out with the old

A couple nights ago I had a hard time falling asleep. There was too much going on in my brain. I was thinking about who I used to be, and who I am today, and how I got to be that way. You see, pre marriage and Roman, well, I was pretty much just a high schooler. ha! But seriously. I would have described myself as a go-with-the-flow type girl. Didn't like confrontation (still don't, really), never really shared my thoughts/views on certain topics, from food to existence, hated reading books, didn't like making decisions...at all, never researched, well, anything. Get the picture? In a way, looking back, it's hard to see who I was, exactly; what, if anything, defined me or made me stand out. I've had a history of becoming like whomever I was around, which I found to be easier than potentially stepping on someones toes for disagreeing with them.

God saved me when I was a freshman in high school. I went to Escape, then called Ground Zero, was in a Bible study, and had Godly friends. God had truly changed my life and I repented of my sin. I was super on fire for Him right out of the shoot, as I believe most new Christ followers are. But the months go by and that fire slowly gets smaller (due to lack of discipline of reading my Bible, mainly), not ever going out, but not being fed, either. Make sense?

Needless to say, since I wasn't feeding myself with the Word, I wasn't growing. Since I wasn't growing, I pretty much stayed the same non-confrontational, blend in with the crowd kind of girl. (Not who we're called to be as Christ followers).

When Jeff and I met, I was 17 and he was 22. We got married when I was 20 and he was 24. During the whole dating, engagement, first year married, I was trying to, literally, become one. I was trying to force myself to become Jeff, essentially. Well, that didn't last long. I was miserable and made myself feel bad if I didn't have some of the same interests as he did. It was kind of a rough year for me. I needed to discover my interests again and how to incorporate all that into our marriage. What I knew about myself, without a DOUBT, was all I've ever wanted was to be a wife and a mom. That's it.Didn't really know what that looked like practically, in real life, but I knew it's what I wanted most. That is what I'm most passionate about, and I think that God honors that passion.

Early spring of last year we learned we were pregnant with Roman! I. Was. ECSTATIC! To say the least. Throughout the whole pregnancy, to my regret, I never did any research. Never picked up my Bible to see how God wants parents to raise their child(ren), never researched how diet during pregnancy affected the baby and entire pregnancy overall, never looked into types of birth options, never even considered, let alone researched, not vaccinating him! Never. Researched. Anything. My birth plan was to go to the hospital and have a baby. Whatever measures that took, okay. All, of course, with the best of intentions. I don't want to sound completely irresponsible! I have good natural mommy instincts, always have. But I wasn't prudent. I didn't think before I acted.

Even the first several months of Roman's life, I pretty much did what I thought was best, without talking much to others about their experiences. I think I was so caught up in the moment (a goooood moment to be caught up in) that I was just doing.

So what is this incredibly long post about?

God woke me up! It wasn't until Roman had his anaphalatic reaction this summer, but God has done a number on me since June. I am no longer the person (for the most part) I was before, which I'm happy about. Roman's food allergies forced me to read....books! ha! My eyes have been opened to a whole other world.

After doing all this reading, which I am currently still doing, and praying about it, having the support of my husband, I feel such peace about:

1. NOT vaccinating Roman and further, or any of my future children, and just entrusting their health to God. Now, don't think I'm a complete weirdo. I believe God gave us doctors for a reason. If they need medical attention, I most DEFINITELY will get them it. But only if they actually need it.

2. Becoming a homeopathic nerd. I feel if I can cure non-serious ailments with diet changes, and garlic and olive oil, and a host of other natural medicines, I am going to try that first!

3. Home birth. Really, really, really want my next baby to be born at home. Feels right. I have some more research to do about it, but that's the direction I'm going.

4. Cloth diapers. Don't think I need to explain that any further... ;)

5. Revamping our diet from yucky processed stuff, to fresh. (now, this doesn't mean I'm going to never ever eat oreos, or ice cream, or cereal. But it does mean that I want the majority of our food we eat to be healthy...which will be kind of a challenge for me, but I'm slowly getting used to it). And due to Roman's allergies, it's actually forcing us to eat healthier, as he will only be able to eat fresh foods and meats because you can pretty much guarantee there will be milk, eggs, peanuts, and soy in every processed food out there. Check the labels! ;)

If that doesn't just blow your mind, I don't know what will! God is working in me, making me more prudent, and I like it! But now I have to go because Roman woke up from his nap, and he is now playing with the blinds in our room.

Hey guys, Roman here. Today I decided not to sleep very long on my naps (1/2 hr. tops), so that I could do other things, like blog. :)

I've been overhearing my mom talk about birthdays coming up. I guess it turns out our birthday's are only a couple weeks apart, which I think is super sweet. Anyway, my mom works really hard here at home making sure I'm fed and taken care of and taught, so I thought I'd post her birthday wish list. I saw her writing down some things, and even though I can't read yet, I'm pretty sure I got it right. So here they are:

This is one of those KitchenAid Stand Mixers. My mom really needs one of these, because I, as you probably know, have a lot of food allergies, and my mom wants to make all of my food fresh. She's even going to make homemade bread! yum! But she can't really achieve all she wants to without this thing. She mentioned something about amazon.com. I don't know what that is, so I hope you do.

This is a book mommy wants. I know this one for sure, cause I know what a book looks like. Mom has been really into homeopathy lately. She's even made this stuff that smells like a breadstick, and put in on my feet and chest when I have a stuffy nose and sneeze. And today, she made it and put it in my ear! I've been tugging at it lately, so she must just be taking precaution against an ear infection or something. I don't know. Grown ups are weird. But wouldn't you know, last time she used it on me, I was better in just a couple days, which is a big deal because I had a bad head cold for like a MONTH. Anyway, this book has all sorts of remedies in it, I guess. she said something about amazon.com for this too. I think you can maybe get this stuff on there?

Now this is a cool. My girlfriend, Caillet, and I watched some of this when mom and I went to visit her. It was awesome. Mom told me she wants this so she can teach me about the planet. She said God made everything that I see, and it's her job to teach me about it! I'm really excited about it. I hope she gets this one!!

Mommy also mentioned something called gift cards? I know she really likes coffee (i see her drinking it ALL the time), and she sometimes talks about starbucks? She also talks about something called tjmaxx.

Well, that's all I can remember for now. There is still some time left before her birthday, so her list will probably get added to, and when it does, I'll skip another nap and fill you in. Next time, though, I'm going to put up my birthday wish list since my birthday is right after hers!

see ya

Roman

Family Photos

Last Friday my cute little family was blessed to have our (first) family photos taken by our friend Danny Vasquez. This is his work, and he is an amazingly talented photographer! Thanks again Dany!!! Having photos means sooo much to me! :) Enjoy! (this is only a few of them... they are all my favorite!!)

Cheeeeese!

Okay, really, can he get any cuter?!?!

busy! busy!

I know, I know. I suck at blogging. Sorry.

So the last couple weeks of August were CRAZY! Roman and I went to Texas to visit my best friend, Erika and 3 month old baby girl Caillet, and her husband, Chad. We had so much fun! It was a pretty action packed week, to say the least! :) Its not like we did a lot of activities. We mainly just hung out because Roman had a cold and I didn't want to push him too far, and then he got his girlfriend, Caillet, sick. Still sorry about that, Caillet.

What I mean by action packed is:

Roman ran out of formula and it's nearly impossible to find anywhere in stock

I broke my toe

We had to take Roman to the ER down there. He's allergic to soy, though his results came back negative

Roman had his first dip in a real pool, and loved it!

I left my phone there (but now have it back, along with a beautiful mint green scarf/burka...if you want it, let me know....)

Lots of stories that are too long to type. We had a great time, though, and already miss the Carouthers' dearly!! Can't wait to see them in November!

When Ro and I returned from Texas, Roman turned 9 months, and we had to finish packing up the house and move! Moving was successful and we still are settling in...meaning I still have to unpack pretty much everything! Not excited about it.

My little man is 9 whole months now!! That is ridiculous! He's super fun!! Chatty cathy, not quite mobile yet, however he can scoot on his butt pretty good. Starting to pull up on some things (from a sitting position. dont get excited...he just barely gets his butt off the floor, but it's a start!) Shakes his head 'no', has MASTERED pinching ones skin, lip, face, etc..., isn't feeding himself yet, and hates having his runny nose wiped. At his 9 mo dr. visit we decided to hold off on his hep b shot. He's in the 97% for weight, 42% for height, wearing 18-24 months shirts, and 24 month to 2T pants.

We love you, Roman! You bring us more joy than you could ever know!

Oh yeah, today I bought a Dyson vacuum cleaner because of Ro's allergies. They have been going crazy ever since we moved in with the in-laws. It. Is. AMAZING.