Six Weeks with Archer {**birth story included} <- I am trying to discourage readers with that note

There really are no words to describe our love for this little guy or what it's like to be a mama to three children.

All newborn photos by Abby Jane Galleries

Half the day I think it's awesome and I love my life and the other half of the day I want to hide in a dark closet and wait for someone to bring me a really huge latte.

But really, that is no different than how I felt when I had two children. And how I felt when I had one baby. Honestly, it is how I felt when I first got married too, as well as when I was single. And in college, and in high school. Please do not take this opportunity to diagnose me as bi-polar. I am just a little dramatic... and moody. 

Archer is my favorite child. I know this is on the Internet and it will be out there forever and someday my other kids will learn to read and see that I said that but by then they will probably have already figured it out. If your parents told you they didn't have a favorite, they done and LIED to you.

He sleeps all the time, and when he wakes up he arches his back and stretches his fat baby arms over his head and sighs. Then he looks around for a while and goes back to sleep. That's it! The life of Archer! A few intermittent snuggles thrown in, a rough tossel from the siblings, and off to baby-dream land he goes.

It did make me a little sad though when Emmy asked me yesterday, "Mama, do you love the baby even when he is not sleeping?"
Whoops.

Mack's vote on Archie is not yet solidified. He regularly asks, "Mother (pronounced "Mudder"), can we just leave the baby in the car?" whenever we arrive to our destination.

Sorry buddy, where we go, he goes!

Sweet Archer...

Sometimes he gets his diaper changed. 

Sometimes he gets a bath. 

He does nurse an awful lot-- but hey, Eaters Gotta Eat.

<<-Little Archie here is your birth story ->>

After being pregnant for 39 weeks (that is 273 days, FYI) I asked my doctor what the practice's stance was on inducing labor. Mind you, with my first two babies I was all Miss Hippy Dippy, natural child-birth only please and get that Pitocin away from me. 

Baby #3? Get it out, and let's keep things calm and painless. 

Doctor was very casual about inducing and said that since I was dilated so much, they would just break my water and things should progress naturally. So Friday October 2nd, I was 39 weeks and 4 days. We spent the morning waiting on the hospital to call and say they had room for me to come deliver my baby. This was a SUPER weird experience to me, to have the birth of your little human be scheduled like a partial-foil-highlight or a tooth repair but whatever, I know people do it all the time.

All morning Mike was driving me BANANA's because he was "bored" (an experience I have not had in the last 4 years, so I forget what that feels like) and our induction time kept getting pushed back. 

At 2 o'clock they told us to come on in! Our nurse Denise was wonderful, she hooked us up with a fancy suite and we got the party started. I was dilated 5 cm when we got there, which totally backed my theory that the baby was going to fall out of me every time I went to the bathroom. 

They broke my water at 3:30 pm. We did laps around the labor and delivery floor, mostly just scouting for Popsicles. The highlight of my day (aside from the actual birth) was that there was another couple walking the labyrinth of hallways trying to get their labor rolling as well. It got awkward passing them every few minutes so Mike made it his mission to avoid them which was easy because the other husband was on crutches (!) So I kept getting the giggles as we would hear the crutches coming towards us and Mike would grab my elbow and steer me around the corner in the opposite direction!

Around 7:30 pm I asked for an epidural because my friend Megan told me she had one with her third delivery a few weeks ago and SHE TOOK A NAP right before the baby came out. At that point in the "process" a nap sounded a lot better than feeling like I was GOING TO DIE, so after our anesthesiologist made a bunch of ill-timed jokes, I had my first taste of medicated childbirth and IT TASTED GOOD. Really. If you want to talk about natural childbirth, I had one great experience and one not so great one and would love to discuss the deets, just not on the Wide Open Internet.  

Right before it was time to meet our baby, Mike and I did a final bet, he said girl and I said boy, two pushes later out came this dark haired beauty! 

The whole room was very surprised by his 9 lb 10 oz birth weight, especially the very same doctor who last week told me he thought the baby was close to 7 lbs. 

False Doctor, your guess was very, very false.

I ordered this hospital photo purely based on the chunkiness of his face

It took us at least 24 hours to name him because naming a human is a tricky thing to do. 

Archer means "bowman" but we are nick-naming him Archie which means "truly brave." When it comes to praying for my kids, I love to pray their name meanings over them at bedtime, By evening, my brain is pretty empty so it is nice for me to have a script to go by. We steered clear of any name that meant strength or ruler (surprisingly a LOT of names carry this meaning-- blame those bossy English) because we already have two little dictators in the house.

I literally spent months googling: "Names that mean 'laid back'" ... "Names that mean 'fun'" ... "Names that mean 'light-hearted'" 

Lewis means "renowned warrior" and is also the name of my all-time favorite author, C.S. Lewis-- Mere Christianity, the Great Divorce, and Screwtape Letters changed my life. It is a liiiitttle (or a lot) close to Emmy's middle name "Louise" but we're hoping nobody takes off points for lack of creativity.  

Sadly it has taken me over a month to learn his name myself. The whole time we were in the hospital, I called him "Gunnar." There was that awkward moment when I introduced him to our new neighbor as "Asher." Then caught myself, saying, "Wait! That's not his name!" And then I couldn't stop laughing so she was confused about not only the baby's name but also my sanity.

For another few days I called him "Charlie" and twice during his two-week check up to the pediatrician I referred to Archer as a "she," Now we seem to be on track as I lovingly call him "Fat Archie" all day and all night. 

Because, those rolls... Sigh. 

When people ask me his name, I still pause a little too long before answering.

We love you so much baby so your name really isn't that important! We will probably end up calling you Daddy's nickname "Moose" anyways, because-- why not?