Mattimeo's First Hike

Happy autumn everyone! Autumn is Robbie and my favorite season. To us, autumn means walking outside in in perfect temperatures wearing comfortable sweaters, apple picking, pumpkin carving, hay rides, warm apple cider under cozy blankets, nostalgia over wonderful past autumns, and fabulous hiking weather. Here in New England we have some of the most beautiful foliage, which makes for especially great hiking. Since the weather was predicted to be beautiful and I got the okay from the midwives to start doing more strenuous types of exercises, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to take Mattimeo for his first hike (at 7 weeks old).

We decided to go to the white mountains, where some of our favorite hikes are. I had been craving a trip to the white mountains all summer, and it felt so wonderful to finally be there this weekend. The leaves are just starting to turn and the forest was ablaze with color. We wanted a gentle hike anticipating that I would get tired easily carrying our heavy newborn, so we chose the boulder loop trail. This normally only takes us a couple of hours to hike, and there is no true summit, just a high point where you can stand on ledges and see the world stretched out before you. We were very happy with our choice; it ended up being a wonderful day!

I carried Meo in his Moby wrap. We found a new way of carrying him in it that he loves with his feet dangling out and his head able to pop out and be free. Robbie carried our lunch, water, first aid kit, and Meo's diaper change stuff. Both of us weren't used to carrying such heavy packs for extended periods of time since we hadn't been hiking in months, so we were pretty tired by the end. Plus it ended up being about 80 degrees outside so we were also really hot. Needless to say we were sweaty and sore when we got home, but it felt great. Mattimeo seemed to really enjoy his first hike. Some of the time he was just sleeping, but for large chunks of time he was wide awake and looking all around. He had such big, wondering eyes beholding the white mountain national forest for the first time. He was "talking" a lot and full of big smiles. It was so much fun being there and sharing that experience with him. At one point we took a break to eat some lunch, and it was bliss to sit on a big boulder in the middle of the forest to breastfeed Meo. He would look around at the brightly colored trees and look up at me and grin while slurping down milk and making his cute little eating sounds. Meo also really enjoys having his diaper changed outdoors for some reason...I think he finds the breeze refreshing. There was a little stretch of hike towards the end where Meo was starting to get fussy. I was really hot and sweaty and the poor guy was really warm and sticky in his wrap. He would start crying and for some reason it sounded so loud in the forest. So in an effort to calm him down without sticking a pacifier in his mouth I would do "divine drops" which is a pose I learned in Itsy Bitsy Yoga. This pose involves me standing with my legs wide apart and squatting down quickly while saying "Whoooosh!". Meo loves this, and calms down instantly. Unfortunately it wasn't as fun for me since my legs were shaking from hiking for so long, and the last thing I wanted to be doing was squats! But somehow I found the strength to keep doing it and we made it okay in the end. We were all exhausted except for Meo. He was wide awake for most of the car ride home, staring with big eyes at the sunset out the back window.

Now for the pictures...of course we took loads of them. You will notice there are lots of pictures of fungus in here...we just saw so many different colored fungus I couldn't help but stop to take pictures of them as we hiked along. This is perhaps the main reason the hike took us about twice as long as it usually does! But most of the enjoyment of hiking is appreciating the scenery so it made for a better hike I think.

Starting our hike

Daddy

Chipmunk munching on an acorn

Breastfeeding and munching on an apple

Lunch time

About to have a diaper change

He was so cute when he was looking around

Looking at Mommy

Taking a rest

Fly Fishing

Wide awake for the ride home