pics

He was definitely ready for the day to be over at this point. We learned that pics need to be taken at the beginning of the day.




Asleep in Aunt Jen's arms.
After another rough day. (He even has little shoes on.) So cute.
With mom at work. Life is good.

Our Little Boy is Growing Up

Ok, well, he's only two months, but it seems like we've known each other longer than that. He is smiling now, and cooing a lot. He has little conversations with me and Daddy all the time. And the last couple of days he's been drooling, blowing bubbles and eating his hand a lot, so I'm thinking he might be teething. That's really just a guess though, cuz it's a little early for that. But our Little Billy is so much ahead of the game on everything, that he may be teething early as well. We're not proud or anything. :) We were late for work this morning because he slept through the night! Well, technically through the night. He woke up at 4am, but then he didn't wake up again till 8am. So I didn't have my alarm set because he usually wakes up again. BUt I'm not complaining. I'm proud of our little man. HE's been doing pretty well with us at work. He hasn't been fussy hardly at all, and it's getting easier to put him down for a nap. He doesn't cry as much, and sometimes he'll just look at the bears on the side of the crib and drool, blow bubbles or eat his hand. So content... We were talking to him yesterday and something Billy said made him make a sound like a giggle. So, we can hardly wait till he really laughs out loud. He is so cute we just can't handle it. I'll have Billy post some pictures soon.

More Pics of the kid!

For Dad...

sound quality stinks, but happy thanksgiving...

Wakin' a Baby!

So, Billy loves to sleep...during the day. He is a real party animal. Sleeps all day and up all night. Here is a recent video and Pic of the the kid.

More Pics of Billy

To little sleep, to much to do, but I would not trade these days for anything.

FOUR!

What? A Mulligan on time?! Wow! He actually came on his due date. Well, it has been a long couple of days. We came into the hospital on Monday morning and found out that Julie was in "early labor." Around 1:15 p.m. they sent us home. So we went to lunch, then my allergy doctor's appointment, then we went home where Julie (around 4:15 p.m.) let out a bellow. I calmly said to her, "Well, let's wait till you have four or five more of those before we head back...." and in mid-sentence she let out another one. So I said, "I'll take the dog out and we will go." And back we went with stronger contractions and the hope of at least 1 cm of dialation. When we arrived, they hooked her back up to the monitors and her contractions were off the charts, but still very little dilation. They decided to admit her with the hopes of breaking her water. After many painful contractions at 8:30 they finally did break it.

When they did this, the doctor noticed that the baby had leaked a little of his first bowel movement and the baby's heart rate went from 140 to 125 to 112 to 101 to 99 to 86 to 77. These were the longest moments of my life...or so I thought. The doctor ordered a drug that would temporarily stop the contractions so the baby's heart rate could recover. It worked! After they saw that the baby was stable, they gave Julie a drug to start the contractions again to see if the baby could handle the stress of labor.

One of the major problems the doctor and nurses kept running into was how high the baby's head was from Julie's cervix. The contractions were getting stronger and stronger and talk about a c-section was brewing among the hospital staff. We decided it would be best for Julie at this point to get an epidural. The anesthesiologists said that the only way I would be allowed in the operating room, should Julie have a c-section, was if she had the epidural. So I left my wife who was on the brink of nausea and exhaustion and 20 minutes later I came back to a new woman. The nurses said it would be best for her to sleep. At 1:30 a.m. we hit the sack. At 3:00 a.m. we awoke to hear that Julie was 3.5 cm and progressing well.

At that point I could not sleep. I was wired for sound. Julie decided she would go back to sleep and I went for a walk in the lobby where I found Julie's parents. I sat down and watched TV with them for a while. I was interrupted by the nurse telling us that the baby's heart rate was not responding well to labor and they would have to do an emergency c-section.

So I got all scrubbed up and walked my wife to the O.R. When we got there, I was told to sit outside and wait until I was called in. When I finally got in, they were ready to begin. I was told I could watch If I wanted...I declined. I sat by my wife's head and waited for them to tell me when the moment of birth would occur. When they gave me the go sign I peeked over the curtain and saw my boy! They pulled him out and were surprised! His umbilical chord was short...very short-- so much so that he could not reach the birth canal. This was the reason for the painful labor contractions which were off the charts. This was the reason Julie was not dilating, and this was the reason for the bowel movement.

After they got him out and cut the chord I was able to hold him and introduce him to his mommy. But I was about to live the longest moments of my life. As they prepared to end the surgery for Julie I could see the looks of frustration on the doctors' faces. Here I was holding my newborn son and having no idea what was going to happen to my wife. They worked on her for over 45 min. My heart was racing. The baby was getting heavier in my hands. They called me around the curtain and showed me the issue. Julie had some bleeding that they were trying to get under control. Finally they stitched her up. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and after awhile she finally got to hold her son. 6 lbs 5 oz 20 in long ... William John Mulligan IV



More Photos to come...

Baby in the Bubble

So, I did something hilarious last night. I did not even think it was possible, but I did it! After the Indian's game was over my wife was asleep and I developed a hypothesis (educated guess.) My line of thinking was...my wife and my son are not the same person...the baby sometimes sleeps when my wife is awake...can I wake the baby with out waking my wife?! So I slowly crept up on my sleeping wife, got very close to her belly and softly said "Billy Boy." And a little foot kicked my wife and woke her up! I am a genius. But I guess you can't be a genius if you have to ask your wife how to spell it.

Busy Busy "B"

So incredibly busy. Wow! Is life supposed to go so fast? It seems like just yesterday we had 6 months until our baby boy would be here, and now we have 30 days! There is still a lot to be done, but a lot has been done so far. I get distracted easily. First it was the hot water heater...then the kitchen...then the start of the EAGLES season...then the kitchen...then the FIGHTIN' PHILLIES got hot...then the kitchen...then the end of the eagles season...then the kitchen. Needless to say I'm still working on the kitchen, but my heart is torn. Isn't it funny how easily distracted we can become. I have so much to be thankful for.

1. A God who loves me even though I am unlovable.
2. HEAVEN!
3. A wife who is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
4. A BABY on the way!
5. Two sets of loving parents who always want the best for us.
6. Friends who will always be there for us.
7. A church family that supports us.
8. A house.
9. The Fightin' Phillies in the playoffs.

The first thing my wife said when she saw this list was, " You could only think of 9 things!" I'm shallow, so sue me. But even with these 9 things I have a constant dull ache in my back that is the Philadelphia Eagles. Many of you do not understand the relationship between the Philadelphia Fan and the Eagles. Watch "Invincible" and you will get a taste. It's like the eagles are a friend that I grew up with who has now gotten in trouble with the law, started doing drugs, knocking over gas stations...and I now find myself sitting in the prison visitor's area looking at this friend, and wondering, "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED!"

All that aside, life is good and here are some pictures to prove it.

Billy Boy at 35 weeks.

"Tugger B"

Julie's Fantasy Football Team: Billy's Mom Has Got It Goin' On!

Julie at 34 weeks.

And of course...

the kitchen.

My Hero

My husband is the greatest and I think the whole world should know. He has probably had the roughest week, but he accomplished sooo much despite all the crazy circumstances. I don' t have pictures of what all he did yet, but I will get them for you. The week started with what we thought was a gas leak. We ended up evacuating our house early Sunday morning, missing church, and then finding a foot of water in our crawl space. At first we thought it had come from the flooding earlier that week, but a day later, when Billy inspected it further, we discovered it was because our hot water tank had exploded, and was dispelling water everywhere. Fortunately, our furnace still works, which saved us a bunch of $$$. Not only did Billy have to get a new water heater, at every turn there was a new problem to solve because of the size of our crawl space compared to the size of water heaters, along with building codes that needed to be updated, and the price of install was ridiculous. So, Billy being the genius that he is, was able to figure out all those problems, buy a new water heater, cut pipes, repair wires, install new equipment to meet code requirements, and finish the job virtually by himself. I do need to mention however, two young men that were instrumental in helping my husband get the heavy awkward water heater down a 19" wide hole into a 6' deep crawl space, so that my husband did not die. To them I am very grateful. Their names are Matt and Kyle. Thanks guys!

I just wanted to let everyone know how proud I am of this man, and the perseverence I saw in him this week was amazing. I am thanking God so much that I am married to someone like him, and that he will be such a good example to his son, let alone everyone else he comes in contact with. What an example of dedication and hard work, sticking to a job until it is fully completed.

West Virginia!

So we went to West Virginia last week with the Sr. Highers in the Youth Group. We had a great time and the kids learned a lot. We were really proud of them. They all participated in each one of the challenges, whether it was on the high ropes course, rappelling down the side of a cliff, or white water rafting down the New River. They really looked out for each other during the trip, not just during the challenges, but also helping each other through personal struggles in their walk with the Lord. It was great to see God growing them closer to Him and closer to each other. We are proud of each and every one of them, and know that God has great plans for them. Here are a few pics from the week.

Everybody wanted to feel Billy kick. He was very active that week, and I'm sure someday will enjoy West Virginia adventures. :)

Lil' Billy's progression chart

Summer pics

Here are some good ones from the summer so far.

Jr. High Camp - I love these girls!

I was so excited, I caught a fish! You can't see it very well here, but it was a little bigger than the fish other people were catching.


Billy caught one too.


Vacation Bible School craft time

Billy and I got to read 1 Corinthians 13 together at my cousins wedding.

More Renovations

So, we were so pumped about getting the nursery ready, that we decided to paint our bathroom, and we started doing major work on our dining room. Special thanks to Luke and Hannah who spent an entire day with us doing these projects. We started the front room, just by painting it, and it looked better just with a different color. But of course we couldn't stop there, we had to keep going. So far we have taken out the built in bookshelf that wasn't really that attractive in the first place, which gave us more space in the room; Billy also took up the carpet on the stairs, and they look pretty good and are in decent shape. We decided that we will look for a remnant carpet to lay down, so we don't have to have the red carpet anymore. :) So, here are some pics of our work in progress. It might take a while longer, only because the next 4 weekends are a little busy for us. After that it should lighten up some and we can concentrate on the project again.

Renovations

Last weekend Billy's parents came in and got a lot accomplished in our house, especially the nursery. Here are some pics to prove the amazing transformation. I love the nursery so much, I can hardly wait for little Billy. I'm so excited.

BEFORE
AFTER

William John Mulligan IV

We are so excited! We found out that our baby is a boy, and no one is more excited than Poppy Mulligan (my dad). He already has the rights to be his agent, and is bringing the paperwork this weekend.
He is a very active baby and is 15 oz right now. Julie and I were watching a movie last night, and I was able to feel him move. We have a feeling that he is goi ng to be a BIG BOY just like his dad (9.5 lbs 22.5 inches)...poor Julie. Please keep praying for us we are so excited to see what God has instore for us in this new adventure.