Week After Week

Since Jack was born, I have made a point of taking his picture every week.  So every Friday, I put Jack down and proceed to take a million pictures of him in hopes of getting a super cute one.  I have plans of making a coffee table book or something at the end of the year.  It's neat to see how much Jack changes from week to week.  I also take a picture every month.  We'll see if I'm this neurotic with a future child(ren).

Here's how it went this week...

From all of that...to this:

The Tortured Chef? No, The Pampered Chef!

I'm having a Pampered Chef party this weekend and thought I'd share some of my favorite Pampered Chef items in hopes that some of you might want to come to the party or place an order online (go to www.pamperedchef.biz/ronstephenson and enter my name as the host).  Added bonus: if you live in the area, Jack will deliver your items to you.

So a few of my favorite Pampered Chef items are:

• Large Micro-Cooker:  I use this to steam all of our veggies for dinner.  I just put whatever veggies we want (fresh or frozen) and a tiny bit of water and stick it in the microwave for 5-6 minutes and BAM delicious steamed veggies!
• Large Round Stone with Handles:  We had one of these when I was growing up and we would bake anything from pizza to biscuits on it.  Amazing.  Pampered Chef now has tons of other stoneware, from muffin pans to bundt pans to cookies sheets.
• Ice Cream Dipper:  This is THE ice cream scoop to have.  There is some kind of liquid in the handle that your hand heats up and therefore makes is super easy to scoop ice cream.  Rocket scientists must have designed it?!?!
• Mix 'N Chop:  This crazy contraption helps to break up ground meat as you brown it...just push and twist!
• Bamboo Spoons:  Who doesn't love a good wooden spoon (if for no other reason than to threaten your children with Mr. Spoon)
• 8" Chef's Knife:  The thing I like about this knife is that it's super sharp and comes with it's own case that doubles as a sharpener.

These are all of the things that I already have and love, but there are so many other things that I see and I want:

• Manual Food Processor
• Ultimate Mandoline
• Cool and Serve Square Tray
• The Entire Executive Cookware Collection
• Deep Covered Baker

I can't wait for Ron to come over and do his cooking demonstration.  There are rumors of Molten Lava Cake.  OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!!!

If you are able to come by on Saturday from 2-5, let me know.  I want to make sure Ron makes enough Molten Lava Cake (because I don't intend on sharing mine).  If you just want to order something you can go to www.pamperedchef.biz/ronstephenson and enter my name as the host.

Wow!  Do I sound like a commercial or what?  Well, you definitely host these parties for a reason...I hope to see you Saturday!

Jumping Jack

Jack got a pretty cool present in the mail yesterday...a Johnny Jack Jump Up.

As soon as it arrived, Dave quickly began putting it together.

Daddy installing the Jack Jump Up

Jack testing it out while Daddy adjusted the height

Once it was all set up, Jack took it for a spin...literally.  He's not really interested in jumping as much as he likes picking up both feet and spinning around.  He also likes the attached toy.  He bangs on it and it makes music.

Molly monitoring the fun

"Could you please stop taking pictures?!"

Feet up, taking a spin

And who wouldn't love licking their Jack Jump Up?

Tasty

Ouch!

*This post involves the mentioning of my breasts.  If you don't want to hear about it, move on.*

Yesterday, I had my second private pilates lesson.  It was a great workout and I knew that I would be feeling it later.  It has been several months since I have been able to work out so I was quite prepared for some pain.  I was right, last night I started to feel achy and tired.  When I went to bed, I noticed that my left breast was sore.  Clearly, I didn't use my breast during my pilates workout so I just assumed that it was full and I would have Jack nurse on that side first.

Well, to make a long story short, the pain in my breast increased and the aches in my body also increased.  This morning, I was completely run down, sore all over and my breast felt like it had been the target of a dodge ball game involving bowling balls.

I called the lactation consultant at our pediatricians office and she said that it sounded like I had mastitis.  She told me to call my OBs office and that I should get an antibiotic as soon as possible.  I have heard of mastitis, but wasn't exactly sure what all it entailed.  I remember years ago, my aunt had a goat that got mastitis and they had to shoot the goat because of it.  I was really hoping that my doctor would have a different approach to rectifying my mastitis than my aunt did with her goat.

I went to the OB and she prescribed me an antibiotic that I have to take four times a day for ten days.  When I got home, I felt progressively worse and just got in bed and slept for a few hours.  It almost felt like I had the flu-fever, chills, body aches, run down.  I'm so thankful that Dave works from home and was able to take care of Jack.  I am on the mend and beginning to feel a little bit better.  I should feel a lot better in the next couple days.

Excuse Me, I Have a Question...

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me an email with a suggestion for a blog topic.  This may have just been her ploy to get me to blog as it had been several days since I had last blogged...I took the bait (finally).

Here is an excerpt from the email:

Hey Liz!

Do you take requests for your blog posts? I have a few ideas, if you're interested.

As  someone who has never had a baby, I'm curious about what happens to a mother's body after pregnancy. For example, I heard (from Oprah, although she's never had children - surely a great sadness for our world/future) that a woman's shoe size can increase, and that her arches can flatten a bit. Have you talked to other moms who had that happen? And what about food and drinks? Obviously you didn't drink during pregnancy, but it's ok to drink some when breastfeeding, right? How long do you have to wait before it's ok to breastfeed after having a glass or two of wine? Some of my friends stayed away from foods I wouldn't have thought to stay away from during pregnancy (like feta). Did you stay away from anything when you were pregnant, for safety reasons? Have you gone back to them? (And what about asparagus? It makes a person's pee smell funny - does that happen to the baby if the mom has asparagus?)

Now, I will try my best to answer these questions.  Please keep in mind that these are merely my opinions and I am not a doctor, although I play one on TV.

I have heard of several moms that have experienced an increase in shoe size.  Some even said that their feet got a half size bigger with each pregnancy.  As you know, my feet became quite swollen while I was pregnant and I had to be more selective of my shoe choices.  Once the swelling went down, my normal (boat like) shoe size returned.  I have not heard about arches flattening due to pregnancy.

I did not drink during pregnancy, but I do know several people who enjoyed a glass of wine here and there while pregnant.  You can drink while you are breastfeeding.  When and how much you can drink depends on who you talk to.  I've heard that you can have a glass or two of wine and nurse.  I've also heard that if you drink, you should "pump and dump".  I've heard that as long as you aren't slurring, you are good to nurse without "pumping and dumping".  I think this is one of those things that is left up the individual.  I'm certainly not drinking often.  I think I've had two beers since I had Jack.

I stayed away from alcohol, sushi, unpasteurized cheeses, cold deli meats, and raw/undercooked meats.  A lot of people say to not drink diet drinks or excessive amount of caffeine.  I had already kicked my Coke Zero habit so I was good on that front.  Most cheeses in America are pasteurized so I was still able to enjoy feta and other soft cheeses if I wanted.  Ten days after delivering Jack, Dave and I went out for sushi.  I was in heaven!

I have not had any asparagus since I had Jack so I'm not sure about the reaction.  I will put some on the menu for this week and report back to you!

Thank you for giving me something to blog about.  If anyone else has a topic for me, just let me know and I'll fit it in...eventually ;)

Nesting....still?!

I feel like I am still nesting.  I thought that was just supposed to happen right before you had a baby...not for three months postpartum?!

Early last week, I sold our dining room table and chairs on craigslist and then we went and bought some new stuff over the weekend.

Our new dining room table, chairs and china cabinet were delivered this morning!  Yippee!!!!

Here they come!!!

Now, I just need to replace that ugly light and add my china

We are also trying to sell our little wine cabinet.  If you are interested in buying it, let me know!

Sew Busy!

Today I spent every free moment sewing.  There are few friends that have had or are having baby girls very soon so I wanted to make their little ladies a little something something.  I also appliqued some more onsies for Jack's friend Drake.

Jack has become a lot more content to entertain himself lately so that helped me to get so much sewing done.  He acted as my supervisor for part of the day and then my model.  I will hold on to those pictures for future blackmail purposes.

please know that I don't always wear the bright orange shirt and sweat pants

Hula-hooping

Jack loves to stand up, but when he gets tired it looks more like he is hula-hooping!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy birthday to the best man I know. A guy who is quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.  A man who would do anything in the world for his family and friends.  A man who encourages me, challenges me and inspires me.  A man who loves me despite all of the things that I despise about myself.  A man who I am most lucky to call my husband and the father of our sweet little boy.

Dave was showered in gifts:

• a jogging stroller so Jack can go running with Daddy
• gift cards so Dave can get some new clothes and toys
• custom made cornhole boards so we can enjoy our back yard

We finished the celebration with homemade chocolate cake.

3 Months

Jack is now 3 months old!  He didn't have a well baby check-up this month so I don't have any new stats to share.  His next doctors appointment is next month.

This month, Jack:

• is becoming more and more verbal.  He coos, squeals and makes a variety of sounds.
• is still rolling over from tummy to back.
• can entertain himself for about 20 minutes.
• can bear all of his weight on his legs.
• visually tracks objects and people.
• reaches for and grabs objects that are close to him.
• has discovered the dogs and loves to look at them, smile and "talk to them.

We're Baaaaaaaack!

We now return to our regularly scheduled blog, already in progress...

Whenever I think of something to blog about, I go into Blogger and start a new entry.  I rarely have to time to actually finish that entry in one sitting so I save it and then go back to when I have a chance.  While I have been on my "lactation vacation" I have been accumulating quite a few blog posts.  Now that my milk production is beginning to increase I have been able to finish most of my unfinished blog posts.

For those of you who don't use Google Reader (and you really should) I've attempted to make catching up on Mulley Musings easy on you.

Previously on Mulley Musings:

Dave designed and built a new closet for Jack.

Granny Roady came to visit.

Jack celebrated his 12th week of life!

We went to a lacrosse game.

Jack and I became gym rats.

We found a leak (and it wasn't in Jack's diaper).

Shwew!  That's exhausting!  Everything else is going well with the Mulleys.  Thanks for all of your calls and emails when we disappeared for a week.  It's nice to know that you care!

Drip, Drip, Drip

This afternoon, I pulled the Pack 'n Play out and noticed something funny on the carpet behind it.  There appeared to be a mushroom growing on the carpet (gross!).  Upon further investigation, I noticed that the other side of the wall (in the hallway) was discolored.  I told Dave and he went down in the crawl space to see if he saw anything unusual.  He said there was some water dripping from one of the beams under the house.  SUPER!

I have a friend who owns a plumbing company so I called the office to see if someone could come over and check things out.  Within 30 minutes, Jess the plumber arrived.  He said he would have to cut a hole in the wall to see where the water was coming from.  So he cut a hole in the wall down close to the floor since that is where we found the discoloration and mushroom (gross!).  When he cut, he saw that there was, in fact, some moisture on the pipes.  Unfortunately, the moisture went up further than he could see or feel from his hole in the wall.  So then came another hole in the wall higher up, and then another hole and then a hole in the wall in the master bedroom.  Then Jess came back downstairs and put a two holes in the ceiling.  All of these holes were used to find the origin of the leak.  As it turns out, the hole was in the pipe right up behind the crown molding.  Once Jess fixed that pipe, he noticed that another pipe was leaking in the same place so he replaced that pipe as well.

All of this investigation and repair took several hours and has left us with about 6 holes in the wall.  I know that they holes were completely necessary in order to find the leak, but it's still a little sad to look at my holy walls.  After Jess left, my friend Jimmy (owner of Lane Plumbing) called to see how everything went.  I asked him if he knew a good drywall guy that could come fix our holes and he said he would send his guy out to take care of it.  Jimmy Lane is not only one hell of a good plumber, but he is a class act and overall nice guy.  I'm thankful to have him on my team!

the aftermath

I'm Going to Pump You Up!

I finally got cleared to workout again so I took Jack to the gym last week so that he could be added to our membership.  He got his own membership card with his picture on it.  Our gym has a great childcare facility where Jack can hang out while I workout.  We went for a test run on Friday to see how he would do.  I only stayed away for about 45 minutes and he did great.  Since he did so well, we went back again this morning and I was gone for closer to an hour and a half and he did great again.  It's so nice to be able to go workout and know that Jack is being well taken care of.  It's good for him to be around different people and the other kids love him!  When I dropped him off this morning one of the little girls in there said, "You brought your baby?".  To which I replied, "Yes, are you going to take good care of him?" and she said, "I sure will!".  When I went back to get him after my workout, the little girl came running over and said, "Jack did super today!"

I'm so glad that I get to take this time to revive myself.  It makes me happy which in turn makes Jack happy!

I'm gonna knock you out!

Jack Loves Lacrosse

Yesterday evening, we headed out to Chapel Hill to watch Levi play lacrosse.  Levi is the youngest child in the family that I was a nanny child care technician for while I was in high school and college.  He is now a junior in high school and plays goalie for the varsity lacrosse team.

Levi's parents, Elissa and Geoff, were really excited to see us Jack and we were excited to not only see them but to see Levi play.  Levi did great and his team won 10-2.

Jack was such a happy baby during the game.  He just sat up and watched and cooed cheered.  In between bouts of watching the game, Jack snuggled with Elissa and talked shop with Geoff.

We are so happy that the Browns live so close!

Elissa and Jack snuggling

Levi tending goal

Elissa explaining the game of lacrosse to Jack

Geoff and Jack discussing the finer points of the game

12 Weeks of Jack

Where have the past twelve weeks gone?  Our boy is growing up before our eyes!

Normal Service Will Be Resumed Soon!

Hello everyone! I know it has been a while since you have heard from us, so I wanted to let everyone know that Jack, Elizabeth and I are still alive and well.

We are currently experiencing a milk shortage which means that Elizabeth now has to feed Jack every two hours and then pump for another 10 minutes afterward. As you can imagine, this is very stressful, tiring and time consuming and blogging has fallen down the list of priorities. However, I can assure you that there is a list of excellent blogging topics ready to go when the milk returns and Jack gets back on a more regular feeding schedule.

Here is a photo of Jack to keep you going until our next update!

Jack trying out his new sunglasses