Kelsey Tice Photography

I am so blessed to have so many awesome, talented, photographer friends. One of my favorites is Kati Mallory, who sadly lives all the way down in Little Rock. (Maybe this is a good thing because if she lived in Fayetteville, I’d spend all my money on having her follow around our family all day everyday.) When we found out we were pregnant last July, I instantly knew that I HAD to hire her to do newborn pictures for our little one. While pregnant, aside from meeting Archer, I think I was most looking forward to our session with Kati.

Archer was eight days old the day we did his newborn pictures, and I just love that she was able to capture him at that sweet age because he’s already changed so much! Newborn sessions are super tricky and A LOT of work, so I was a little nervous that he would be fussy or wouldn’t cooperate. Well, thanks to Kati’s baby-whisperer skills, he slept like a baby through most of the session, and it went so great! We got our pictures back this afternoon, and I could not wait even an hour to share my favorites! I only have over 50 of them… You’ve been warned. :)

Photography by Kati Mallory Photo & Design

Kati – We cannot say thank you enough for your time and talent. These are pictures that we will treasure forever, and we are so grateful for them!

Not only is he here, but he is TWO WEEKS old. Two weeks! How did that even happen??? I believe now, more than ever, that I will blink, and he will be 18 and leaving for college. Insert the ugly cry here. 

Archer Daniel was born on Thursday, March 13th at 12:49pm. He was 19 inches long and weighed 6 pounds even. I am so blessed to have had a very easy delivery with only one little hiccup a few hours before he was born. Aaron and I are so in love and cannot even believe he’s ours. Almost every night before we go to bed, we hold and “play” with Archer and cannot even get over what a gift he is to us. A few days before he was born, I had a little freakout about how drastically our lives were about to change, but now I can’t imagine life without him. It truly is the best thing outside of marriage that we have ever experienced.

I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from Archer’s first ten days of life… And when I say “some”, I mean an obscene amount. Shocker. :)

One last belly picture before leaving for the hospital!

Who doesn’t love a hospital gown?!

We checked into the hospital at 5pm, and my mom’s plane landed at 6:45pm. Talk about perfect timing! We’re so thankful that she spent all of her trip with a baby here. :) Sidenote: Clearly, contractions hadn’t started when these were taken.

Can I just say PRAISE THE LORD for epidurals? I contracted for about 8 hours before getting one, and it was AWFUL. After that glorious shot in the back, I felt like a new person.

Meeting our little arrow for the first time. :)

He is just a precious, beautiful, and snuggly as could be.

We’re a family!!!

Also, nothing will make you love your husband more than seeing him love your first child.

Archer had this CRAZY ridge on the top of his head for the first week or so of his life. It’s gone now, but I had to show it because I’d never seen anything like it before!

Going home!

This guy is SO little! He’s totally in an awkward stage too where preemie clothes are too small, but newborn clothes are too big. He looks a little ridiculous in his carseat. :)

First night at home… One of my favorite pictures ever.

:)

It has been such a blessing to have my mom here for the first two weeks of his life. We haven’t cooked a meal, cleaned a dish, folded a piece of laundry, etc. I can’t imagine getting through these weeks without her. Plus, she’s been great company! Tomorrow is going to be a very sad night when she flies back to Florida. :(

Snuggly little bear. :)

Going out to Outback for Aaron’s 27th birthday!

This is real life, people.

Noley is adjusting very well! She’s getting used to less attention and is very protective of her little brother and I. :)

My dad flew in from Florida this past weekend, and we’re so glad he got to see Archer when he was a newborn.

Newborn pictures with the fabulous Kati Mallory! More of those to come!

One of my favorite things about Archer is all the crazy faces he makes. He has such a funny personality already!

There’s your first of many Archer posts to come! :)

I hadn’t planned on posting another pregnancy update until Thursday, when I will be 39 weeks. Well, as it turns out, I will be having a baby either on or before Thursday. Yes. This Thursday… As in 4 days away. WHATTTTT!!!!

At my weekly appointment last Tuesday, my doctor ordered a body scan of Archer because my belly was measuring a few weeks behind for the second appointment in a row. During the ultrasound, we got to see our sweet baby’s face, toes (which he had up around his face… comfy), fingers, and what looked like a giant head. Maybe it looked so giant because all I could think was, “Uh… How exactly is that going to come out of me?!” Insert very exaggerated crying face here. We’re so thankful that the ultrasound tech had nothing but good news to report to us while checking out everything. Turns out, we just have a really tiny guy cooking in there… The body scan estimated around 5lbs 4oz. Specifically, his abdomen is measuring 3 weeks behind average measurements, which our doctor is almost sure is just because of his small size. There’s a chance it could be related to a lack of nutrition, but of course, there’s no way to know for sure. To err on the side of caution, my doctor has decided to induce me on Thursday so that we can start plumping him up outside of the womb. After all of this went down last week, I had a few days where I was feeling a little uneasy and nervous. Thankfully, we were able to sit down again with my doctor to get a better explanation of everything… He answered A LOT of questions (crazy pregnant lady here) and really reassured us that he’s doing what he feels is best for Archer and I. We’ve had such a good experience working with him (in spite of a few quirks here and there) over the last 8 months and totally trust his decision making in this area. It definitely helps that he has more years of experience than Aaron and I have been alive.

So yeah… Archer Daniel will be here (God-willing) on Thursday. Again, WHATTTTTTT!!! It is so crazy to have an end in sight after waiting for what seems like an eternity. My to-do list is about a mile long, I don’t know how I’m going to sleep a wink in the next 4 days, but at the end of the week, we’ll be holding our little boy! God is so good. Thanks to everyone who has been so encouraging over the last 9 months… We covet your prayers as we head into this week!