woot! woot!

So, the past few days have been pretty exciting for the bartons! to start, roman pooped today! it never gets old how funny it is, that i now get really pumped when he poops. i love it! it had been a whopping 4 days! can you imagine? there was a lot, to say the least. :) i'm wondering if that maybe had something to do w/ his extremely short (ie. 15-30 min) naps. the look on his face afterwards was priceless. he's sleeping now, and i hope he stays that way til 5 or longer! i doubt it, but you never know, his body was working really hard the last four days!

Jeff and i have been trying to get roman back on a schedule. daylight savings totally threw roman off as well as myself. i think i've figured out when his bedtime is, now for the naps. it's been a real challenge lately. there are some who can let their child 'cry' it out, and it's great that that works for them. however, i cannot and will not let roman just cry. it would tear my heart apart. there HAS to be another way, right? and really, it's not like i'm pressed for time or anything, so whose rushing!? i've been reading 'healthy sleep habits, happy child' and i love this new approach on sleep. it's a more natural way of going about it. pretty much, instead of making your baby get on your schedule, the baby pretty much develops a sleep pattern all by themself. you just have to look for the signs of drowsiness first, and put them down before they hit the overly tired stage. it makes more sense to me, but i do have the privilege of staying at home with roman, so i have really no agenda and can take more time with these things. i totally get it if the parent has to go back to work and needs a schedule. i just dont like the idea of a baby wise approach i guess...for me.

another exciting thing is that i started my new job this last saturday! (my new job working for myself, that is). it was great! i had an awesome time, and i was busy which made the day go by fast! it was really great getting back into the salon and feeling like i'm financially contributing again. i had a blast! if you want your hair done, please give me a call! i'd love to do it!

my small group hasn't met in 3 weeks! blah. i hate it when we dont meet for a long time like that. i need to stay connected to stay accountable and just encouraged, otherwise i struggle staying disciplined with reading my bible and such. i'm also reading like 4 other books, which, for a non-reader, is quite impressive. they are all great books, but i'm currently having a hard time finding time to read each one. oh well. i'll get it done. it just might take a while.

ok, i know most wives think this about their husbands, but i'm pretty sure mine is the best. :) jeff had spring break this last week and it was so nice to have him home more. he still worked, just no school. he helped me around the house, gave me a bunch of back rubs, helped w/ the dishes (a daunting task), and when i went to work on saturday, he and roman got to spend all day together! i'm glad about that too. i need to start letting go a little, and jeff can teach him how to be a boy. he's a great dad! jeff is also completely suited for handling my, sometimes, emotional self. haha. i am so convinced that God created jeff just for me. we fit well together and compliment each other greatly i think. i'm very thankful for him, and for my blessed little family.

a much needed update

Wow, i didnt realize it's been about 3 weeks since my last post! crazy how time just slips away! well, lets see. what has happened in the last few weeks.

We got roman's 3 month photos taken! and holy cow am i impressed with them! Danny Vasquez was our photographer and he is absolutely amazing! he's soo talented and i'm extremely thankful he's willingness to do a service exchange with me! I cut his whole immediate family's hair in exchange for some awesome photographs. What a deal. i kind of feel i'm getting the better end of it, and i hope danny thinks it's a fair trade. here are a couple of my favorites that danny took.

I cannot believe roman will be 4 months a week from friday! seriously. ridiculous. he is doing the funnest things now! he cant get enough of his fist it seems. i bet it's delicious, really. and it doesnt take but smiling at him to get him to smile back. I think soon he will start laughing out loud. He's on the brink of it now! Roman is also a champ at holding his head up while on his tummy! check it out!

Roman also had his very first adjustment from Dr. Rod! He didnt hate it, which was really good. i didnt know what to expect so i wanted jeff to come with us, and like the wonderful husband he is, he skipped his class to join us. here's a couple photos of that!

the kid loves his fist

i am so sure our decision for me to stay home was the right one. AND in fact, i found a place to work just 1 day a week. every saturday i'll be working at Modern Strands out in west ames by the broiler. and i am definitely taking appointments! :) i've been praying that i get busy enough to make it worth the rent payment (which totally isn't bad at all) and to bring in some extra money for us. i think it will take time, but i know it'll happen! hopefully!

Lets see, what's new with jeff. well, he's trying to find a job for the summer. right now where he's working (selling exercise equ.) is pretty slow, and now that we're headed for nice weather for good, people arnt necessarily buying equipment to work out in their homes. so! pray that he finds a good job that he likes.

a side note: my sister-in-law and her husband need prayer. they are going thru a difficult time right now, so if you could be praying for her and her family we'd appreciate that as well. thanks!

God is so good!

this has been probably the most amazing week ever...except for when i got married, and when i had roman. God had orchestrated an AMAZING chain of events in our lives the last few days. let me start at the beginning. when i got pregnant, and even before, i always thought i would stay at home with roman. that would become my new job, my dream job. when i found out i was pregnant last april, that is what first came to mind. so everyday i went to work got me a little more excited because i knew this was only a phase, and soon enough i would be at home taking care of my husband and son. however, there was this other part of me that really loved where i was working and all my co-workers. i was torn. how can there be a way for me to stay, but also stay home...there wasn't. i had to make a decision. so i decided to stay home, only to change my mind later (this went on FOREVER). as jeff and i discussed our situation: jeff in school, only working part time, me on maternity leave (not making any money), and a new baby, the only logical solution for this was for me to return to work for sure. oh how i struggled with this idea, especially after having roman. my heart longed to be home! after talking about this with several other moms, and praying a crap ton, i felt as if God was telling me to stay home and take care of my family. if i were to go back to work, even part time, i believe it would have spread me toooooo thin! i would be good for nothing, and my family and myself would suffer as a result. so, jeff and i had yet ANOTHER talk about it, and we decided to keep me home (for lack of a better word). i was/am so thrilled! i believe so strongly that God would have me in the home to grow myself, and to be a help mate for my husband and a mother to my son. there's nothing better.
So, we have made this decision, and now i have to tell my work....with a week before i am supposed to go back. i was so freightend about how they would react! i didnt know if they would be upset w/ me, disappointed in me or what. i was nervous. but yesterday (wed.) i was hanging out with a good friend and she, yet again, helped me feel more confident that this staying home was the right decision. a few hours later i went into work and it couldn't have happened more perfectly. Praise God!! my bosses were compeletly understanding, sad that i was going, but no hard feelings. i am soo greatful for their understanding, it meant sooo much to me. and that was it! i was done.
now, although i was going to stay home, there was still the question: how are we going to pay our bills?' jeff had asked me if i could work one day a week here in town, if i could find a rental that would allow that. and guess what.. i did! and better yet, it's a friend of mine i used to work with years ago! she is opening a 2 chair rental salon and was looking for someone to rent the other chair just 1 day a week! how crazy is that?! the salon is called 'Modern Strands' and it's in west ames by our by the broiler. i feel incredibly blessed to be in this situation. God has opened doors in my life like i've never seen before. i believe this is truly what was supposed to happen, and i thank God (and jeff) everyday for allwoing me to do what i've always wanted to!

my kid is hilarious

here are a couple videos of Roman. One is his cry, and the other is of him sneezing.

i'll start at the beginning

alright, so here we go. first blog in almost 8 months. it's been a busy eight months! last time i wrote i was 17 weeks pregnant. my whole pregnancy was kinda crappy, ok no, it was really crappy. to start, i was really sick up unitl 20 weeks (which is 1/2 way). i was very sensitive to smells and the only thing that didn't trigger gagging (which led to throwing up) was the smell of aveda. it was awful! then i hit 20 weeks and it's gone. i think there were maybe 5 to 6 weeks of feeling great, and then along came swelling, carpel tunnel, a separated pelvic bone (which made it horribly painful to to simple tasks such as walk, sit, stand, turning over in bed...etc.), the migranes. pretty much the worst of everything! i was getting along with all of that until my 38 week appt. when apparently i developed pre-eclampsia. therefore i was admitted to the hospital right away! i was under observation for 24 hrs to see if it would go away, but it didnt. i was induced thanksgiving evening and my water broke friday morning! i labored for 16.5 hours until Roman Miles arrived at 9:25 pm!! he was 6lbs, 15 oz, 20 inches long, and perfect!

so, Roman's 3 months old now, and getting awesomer! he smiles and laughs and babbles a whole lot now! i really cannot believe at 3 months he's in size 3 diapers! huge kid! jeff loves being a dad and motherhood is such a blessing!! God has given me such a good, easy baby. he only crys when he's hungary or gassy. i'm so thankful to Him because i dont know if i could have handled a coliky, fussy baby. Now that i am responsible for another life it has really made me get my (spiritual) act together. its kind of sad it took up until now, but better now than never! :) I'm really trying to learn as much as i can on how to be an example to Roman and to teach him, even now, about his Creator, and how to be a good wife to Jeff!

summer finds

Oh goodness! so much has happened since the last post. I got out of bed early cuz i was really excited to write! lets see, where to begin. Jeff and i have had another dr. appt since the first one and heard the little baby's heart beating again! it was still amazing! On thursday of this week we get to have an ultrasound and hopefully find out what it is!! Both jeff and i think its a girl. so far no one else really has a guess, they cant tell. I hope the baby cooperates! After the june appt i was put on medicine because i'm still sick, not as bad but enough to send me over the edge, and it's working. Thank goodness! There's also been a lot of growing pains and belly itcing going on. Being pregnant is a very weird but beautiful experience. I'm no longer in control of my body because i'm now sharing it with a little baby. I gotta say though, Jeff has been so amazing! He's been so understanding and been taking care of me through all this so i'm sure it hasn't been easy on him, but i'm so thankful! I'm definitely a lucky woman! It's also super adorable to see him so excited about the baby too! It makes the whole process that much more fun! I dont think maverick has any instinct about it yet... maybe as my belly gets a little bigger and his lap room gets smaller he'll take more notice. I'm a little nervous that he'll be somewhat jealous so one of my clients at work was telling me about this cd her friend bought for their dog that has child/infant noises to get their dog used to all the sounds. So i'm going to look for something like that. After all, Maverick is the first baby!


And last night jeff and i were sitting on the couch watching the news and all of a sudden under my hand (which is just resting on my stomach) a kick or punch happens! I quickly grabbed jeffs hand and put it where i felt it and the baby did it again! It moved my hand! I've been feeling little movements prior to that but this was an actual kick or punch! it was pretty incredible! i cant wait for more of that! we're almost 19 weeks so it should be happening more often now! :)



After the baby comes i've decieded not to keep working in urbandale. Too much gas and time away from jeff and the baby. I'll take 2 or 3 months off then while not working look for a job in ames. I'd prefer not to work but that's not really an option at this point as Jeff will be in school (most likely) for another 3-4 years. Jeff doesnt want me working that far away either so it's really nice to have his support.



I cant believe the 4th of July has come and gone! so weird! if i were a student i'd be really sad cuz theres not much summer left! I am sad about it even though i'm not a student... it still seems like we just got out of winter! Anyway the 4th. My mom has this big anual party where family and friends come to her house to enjoy a night of food, drink and haning out. Jeff and i got up early to run and get the fixins for the cupcake design we were going to try out. I think we baked cupcakes for 3 hours that morning. needless to say the house smelled really nice! so we have about 100 cupcakes, half of them the mini ones. We take them to my moms to be frosted. The design is the american flag, so we have red white and blue frosting. That part was tedious, but the end result was pretty cool! wish we got a picture of it! :( No one wanted to eat the cupcakes though because the design was so cool (according to my mom). But the night was great! Family came in from minnesota - totally unexpected! and also from colorado springs! So it was really great to see everyone! Jeff and i ended the night at hilton to watch the fire works as we have for the last 5 or 6 years. We were so exhausted though that we left early to go to bed. Overall a really great night!



Jeff is now 27!!!!! He had a birthday a week ago! it was a busy weekend for us too! I had to give him his present 3 days before his birthday because i was so excited about it! We got a wii!!! Get ready nate and ashley we'll be playing you soon! :) Jeff has been making mii's like crazy, then he will enter them into contests that the wii has. pretty hilarious! I'm a tennis pro and jeff's almost there too. Lately we've been playing super mario smash brothers brawl and jeff is really good at it! (he does play all the time though). I'm glad he likes it! On the saturday before his birthday (the 5th) We got up early to go to dsm with his parents to check out the farmers market downtown. I'd never been and i think jeff has only been once. So we went down there and walked around for an hour or so. Jeff got some home made honey roasted peanut butter and we got some kettle corn, which was fantastic! Then we went to get jeff some new running shoes and another wii remote and nunchuck. We got home and jeff's parents wanted us to come over to their house so we brought the wii with us of course and played all afternoon with his mom and dad and sister and brother -in-law. Went to applebee's for dinner and back to mom and dad's for more wii action! we literally played unitl 9 or 9:30 at night. So fun! On sunday, his actual bday we just did more low key stuff... picked up the house cuz jeff wanted to clean, ran errands, whatever jeff wanted to do we did. :) it was pretty fun!



Well i spose that's all for now... not too much more has happened. Jeff and i really need to get better and taking pictures but i'll throw one in there of my belly for your viewing pleasure! :)

17 wks.

a little heartbeat

well the last 6 weeks have been crazy, but apparently not crazy enough to blog about...woops. finding out we are having a baby has pretty much consumed our lives. it's very weird. a couple days after discovering the news i began to feel sick. not awesome seeing as how no one in my family has fallen victim to that so far. but i am known for standing out i spose... :) oh well. we're in our 12th week now so i'm praying that it starts to go away soon! There's a lot to have to figure out now. Where i'm going to work, how much i'm going to work, where and what jeff is going to do...and for someone who doesnt really plan much, it's overwhelming! I'm down to 4 days at work right now cuz gas is so expensive! dumb gas. but that's all i know right now. my heart wants so badly to work part time or not at all, but with jeff being in school for at least another year here, that might not work out so well. i'm trying not to think too much about it though, i like to take things as they come i guess. jeff's the planner. :)

yesterday was a big day for us and our little baby! we had our doctors appt and we heard the heartbeat! that is now my favorite sound in the world! i could listen to it all day long. jeff thinks it's pretty awesome too. it was 168 beats per minute... so fast! our nurse-midwife told us that was pretty common for this stage of pregnancy. We have another appt in 4 weeks and we'll hopefully get to hear it again and this time i'm recording it on my phone! Its now way more real to me that we're actually having a baby. hearing a little life inside me....praise God! if creating a life doesnt make someone believe in God, i dont know what could. it is truly the most amazing thing God has done for me. i love it! i cant wait to meet out little peanut!!

12 weeks