Summer Trip to Tyler

We packed up the family, kids, dogs, tons of bags and medical supplies, and headed down to Tyler for the July 4th week. Despite the 16 hours in the car each way, we had a relaxing and fun-filled vacation. Daniel was finally introduced to many of his cousins on the Hickerson side and spent quality time with "Great." The highlight for the kiddos was probably the afternoons spent at Willowbrook pool. Mom and Dad enjoyed their evening at Julian's with Andy, Courtney, Kim, Peyton, Matt and Martha; and the pups.... let's just say they were happy to be included in the trip and even happier to come home to Denver where it was 20 degrees cooler!

A funny tidbit.. We waited till we were in Tyler to tell everyone about the gender of the new baby. We coached Charlie in the car all of the way to Texas. It was his job to spill the beans when prompted. When we arrived in Tyler Saturday evening, we sat down in the living room with Grandmommy, Granddaddy, and Great. Grandmommy started asking Charlie,
"So are you going to have a little brother or a little sister?"

Charlie completely clammed up. He was NOT going to talk about it! So Grandmommy changed her tactics,
"Is the new baby's name.. David?"

"Noooo!" replied Charlie.
"Is the new baby's name.. Henry?" She tried again.
"Noooo!" replied Charlie.
"Is the new baby's name.. Ann?" Said Grandmommy.
"No---YES!" Charlie replied as he smiled!

Mom and Dad confirmed that the new baby was indeed a girl and we intend on naming her Ana (or Sunshine Daydream, depending on the mood). It was a hysterically funny interchange between Charlie and Grandmommy. One I'm sure we will remember forever!

Click on the photo above to see how much fun we had!

Baby Hooper - It's a girl!

We are very excited to share the news. Charlie and Daniel will welcome a new baby sister later this fall. Baby Ana Hooper should arrive on Nov. 20th.

Offically 1 year old

Happy birthday Daniel. A year ago at 8:04am God blessed us with your presence. This last year was so much fun and I know all of the coming ones will be too. Here are some pictures from your arrival.

Daniel is Born

Daniel's First Birthday

Daniel had a great time at his Birthday party this Saturday. Many of our friends, family and neighbors stopped by for cake. The actual birthday is Wed. June 29th.

This Kid is Amazing

This picture was taken right after Charlie kicked off his fourth Maintenance cycle. For a refresher, Maintenance is 12 cycles long, each cycle being 3 months (really 12 weeks) long. The first day of the cycle Charlie is put under and has lumbar puncture for spinal fluid withdrawal and methotrexate injection. The rest of the cycle consists of monthly Vincristine injections, weekly pills and daily pills.

So yesterday morning Charlie had his puncture and chemo, but you wouldn’t know it by his actions. He spent the rest of the day shopping for Daniel’s birthday presents and playing superheroes with Mom. The kid keeps trudging on with such persistence that it has become a challenge for us. We’ve come to expect that he’ll be able to do whatever we throw at him, but there are sometimes when he just shuts down. We have to take a step back at those times and remember “Oh yeah, he has cancer. He’s pumped full of drugs all the time and probably doesn’t feel the best.” I’ve got to think that he probably doesn’t feel good 90% of the time, but he is almost always in a good mood. He has his bad days when all he wants to do is sit and watch movies, but for the most part he participates in every activity that any other kid does. That is why this kid is amazing and that is why he’ll always be a superhero to me.