursday, my actual birthday was perfect. I got to sleep in and snuggle with the best birthday present EVER! My precious baby! She was all smiles and in a super snuggly mood. We packed up and went to lunch with my mom and dad to my new fav breakfast/lunch place, The Blue Frog. Seriously people, the most delish homemade food. We had a great time. Dad is now hooked. My mom took care of the babe and treated me to a pedicure and wonderful massage. It was soo relaxing. My husband picked me up and took me to Disneyland and went to the Blue Bayou for dinner. I know I talk about food all the time and my love for it but hon…

I am 9 pounds away from being back to my pre-pregnancy weight! This is so encouraging to me. I have been really trying to re-train myself to start making better decisions with eating. Y'all know me and my mad love for food. Diets are not my thing. I can never stick with them. I love food too much. I have been doing the Special K diet for the past week and I'm already starting to feel a difference in my clothes. My body is crazy. I gain weight fast if I chow like a hungry hippo and I can lose it fast if I stick with the healthy eating and move my body a little. I've been having Special K for breakfast and lunch with Special K bars in between for snaking. Not bad! I am so determined to get back in all of my clothes and can hardly wait to buy a new bikini this spring! So my goal...to be back to my pre-baby weight by April. I have to be realistic and I think April is a good goal. I am so over having a chubby tummy, never had one in my life until now. So gross. Sometimes I feel…

my precious husband got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I would have to say that it is one of the most romantic, creative, thoughtful....etc..engagement stories that I have heard yet. For those of you who aren't familiar with how our love story began I'll give you a quick snap shot. It was a Wednesday and I had an awesome day at work, we celebrated my birthday with everyone and I was feeling so blessed. My best friend came over to pick me up to "take me out for my birthday". We went to our favorite coffee spot and then headed down to one of my favorite spots in Southern California, Montage Resort and Spa. Ahhh my heart is at ease and my worries seem to melt away when I am there. We ended up at the spa and I about had a heart attach because I knew how expensive one treatment was. Found out that both Jess and I were getting full body massages. Wow! Had an amazing massage and at the end my massage therapist said "hold on one moment while I go and get …

Last week's storm was awesome. We loved it. I did not like getting hailed on while driving home yesterday but the rain was so great. My favorite days are always the day after the storm. SO beautiful! Blue sky, big white puffy clouds that look so cozy you could curl up on them, that fresh scent of clean air, and oh yeah...it's so nice to be able to go outside again! We spent time in the garden this morning, trimmed palms, took a walk and washed the Jeep. So refreshing. The little one and I enjoyed our snuggle time and look forward to some more this coming week!

Kate and I in our winter hatstaken at 5:30pm tonight...view outside our bedroom

Do I even dare show you the "before" picture of our bathtub? It is so gross. I have disliked it since the day we found our house. It is the original fiberglass tub. Gross. Gross. Gross! Our house was bank owned and was on the market several months before we bought it. I would come over when we were in escrow and scrub this thing until I couldn't scrub anymore. The window had been left open while it was for sale and the poor tub was covered in things that should NEVER be in a home. Gross. It is the last original thing left in this home. We have been putting it off and putting it off but now it is time! There is no way our precious little one will ever step foot in that tub so after lots and lots of shopping and trying to figure out what we want to do in there....we are ready! We had everything all picked out until today when we found different tiles that we love even more. So now that we have it all picked out I of course decided that I want all new hardware, new paint co…

How are y'all surviving this crazy storm? I am loving it! Thankful that our neighborhood has AWESOME drainage. The wind is insane!! Thank God our palm trees are now secure so they won't be falling over ever 5 seconds anymore! I've never seen a storm like this. We have had hail everyday. We needed this water so bad! Kate and I have been snuggled inside all day everyday and it has been wonderful. We gotten some awesome snuggle time in. Lots of smiles, giggles and naps. Tell me this isn't the life? I am proud to say that today I did not leave my bed and I don't feel bad about it one bit. Well I did to get up to do laundry, eat breakfast and lunch, make bottles, change 20+ diapers but you get the point. I brought fairyland on the bed along with the bumbo chair. We had an awesome view of the storm while laying in bed and looking out the sliding doors. Rain is an awesome form of entertainment for an infant y'all. She was so amused. As was I :) I have really enjoyed j…

Sooo she might not ever remember her first play date but it was pretty stinkin hilarious and her momma will never forget it! Jackson Wade came over with his momma today and we all had a blast. Kate was all smiles at first with Jackson until we put both of them in her 'Fairyland Gym'. She did not think it was cool at all. Jackson loved smacking fairy and all the bugs and Kate was not having it. We need to work on her sharing skills! :) Heidi and I put Kate and Jackson in her crib for some pictures and first Jackson tipped over and a second later Kate went down. So wish I could have gotten it on film. Classic. Kate was once again very upset about sharing her bed. She knows that boys are not aloud in her bed and was throwing a fit about it. Jackson was so concerned with Kate's screaming. He had his hand on her face and then her shoulder. Too funny for words. Kate has taken 2 naps since Jackson has gone home. She is completely worn out. Maybe we need to have play dates more of…

we finally got a new web cam! Yeah! Can't wait to see all of you again! :)

I've been cleaning out this house like a mad woman. Been going through my closet and the garage cleaning things out, throwing things away, donating and selling household items on craigslist. I have made $100 this past week from 3 items that have just been sitting in our garage collecting dust. Yeah! Feels so good to be getting this house more organized.

Amen! The Lord is amazing. Seriously, He is so good to us. Our precious baby is doing so much better! Last Monday the infection site was open and pretty bad. It is such a hard area to keep dry. Pretty close to impossible actually. We have been praying so hard for healing for Kate and the Lord has answered our prayers. Her wound is almost closed. Yes, closed. It's a miracle. We are taking no credit and giving it all to Jesus. His hand of healing is upon her and is healing her right before our eyes. We are beyond amazed. So cool to experience something like this. Our prayer now is that it will remain closed and that no more infections will arise. This has been a really looooong road. Exhausting. Lots of tears. Pleading. You get the point. It's been a rough start at life for Kate. She has been amazing through it all. Such a tough little girl. Chris and I want to thank each of you who have been praying for our precious Kate. It means so much to us and I wish I could hug all of you…

Our little cozy cottage is set for the "storm of the century." You know us Southern Californians don't know what to do with ourselves when it rains. This is a big deal. Yesterday when we got home from the mountains Chris made a trip to home depot and bought the last of the sand bags and a big tarp. He had to screw his home-made tarp to the eves in order to keep the rain from hitting our sliding door. When ever it rains, water somehow gets in and under our wood floors. Not cool! We didn't want to take a chance with this storm. So far so good!! Our fridge is stocked with food for the week and we are set. I have no plans on leaving home with the babe. We will be here and snuggling all week long. I am loving this.
This is the tarp...blocks our view of the backyard :(

Oh man, we had an awesome weekend with the family. So relaxing! We were all so relaxed that we were exhausted. Sounds odd but it's true. I couldn't tell you the last time we had a weekend to do nothing! It was wonderful! We stayed at an amazing home which was right on the golf course. Unfortunately there was no snow but it was dang chilly. On Saturday we went to the Village for some shopping and lunch. Awesome as always. My sweet husband bought me a new beautiful/classic Coach purse and new coach sunglasses all on his own. He told me to pick them out! What a guy. They are adorable. Love them. He got a sweet new pair of shoes. I think this was the first shopping trip ever that Kate didn't get anything. I'm sure she will have her own little coach purse in a couple years. We spent the afternoon napping in our snuggies, took a freezing cold walk on the golf course and then went out for a yummy dinner. Momma and I had ourselves a good time at dinner. Nothing else needs to b…

For those of you who "follow" us or are "friends" with us on facebook just wanted to let y'all know that starting on Wednesday our accounts will be blocking all those accounts who have been "non active" in the last month, meaning the accounts who do not update. That's all :)
Also, this blog will be going private for the same reason. No more lurking for the stalkers.
If you would like to "follow" us on twitter then go to this link: http://twitter.com/candnandrews
We only accept people we know and those who tweet.

Ahhh vacation is here! It feels so wonderful! We are staying in an absolutely gorgeous home in Lake Arrowhead for the weekend. Kate was perfect the whole drive up, she slept the whole time! We are all so relaxed and soaking in the Lord's beauty. Our hearts are happy and at peace. What a wonderful feeling! Hope y'all having a peaceful weekend as well...we will be bundled up and snuggled in our snuggies! (pics coming soon!)

Today was hard. period. Kate screamed all. day. long. Nothing could soothe her. For 3 hours she screamed. It is so hard on your nerves when this tiny little baby is screaming bloody murder and you can't figure out what's wrong. I fed her, burped her, changed her panties, gave her gripe water, snuggled her, walked around with her..did everything under the sun I could think of. I am a patient person, especially when it comes to Kate but this was a testing day for sure. Finally she fell asleep in my arms after 3 long hours. The problem: gas. Lots of it. She let it rip and was back to her happy self. Once she was asleep I called our insurance company. A little history on our insurance story. Our insurance is through Chris' work. It's really expensive and it's our only choice for now because of Kate's infection. No other insurance company will cover her until she is clear from her infection for 3 months. We have been going to this doctor that we love and paying cash…

I know this is a little late.... Kate turned 3 months old on January 7th. I don't know how in the world we already have a 3 month old. In a way it seems insane that we have a baby and in another way it seems like "of course she's 3 months, we feel like she's been in our lives forever". We truly can't imagine life without her. The joy and laughter she has filled our hearts and home with is indescribable. I'm sure I will say this every month but she is our greatest blessing ever! Every day she seems so much more mature than she was the day before and so much bigger. We love it! She is full of smiles, coos and screeches. So much fun!!! You have no clue how wonderful it is to wake up next to a beautiful baby who is smiling and cooing at you in the morning. Amazing. Her favorite thing these days seems to be her 'Fairyland Gym'....she lays in it a couple times a day and stares at herself in the mirror, pulls on fairy, yells at fairy, kicks her frog who …

I realize that I have been holding a ton in when it comes to Kate and her infection site. I have been worried sick about her. I am doing my best to be strong for her but inside I am sick to my stomach. Every diaper change (which is about 5 an hour) makes me want to cry. I hate the infection and the hemangioma. It does not belong on our precious baby. I hardly use the word hate, but I hate it! This has been extremely stressful and the enemy has been putting horrible thoughts in my head because of it. I have this horrible fear that something is going to happen to her because of this infection. I know in my heart that this is not true. It's a battle that I'm dealing with right now and the Lord is giving me strength to over come it. We know that God has made her perfect in His sight and He knows her every need. It is apparent that His hand is upon her. We thank Him daily for healing her first infection and pray and beg Him to heal this one SOON and to take the blood tumor away now…

So since my feet didn't grow during pregnancy and since I just cleaned out my closet (lots more room)..well maybe not lots but I had more room so I have added to my shoe collection... Bought these beauties in all their colors.... love love love them! They're like wearing slippers. Awesome.

....is oh so happy!

I got to go visit the newest member of the family yesterday! Bentley is now 5 weeks old and so stinkin cute!!! He is just learning how to meow which was quite a sight. It is so neat getting to watch him grow! Chris and I are counting down the days until we get to bring him home! We aren't sure now what day that will be. He is considered a preemie since they were born a couple days early but they are all super strong and healthy. We are still missing our boy miserably so getting this new little guy is going to help heal that hurt. This little guy is going to be a nutt, I can tell. Here are a couple pictures from our visit yesterday...His head is really white and the rest of him is gray and white like our Riley cat! Such a sweet litle guy. He is going to be spoiled rotten.

I think I blogged too long about my obsession because by the time I got to my cookies, they were all burned! Ahhh! Such a bummer, they would have been so delish. Maybe it's God's way of telling me to cut it out already! Oh well....until next week! :)

I have been dealing with a serious issue since giving birth. I cannot get enough of cookies! This is serious folks. I have been chowing down on them like the cookie monster, worse actually. I have been doing well with watching what I eat and exercising more and I'm seeing results. My pre-pregnancy clothes are starting to fit like they used to. I'm sure they would fit like a glove if it weren't for darn cookies! I am so weak and just put a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies in the oven. There is nothing like that fresh out of the oven goodness. I have a serious love/hate relationship with them right now. They are so good but oh so bad for the booty. I'm looking forward to the day when Kate can indulge with me, then I won't feel so bad baking them every WEEK! Maybe I should go on that cookie diet?! ha ha. Someone help! At this rate Oprah will lose her weight before I lose my 10 pounds! Time to run, cookies are ready!

I don't know what has gotten into me but I have spent most of the day scrubbing this house from floor to ceiling. I think the last time I did this was the week before I had Kate. Those of you who know me know that I am a clean FREAK. I was on my hands and knees scrubbing floors and cleaning up those lovely dust bunnies that hide under beds and desks. Washing windows, scrubbing bathrooms, making the oven look brand new. Everything is CLEAN! I washed everything, hosed the front back back down. You get the point. I even had time to sit down and pick out the tile and such things for our guest bath that we are re-modeling next month. Man, it feels good. It feels like a spring day, I had the windows open with the fresh air blowing in with my jazz music on while Kate napped like a queen! She is amazing at naps. I am blessed. Well, I think shes even better at it right now because she has a cold. Poor baby! We had fun today and took a walk through the park that is right behind our backyar…

Never been so happy for a Monday to roll around! We took Kate to the doctor last Thursday to have her infection checked and had it cultured. We had to wait all weekend for it to grow and went back today for a check up and the results. I had no clue what to expect. I have had a peace about her infection and was encouraged over the weekend as I noticed the skin was starting to grow back. Our DR walked in today and said that the culture came back clear! That was awesome news! Wish we knew what it was and what is causing these infections but a clear report is a great one and we will take all the good news we can. I was really excited about that but we also noticed that the skin from her last infection is now starting to break down and become really thing. We asked if there was a specialist that we could send her to for further treatment and unfortunately with the location of this blood tumor there is nothing they can do. It is so swelled with blood and they are not able to cauterize it be…

(joking!) But really...if you want to legally stalk us then look us up on twitter. Our name is: candnandrews. It's updated all throughout the day with what we are up to and random things. I am still figuring out how to "tweet" and "retweet" and "message" friends. It's a fun way to communicate with others and keep up with all our crazy lives.

I'm a little late but last year literally flew by for us. Chris and I always love to look back at the year and all that went on.
January 2009, we got pregnant (and didn't know it)....I was having a really tough time dealing with the miscarriage and feeling hopeless. If you've ever experienced a loss, you know what I'm talking about. My body was messed up. We traveled to Lake Arrowhead with my family and had a blast. I turned another year older and celebrated with my family and friends.February, found out we were pregnant! Got a positive on February 3rd. Could hardly believe my eyes. Surprised Chris with a valentines onzie. We celebrate on Catalina Island over the weekend and praised God for answering our prayers. He restored our hope. March, don't remember too much. I had morning sickness and hid at home most of the month. April, Chris was super busy working overtime at the firm. We went to Vegas with his company and had a great time. Found out on the last day of th…

So I know this years bucket list doesn't look too exciting but it's going to be a great year. Our house is finally at that point where we don't have much to do on the "to do list". Such a nice feeling! Now it seems like we are just trying to keep up with it! Chris will be busy studying for the CPA. As if his plate isn't already full with working tons of overtime, being a daddy and in a bible study (he amazes me). I have my hands full at home with Kate and absolutely love it. We have a couple of really fun trips planned that we're looking forward to! Welcome twenty ten! So glad you're here!

Home
finally re-do guest bath.
new gate in front patio
new closet in master bedroom

Personal
Chris continue working towards CPA
Nikki lose 15lbs of baby fat
Grow our family! (kitten on his way!)
New car......possibly?
Teach Kate about Jesus!

Travel
Lake Arrowhead
Palm Desert
Oregon
Nashville