Baby, Family, Outings

Recently, we have been keeping busy with little Madie. She has been sleeping and eating so well, we have been very pleased with how things are going so far. She usually only wakes up once at night to eat, then returns to her slumber. We have had tons of family visit us in the past few weeks as well, probably the most we have ever had since we have been in Idaho. Isn't it amazing what happens when you have a baby?? I also threw in some pictures from a little day trip I took to Grand Teton National Park with my parents and Grandma.

I love this picture of Madie.

This is a good picture of Mal testing out the sling. Madie fell asleep almost immediately inside it. Just like the womb!

This is Eden, Mal's little sister. This is a picture of her holding Madie for the first time.

On Friday, we took a small trip to Mesa Falls with my family. This is a good one of Mal after she got her hair done, with her little sister Eden.

Nana helping Madie burp.

When we entered Grand Teton National Park, we saw a bunch of cars pulled off to the side of the road, on a bridge above the Snake River. We jumped out to see what everyone was looking at and saw a moose cow and calf eating and walking in the small stream.

After a while, the cow just plopped herself into the stream to cool off.

This is a picture of me standing in Jenny Lake at Teton.

And of course, the Tetons.

Madeleine at Home

We love her little mittens. We are thinking of some sort of boxing name for her because her hands are always up by her head.

Mumma and baby.

Daddy and baby.

This is her normal sleeping position: slightly on her side, with her head facing upwards. Hands up by her head.

Things I Must Admit Now That It's Over

Well, not over by any means, but now that I know I'm going to stay alive.

1. I was not prepared for the feeling of being split in half. I knew it would be painful, but when her head started to come I realized a whole new level of pain. That was the only time during the whole thing that the pain became completely unfamiliar. Up until then, I was certainly in pain, but I often thought to myself, "man, this feels lot like..." so I knew I could deal with it.

2. I was also not quite prepared for my complete loss of modesty. I mean, of course I didn't care too much about the doctors and such, but even after I had been taken to the mother-baby wing and people came to visit, I would find myself thinking, "Hmmm, I should feed the baby" and then realize my company just in time to stop myself. Mum said after I told her about it, "Yeah, from here on out modesty becomes more something you follow for the comfort of others. You yourself really couldn't care less." So true.

3. My first shower after delivery. It was wonderful to not have all the grime on me anymore, but I kept reading in places things like, "Your first shower after delivery is one of the most refreshing things you'll ever feel." Not so. My second shower was great, but my first revealed to me things I hadn't realized until then, like the swelling (which I also wasn't prepared for) and the exhaustion. My second shower was right before I left the hospital and I finally felt really clean for the first time in two days.

4. Breast feeding. Madie has an excellent latch. Enviable, in fact. But I was still so sore. Finally, I told one of the nurses and after she confirmed how well-latched she was, she said, "I know those lactation consultants say things all the time about how natural it is and how it should never hurt and how it's a beautiful thing, blah blah blah, but ya know what? That's crap. Breast feeding does hurt. And it's hard. We aren't used to something sucking there, and that means you'll have to get used to it, and it'll probably get worse before it gets better." Another true statement. I'm glad I can breast feed, I know some women can't. And I think it is good for the baby. But that nurse is right: it does hurt, and it is hard. I hate it when people say things like, "I can't believe you would give your baby formula when breast feeding is clearly the natural, RIGHT thing to do." Yeah, yeah, yeah. I say, if you can and you want to and it fits well with your schedule, do it, and stick to it! But remember, no infant ever died from formula.

5. Finally, I was not prepared for how beautiful my baby is. Whenever I say that people give me the whole, "Yeah, well, all mothers say that" look/speech, but really, I have never been the kind of person to sugar-coat how a baby looks. I figure it's not hurting their feelings at all if I say they're ugly, and it doesn't bother me when people tell me a baby I love is an ugly one. But really, Madeleine is beautiful. She's got a pretty round face and a beautifully shaped head. She's got pretty ears and lips, and nice big eyes, but not the freaky lookin' big eyes I had. These ones fit her face. Mine fit a cow's face.

Welcome Madeleine!

Tuesday Night, 10:15 pm: MariLou (Mal's mother) flies into Idaho Falls, ID and is picked up by Mallory.

Wednesday Morning, 2:00 am: Mal starts getting some regular early morning contractions

Wednesday Morning, 2:15 am: Mal takes some raspberry tea which is supposed to intensify contractions.

Wednesday Morning, 4:00 am: Mike wakes up to go to work.

Wednesday Morning, 4:45 am: Mike is weary to go to work because Mal is having contractions 15 mins apart. Mike decides to chance it and heads to work anyways.

Wednesday Morning, 7:00 am: Mike arrives to work. Anxiety about Madeleine's arrival sets in.

Wednesday Morning, 10:00 am: Mal and MariLou go for a walk.

Wednesday Afternoon, 1:00 pm: Mal and MariLou duke it out in a game of Scrabble.

Wednesday Evening, 7:00 pm: Mike gets home after checking in on Mal at least every hour, and enjoys a nice meal of homemade lasagna prepared by MariLou.

Wednesday Evening, 7:30 pm: Contractions have progressed to 3-5 minutes apart for a steady three hours. We head to Madison Memorial Hospital.

Wednesday Evening, 8:15 pm: Mal is admitted to the hospital, room number 3002.

Wednesday Evening, 11:30 pm: Mal continues to dilate to 5 cm.

Thursday Morning, 3:00 am: Mal continues to dilate to 7 cm.

Thursday Morning, 6:47 am: Mal gives birth to Madeleine, 7 lbs 1 oz, 19 inches long!

Mal and I while she was being monitored for admission.

Madeleine being all primped after birth.

A close up shot on Madeleine. She has hair! It's a miracle, considering who her parents are.

Mal first holding Madeleine.

You did a great job Malie! Thanks for bringing such a beautiful girl into this world.

Nothing like August Snow!

Announcement: We will officially be heading to Salt Lake City in January. Mallory was assigned to South Salt Lake for her student teaching, so we are excited to know where we are going!

Onto the post. Snow in August! Can you believe it? Doesn't make sense, right? Well it does if you are standing on top of an 11,106 ft. mountain in the Tetons! I went for a hike today (Mal didn't come with for obvious reasons). It was a 10.5 mile loop up Table Mountain, and features amazing views of the Tetons from the top. You are literally right in front of them.

Here is our group. It consisted of ward members, and our Bishop's children/nephew. It was the perfect sized group.

This is someone else's picture, taken from the top of Table Mountain. I have to live vicariously through other people's pictures of what it looks like on top of the mountain because there was very low visibility once we hit 9,000 ft.

Here is Alaska Basin taken from the start of the hike. Great view!

A little higher up, we stumbled across a Moose cow and her calf. We were actually really close, and she didn't seem to mind so much.

There were these huge meadows all over the mountain side. Everyone kept humming or singing Sound of Music, which is always appropriate when you are hiking.

This is approaching the summit. There were quite a few glaciers up there. Again, the visibility became lower and lower the higher we went.

Yep, it's snowing in this picture. This is the summit. Thanks Mal for the umbrella.

Climbing down from the summit.

Coming down from the top, we could finally see the summit from below! We couldn't see this before. It started to clear up a little bit, then a couple of miles later it rained the entire hike back to the car. Needless to say, we were all soaked. Quite an adventure.

Happy Anniversary!

One year ago from today, we were married in Boston. I can't believe how fast it's gone by!

Watkins Reunion at Yellowstone - Part Two

On Wednesday, we went to float down Henry's Fork with the family. It threatened rain in the morning, but turned out to be a great day! It was a little cooler, but really nice.

My Dad and Lexi throwing rocks in the river.

The 'other' raft.

Sadie striking a pose in our raft.

Mal, Shannon, Claire, and Jeff holding Ethan.

After the float, we headed over to Mesa falls for a little hike and some beautiful views.

Family at Mesa Falls.

On Thursday, those that could went to Yellowstone again. There was some road construction in one area of the park, which meant expected 30 minute delays. We didn't mind really, because we were able to get out, stretch legs, and check out the scenery.

We made it over to Yellowstone Lake to have lunch, which was very pretty. It reminded me a little of Lake Tahoe...minus all the cabins and lodges around the lake.

Here is Mal and I at the Lake. This tree was pretty cool because it was hanging off the edge of a cliff!

After that we decided to head to the Canyon area of the park. This is what they call the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, with two giant water falls.

Here is Mal and I at the Lower Falls at Artists Point.

Mom and Dad at the Lower Falls.

Wider canyon, Lower Falls.

BJ, Myself, Ty, and Dad at Artist Point.

On our way back to the cabin in Island Park, we took a little detour to a northern road. Again, there were a ton of cars pulling off to the sides of the road, and people getting out of their cars. We followed suit, and to our amazement there was a bear on the hillside! This picture doesn't include the bear, but it just looked cool. The bear was to the right of this shot.

There is the grizzly bear! I'm guessing he was a male, since he was all alone. We actually saw quite a bit of wild life in Yellowstone (shocker, right?). We saw bison, a grizzly bear, osprey, bald eagle, and elk. Not too shabby. We are glad we got an Annual National Parks Pass to visit Yellowstone and Teton a few more times before we move in December.