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...

Grandma Toni Saves the Tournament

For President's Day Weekend, the club soccer team I coach wanted to participate in the Ice Breaker soccer tournament down in St. George.  I thought it was a great idea, in theory, but was very worried about how little Atticus would get along with all of the excitement, especially since Dane couldn't get the time off.

Here he is before his first soccer game (outside the womb- he's attended many a game in utero)

Thank goodness for Mom.  My mother volunteered to come and seriously saved my life.  I can't overemphasize just how much her being there helped.  First, she was holding Atticus and entertaining him pretty much all the time, but also, every time I was stressed or worried about Atticus, or my girls' or the parents' drama (which was minimal but it was there) my sweet mom was there to smile at me, offer comfort, and help me relax.  For all intents and purposes, she was, yet again, reminding me that it was "only a movie!"  I would survive the weekend!

But the movie got a little crazier.  Sunday night I was nursing Atticus when I started having stomach pains.  For the next 9 hours or so I was going back and forth, throwing up and praying that Atticus would be okay.  Meanwhile, my sweet mother rocked my baby and kept him asleep.  She helped me problem-solve and figure out what to do.  She packed the car and DROVE for more than three hours in the dark to get me home so I could receive a priesthood blessing.  It was more than anyone should have to do- especially a 70-year-old grandma!
And you know what? Even though I could tell she was exhausted, sore, hungry, and frightened (who wants to drive someone else's car at 80+ miles an hour in the early morning?) she kept telling me it was all going to be okay.  It was only a movie.
And she was right.  Dane and Bob gave me and Atticus a priesthood blessing and my fever broke in the next hour and a half.  Atticus is just fine.  And my milk supply is getting back to normal.
I believe in the power of prayer and in the power of the priesthood.  And I love and will forever be grateful for my mom.

Our Baby Boy's Blessing

What a wonderful day!  Dane and I were nervous and had trouble sleeping, but Atticus wasn't nervous, at all!  He had one of his best night's sleep and was just as smiley as could be when we got him ready.  Here's the adorable little man that morning, dressed all in white, bundled up in the blessing blanket that his Great Grandma Zoe made for him.

Using the Melchizedek Priesthood, Dane gave Atticus a beautiful blessing, as directed by the Spirit.  A few things that stuck out to me were that Atticus needed to give attention to his "fathers that had come before him" and their sacrifices, that he would be a "strong and energetic young man," that he would be a leader to "any siblings that might follow" and that he would "serve God, [his] family, and [his] nation."


After the blessing, we headed over to Grandpa Bob & Grandma Marti's house for a brunch.  We feel so blessed to have had so many loving family members there to support us.
What made the day even more special was having my brother David there, visiting from Alabama.   We hadn't even told him about the blessing and he'd already booked the flight for this weekend.  Coincidence?  I think not!  Here he is with Atticus.  David has always had a way with infants (and with everyone else! He's just a great guy!)

We also got to see some of Dane's cousins that we haven't visited with for a while!  Jolene Riser came with her cute girls, Tessa and Taya.  It was so good to visit with her!  And Atticus obviously felt at his ease in her arms. :)

 Dane's other cousins, Brody & Lyndsay Newell, came with their three adorable kids.  Here is their second oldest, Molly, who was fascinated by Atticus.  It was so sweet to see.

 So many cousins came and I'm afraid I didn't catch half of them!  I've never known my cousins all that well so I was touched that Dane had such a bond with his.  I guess it's partly due to his being an only child...

Of course, David wasn't the only one who came to support from my side of the family.  Mom, Dad, Terree, and Danny were there, helping with the food and the blessing itself.



Corky and Whitney were there, as were Bobbie, Ashton and James.  It's so fun to see them with Atticus, especially now that he's developing more personality! (Not that it shows in these pictures, ha ha!)

We also had Dane's good friend Steve Pratt, his wife, Kalleen, and their handsome boy, Connor come.  I have a feeling Connor and Atticus will be just as thick as thieves in a few years, just like their daddies.  :)

All in all, it was a beautiful day.  I am so grateful for family and friends and the love and support we feel here and from those who are far away.  And I'm so very thankful that the Priesthood has been restored in its fullness, so that worthy men can exercise it to bless our lives.

As my mother-in-law, Marti, has remarked a few times now, we have needed priesthood blessings more times in the last few months than I can ever remember having received in my lifetime!  It never ceases to amaze me how quickly I experience peace, healing, and enlightenment as a result of its use.

December 3rd, a day that will live in infamy

Seeing as this blog was created as a means to record our growing family, I figure I should backtrack and record the birth of our first son, Atticus Dane Maes.

Below are excerpts from the birth journal I wrote a couple days after his entrance into the world.  Please don't feel the need to read it all!  

Thanks to a hypnobirthing class that Dane and I took, I was pretty confident that our little man, "due" Jan. 5 would come around Jan. 15...  Yeeeah, about that...

Enter Dec. 3.

I was excited.  I only had three more weeks of school left.  Then I would be spending my Christmas break getting Atticus's room ready, getting more educated about children, and getting things at the school ready for my substitute...  Yeeeeah, about that...

My first period class went off without a hitch.  With 5 minutes left before the bell, I sat down while the students started on an assignment.  To my surprise, I felt some wetness.  My first thought was, "Oh no!  I'm incontinent?!"  This wasn't something I was expecting!

I ran to the bathroom without saying a word to my students, thinking I'd be back in just a minute.

I never came back.

When I got to the restroom, I was so confused for a couple minutes.  Then it hit me.  My water had broken. I started crying, thinking that my little boy wasn't far enough along.  I thought this would be it for little baby Atticus.  This, to me, was basically a miscarriage.

Fortunately, I know nothing about babies.

As soon as I got myself together, I rushed down to see if I could find my principal, Robyn Ellis, who happens to be a nurse. She came right away.  She could see I was upset.  When I told her I thought my water had broken, her response changed everything.  "This is wonderful!  He's ready!"  She said.  Her optimism filled me with confidence.  I wasn't going to lose my baby!

Before I knew it, Dane had whisked me away to the American Fork Hospital and, after what seemed hours, my midwife came.  Her name is Claudia Killebrew and she just so happens to be the most experienced midwife from the clinic I had been going to.  One of the many tender mercies of the day.

After taking Pitocin around 1 PM, things really got going.  I can't describe the pain, only how important it was to me that Dane was there.  He helped me breathe through each surge so well, giving me counterpressure and encouragement.  Claudia was also a great coach.  She wasn't in my face and wasn't offering advice every minute.  She just made light conversation whenever I wanted it and gave me just the right kinds of help at just the right times.  She would give me a new position and every time it was just what the doctor (or midwife!) ordered.

After countless surges and positions, it came down to "bearing down."  After what seemed like forever (poor Dane's ears may never be the same..) little Atticus came into the world!  It was at 7:18 PM, and the little guy weighed in at 4 lbs 11 oz, 17.5 inches long.  Not bad for being 4.5 weeks early!

After a few precious moments with him, the nurses took him downstairs to the NICU, where, unbeknownst to us, he would remain for the next two and a half weeks.