VA Tompkins update

Here is a slideshow of our pictures of the kids from January-February 2012. We have had a quiet couple of months, mostly taking it easy indoors because of the cold temperatures and the fact that I've been incredibly sick with first trimester pregnancy nausea, so there is not much news to report! This past week has been especially rough as we have all been hit with "the plague" that is currently going through NOVA: it starts out as a stomach flu, then morphs into a cold-like illness with cough, sore throat, dry mouth, and lethargy. Just about everyone I know has succumbed to the sickness, except for Ryan...it must be because he is in such peak physical shape. :p

Baby Tompkins is doing well, and I was able to hear his/her heartbeat at my last appointment. I'm currently 15 weeks so we are getting closer to the 20 week sonogram, when we get to see if we are having a boy or a girl. So far, our intuition is that the baby is a girl, but you never can tell! What are your predictions? I'm already able to feel the baby move, which is the earliest I've been able to detect the baby's movements so far-- perhaps this is a sign of a very active baby? In other baby news, we're currently planning on a hospital birth for the baby, but I'm still considering switching to a midwife and having a homebirth. What concerns me the most is timing; we are anticipating that this will be a speedy labor, and I'd really rather not come close to giving birth on the side of the road again, like we almost did with Ryan Jr.! The thought of going into labor and just staying put in our cozy little home sounds really inviting to me, but I know that the thought of a homebirth is very worrisome to some (for example: my mother). I'm a little torn and welcome any advice any of you might have to share. :) 

Cecilia and Ryan Jr. are both doing well, although they are currently in a phase of continually getting on eachothers nerves. Cecilia finds it extremely entertaining to come up to an unsuspecting Ryan Jr. and yank him by the shoulders (or the collar of his shirt). We have tried everything to get her to stop manhandling Ryan Jr., and I finally resorted to sitting her down, showing her a picture of Jesus and Mary, and explaining to her that her mean behavior towards Ryan Jr. makes Jesus and Mary sad, and that we must always try to please Jesus and Mary and make them happy. This seemed to have an impact, and since then I have heard Cecilia talking about this many times, including when she doesn't like something Ryan Jr. is doing and responds by telling him "Make Jesus happy, baby Rynan!" She is also really enjoying a few Montessori activities I've shown her as well as her new favorite activity: puzzles. Ryan Jr. is officially a "big boy" and now sleeps in Cecilia's room at night, which means that Ryan and I have our room to ourselves again (for a few more months, at least). Every night when we kiss them both goodnight and leave the room, we put on the baby monitor and listen to the two of them talk to eachother as they fall asleep. It's really sweet and we laugh at the funny things we hear Cecilia saying to Ryan Jr.; she really loves having a roommate (and more importantly, an audience for her singing). 

We have loved everyone's updates on the blog and hope to skype and catch up with everyone soon! Until then, we miss you all very much and send you our love!