Southern at Heart

We love Saturdays here in the Andrews cottage. It is the day we look forward to all week long. I crave having my husband home and Kate is all giggles and smiles when she wakes up and sees her dada. They already have such a special bond, it melts my heart. Saturdays are a bit different now with tax season in bloom. Dada spent the day at the firm so today was just Kate, the kitty and I. It's definitely going to take some time getting used to but we made the best of it today. The rain was pure bliss. There is nothing better than snuggling in a warm and cozy bed with a warm little snugly body next to you. There is also nothing better than the sweet little kisses that are made of slobber. Chris and I adore kisses from our Kate. She is so yummy, her smiles are so contagious. I can't get enough of her. We spent most of the afternoon in the glider in her room singing songs, praying and listening to the rain splash down on the window. As I sat there rocking her and holding her close it

He has totally captured our hearts. He has a tiny squeak for a meow, bless his little heart. He loves his sister, she is his favorite. He has claimed every toy of Kate's. He is very needy and is always at our feet. He is crazy. He is absolutely perfect for our little family. So glad to have him home with us. He has claimed.. the bumbo chair the boppy my big comfy chair (smart boy) and his sissy they are BFFs...

I love a good blog. One where you seem to get lost in the stories that are shared. Ones that are real, beautiful and raw. I came across this one last week and literally sat in my chair and read it for over an hour while Kate napped. This one is inspiring, challenging and truly beautiful...I wanted to share... Start with this story and then go to the bottom of the page and click "home"...it will be best to start here... http://enjoyingthesmallthings.blogspot.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html Warning: It may cause a few tears to flow....it did for me! Enjoy!

We spent the afternoon out in the backyard soakin in some rays...too much fun!

Carrots Peas So far we have been successful with veggies! I am praying that she is totally opposite from her momma when it comes to these gross things. I strongly dislike veggies and so far she seems to be a fan. We are doing 2 days of the same veggies so Monday and Tuesday were peas, Wednesday and Thursday were carrots, next up green beans! In a couple more weeks we get to introduce fruits. I'm so excited! We're having lots of fun making messes over here!

A dear friend texted me this morning with a verse the Lord gave her while praying for our family and for Kate's healing. I read it and felt my heart rejoice. I picked up my Bible as ran as fast as I could over to Kate who was playing in her fairyland. I laid down next to her and read the verse to her while holding her hand and prayed over her. It was the most beautiful morning. This is the verse: "Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, Here I am. If you take away from your midst yokes of oppression, the finger pointed in scorn, and every form of false, harsh, unjust, and wicked speaking. And if you pour out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and you

Another beautiful weekend under our belts. Arrowhead was perfect. There was snow, good food, lots of rest, so many laughs, sledding, shopping, dancing, played games, naps, Chris lost his wedding ring in the snow, Chris and my dad went to search and found his ring, carmel apples and so much more.... thank you mom and dad for another great weekend get away. Kate was perfect once again, she loves vacation. Good thing we have lots more planned!

This is kinda fun. Came across this today from a friends profile. Want to learn something new about Chris or I? Something you've always wanted to know about us? Ask away....all the questions come in as anonymous....have fun! http://www.formspring.me/nikkiandrews

These past few months Chris and I have really found out who our true friends are. We have been surprised and really disappointed with a handful of our "friends". There's a group of people who we thought were our good friends but they've never attempted to meet Kate & we never hear from them anymore. There comes a point where you want to give up. That's exactly where we are. We have realized who our real friends are. We have not changed because we have a daughter. We are the same people, our life has changed but we are still the same. I am so thankful for the friends that God has put in our life. Ones who care about us, love us, pray for us and are happy for us. Life goes on..

here it is y'all. After 2 people working on it for 3 hours I finally have "normal" hair. Well 6 hours if you count last week. SO happy to have this done. She cut a couple of layers in it but did not touch the length since I am growing it out. She also thinned it out a TON. Seriously, there was enough hair on the floor to cover 2 adult heads. My hair is the talk of the salon. Everyone came up to me yesterday and I was getting it done and couldn't believe the after. I am really happy with the results. I don't think Kate recognizes her momma anymore. My poor girl is going to have to get this done to her hair when she is 2 years old. ha ha. Kidding! But she totally has my hair.

Life is good. Kate is healing more and more each day, thank you Lord! I am learning patience and to wait on the Lord and His perfect timing. We had such a beautiful day. My dad came up and spent the day working on our bathroom. He painted the whole thing which was a big job. Tomorrow, I get to put it all together! Yes! Kate took her best nap ever in her crib and I got a ton of things done around the house. Work is starting to get really busy for Chris which is a great thing. We love overtime! Nothing else new over here. We are just enjoying each day and so thankful for all of the blessings that God has bestowed upon us!

Chris and I usually go away for Valentines. This year we had a "staycation".... stayed home and spent lots of money on the house and enjoyed our little valentine who was the size of a sweet pea last Valentines! It was a beautiful day. The weather could not have been more perfect! It started out with packing up the babe in the car to run my errands only to find that once she was all buckled in, my car was dead. Awesome. No errands for us. So, I decided to take her for a walk and spent time praying for patience. The boys finished tiling the bathroom and it looks beautiful! I am so happy with how it turned out. While the boys were working on the bathroom my sister came up and took me out shopping (since I was car-less) and I bought myself an awesome Valentines present...a new huge family room rug. It's so awesome and totally completes the room. Well sort of. I have a couple more things planned for the room but the rug was a huge improvement!!! I sold the old one on craigslis

As I was getting my hair done the other day I read a couple magazines to help the time pass. I came across an article that got my attention and really made me think. It was basically explaining how easy it is to get caught up in the everyday things of life and how distracted we are. I don't think that needs any explaining. We can all testify to that I'm sure. The woman who wrote the article talked about how she would make time for everything and everyone but it didn't mean anything. She did it to fulfill her "duties". She would clean her house while taking on the phone and "catching up" with a dear friend. She wasn't focused on her job of cleaning her house and she couldn't even remember the conversation she had with her girlfriend. Her mind was going a million miles a minute. When her daughter came home from school she wanted to play a game with her mom. She told her daughter that she could have her for 10 minutes. Her mom called off the game be

I feel like it is taking forever. My husband has been amazing. I don't know how he does all that he does.. work full time at a busy firm, president of our home owners association, a wonderful husband and great daddy and our handy man (along with so much more!) He has come home every night and worked on the bathroom. I am married to a perfectionist y'all. Our bathroom is going to be awesome. We could not have gotten this far with out my father in law and my dad. They have been such a great help to us. Chris and my dad have been putting the new plumbing in all afternoon and are just about finished! They are raising the shower head as I type this and then putting up the last of the backer board. And in the morning.....it's getting tiled! Yeah! We are hiring Chris' cousin and Chris is going to help him. So excited. I sold all of our "old" hardware on Craigslist and am going tomorrow to buy all new stuff. Can't wait! Kate and I will also be going to pick out ou

Do you really want to know? I am proud to say that underneath this really white skin and blond hair, I am black. Not kidding. The Japanese straightening didn't work on my hair. Why? Because I have African American hair. Who would have thought? If only I could have moves like my chocolate sisters! My hair is 60% straight, already looks a lot better but it didn't do what we were paying the big bucks for. I am supposed to be able to walk out of the shower and not have to blow dry or flat iron my hair. How amazing is that? It was such a long process! I got my hair washed then had the treatment applied which took a while, let it set 15 minutes, washed it out, had my hair blown dry and then each piece was straightened with the flat iron. After it looked beautiful, she then applied a neutralizer and washed my hair again. We realized it didn't work after she washed it and I still had curls! Grr! So, I am going back next Thursday morning to get the most intense treatment done. The k

Kate did so well today. I was so excited to get her in to see her pediatrician. I had so many questions, couldn't wait to see what she weighed and was anxious for her to check her wound. She also got a couple shots which I completely dreaded but I know how important they are so that is why she gets them. Kate did awesome with her shots, cried for about a minute then snuggled on my shoulder all the way out to the car. We took Mimi with us and couldn't have done it without her. Kate seemed to prefer her mimi over her momma today. Kate weighed in at 13.6 pounds and 23.5 inches long. 50% in all. Just like her Auntie M! She is definitely our little peanut! Kate is doing extremely well and is one strong and healthy baby. Such an answer to our prayers. For those who are wondering, her wound is starting to open up again. There are a couple holes in different areas. My first instinct is to absolutely freak and get stressed. It seems as if my whole body tightens up and I become really

This is embarrassing. Really. I know that I have been blessed with extra thick hair and I will bet anyone $500 that I will never go bauld. Great right? BUT I hate it. I've never been a fan of my hair. It's horrible. Gross. Too big. Boring. Yadda yadda yadda. It's curly, crimpy, coarse, nasty... Obviously, I don't like it. The only thing I do like and appreciate about my hair is the color. I have never colored, bleached or died it. It is all natural baby. When I was in elementary school I was nick named "fro bow". It was never a bad thing, all of my friends named me that. (hmmm, maybe they weren't really my friends??? haha) I had a fro and my mom made me a bow to go with every single outfit I owned. Not kidding. They weren't you average cute little bow...no, they were big. Perfect for a fro. When I get a chance I will go back and find a picture and post those beauties for all of you to swoon over. When I was a senior in high school I got my hair chemica

Today we celebrated Kate's 4 month birthday! Time is flying! She is getting so big! Cooing and squealing up a storm. Love love love it! She is so close to rolling over. Our lives are going to change when she learns how to do that! I have been reading books to Kate and she is so fascinated by it. She stares at each page. She's a smart cookie already. Today she also had her first bowl of rice cereal and loved it! She ate the whole thing- that's my girl! Life with Kate is awesome. She is getting on a schedule which is so great. The only downside of it is I am having to stay home a lot more right now to establish nap times and get her on a schedule. She sleeps great in the car and on the go but I am working hard to get her on a sleep schedule and so far so good! It sure would be nice if babies came with a manual! ha ha. Kate is loving her new "brother". Bentley thinks she is the greatest thing ever. He snuggles next to her and she shows her love by grabbing him by the

Our new little guy has obviously made himself at home.. Where's Bentley? This is a beanie baby that he snuggled with, that's how small he is! Squirrel! He thinks Fairyland is his...

It's really more like day 2, 3, 4 and 5! Getting the tub in was a big ordeal. Chris and his dad worked all week on moving the drain, replacing the drain and setting the tub! We are so thankful for FIL's help (father-in-law). So in the meantime we have once again changed the tile. 3rd time! People, this is so not like me. I am usually one who makes up my mind and that is it! The tile that we are for sure going with is perfect for the bathroom. Love it and can't wait to see it up! We are well on our way....and should be ready for tile next week! Our bathroom is going to seem so much bigger now! Here are some pics of our progress. It doesn't look like much because everything that has been done is either in the walls or under ground.

No, not my weight. I haven't been on a scale in a while and I am not about to. I was horrible this week. Kate is the one who is doing amazing. We are finally getting on a dependable schedule!!! I have been working so hard at this and you have no clue how it thrills me to see her catching on! She's been amazing with sleeping through the night since 8 weeks but she's been a horrible napper. I just figured that she wasn't going to be a napper but....that has changed! She has been taking 3 naps a day and they are at least an hour and a half long each! Someone sing hallelujah!! I don't know what to do with all of this free time. Dishes. Vacuum. Laundry. Pay bills. Garden. Catch up on emails. Phone calls. Get dressed. Brush my hair and teeth. Make dinner. Snuggle on the couch with Bentley. Today I had time to do all of this during one nap! Needless to say there is no free time but I am able to get everything done and more that I want to throughout the day and it feels so

He's here!! A long time coming but so worth the wait!! He is just precious. We're having so much fun with him already. Bentley is gorgeous. I know I sound like a total cat lady. I promise I am not one and never will be but we are proud. He is not your typical "pet/breeder quality" he has been marked as "show quality". ha ha. I promise all of our dedicated readers that he will never step foot in a cat show. He has beautiful blue eyes and they will most likely stay blue or turn to green. You know there will be lots of pictures coming in the near future but for now here is one from tonight...worn out from his big moving day. Welcome home little buddy!