How I met your Father: The Aggie episode

There is one thing I have learned about Aggies: They are like a religious cult. They are devout to their school, (I mean, wow, talk about some school pride!). No matter where you are, if there is another Aggie, they WILL find you, and apparently there is a secret bond between all Aggies. But most importantly, every Aggie I have ever met is very kind and friendly. I am thankful to have so many Aggies in my life, but there is one in particular...

Cory began his freshman year at Texas A&M University in Fall 1995. If you know Cory, then you know he is a walking brain. He is the kind of person that I want to slap in class. You know, the kind that hardly studies and walks out of the exam recieving an A. (Even an A++ cuz he got the extra credit answer right too!) Lucky! During his undergrad years, when he wasn't slaving over some mathmatical figures, Cory could either be found playing free pool, free bowling, or basketball. He was also on the Jump rope team for Double Dutch Freestyle which landed him and his team at Disneyworld for 3 years straight. Lucky again! After graduating with his undergrad in mechanical engineering, Cory went straight to grad school for his masters in biomedical engineering which he received in 2004.

Over his nearly 10 years in Aggieland, Cory had a slew of different roommates. His freshman roommates were Takamitsu Kashiwagi, aka Taco and a surfer dude named Ira. His sophomore year he moved to Walton Hall, the non-air-conditioned, cheap dorm where he would room with a guy named Nathan who was so good at basketball that Cory wouldn't dare play with him. In his junior year, he flew solo. In his senior year, he and his buddy Chris Holmes (whom he had met his freshman year), decided to move in together. This is a pivotal moment in our story, because it is Chris who would persuade Cory to purchase the item that would one day lead to Cory's and my meeting. In grad school, Cory moved in with a whole gang of his buddies, and at one point lived at 214B Richards St. He would like to note that he played bass in a band called 214B which according to Cory, this was a "garage band that only played in the living room."

His years at A&M were filled with friends and fun and a little side of studying. Not much happened on the topic of girls. He dated his high school sweetheart, Liz for 2 years. In 1997, they broke up and Cory would date 2 other girls, Julia for 3 months and Laura for only 3 weeks! Although not opposed to the idea of a girlfriend, he didn't actively look for one. Oh he would find a girlfriend, but at the time, she was only 950 miles away.

Next episode: MMORPG, say what?!?!

Season Premiere! How I met your Father!

Baby Farley – How I met your father

Have you seen the legendary sitcom called “How I met your mother?” It has quickly become one of our favorite shows. We are thankful for Netflix because we literally spent a few days having a HIMYM marathon ;) The main character, Ted, is telling his children how he met their mother. But there are many stories that led to that meeting. A friend of mine took this idea and shared her own story on her blog and I am about to do the same. So grab some popcorn and enjoy!

When people ask how we met, and we tell them, they sort of do a double take. You met how? Really? Yes, it’s nerdy, and geeky, and we might as well be carrying our pocket protectors, because it pretty much takes dorky to a whole new level. But it has led to a beautiful marriage and a sweet little boy named Elijah James Farley.

It all started in 2003. Little did I know that the decisions I made as a college freshman would lead to where I am now. If you don’t know us and don’t know our story, you are probably thinking we met in college, but this is only partially true. We were both in college, but I was just starting and Cory was just finishing his masters! In Fall of 2003, I was leaving my home for the first time and going to home of the Tigers, Mizzou. At that time, I was dating my high school sweetheart, Micah Stanek.

Micah and I had been best pals since nearly 6^th grade, especially since I had the super little girl crush on him from the moment I met him, but it wasn’t until 8^th/9^th grade that we became what a 14 year old can call “official.” We were “dating,” “going steady,” whatever you want to call it. And according to my cousin Brittany, who is 5 years younger than me, Micah is all I would talk about! At 14, you think you know what love is. Heck, at 18 you think you know what love is. I believe that a 14 year old can find love and an 18 year old can find love, but from those early teenage years to the mid 20s, people change so much. You can love at that early age, but its not the same kind of love you find in that person that just happens to be your soul mate. That is the kind of love I found with Cory, but we will get to that.

Micah and I dated all through high school and our first year of college. And I am thankful for our time together in many ways, but the most precious thing I got out of my relationship with Micah was my relationship with the Lord. In 6^th grade, Micah invited me to Chesterfield Presbyterian Church to go to ZOO, the middle school youth group. I had not grown up in the church so I was curious and longing to know who this “God” guy was, and not to mention trying to impress this 14 year old boy. Thanks to that invitation, I know the Lord as does my family.

In 2003, I was off to Columbia, Missouri, to study psychology and Micah was off to Chicago to attend Northwestern studying film/television. Little did I know, that my second semester, Spring 2004, that I was going to meet the love of my life. I just wouldn’t know he was the love of my life for some time.

Next episode: The Aggie

Our little model

My goodness. It's been a month since I last wrote. I am going to get better at posting at least once a week, hopefully more often ;) Well, I returned to the good old state of Texas after a 3 week visit to St Louis. It was an AWESOME visit! Eli got to meet lots of important people in our lives. It was a fantastic trip :) This is quite a giant of an album but click HERE to see pictures from our visit to St Louis.

Before I left for the Lou, we took Eli to JCPennys for a newborn photo session and he was such an awesome little model :) These are just a few of my favorites but click HERE to see more of our little model

Since we have been back, Cory has been very busy working. I am going PRN, meaning I only have to commit to 2 days a month, but can work more if I so desire. This is going to allow me to maintain my skills as a nurse, take continuing education classes for free, and most importantly, let me spend alot of time with my baby!

Baby update and a little bit of the force

Homesickness. Right now, I am longing to be back with my family in Missouri and that need will be satisfied on a temporary basis in the next few days as I travel up to STL to spend a couple weeks with my family. Once there, I will have homesickness for here in Texas because this is where Cory will be until he joins me up there on the 16th. It is not a depressing sort of homesickness, just a longing. And having a baby just intensifies that need to be close.

Eli is such a blessing. We are loving every exhausting moment! He is so funny and he makes us laugh with his funny faces. He has alot of character for being so little!

Well, after a week of antibiotics, his circ has finally cleared up and looks a million times better. And the breastfeeding is continuing to be great. We have got naps sort of figured out and he is napping much better during the day. However, he is still having difficulty napping in the evening which leads to a cranky baby. He feeds on a good 3 hour schedule, feeding at about 1230, 330, 630 and 930 around the clock, although he sometimes lets us sleep 4-5 hours at night. And he usually eats for about 20 mins on each side, totaling 40 mins of eat time plus burp and diaper change time so its usually an hour before we are all done. After his 630 pm feeding, however, he wants to stay awake the whole time which makes him cranky at his 930 feeding and then his crankiness just continues to increase until he has been awake for 6 hours, which makes it difficult for him to go to bed. We normally go to bed between 10-midnight, but would like him to go to bed for the evening after that 930 feeding, putting him to bed for the night at 1030. But that is about when his crankiness escalates. He is pretty much an angel by day and then becomes a "crazy baby" after that 930 feeding. We are trying to follow a book called Babywise which suggest having sleep time, followed by feeding time followed by wake time then back to sleep. (although at night you exclude the wake time) This works GREAT during the day but its not working for the evening for some reason. One of my friends, Laura, suggested a book called "healthy sleep habits, healthy child" and I am going to read that and try to combine the two into something that will work for us. Today we are going to try Babywise by day, but change up the schedule for tonite and see how it goes. Tonight I am going to try sleep time, waketime, feed time and back to sleep. Laura found by doing this with her son that he got a much more peaceful sleep which made a less cranky baby. So we are going to try this for the evening hours and pray that it works!

Here is our little man after a bath in his daddy towel. He is beginning to enjoy his bathtime more, although its still not his favorite thing in the world.

Tomarrow we are taking Eli to JCPENNY for a newborn photo session and I am really looking forward to it. We are seeing someone that our friend referred us to and she got amazing photos of her baby. Praying for a peaceful baby Eli during that photo session tomarrow ;)

I would like to leave you with an adorable commerical that my dad sent me. I can't wait til Eli can dress up as Darth Vader ;)

A lesson learned

Greetings from a tired mommy!

The past few days we have learned a key lesson: naps are a vital part of a babys day and if baby doesn't sleep during the day, it will make for a rough night...the more exhausted baby is the harder it is get baby to sleep! Oh man. Yesterday Eli decided he wanted to take the whole world in and refused to nap for much of the day. After his 630 pm feeding, he stayed awake for about 7 hours. Poor baby was so mad cuz he was so tired but he would not go to sleep! Mommy and daddy tried EVERYTHING in the books to get him to sleep. Finally at 130ish, he fell asleep! Today naptime is going much better.

On Wednesday, I took Eli to the doctor about his circ. He is now on Clindamycin oral antibiotic as well as nystatin cream to treat the infection, which is already looking A TON better. We have also started him on Poly vi sol vitamin supplement and infant probiotics (to help with spitting up) and he gets a dose of mylicon in the evening cuz he gets gassy. Poor guy is on a whole bunch of meds! But he is doing well! He was 8 lbs 6 oz at our appointment so he is gaining and breastfeeding is going wonderful.

Eli will be going on his first big roadtrip in about a week. My dad is flying down on Feb 5 and then we are driving to St Louis together. Eli and I will be spending a little over 2 weeks up there. Cory will be joining us on Feb 16th and we will return to Texas on Feb 22nd. I cannot wait for my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins to get to see Eli. And I know Eli's grandma and grandpa are just itching for him to get up there! Looking forward to this trip!

So we took Eli to Freebirds and Cory ordered an Eli sized burrito LOL. I have added more pictures to his baby album on facebook so click HERE to see pics of Eli from the last week :)

Have a great weekend and blessings to you all!

Special thanks to Great Grandma and G-pa!!

Great Grandma and Grandpa got Eli this swing and he LOVES it :) Special thanks to Great Grandma and G-pa!! This blog post is for you :) Love you both so much!

Love

Mommy and Eli

Welcome to the World, baby Eli

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