Gobble, Gobble

Luke’s 1st Thanksgiving was spent in North Carolina at Granddad and Gramma Sue’s house. It was a wonderful trip filled with good food, great company and a healthy dose of Dominoes (the ‘dose’ comment was not a clever pun due to my parents being doctors).For anyone wondering, it’s about a 9 hour drive down to the grandparents. With a newborn in the car that has not yet developed the ability to be distracted by anything other than nursing; the drive became perilous on the way home. Going there was great. I slept after work and then drove us down through the night. Stacey and Luke slept like babies (okay, that one was intentional). For some reason, though, I decided to drive home in the day time. NOTE TO READERS: Babies do not sleep as well in the car during daylight hours. If the experience of Luke screaming for what seemed like endless amounts of time didn’t test our marriage, I don’t know what will. At one point Luke was crying, Stacey was crying, and I was yelling… It was a mess. Fortunately, a rest stop, some breast milk, and a lot of “I love you”s made it all okay.

Here is a close-up of that cute Thanksgiving suit. It makes you wonder… Years from now, is Luke going to give Stacey and I that look (rolling eyes, head shake, furrowed brow), and ask, “What were you guys thinking dressing me up in THAT!?”



Thanksgiving Day Tradition

Dr. Robert Hallmark, is there something in turkey that makes people sleepy after eating?

Why yes, as a matter of fact there is. The natural sedative in turkey is an amino acid called tryptophan. (ATTENTION: NO BABIES WERE FED TURKEY FOR THE TAKING OF THESE PICTURES)

It is catch up time!

Luke came into this world small, a little orange, and with a strong tendency to keep his arm next to his head











Further proof

Right from the get go Luke was the King of Cute faces. Usually in the form of a scowl though

In the first few weeks of life, Luke was visited by Grandparents near and far.

All wanted to steal him.

Bath time was a sore subject in the beginning. As Luke spent the entire time screaming, we have no photographic evidence of his first dip into the water. We could only take this after we dried and soothed him

Later we were to discover the issue was not the water, but modesty. It turns out if we covered him with a washcloth he was all for the bath.

Shortly after doing this, bath time was renamed to Luke’s Roman Bath

Boo Baby!

Here is our little monkey dressed in his first Halloween outfit. He's posing with some of his friends.

Luke was a little jaundice when he was born; it wasn’t at a level for us to be worried though. However, his extra coloring turned out to be great for his costume on the big day!

(Despite what it says below; this was posted by Joe. All hail him)

My urban baby

Gangsta Luke says: "Get out of my face, fool!"

"Are you down wit me, yo?"

Don't worry, I dress him up like this every day and I'm not trying to make a gansgta out him. He is pretty cute though, huh? :) He totally did the poses on his own. He did hang out in Harlem all the time in utero, so what do you expect?

on being a mom

These past few weeks have been tiring and wonderful! When people ask me what it is like to be a mother, I am always left speechless for a moment as I search for adequate words. Even now, I struggle to express my deep joy. The first few weeks are harder than I'd imagined, but also more wonderful than I'd imagined. Between sleepless nights, a healing body, crazy hormones, a few breakdowns and worrying over every little thing, motherhood can be difficult. But atlas, it is oh so worth it for I have this little person to get to know. I have spent countless hours just gazing at my baby's face and I am completely head over heels in love with this kid!

introducing luke hudson

he is here! luke arrived on 9.28.07. i stopped working three weeks before he was due and said that he could come a week early, but no sooner, as I had a lot to get ready. well, i guess he was anxious to come, because he came exactly a week early! at least he is obedient :). labor was painful as expected, but an amazing experience. i was able to give birth naturally as i had hoped. luke is such a sweetie and we are enjoying getting to know him. how humbling it is to realize that i am entrusted with this precious spirit. i am in awe with the miracle that is birth.