Tuesday, May 29, 2012

What I've Learned...

I feel like these last four weeks (has it really been that long?!) have been a sweet crash course.  Here are some if the things I've learned...


1. My husband is an awesome dad.

2. They don't call it the "Ring of Fire" for no reason.

3. I can leak out of every hole in my body...simultaneously.

4. Will can explode out of every hole in his body...ALSO simultaneously!

5. I feel an unbelievable amount of happiness 
when my son passes gas.

6. It's entirely possible to stare at the same beautiful 
face for an entire afternoon.

7. Almost anything can be done with one hand. 

8. I am NOT the boss!

9. 3 diapers in 3 minutes = normal.

10. My whole life is changed. 

11.  Grandparents are totally awesome.

12. No matter how much you fight it, exhaustion will eventually turn you into an irrational crazy person.

13. People are extremely generous...especially when they get to buy cute baby clothes!

14. Sometimes a mother's intuition beats the baby books.

15. There's nothing better than a good long snuggle.



And here's a picture to make your day a little happier. :)


Sweet Baby...




Friday, May 25, 2012

School Showers

Roland-Story is a really special place.  There aren't very many young teachers here, so it's been a while since there's been a pregnancy/birth to celebrate.  I didn't get many pictures taken, but let me just say - I felt SO loved!

The elementary shower was before he was born.  We got so many cute things...and then to top it all off, a bunch of the teachers went together and bought the rocking chair we registered for!  It was a total surprise, and so exciting.





The middle school shower was after he was born, and was more of a "come and go" day.  Will and I hung out for a few hours at school and teachers stopped in when they could.  Needless to say, Will got lots and lots of snuggles!  Again, so many cute things!




 And last, I brought Will in to the last day of school, and one of the teachers had organized for the students to bring money if they wanted to for a present for Will.  They gave Will over $200!  His college fund has been started by the elementary students of Roland-Story!

We are so blessed!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Last 2 Weeks

 We have been having a BLAST at the Farley residence over the last few weeks!  Now, just so no one gets the wrong impression, let me clarify a few things.  We are exhausted.  There have been some very overwhelmed moments.  Until recently I was convinced I would never walk regularly again. :)  BUT, we're finding a rhythm, and truly loving every second of it!

Here are some of the things that we (mostly Will!) has been up to!

Meeting Aunty Cindy!
Measuring up to cousin Blake...

Snuggling with NanaVon...

Getting dressed up and looking ridiculous..

Being very happy...

And not so happy. :)
Turning one week old...


Having our first bath....

Taking some fun pics...

Having a first Mother's Day celebration...

Snuggling with Uncle Matt...
Getting some "Sweet William" flowers....


Having a baby shower at the Middle School...

Meeting some of mom's teacher friends...

Sucking some snot... :)

Snuggling with Daddy...

Hanging with Mr. Sleep Sheep...

Getting gas relief from Grandma...

Sleeping with papa (great-grandpa!)...

Spending LOTS of time with mommy!

These last 2 weeks really have been amazing.  I already feel sad that I haven't taken more pictures...there are so many things to remember!  We've had lots of dinners brought over to us, accompanied by Will snuggles and great time with great friends.  We are so very thankful for this new adventure we're on!

Monday, May 14, 2012

My First Mother's Day...

We had such a fun Mother's Day!  Until the actual day I kind of forgot that I'm a mom now....pretty sweet deal to have another day for celebration!  We had a picnic in our back yard with my family, then met Chris' family at Hickory Park.  It was a big day for Will (only 1 1/2 weeks!), but he was SUCH a trooper, and we even nursed in public for the first time (a far corner of a Hickory Park booth)!  I was one proud mama. :)

Chris gave me a coupon book for Mother's Day.  1) A "Chris-quality" car cleaning - this is serious business!  2) A whole day without diaper changes  3) Breakfast in bed  4) A $50 shopping trip.  I've only redeemed the shopping trip so far, but believe me...I will SERIOUSLY appreciate the others when I use them!  Thanks babe!

My parents gave me a "Sweet William" plant and a poem that hung in our house while I was growing up.  It's a poem that we'll just pass around to each of us kids whenever we have a baby, because we all love it.  It goes...

Cleaning and scrubbing
can wait 'til tomorrow,
But babies grow up, 
we've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs,
dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby, 
and babies don't keep.
* I cry every time :) *

And last, Papa gave Will a wooden shoe that he had a friend make while he was in California.  It's so beautiful, and I love that Papa thought of Will so far before he was born!  It's been so neat to live in a 4-generation house, and I especially love seeing Papa and Will together.  It's very special!

Yummy fresh, summer food for our picnic!
2 Mothers this time!

We always make homemade cards...I like that tradition!

One of Nana's doilies, framed. 

My "Sweet William" plant.  :)

Sweet William and my favorite mommy poem.

Papa had this sweet wooden shoe made for Will - LOVE these pictures! 

The old and the new, so beautiful.

Mother's Day picture with my little sweetheart

Love this guy!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Will's Story

I've been wanting to write Will's birth story down for the last 8 days, and I've finally made the unbelievably long and laborious trek from my beautiful new babe to the laptop keyboard.  This last week has been a blur...a joy...an emotional roller coaster...a beautiful blessing...filled with dirty diapers...so much fun!  I love being a mommy, and am smitten with William Christopher Farley.

Thursday, May 3rd
3:15 AM - I had been sleeping fitfully with a few contractions, but at 3:15 I woke up wide awake with a contraction that was suddenly much stronger.  I waited until the next one, then woke Chris up to "warn" him, and decided to go hang out in the kitchen to figure out if this was real labor.  I did the dishes, moved food from the fridge to the freezer, snapped some beans, and walked around, timing each contraction.  When I had to stop walking to breathe through the contraction (around 4:00 AM) I decided to wake Chris up.  

Funny Side Note: Chris thought that only a few minutes had passed between when I first woke him up and 4:00.  Since we had already made one unnecessary trip to the hospital, he was actually a little frustrated that I thought we should start packing up without giving the contractions more time to get stronger.  I then got frustrated with him because I was in quite a bit of pain and he was telling me he wanted to sleep some more...but we eventually got on the same page and he realized that yes, I actually was in labor and we needed to go!

5:00 AM - We got to the hospital, settled into a room, and continued having some pretty sweet contractions. :)  We called Maria Lovin (who was our doula and was totally awesome!) and Chris and I experimented with counter-pressure until she got to the hospital.  Chris' official job became to apply counter-pressure on my hips during the contractions because it felt SO much better when he did!  He was a total stud - I think he may have worked just as hard as I did!  

7:15 AM - Maria showed up and really helped focus me during the contractions.  Since Chris was behind me pushing on my hips, I didn't really have anyone to look at/focus on...having Maria there was SO nice!

8:15 AM - They decided to check me and found out I was already dilated to a 7!  Right after they checked me I decided to get in the tub...and WOW!  Unbelievable.  Awesome.  Is this a hospital or a hotel?!

9:30 AM - Checked again, and was at a 9.  The doctor asked if I wanted my water broken (I totally thought I would be the one to have their water break in a really embarrassing place, but no such luck!), so we went for it and things started heating up real fast!  About half an hour later I was at a 9 1/2 and they said those hilarious words "try not to push".  Sorry...but the urge comes, it's pretty hard not to push!  I did my best, and eventually they just said to go for it.  

I ended up pushing for about an hour and a half.  A disheartening moment was when the doctor came in about 30 minutes into pushing, checked me, and told the nurse to call him in about 3 hours to update him on the progress.  WHAT?!  I got determined then...Oh no sir, this baby's coming out!  He had to come back about 45 minutes later, and Will was out by 11:30! 

Here are Chris' texts updating family about the progress.  I'm not quite sure how he had time to text everyone so many times...I don't remember having a spare second during this whole process!

5:31 AM - "At the hospital, strong contractions!  Haven't checked dilation yet."

8:22 AM - "Dilated to 7.  We are doing pretty well!  Let's pray this baby into the world people!!"

9:32 AM - "To 9, pushing soon.  Doctor broke water."

10:55 AM - "Been pushing for about an hour.  Nicole is TIRED!"

11:42 AM - "Welcome William Christopher Farley to the world.  Will is here."

12:38 PM - "8 lbs. 3.5 oz"

1:17 PM - "Just had some food.  Happy Baby now.

1:58 PM - "Visitors are welcome."

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First family picture!  Try not to judge my appearance, I was recovering from a  pretty hard workout. :)

Will's first check-up...got a 9/10 on the Apgar Scale!  Atta boy. :)

Totally beautiful :)

This man is seriously the best dad ever!

First mommy/Will snuggle time.  We've had LOTS of these since then!

Grandpa Stellmaker was pretty happy to be holding his first grandson!

Mom was MADE to be a grandma. :)

3 generations of Farley boys

All the details

My beautiful boy. :)

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I was so glad to have had Will in the morning, as it gave us time to recover a little bit before people were done with work and ready to come meet him.  We got to have our first nursing session, he got cleaned up and checked over, and then we just had some snuggle time and I ate some food. :)  My parents and Chris' dad Tom came first (around 2:00), and the crowds showed up after work.  I didn't know if I'd want many visitors, but I ended up LOVING the activity!  It felt like a perfect end to a pretty perfect day.

Aunt Amy

Aunt Rachel

Uncle Bri Bri

"Aunty" Jen

"Aunties" Dani and Natalie
We somehow didn't get a picture of her that night, but NanaVon (Chris' mom Yvonne) got to meet Will his first night too!

We have such an amazing support system here, and were so thankful to have such great family and friends who were so excited to meet Will!