Mother's Day

1 Samuel 1:27- For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him

This year, Mother's Day definitely meant a lot more to me.  

 To go from wondering if we'd even be able to have children to having this energetic, talkative little guy has been the greatest (and hardest!) blessing of my life over the last few years.  My heart goes out to all others who, for whatever reason, do not and perhaps will not have literal children in this life.  My source of comfort before Atticus came along was the knowledge that, in whatever capacities we're able, Heavenly Father gives us a chance to "practice" for the eternities.  I know that He is a perfect, loving, heavenly parent and will not deny this blessing to his faithful chidlren.

For me, this "practice" came in various forms.  As a teacher, coach, Aunt, Sunday School teacher, and even as a neighbor, I had opportunities to mentor and love a few of these little ones (even the bigger little ones, ha ha!)  I know that, though we might not even feel GOOD at this whole motherhood thing (and I very often don't!) we, as women, have been given special gifts to nurture and love these precious children from Heaven.  Like so many other things, practice (along with generous use of the Atonement!) makes perfect.

So today, I express gratitude to Heavenly Father for the chance to have this beautiful little boy and to experience the wonder of life again through his eyes.

Gimme five!

Atticus turned 5 months yesterday (April 3).  Time really has flown by.  I look at the tiny newborn pictures we took in the NICU and he looks like an entirely different child.

In fact, there are times that Dane and I swear he looks like a little boy.  It's a little disconcerting.  He's growing up a little too fast for me.  I was more than a little upset when I had to put aside all of his 0-3 month old clothing a couple weeks ago...

But I can't complain too much.  This age is just so much fun.  He laughs all the time (I swear, his laugh is almost musical!)   He talks all the time and sometimes even seems to be trying to "sing" when I sing to him.  (It's really more of a growl, but he looks so sincere as he does it!)

He is starting to inch himself forward by propping himself up on his head and toes (it's exhausting, just watching him!)  He can scoot backward, although I'm not sure he means to.

He reaches for objects all the time (usually with his left hand?!), including our faces & my glasses.

He's also far better at self-soothing.  He finds his thumb (or his fist/fingers) every time, now.

He got his first real taste of the sun last week during my soccer practices (see the red on his nose?)

He also met his first friend just a couple days ago!  At first he didn't seem to notice the other baby in the room, but when the two finally made eye contact, it was pretty cute to see them interact.  Gideon is 7-8 weeks further along, so he was grabbing Atticus and putting his feet on him. 

As usual, there has been plenty of quality time with his grandparents.  We are so blessed to have three grandparents so close!

My favorite thing, though, is how much he enjoys action.  He really has become quite an adrenaline junkie!  He loves falling, bouncing, spinning, and being thrown up in the air.  Here's proof:

Yep.  He's pretty much a ray of sunshine in our lives.-  That is,  as long as his gums aren't hurting from teething!

Well, the little man has his four month appointment this Thursday.  Wish us luck with the immunizations (gulp!)

Baby Blue Eyes

We're told that we need to wait as long as a year to see what Atticus's final eye color will be, but for now we just love these big, beautiful blue eyes of his.
And every time I look at them, I can't help wondering how the world looks from his perspective.  What does he see?  What is he thinking?

Four months never looked so good!

Well, as of April 3, Atticus is now, technically, four months old!  He's doing everything a normal 3-month-old baby would do, plus a little extra.
He's starting to outgrow his 3 month old clothes.  We've already laid a few to rest.  Take a look at this vest- it's definitely a squeeze...

He can see and recognize pretty much anyone.  It's so fun to see him smile at us across a room.

He's getting better and better at scooting.  Look at that confidence!

He loves fans and bath time.

He loves soft toys.  He's especially taken a liking to this monkey...  In fact, he had his first kiss on Easter Sunday...

 But I think my favorite part of this age is his laugh.  It is easily one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.  The best part is, it gets easier to make him laugh every day!  Here he is, laughing with Grandma Toni. He just LOVES both Grandma Toni & Grandma Marti.

Another milestone took place last week, right at the end of March.  Atticus and I got sick.  It was a rough few days and we're both still congested, but we made it.  It just about broke my heart to see him in so much pain (the most adorable coughs and sneezes- usually followed by a fed up yell) & BOY does it take longer to recover from illness when you're not sleeping!

 One thing's for sure.  It made me appreciate all of the times my mom probably rocked me to sleep and went without for her seven children.  It's just a little more motivation to keep the house germ-free!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

No cool green food for this little guy- not yet, anyway! But a belated Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little Frog Prince!

Sleep in Heavenly Peace!

So having a preemie has been an amazing journey.  It's amazing and wonderful and fun, but at the same time, let's get real.  Your child doesn't start sleeping earlier- you just go that much longer (in our case, 5 weeks!) without quality sleep.  So this mom was seriously losing it by February...  Thankfully, he started getting longer and longer chunks (7 hrs, even 9 hrs once.)



Well, the month of March has been nothing short of miraculous.  On March 11, after a couple weeks of four and five hour stretches at most, he slept for over 7 hours!  I think I cried a little.  Hormones, people.  Hormones!  It didn't happen again for a while, but he started getting five and six pretty regularly.
Then, on March 22, somehow the little tyke slept over NINE HOURS!  Is that even possible?!  Don't worry, it's hasn't happened again, but still, these little episodes are definitely glimpses of light at the end of the sleep tunnel.


But, thank goodness, there's so much more to life than sleep, and this little boy more than makes up for it.  He is seriously just a joy to be around.  Sure, teething has set in early, and so when he remembers his sore little mouth, he is a handful, but most of the time he is just all smiles, babbling, and looks of wonder.

Three months... Sorta...

Whenever anyone asks how old Atticus is, I hesitate to answer.  For one, my ability to do simple math is pretty much gone (I blame sleeplessness...)  But it's more than that.  He is almost three months old, and is doing many things a child his age would do, but doctors and nurses told us repeatedly to expect development according to his due date.  So, to be precise, he was 3 months old, as of March 3, but at the time he was really only 2 months old...

But what a fun age!  We love his male pattern baldness and his fabulous bubbles...

 I love that he still falls asleep almost every time we get going in the car or stroller....
 We love his fascination with all lights and fans...

 And he has so much personality!  We see a full spectrum of emotion every day...