her name is ali: hello archer

Remember when cousin Heather got married back in August? Well this year for Christmas, I spent two weeks in the Outer Banks meeting and falling in love with my first nephew/godson, (her first child), Archer.

Heather was due December 27th, so I booked a flight from December 17th til December 29th, hoping to act as doula for the birth. As things with babies usually go, he showed up unexpectedly via c-section on December 17th just a few hours before I landed in Norfolk. It was all for the best though because Heather was way too pregnant to function in the days before his birth, and I got to spend maximum time with the coolest new little dude.

My parents drove up and stayed through Christmas, so we got to spend Archer's first Christmas all together in Heather and Guy's house with both sides of the family. When December 29th rolled around, so did all of that tumultuous weather in the midwest, so my flight got cancelled and couldn't be rescheduled until the new year, so SURPRISE! I got to spend Archer's first Christmas AND first New Year with him and his family!

I got to North Carolina late the night he was born and went to see him first thing in the morning. I had a couple of days to get Heather and Guy's house baby ready with my parents. We put up decorations and lit candles to celebrate their arrival home as a family.

We spent a few hours each day at the hospital with all of them, making food runs, changing diapers,

and trying not to make Heather laugh too hard.

They finally came home on December 20th. I stayed up late with the baby and tried to let Heather and Guy get a few hours of sleep when Archer wasn't cluster feeding.

The first night I had a stress dream that I lost him.

Once Heather was home, I gave her a haircut and helped spruce her up a bit in time for holiday visitors.

Oh, I also got cheesy Christmas accessories from Claire's.

five days postpartum looking damn good

We made a gingerbread village, watched Christmas movies, and hosted both sides of Heather and Guy's families on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

(shout out to my parents for all the cooking they did while they were there)

I also managed to fit in a quick first Christmas photo shoot with Archer.

We took him out for his first ride in the stroller after everyone left on Christmas Day. The sunset was beautiful, and it was a freakish 80 degrees. We walked in shorts and dresses and sipped egg nog by the Currituck Sound.

My parents left the next day and I had some time alone with my cousins and nephew-godson-surrogate baby. We had little adventures every day, trying to figure out how to leave the house with a newborn, his first doctor appointment, etc.

millennial parenting

(jk, they're less technologically literate than my parents)

mid squat before sandwiches in Manteo

happy boat hound

I took about a million photos of this kid during my stay,

so I'll spare you all and only share my favorites.

It's nuts how different he looked from day 1 to day 12.

playing dress up

Once I found out I'd be staying through New Year's Eve, we went looking for hats and horns and came up mostly short, so I bought some supplies at the dollar store and we made our own.