Kitchen Remodel

I am THRILLED about this long-awaited post! Ever since we bought our house nearly 4 years ago, I have hoped and dreamed of having an updated kitchen. Not a day went by that I didn't complain about my kitchen. I always told Blake I would cook more if I had a kitchen worthy of cooking in ;)  Guess I have no excuses now!

We started fixing up our kitchen piece by piece. First we replaced the nasty vinyl floors, then eventually we replaced all of the appliances. Finally we demolished and replaced the awful brown tile counter tops with BROWN grout and we also refaced all of the cabinets. Oh my, what a difference it makes. Take a look!

BEFORE

Brown tile counters & backsplash, brown grout, green walls, and ancient cabinets.
I used to have to VACUUM my countertops to get them even remotely clean. Gross.

Another view. Excuse the mess.

We're not finished with the BEFORE pictures yet. Awful sink. Even more awful backsplash.

DEMOLITION!!!!

And...drumroll please...

AFTER

Granite countertops (Santa Cecilia), Shaker Style cabinets, Tumbled Travertine backsplash, and a fresh coat of paint (Sherwin Williams -- Universal Khaki)

New sink and fixtures

LOVE my new kitchen!

So there you have it. My beautiful cook-worthy kitchen! Our contractor was a friend of a friend and he and his guys were fantastic. Let me know if you need his number. You can find some of his info here.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for pics from some DIY projects I've been working on. Come over and see my new kitchen. I'll cook for you ;)

8 Month Update

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and Briggs will be 8 months old. I know everybody says they can't believe how fast time flies...but I LITERALLY cannot believe it has already been 8 months since this child kicked his way into the world. These have been the most magical 8 months of my life.

At 8 months Briggs is:

• crawling ALL over the house. Put him on the floor and he's gone.
• pulling himself up to standing whenever/wherever possible.
• has 6, count them, SIX teeth! Two on bottom and 4 on top. He needs braces.
• weighs in at a whopping 15lbs 12oz. His weight keeps fluctuating in the 15lb range...we're working on packing on some extra pounds for my little guy!
• and is eating solid foods (homemade by ME) twice a day, in addition to his breastmilk (Yes, I'm still nursing! 8 months strong).

He has been working on his mobility for a while now, but about a week ago he really started moving. At first he mastered what we coined "the dead leg crawl" where he would use his right knee and his left foot to maneuver around the house. It was like a half regular/ half bear crawl. Hilarious. Now he just crawls on his knees, but he's getting really close to figuring out a full-on bear crawl. He'll be walking before we know it.

Here's my favorite portrait from his pictures we had done at 7 months:

Courtesy of Mary Little Photography

Our sleep habits have taken a plunge lately. For a while there he was doing great, but over the past few weeks we've had a serious regression. He cries when I put him down (which he never used to do) and then he'll wake up screaming every few hours. He has never been the greatest sleeper, and by that I mean he has always woken up at least once a night to nurse. but these past few nights have been worse than usual and it's really taking it's toll on this momma. Whew, I'm exhausted! It's time to call in the reinforcements...FERBER! We'll be refreshing ourselves on Ferber's techniques over the next couple of days. I miss the days of laying my smiley baby down in his crib and watching him on the monitor laugh and babble until he falls asleep. Soon enough I will have that back. I just keep reminding myself that this is only a phase. It will pass!

Other than that, we've been making some BIG CHANGES in the Searcy household! After 4 years of living in this house and dealing with a hideous, but functional kitchen, we have finally started updating it and bringing it into this decade! Out with the old brown tile countertops, brown tile backsplash, and brown grout...in with the new granite counter tops, tile backsplash, and re-faced cabinets! WOOO!! It's looking beautiful. I will do a whole kitchen remodel post as soon as it's done!

I am taking on a few DIY craft projects myself and I look forward to blogging about them. One thing I am most excited about is the Gallery Frame Wall I'm going to be doing. I purchased several frames to house our most recent Mary Little Photography gems and I can't wait to get the finished product up on the wall! Look for that post in the next few weeks :)

Here is a glimpse of some of our favorites from the photo shoot:

Courtesy of Mary Little Photography