Brothers

Well it's been 7 weeks since Archer joined our family and luckily the brothers are getting along pretty well. Will continues to be interested in Archer and always wants to know what Archer's doing. Will also takes pride in introducing Archer to our friends and neighbors...repeatedly! It's pretty cute. Today we were at our neighbors' playing and another neighbor girl, Megan, came over. Will would not let Megan play with anything until she met Archer. So he took her by the hand and dragged her across the room so she could see him. Luckly Megan was a good sport about it. :) Will continues to be a little rough with his brother but I'm hoping that will improve with time. Boys will be boys, right? As you can see from the pictures, Archer seems a bit cautious of his big brother. I guess so many head bumps and face pokes will do that to a kid.

Archer's actually doing really well. He is still (knock on wood) a good baby and is eating and sleeping well. He just seems pretty mellow, although he'll definitely let me know when he's unhappy. He's got quite the set of lungs on him. But he's also so sweet. And continues to grow and grow. I can't wait to see what he weighs at his 2 month appointment in a few weeks. We're not used to fat rolls in this family (correction: fat rolls on kids!) so I'm enjoying having a chunky little baby to cuddle. More to love, right?

Keith is will be back from San Diego late Friday night. We can't wait to see him. After his health issues this summer we got used to having him around...but that never lasts too long, even with cancer in the picture. I'm very excited for Kristin to visit this weekend too. I'm looking forward to some much-overdue girl time. Now where did I put that corkscrew???

New bedrooms

The time has come and gone for us to relinquish our guest room and turn it into Will's bedroom (it actually came a while ago but we're just a tad behind in getting it done). So we spent the weekend getting Will's "big boy" room all ready. He picked out new Super Hero sheets and was jazzed about putting them on his big bed (as you can see by the bouncing and waving of the arms!). He also helped move all his books and stuffed animals from his old room to the new. So far the only issue we've had is that he likes to kick the bedroom wall while laying in his bed. Otherwise he's adapted pretty well. Archer hasn't actually slept in his crib yet but got the chance to check it out. At first he wasn't much of a fan but he'll come around. I still have a little decorating to do in Archer's room and then we'll be settled for a while. That is until the Navy moves us once again (but hopefully that won't be for a while!).

Keith left yesterday to spend a few weeks doing some training in San Diego. I wish I had some "training" to do out there. Sigh. He isn't actually flying yet because his red and white blood cell counts have still not fully recovered from the chemo...but he is repeating his labs today and we're hoping for normal results so he can get back in the cockpit. I know he'll be a much happier guy when he's back in the saddle. And having your first flight in months take place over the Pacific wouldn't be a bad thing either. Fingers crossed for good results!

As for the rest of us, we have a few weeks left before Will starts school so we're just trying to keep busy while Keith's away. When he gets back I'm looking forward to having him take a little time off so we can spend some time together. After this summer, we're all in need of a vacation!

Celebrating the Big 3!!!

We had a lot to celebrate this past weekend and celebrate we did! We rang in Will's 3rd birthday in grand style on Saturday the 7th. With the help of about 30 of Will's friends (and their parents), Grandma Gigi, Aunt Jill and Matt, and Archer (naturally), we held a big birthday carnival in our back yard. The kids played ring toss, pin the tail on the donkey, etc. Aunt Jill painted faces and Keith even tried his hand at making balloon animals. That went surprisingly well...the kids ended up with something other than "eels". (Future career perhaps? Keith the Traveling Clown?) Grandma Gigi was nice enough to make an awesome clown cake for the party. It turned out so well! Everyone had a great time. Will really enjoyed being the center of attention for the day; he just beamed when we sang Happy Birthday and it was time to blow out the candle on his cake. Unfortunately, an overzealous little friend beat him to the actual blowing out of the candle. Luckily Will was too distracted to notice that he didn't actually get the flame out. It was pretty amusing to the parents though! Thanks to everyone for remembering Will on his birthday; this year was an extra special one for us!

On Sunday (Will's actual b-day) we packed it up and headed to the beach. It was a great day. Grandma, Aunt Jill and Matt all joined us and we spent all day playing. I was a bit concerned about taking Archer to the beach at only 4 weeks old but he was a champ. As you can see, he acclimated right away. Future beach bum in the making! Our day frolicking in the surf reminded us how much we love the beach.

Archer's doing really well. He enjoyed meeting Grandma Gigi and Aunt Jill. I think they were both smitten with him right away. :) We weighed Archer on our home scale at the 4 week mark and he was 9 1/4 pounds. Holy cow! I've now taken to calling him Jumbo Baby, but in a loving way of course.

Keith completed his time as a chemo patient and is slowly returning to his old routines. Unfortunately his white blood cell count is still too low to get back to flying but he's hoping it will have corrected itself by this coming Tuesday so his flight doc can get him up and flying. Just a side effect of chemo; it should be back to normal soon. And when Keith is back to normal (ie: in the cockpit) once again, life will be very good. He's getting ready to go to San Diego for a week and a half and I'm bracing for my first extended time alone with two kids. Fingers crossed that is all goes well. How bad could it really be? Just kidding! Here are a few more shots from the weekend.

Ready for my close-up!

Archer has officially had his first photo shoot...and he did really well. It actually took place when he was a week old. My friend's brother-in-law is just getting his photography business off the ground and needed experience with newborns. Since we happen to have just the subject, he came over one afternoon and got some great shots of Archer. He also got some of the boys together and a few of Will with his bff Aria. They were all really cute (you may have already seen them on facebook or the link I sent out). But if not, here are a few of my favorites.

Everything else is going really well. Grandma Janene arrives tomorrow afternoon and we're really looking forward to having her here. We'll be celebrating Will's 3rd birthday this weekend with a carnival themed party. Fingers crossed for nice weather (that's a funny joke during August in VA!) :)

Keith and Will went fishing this past weekend and finally caught some fish! Yay! Will actually caught 6 fish total (with some help from Dad). His new Ironman fishing pole seemed to do the trick. He was very proud of himself.

Check back soon for pictures of the birthday fun!

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!