Like a weed

It seems our little Archer may not be so little after all! We took him in for his 12 day checkup last week and he had already gained an entire pound since being released from the hospital! Now weighing in at 7 1/2 lbs! A pound in 10 days...that's amazing. Okay, maybe not amazing for other families but for us, after what we've been through with Will's weight gain issues, this is no small feat. I knew the kid ate a lot and I guess it's paying off. Milk does a body good! I'm wondering if the trend will continue. And, if it does, how long before Archer surpasses his big brother. Hopefully that never happens but I do hope he keeps eating and growing well. That's just one less thing to worry about. That said, Will would like to remind everyone just exactly WHO is the big brother in this house. :) Now what to do with all those newborn diapers??

Keith went back to work this week (although on limited duty, which means going in late/coming home early!) and so far the boys and I have survived. We even ventured out of the house today! Tomorrow Will starts gymnastics classes so we have to be up and out bright and early. We'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed for a smooth transition.

A few of my favorite things

Poor Will has become the neglected older child now that Archer is on the scene. Okay, not really. He still gets plenty of attention (albeit more of it negative..."don't poke your brother!" "don't yell in the house!") and is doing just fine. I was reminded that I need to continue to blog about Will too. He's still doing hilarious and frustrating things every day. For instance, here he was a "robot monster" and chased Keith around the house making robot noises. He was very scary!

We've taken a cue from our neighbors (and from Dora the Explorer!) and started talking about our favorite part of the day while we eat dinner. A few nights ago, when I asked Will what his favorite part was, he said "um, my favorite part was not listening." And he was dead serious. :) I can see how that would be his favorite since it happens SO frequently. I was relieved when the next night he said his favorite part was playing at the play area with his friends. See, it's not ALL negative around here! That same night at dinner he decided he wanted to stick rice up his nose. Luckily we caught him, and it was cooked rice, so the situation wasn't bad at all. What makes a kid suddenly decide he wants to stick rice up his nose? Who knows! (or who nose?) Do the terrible twos really end when they turn three? Sadly, I think not...

A few of MY favorite things...when Will calls grasshoppers "hopgrassers" instead, when he answers my questions like a true adult "No, I don't think I would like any pretzels, Mommy.", and when he says he loves his brother. Nothing beats that!

One week down, many to go!

I'm pleased to say that Archer's first week at home has gone really well. Well, that's easy to say because Grandma Charma has been here since the night before Archer's birth so we've had ample help. Sadly, she goes back to Nebraska tomorrow and Keith and I will be on our own. Yikes! I'm sure we'll figure it all out as we go. Keith is home this week and plans to go back to work next week, depending on how he's feeling. He definitely won't be working full days during the chemo follow-up but may swing a few hours a day. Or not. We'll see. Luckily his squadron his very supportive and understanding during this time. We're very fortunate.

Our week has, of course, been full of firsts. Archer's first bath, his first trip to the grocery store, his first trip to get ice cream. Of course, Will benefited more from that than Archer. We've had so much fun watching him grow and change already. How many times can I say this but he is such a sweet baby. He is so content when he's awake (which isn't really that much right now...) and only cries when he's really hungry or when he's cold. Otherwise he really is mellow. Will is doing such a good job with his baby brother. He's still not as gentle as I'd like him to be but he obviously adores Archer. Will even helped give Archer his first bath and loves to help change his diaper. So far, so good. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that the good times continue to roll!

Archer's Arrival!!!

We are so pleased to introduce Archer Dean Heyen, born Sunday, July 11th at 6:12am. He weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz and was 20 inches long. Archer was born at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, VA. He had a bit of a rough arrival with an urgent c-section due to a very low heart rate and had the cord wrapped around his neck. Poor guy. But he is truly a trooper and within a few minutes of birth was breathing on his own and fully recovered from the trauma. And he's been doing fine - really more than fine! - since. We spent two days in the hospital and are now home and adjusting to life with two kids. People keep asking where we got his name...well Archer is our take on the Hicks family name of Archibald. Both my Grandfather Hicks and Uncle Cliff were named Archibald (called Arch or Archie). Dean was my dad Don's middle name so we decided to carry on his memory with our son.

Big brother Will was SO excited to meet Archer; when he came to the hospital, one of his first questions was "can I hold him?" So we snuggled in bed while the brothers initiated some brotherly love and bonding. :) It was enough to melt my heart. Will's continued to be curious about Archer; his first question when he got up this morning was "Where's baby Archer?" I'm so glad he's interested in his brother and am trying to manage Will's overeagerness that results in heavy petting and trying to pick his little bro up by the neck. Boys!

As for Keith and I, we are loving our snuggle time with Archer. He is such a mellow baby and is eating and pooping well...the gold standard for infants. At his check-up this morning, Archer has already regained almost all of his birth weight (1 oz shy!) so we're very impressed. After all of Will's feeding and weight gain issues, having a healthy eater in the house is a huge relief. Well technically, I've been a healthy eater all along (more so these past 9 months!) so now I just have company. Keith's a healthy drinker so we're good there too! :)

Keith is going in for his one - and hopefully only! - chemo treatment tomorrow. After his one day in the hospital (home tomorrow night), he'll have to be extra vigilant about germs/infection/etc. for the next 3 weeks and after that, he should be good to go! So keep sending your good thoughts for a healthy chemo and follow-up period. We are ready to put this mess behind us and just focus on our family!

Here are some additional pictures of Archer and Will. We scored the great orange hat and matching blanket from a generous nurse at the hospital. They only had a limited amount but she pulled one out of hiding for Archer. :) Enjoy!

Fun on the 4th

We had a great 4th of July this year. It was perfectly low key, which is just what we needed. We actually celebrated on Saturday by attending the Lakeside Park annual parade in South Norfolk. It was very hometown and Will loved it. He couldn't get enough of the firetrucks, police motorcycles, and shriners in those weird little cars. That night we watched fireworks at the Chesapeake City Park. We waited for almost 2 hours before the fireworks started and Will was very patient...that's how badly he wanted to see the show. He loved it, booming and baming all the way through. Keith even talked me into buying some home fireworks, no small feat since I think they're dangerous. But I got some pops and Keith and Will had a great time playing in the driveway (as I stood by perfecting my disapproving looks). :) The rest of the long weekend we spent playing outside in the blowup pool. Just what we needed to rejuvenate.

Today we met with Keith's hematology oncologist to discuss his chemo option. After getting all the info today and comparing it to the radiation info we got last week, we have a winner! Chemo it is! Not very exciting at all but we are lucky that it will be just one dose of chemo and after about three weeks, Keith should be back to normal. He'll have to be vigilant about infection during the active chemo period but after that time, he'll hopefully never have to go through any of this again! Once baby arrives we'll schedule his chemo shortly thereafter.

We hope to be welcoming baby any day now. My official due date (like that means anything!) is Tuesday the 13th but my thought is the sooner the better! Grandma Charma arrives tomorrow to help with Will and take care of the house (thank you!!!!) so we're excited for that. Hopefully we'll have an update with lots of newborn pictures very soon.

Summer fun

We've been in summer mode for a while now, with temps reaching the 90s in early spring. Yikes! And now that it's July, things seem to have cooled off a bit, for now. (I'll regret typing that!) And we've been trying to make the most of summer before baby comes and we're homebound for a while. We've been to the Chesapeake Jubilee (a big festival at the city park), gone swimming a lot, and have played and played at the area parks. Will tried corn on the cob for the first time a few months back and you could say he's a fan! He ate all his corn and asked for more. Perhaps he'll attend the University of Nebraska and be a good (corn)Husker someday like his mom (unlike his dad who defected). :) Tonight while Keith was grilling and watching Will outside, I looked out to see Will putting something in his mouth. When we examined further, it turns out he wanted to try dirt. When Keith asked what he was eating he replied, "It doesn't taste very good." Lesson learned. Here Will is building a sailboat (with Dad's help) at the Chesapeake Jubilee. He was really into it.


I continue to laugh at the things he says, as any parent of a toddler must do. He was angry at me the other day but instead of telling me he was mad, he said he was "disappointed at me." hahaha! I love it when my words (almost) come back to get me. He also told me his nipples were his boy breasts. That was a good one. I tried to differentiate but figured what's the use and hoped he'd just forget about it. He came home from preschool and said that Grayson had worms in his poop. I just hoped that wasn't actually true. You never know!

As for Keith and baby, they are both doing well. Baby's staying put for now. I'm only 1 cm dilated so it could be a while! We met with the radiation oncologist on Friday and got info about doing radiation as Keith's form of treatment. We still have to meet with the hematology oncologist (chemo) next week and then we'll make a decision between the two. Luckily for us, Keith's cancer was caught early and any treatment is just preventative. Therefore, it should be short and sweet with minimal side effects. Hopefully we can get the treatment over with shortly after baby comes and put this whole ordeal behind us! I know Keith would like to get back to flying and "life as normal" as soon as possible. The pic above was taken the morning of Ketih's surgery. For a bit of adult humor, note Keith's shirt. He thought that was an appropriate shirt to wear the day of. The joke was that he'd put a Bandaid over the S after the procedure. You've got to laugh in these situations and we are definitely trying to do just that!