I'll Be Back!

Moving day is quickly coming upon us!! I wanted to post today because our internet is being disconnected tomorrow and our new service will not begin in Huntington for a few days. This will be my last post probably until the middle of next week. I will make sure I post as soon as we get internet service.

Here are three pictures of Alyssa today. We went to The Greenbrier to get photos of her and some family photos, so I picked out this darling dress for her to wear for pictures. The second picture was just too funny not to post. ENJOY!!

Bath Time for Cocoa

You may remember from a previous post about Cocoa going to the bathtub to hang out. Well, normally she doesn't DREAD baths, but this time she knew what was going on and for some reason she DID NOT want a bath. I have never seen her go under the chair to hide, but this time she did. We found her hiding under this rocking chair when it was bath time. Poor Cocoa! Speaking of Cocoa, she is adjusting well to Alyssa. The other day all four of us took a walk together. I was walking Cocoa and Dustin was pushing Alyssa in the stroller. It was getting warm, so Dustin went on home with Alyssa and Cocoa and I were going to continue walking. Well, when Cocoa saw that Alyssa was going to the house she pulled, barked, and did everything in her power to follow that baby even though she was going home!! Normally Cocoa is doing everything in her power to go outside for a walk, but not this time! Needless to say, Cocoa and I just followed them home rather than extending our walk. I think they will be great friends when she begins crawling and walking.

That should be all for today. I know, three blogs in one day. You guessed it....Dustin and Alyssa are napping, the house is clean, laundry caught up, dishes done! I found plenty of time to catch up!

Comparison Picture

I got this picture idea from a friend....thanks, Katie!! This is the Build-A-Bear that Dustin and I made for Alyssa before she was born (I wrote about it in a previous blog). The first picture is Alyssa with her bear at three weeks old, then at six weeks old. It is difficult to know how big she is or how she is growing just from pictures, so hopefully this helps. Enjoy!

Three Weeks Old


Six Weeks Old

Six Weeks

Today Alyssa is officially six weeks old!! I know that we will look back on this time and think that it has flown, but on the way home from church Dustin and I were talking and to us it does feel like it has been a month and a half. She is gaining more control of her head each day, and her hair is becoming more noticeable. I weighed her on our home scales and she was 8.6 pounds! She's growing!

Here she is in one of her many dresses. These pictures were taken after church, so she isn't very happy because it is time for her to eat. But I had to get pictures before she ate so she didn't spit up on her dress.

I go to the doctor on Tuesday for my six weeks check-up, and I'm hoping that I get the clearance to RUN!!! I can't wait!

Happy Face, Pouty Face

She is beginning to show emotions!! In the first three pictures you can see that she is beginning to smile. In the last picture you can see she is using her bottom lip to get what she wants....look out Daddy!! He's in trouble if she keeps using that pouty lip.

This morning was her first official smile. She has been making faces, but she clearly meant to smile this morning. Enjoy!

Soccer

Here are to pictures with Alyssa and the soccer ball. She is laying in the same donut pillow in both pictures, but the blanket is already packed.

One Week Old


Five Weeks Old

Reading and Snoozing

Dustin read to Alyssa today. It started with her being alert and sitting in his lap, and he finished the book with her on his shoulder. I know she will eventually make it through a long book, but not for a while.

The Power of the Swaddle!!

It is amazing how well she sleeps when she is swaddled. A few nights I didn't swaddle her and they were rough nights. Well, somehow she gets an arm or leg out every time I swaddle her!! Sometimes she gets the entire blanket undone and it is laying on her face. This scared me, so I took action and bought an actual swaddler. Well, here you will see her in her new SwaddleMe swaddler. She even managed to get out of this! Well, at least an arm and a leg got out. She sure does love this new swaddle blanket and so do I. It is much easier because is has velcro!! What a great invention!!!

Who Knew!?!?!

Who knew that I would find a free minute so soon!! Here are a few pictures I thought I would share.

Whirlwind!!!

I try very hard to keep the blog updated regularly, and with pictures. I do appologize! It has been a few days since my last post and pictures. It has been a whirlwind around here! Alyssa seems to think that she has to be held ALL hours of the day, so this limits my ability to do very many things. She is spending much of her day looking around, so I make sure that if she is awake I am talking to her, reading to her, or singing to her. Also, any free moment that I have when she is asleep is spent packing....bummer!! I sure don't like packing! If you remember, I posted back in 2007 when we were packing to move to WV from MO, I hid in the closet because of the overwhelming feeling. Well, Alyssa and I may make a retreat to the closet! HA HA.

Anyway, I will post pictures as soon as I take some more. In two weeks we will be moved and I am planning to get back to posting every day or every other day. Well, after the unpacking is finished at least.

Talk soon!!

Is It a Boy or a Girl?

I have heard that one too many times!! I get it....she is bald so maybe if she was wearing yellow or green you might not know if she was a boy or girl. But seriously. Once she was wearing a pink shirt that says, "I AM NOT A BOY!", pink blanket, pink car seat head protector, pink pacifier, and a pink burp cloth around my shoulder and someone asked me if Alyssa was a boy or girl. When we went shopping yesterday a lady said, "It's a boy...right?" I was sure to correct her, nicely of course. I had her in a yellow onesie but she had on a pink bib and the lady still thought she was a boy. Oh well. Alyssa has several bows which would make it obvious that she is a girl at first glance, but she doesn't seem to enjoy them very much. Maybe she will warm up to them. So, as we were shopping yesterday I found the perfect solution. I found a pink hat, not a hot stocking hat, but a cute little hat to keep the sun out of her eyes. I just knew that this hat would make it obvious. Well, it does, but of course the hat is slightly too big for her. She will grow into it though. I guess until then I will dress her in head to toe pink (like I have her in these pictures) when we go out, or just expect to be asked if she is a boy or girl.

I just had to include pictures of her in this little outfit. The hat is the one I bought yesterday. The shirt was given to me and it says "got milk?" (too cute!), and the bunny slippers she is wearing because all of her socks are too small for her LONG feet and they cut the circulation off at her ankle, so I put her in these slippers when we go outside. They are bunnies! Perfect for our Easter baby!

Shop 'til You....

.....DROP!!

Those who know me well know that I love to shop. Those who know my mom well know that I come by it honestly. I think Alyssa will follow in those footsteps because she was such a trooper today as we all three packed up and headed to go shopping in Roanoke, VA. It was interesting to see how our shopping has changed since the arrival of Alyssa. First of all I have to say how WONDERFUL it was not to have to go to the maternity section for clothing. Secondly, Dustin and I did not get one thing. Alyssa got several things!!

Here are a few pictures of Alyssa sleeping after a long day of shopping. I would say she will sleep well tonight.....I hope!!

Wearing My Clothes!!

Finally! The day has come where Alyssa can finally wear her clothes!! Here she is sporting plaid pants, a flowery top, and a polka-dotted bow. Too cute!! She almost smiled for me in one of the pictures.

All is going well here in WV. Dustin took two tests today. He already knows he passed one, and he will know soon about the other one. He is able to take a week break until his next and FINAL test....until his board exams June 12.

Underwater

I'm sure you have seen it on the news....southern West Virginia being flooded. What a mess! Greenbrier county, the county in which we live, was not flooded so we have been fortunate. However, six counties around us have been declared in a state of emergency and over 300 national guard troops have been activated to the area ready to help residents get back on their feet. I had been hearing about the flooding on our local channels, but I didn't realize how bad the flooding was until I heard it and saw pictures on the national news this morning. Thousands are either homeless or without electricity now. I'm sure more relief is on its way to these areas. Here are a few pictures taken a few days ago when the rain and flooding began. Luckily our yard is only soggy. It looks like the forecast is showing a break in the rain tomorrow. The sun WILL come out again!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Here is a poem from our bulletin at church today. I thought this was a good one. Enjoy!! Below are a few pictures from our first Mother's Day and Alyssa's four week old birthday!

REAL MOTHERS
(author unknown)

Real mothers don't eat quiche;
they don't generally have time to make it.

Real mothers know that their kitchen utensils
are probably in the sandbox.

Real mothers often have sticky floors,
unclean ovens, and happy kids.

Real mothers know that dried play dough
doesn't come out of carpets.

Real mothers know that chewing gum
cannot be painlessly removed from hair.

Real mothers know want to know
what the vacuum just sucked up.

Real mothers happily accept kisses,
no matter how slobbery, muddy, greasy, or snotty.

Real mothers sometimes ask "Why me?"
and get their answer when a little voice says,
"Because I love you".

Real mothers know that after you have a child,
who you are is forever changed.

Weigh-In

I will be brief. We went yesterday for a weigh-in to see if Alyssa is gaining weight. Boy is she!!! Let's recap...when she was born she weighed 5lb 13 oz, left the hospital at 5 lb 8 oz, two days later at her Dr. appt. she was 5 lb 7 oz, the next week she was 6 lb 2 oz, and yesterday she weighed in at a whopping 7lb 10 oz!!! I couldn't believe it! I'm so glad she is getting enough to eat and gaining weight appropriately.

All is well here at our house. We are packing and preparing to move. I don't remember it being so difficult to keep the house uncluttered when we pack, but it has been a challenge this time. We have most of our things that we need seasonally in large totes, and today we eliminated enough stuff to empty four totes! We are getting rid of useless things or things we never use because we have to pack up and move again in one year when these rotations are over. We will be relocating somewhere else for his final year of rotations. What a life....we have packed up and moved every year since we have been married. I'm ready to be somewhere for a LONG time! This packing and moving stuff is not fun. I feel bad for professional movers. Yuck!

All In A Day's.......Fun

I just had to write a short post about our day today. So far I have been peed on about 3 times since Alyssa was born. I thought I was doing pretty good because that's about once a week so far. ha ha. Well, today Alyssa set a record. She puked/spit up on me, peed on me, and pooped on me. What a day!!

On another note....baths! Well, baths are so much less stressful for me now that her umbilical cord is off and we have a baby bathtub. Her first official bath was one for the scrapbook. We didn't have a baby bathtub yet and I didn't want to set her directly in the sink, so I bathed her in a casserole dish. That's right....a casserole dish. I took pictures, but later realized that the compact flash card was not in the camera, so I do not have any pictures of it. I even thought about recreating the scene just to get pictures because it was quite a site, but poor Alyssa didn't need the extra stress. Bath time for her consists of screaming at the top of her lungs the ENTIRE time. She does not like bath time, but I'm hoping she warms up to it soon.

All is well in the Tompkins household. Tonight we plan on packing packing packing. We only have 24 days until we move!!! I can't believe how it has snuck up on us so quickly.

We're NOT Going to be Homeless in Huntington!

Yes!!!!! We have a home to live in when we get to Huntington in June!!! Here's the story....

We left the house this morning at 6 AM and did not return until 9 PM. It was a long day. We called MANY people with rental properties (some of them we called more than once) and we drove all around the area looking for "For Rent" signs. Well, it wasn't until the very LAST house, and when we walked into that house it actually felt like we could make it a home. Dustin and I both had the same feeling!

On a similar note, we had quite the day with little Alyssa!! It was such a stressful day today, and I thought about crying a few times. I was so glad that Alyssa did such a good job on the long trip. I was telling Dustin on the way home that it was a frustrating day, but it would have been even worse if we had a constantly crying baby. She didn't cry even once, just a little whine every two or three hours when she was hungry. She was in her car seat for the three hour drive each way, and most of the day as we drove around town. So she was a gem today!! I think she is worn out and ready for bed. I know Dustin and I are!

A Few More

Here are just a few more pictures I thought I would share. I am going to have to get busy scrapbooking. We have soooo many pictures from just these first three weeks. What a huge....but super fun task that lies ahead of me

Night Time Pictures

I love getting pictures in the evening when the lighting is not so bright and there are some natural shadows. Here are a few....

Already a Reader

She seems to really enjoy reading time! You can see her looking at the page in front of her. It was difficult to hold the book, her, and the camera, but the book is open and you can see the right page in the picture and she is looking at the left page. She is a great listener!! I know she will grow up to be a great reader!! She better be right?.....since reading was my Masters project at Mizzou.