Lake Tear of the Clouds

Hudson has received so many wonderful gifts from many people over the past several months and Becky and I have been so blessed by everyone's generosity and love for our family. This past week we received a unique gift that we were so touched by that we wanted to share it with everyone.

As you may already know, my Aunt Wendy is an amazing musician and composer who has accomplished so many great things throughout her career. (You can click on her website here if you're interested in reading more). This past week a package arrived for Hudson with two pieces of framed sheet music. The title of the song is Lake Tear of the Clouds and beneath the title it says Song for Hudson Philip Loomis. In addition to being a beautiful song, it was later explained that Lake Tear of the Clouds is the highest source of water for the Hudson River, and is a place my dad has actually been before.


Not many babies have a great Aunt as talented as Wendy! We look forward to many years of playing his song for him, and one day taking him to the place that inspired it's name.

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Hudson's first week home

In case you haven't seen enough pictures of Hudson yet, we have more! This past week has been such an incredible blessing. I'm so thankful I was able to take this time off from work for the three (or four) of us to hang out and start our new life together.






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Photo shoot

We had a short professional photo shoot at the hospital a few hours before we went home and loved how all of the pictures came out so we wanted to post them here. As it turns out Hudson was a bit too large for the going-home-from-the-hospital outfit Becky had picked out. Fortunately she is always so well prepared and had packed some extras. It was a nice coincidence that we all happened to be wearing blue.









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Hospital days

Here's a few pictures from our time in the hospital. We are very thankful that all the grandparents were able to come and meet Hudson shortly after he was born (though they had to wait quite a bit longer than all of us anticipated!).

Proud dad.

Proud grandparents.

More proud grandparents.

Proud mom ready to take the bundle of joy home.

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A few thoughts on the past week

This past week has been incredible and I just wanted to chronicle a few things I have been thinking about everything that has happened...

Becky is amazing. We checked into the hospital on Sunday night at 6 and Hudson was born Wednesday at 11:31 AM. During that entire time Becky was incredible, prompting the various nurses and midwives to repeatedly comment on how amazed they were that she was able to maintain such a wonderful attitude throughout a very long and difficult labor. By the time Hudson finally joined us the entire nursing staff was rooting for Becky and checking in on her status with our nurse.

My sister is hilarious. She did such a great job as our guest-blogger, and I'm sure she had more readers on our blog than we have ever had due to the great interest in Hudson's arrival (and her great writing!). We actually enjoyed checking our own blog when we had a chance during labor to read her latest updates.

Nurses/doctors/midwives are awesome. This was the first time I've spent the night in the hospital since I was born. During our 5-days in the hospital we must have encountered over 40 different nurses, doctors, and midwives, and every single one had such a strong desire to serve and make our experience as good as it could possibly be.

Dudes could never give birth. I thought about this several times during the nearly 3 days of labor. If God had chosen us to do it it would have been the end of humanity...so clearly he made the right decision there.

Hudson recognized my voice. Shortly after he was born they took him over to the warming table (or whatever that thing is called) and he was just screaming like babies do right after delivery. For the first time I leaned in and just said, "Hey Hudson," and for a just a few seconds he was perfectly still and quiet. That will forever be one of the coolest moments of my life.

We are loved. It has been kind of overwhelming to see all of the prayers, love, and support that we have gotten over the past week. Having once again moved to a new place we have often felt a bit lonely, and it is easy to forget how many people do care about us. We were very much reminded of that this week, so if you're reading this...thanks.

Being a dad is much better than I expected. I know everyone tells you this, but you almost think that people feel obligated to say things like this, because it just doesn't make any sense that losing your freedom and sleep for a little baby that just cries and poops (a lot) could be all that great. For many years I've kind of secretly felt that being a dad will be fun once our kids turn somewhere around 7 or 8 years old, and everything before that will be just something to get through. As it turns out, just holding my son is far more interesting than anything else I can think of.

And if you are reading this, you're really probably just interested in more pictures of Hudson...I should be posting some soon!

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The First Fruits of the Loomis...

Welcome Hudson Philip Loomis into the world!!! He was born today 8 pounds 10 ounces and 22 inches! All parties agree that he has Becky's stunning looks (Bryant has told me he is very glad about this)!

We are all so happy that Becky and Hudson are both doing great and very healthy! Becky is a legend and has wowed us all with her amazing strength! Thanks again for all the prayers and support, this baby sure will be loved!

It's been a blast guest blogging for all of you!

At last, I'm truly Aunt Sarah!

Super Troopers!

Still no word from Mommy or Daddy. I guess we really have a stubborn baby on our hands. Becky is being such a trooper! Thankfully she has a very supportive husband to help her through! Thanks for all the prayers and support! I will let ya'll know as soon as I do!

-Sarah

Hopefully before noon...

Bryant has phoned from the hospital that they are hopeful baby loo will arrive before noon today!

Excited,

Aunt Sarah

Hope baby

(look closely and you will recognize the amazing chapel painting those of you fellow Hope grads! This sure is a Hope College baby)!

No new news from the hospital and this guest blogger is heading to bed! Hopefully I am woken up with a very exciting phone call, in which case I will let you know right away!

With much anticipation,

Soon to be Aunt Sarah!

Moving forward...

Labor is underway! There will hopefully be a baby Loo with us soon! We'll keep ya posted...

August 4th baby?

So we're thinking the way things are moving that this baby may wait until tomorrow to come into the world! If so, it would be born on Grandma and Grandpa Looomis' 31st anniversary! Also, it would have been predicted by a friend of the family! Our Aunt Wendy (baby Loo's Great Aunt) has a friend named Monica that we all know quite well. Back in early July she predicted the baby would be born on August 4th, pretty cool!?!

Many of the family members have predicted this is a boy, any other predictions? My husband (baby Loo's Uncle Josh) believes that his name will start with letter A-L, where as I believe it will start with a letter M-Z! Let's see who else out there has any predictions!

Which onsie will that baby wear home to it's beautiful nursery? I'll start:

1 vote for the pink polka-dot just because it's so darn cute!

Hoping for more updates coming your way soon!

-TiTi Sarah (since we're leaving comments, does anyone call their Aunt "TiTi" I kinda like it)?

Round 2!

Becky and baby got a great night of sleep and the day is off to a good start as round 2 is underway. The induction process has begun again and even though the baby is still being quite stubborn, we are seeing more progress!

We are all beginning to wonder if this is a stubborn Loomis boy, seeing as Mike came into the world 24 days late and Bryant 21 days! Loomis males definitely have tendency's of running a little late since Bryant took 6 years to complete his Graduate work and Mike 11 years to get a college degree:) This baby sure sounds like it may fit into that category! More news to come...

Anxiously awaiting this baby's arrival,

Aunt Sarah

Big Sista

If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Bryant and Becky's dog, let me just tell you she is the most well behaved dog as well as being a very loving and loyal dog. One of her favorite things to do is to sit on Becky's lap, yes, even now that she is full grown! Some may have thought she would have a hard time sharing the spotlight with a baby, but every time Bryant and Becky talked to her about being a big sister she smiles from ear to ear, as you can see in this picture! Zoe is very excited to be a big sister and to show the new little one the ropes. Zoe is most excited to help her new baby sibling sit very well in Becky's lap!

No new news from the hospital...stay tuned, we'll update you as soon as we know anything :)


Getting very excited to be an Aunt,

Sarah

Zzzzzzzz...

Becky and baby are both doing well and feeling healthy. Since things are not really moving very quickly at this time, Baby and Mommy Loo are going to relax and hope for a great night of resting! Things will start back up in the morning when they will begin the induction process again. No Zoe is not at the hospital sleeping in the bed with Becky, but I bet she sure is missing her and Bryant, who does not have red hair (or a belly)!

More to come in the morning! Goodnight!

-Auntie Sarah

Slow and Steady...

Mommy and baby are doing very well. Both are healthy!!! More updates to come...

Grandma and Grandpa Loomis have arrived!

Bryant's parents have arrived. They are staying at a pet-friendly hotel for Zoe's cousin Tessie, named after the Red Sox theme song. Though we don't know whether baby loo is a boy or a girl, we do know that it will be a Red Sox fan. Grandpa Loomis has already said it just depends on whether the baby gets a pink Red Sox onsie or a blue one:) No new news from the hospital room. Things are moving slowly, but we will be sure to let you know when there is new information!

-Aunt Sarah

Step 2

The progress is slow but the doctors have begun the next step in the induction process. There is no other big news at this time but we will update you as we have news!

-Aunt Sarah

Grandma and Grandpa Byker have arrived!

Grandma and Grandma Byker are holding down the fort at Bryant and Becky's house. They get to take care of the magnificant Zoe monster who is very curious whether she is going to have a little sister or a little brother. More news to come...stay tuned!

-Aunt Sarah

Off to the Hospital!

Bryant and Becky arrived at the Hospital last night. They are in a lovely large room. Mom and Baby are both doing great! Bryant gets to sleep on the super comfy pull-out, but don't worry he packed lots of snacks! We will keep you updated as the inducement process progresses! We are all super excited to find out if the first "Fruit of the Loomis" is a he or a she!

guest blogger - Aunt Sarah (bryant's lil' sista)