We fell head-over-heels in love with her!
She turned two months old while with us so Kellie planned ahead and sent her "2" onesie so that we could take a few pictures for her. We used the outfit Kellie sent but then Hyrum wanted to put his favorite bow on her. I think she wore the thin blue bow almost every day, just for Hyrum.
When I was on my way home from Utah with our new baby girl, Erika kept texting me to see how close we were. Since I had a couple of stops along the way I would update her and then travel on. When we finally pulled into the subdivision Erika came running down the driveway to meet us and before I could even get out of the van she had Madelyn's car seat out and was headed for the house. Erika came over every day for those two weeks. She went into complete mommy mode doing diapers, feedings, fussy time, baby talk, making silly faces, and cuddling.
There was actually a little fighting over Madelyn. Everyone wanted her.
Nathan and Hyrum each had hurt feelings because they always wanted to be the first one to feed her. Hyrum insisted that she be by him to do his summer workbook and every morning he would sneak up to her bed and peek in on her to see if she was awake. Even when the boys were outside playing in the pool they would pause long enough to run over and check her car seat to make sure that she was still happy and the sun wasn't shining on her.
Justin was a bit more distant but even he couldn't resist those big eyes, beautiful smile and the possibility that she might giggle for him.
Derek was receiving his Patriarchal Blessing while she was with us and because Justin was nervous about having her all by himself I decided last minute to take her, figuring that she had been awake all during church, had just eaten and was ready for a nap. Without grabbing a diaper bag or anything else we snapped a couple of pictures of her with Derek (because he was holding her while I got the car seat and my shoes and the comparison of her tiny little body with his lengthy body deserved a picture) and we left.
This is a blessing that Derek will never forget and I'm pretty sure he will tease his younger cousin about it for the rest of her life. She did fall asleep within minutes and stayed asleep during the first part of our conversation with the Patriarch Flamm. She stirred a bit, opened her big eyes, gave me a grin, pushed until her face went red, and filled her diaper. I didn't even bring the diaper bag! Derek seemed to be the only other one who noticed it - LeRoy and the patriarch are either deaf or oblivious - and it smelled! Her transition from breast milk to formula was doing a number on her digestive system and the results were stinky! I had to get her out of the car seat because she started fussing but I also had to worry about a diaper blow out because she had repeated the grunting explosion a couple of more times.
Derek and I had eye contact several times while the conversation was taking place, again, with LeRoy and Brother Flamm clueless to the situation. When Brother Flamm stood to give the blessing, Madelyn was getting fussier and fussier. Man, I really wanted to stay! Derek winked at me and mouthed, "it's okay". I said a little prayer in my heart that Madelyn would calm down long enough for the blessing, I stood to carefully cradle her without putting pressure on her overfilled diaper, and popped that pacifier in her mouth. As soon as the patriarch started, she calmed down, fell asleep, slept through the blessing and also me transferring her to her car seat to go home and she didn't wake up until I was in the process of changing her overflowing diaper. We all had a good laugh over that, especially when the smell took over the van on the way home and Derek and I filled LeRoy in on all the details. Ah, Madelyn, you'll never live this one down.
After we gave Madelyn back I was looking through pictures and realized that there is not one of the two of us together (unless we count the one of me giving her a bath in the little sink in the kitchen where my arms are almost visible). All those hours and days and smiles that we spent together and not one photograph to prove it and I won't see her again for at least a year.
However, I will forever remember the cuddles, the peace, the almost-giggles, the cries, the late nights and early mornings and the love she brought to our home. Having her with us was a blessing that I didn't know I was praying for.
As we headed down to Arizona for our family trip, we dropped Madelyn off with Kara. Kellie would return from France in two days to get her. It was so incredibly hard to let her go. The boys were even begging that we take her with us and then leave her with Kellie as we returned home. When we got to Kara's house Madelyn was more than ready to eat so while Kara gave us a tour of her new house I held Madelyn and fed her. By the time LeRoy was in the van, honking for me to come, Madelyn had cuddled up on my chest and I just didn't want to give her away. I realized then that the circumstances of me taking her from Kellie had been a blessing. We had been rushed going two different directions in two different vehicles so Madelyn was in her car seat when Kellie had to quickly leave. Kellie choked up and was teary eyed as she kissed her on the head and said goodbye. As I handed Madelyn over to Kara I was so grateful that Kellie didn't have to hand over her sweet baby to me, even knowing she was in good hands and would be loved. It would have been even more painful than kissing her goodbye in her car seat.
A couple of weeks later, Madelyn was blessed and the Boyd family packed up and moved to Africa.
I can't wait to see them all again!
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My other baby experience for the summer came more in the form of grandma training than mommy. I went to Cami and Ben's home in Twin Falls to stay with their children, George and Sarah, while Cami had a c-section and Hannah joined their family. It was fun to fill the grandma role while my mom serves a mission but it was strange to leave my teenage run household to join the scheduled home of toddlers.
I've only seen George and Sarah a couple of times but we became fast friends and I loved my three days with them. We went on walks around the neighborhood, went to see the Twin Falls Temple, and walked to the hospital to visit their mommy.
Before I left Twin Falls I went to the hospital to spend some a couple of hours with Cami. I enjoyed hearing all of the details of the delivery and meeting her Harley riding doctor. We laughed and cried together and holding her little red-headed Hannah woke up so many memories of being baby hungry. I admire Cami and Ben and adore their children!
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