sleep....or lack thereof...

it has been way to long. i feel as if i said that in my last post as well. i must get better about this. i let life slip away one day at a time and do not make time to share life on here. forgive me. bear with me. life has been tiresome for the past week and a half. i feel as if we have gone backwards and that we are redoing month one all over again. it is hard to find time to shower these days, much less create a blog update. while Loudon has yet to "sleep through the night" [whatever number that really is]... he was sleeping for about 6 hours followed by four more hours [basically waking up once around four am]. my body had adjusted and life was grand. i looked forward to my five or so hours of rest and never once minded getting woken up to that sweet cry. however, last thursday he started waking up every two hours. he never...ever did that...even as a one week old. it got better for a few days....waking up every three hours. however, last night we were up three times. it is tiring. nights have become long again, and therefore i try to grab a little nap here and there during the day [which is also difficult to do]. i am chalking it up to a growth spurt. i hope it's only a growth spurt. this all does have a silver lining. i am so thankful to the Lord that i am able to nurse him at each of these night feedings. for over two months i was giving him a bottle and pumping, however the Lord is so gracious and finally Loudon and i got on the same page with nursing. it has been such a blessing. when push comes to shove.... these few moments with my sweet boy in the darkness of the night.... these moments are so precious and i would not trade them for the world. each feeding is worth it and i am reminded of that everytime he wraps his little arm around my neck while he sucks his thumb.

kendall and i were recently blessed with a new computer from my wonderful parents [my mac was over five years old and the pinwheel of death was commonplace on the screen]. Loudon and i took some pictures on it. this was my favorite:

tomorrow is monday. i know most people experience dread when it comes to even thinking about monday. i am honestly excited. it is like a fresh new start. a chance to accomplish a new set of tasks. chores around the house, blogging, sewing.... these are things that i am looking forward to accomplishing this week. bring. it. on.

vacation

well we had our first vacation as a family of three. i was a bit apprehensive about the 12 hour drive to my parents in virginia with a three month old. we have worked hard to get Loudon on a schedule, and we have found that he thrives off of the consistency. whenever he misses his afternoon nap he sleeps worse that night....so, needless to say, i was scared what he would do being in the car for 12 hours. we decided to spilt up the time going there. we stopped for the night at kendall's uncle's place in Charlotte. although we did not get there till after midnight (combination of not leaving when we wanted and stopping twice for 30 mins each time to feed the baby), it was nice to visit with family for a bit. Loudon was so tired that the transition from car seat to pack-n-play was flawless. we finally got up to my parents house early the next evening. overall, i was impressed with the little guy. a 12 hour trip is not easy for anyone, much less a three month old. time with my family was wonderful. we spent a few days at the beach with some of my extended family. many of them i had not seen since our wedding almost four years ago, and many more of them i had not seen in 10 years. kendall and i were so looking forward to the time at the beach, and it did not disappoint. being that we usually spend time either at the gulf or hilton head, the ocean in maryland was quite a different experience (i grew up going to this beach but had not been there in years and years). the waves were huge and the water was a crisp 67 degrees. it was refreshing, as opposed to the water down here that actually makes you sweat while you are in the water. we were curious as to how Loudon would like the ocean, being that he hates baths and hated the one time he got in a pool. he did surprisingly well! although we only put his feet in, he never cried!

i had my birthday while on vacation. i celebrated by eating oysters on the half shell, buying a pair of earrings from target, and thoroughly enjoyed a dairy queen reeses peanut butter cups ice cream cake.

we decided to leave to come home at 2:30 in the morning. it was the best decision we could have made. Loudon eats about every three hours, so we tried to plan our stops for food, gas, bathroom's on this schedule. it worked out beautifully. we stopped three times to feed and would hit all three things each time. we got home at 2:37 pm....almost 12 hours on the dot. we were so proud of how well he did on his first road trip. while it was a great vacation, it is nice to be home. i love that i feel as if our house is home now. i love that i look forward to coming back here to rest, to relax, to settle, to love on my family, to swing on the front porch, to drink a cup of coffee.

we rounded out our vacation time by celebrating the forth. we swam, we ate good food, we watched fireworks. i was excited about seeing how Loudon would react to fireworks.... he slept. he slept through the booming fireworks. oh well...maybe next year he will enjoy them =).

after my birthday dinner

our little family [excuse the crazy hair]

Loudon's first time in the Atlantic

waiting for fireworks [right before he fell asleep]