Karen the morning after she was born.

On Wednesday evening, October 22nd, at 6:25 pm, Karen Jeanne Knodle Manning made her debut into this world. She weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 19 inches long. She was alert and happy immediately after birth. We have some pictures up on our flickr account of our new daughter.

We went home from the birthing center the next morning and since then we’ve been hanging around the house, resting and spending time together as a family.

Our First Family Photo

Evan is enjoying his little sister, although I’m sure he wants her to do a little more.  He gives her kisses and sings her lullaby un-prompted throughout the day.

And Karen is doing wonderfully.  She’s eating well, when she’s not sleeping, and she is easily soothed when she cries.

I’m feeling better every day.  Jon has made me promise to relax and let him and our visitors take care of everything.  So I’ve been doing my best to take care of myself, although I look forward to resuming some of my most favorite activities.

Jon’s been super-dad, taking care of Evan, Karen AND me these last few days.  His food has been delicious and his willingness to swaddle Karen and play with Evan AND take the dog for walks has been endless.

So, we’re going to continue to get to know our new little angel and we’ll try to keep you updated along the way!

We celebrated Evan’s birthday this weekend… thanks to Grandma Ann Marie for hosting the festivities.  I didn’t have to lift a finger, except to help around her house, and it was great.  The baby is due to come in a week, and I wanted Evan to have a fun birthday party.

The three of us, and the dog, packed into the car on Friday night and drive up to Grandma and Grandpa’s house up in New Hampshire.  After a great sleep, we got up pretty early and got ready for the party.  The best part was not having to rush around– it was very relaxing!  This is a picture of Evan lounging around, waiting for his friends to come.  I think I bought this sweater for Evan for either his two-year-old birthday or last Christmas.  It’s sized 2T; this boy is due for a growth spurt!

Pretty soon, Evan’s friends had arrived and family was trickling in the door.  We played inside with all of Grandma’s great old toys and had lunch.  Then we ran around outside, kicking footballs and playing with the Fisher-price baseball throwing toy that Great-Grandma and Grandpa Pep got for Evan.  Then it was time for cake!!  Grandma Ann Marie got Evan a train cake, which was very exciting for our little engineer.

Here is a picture of him telling me how much he liked his cake.  After loading up on the cake and ice cream, the kids all played for a little while before the little ones packed into their cars and left.  Some family and friends stayed around for a good part of the afternoon, and Evan had a blast playing with his new toys: remote control cars from Grandpa Steve, an inflatable car from Julian, Spencer the engine from Mommy and Daddy, Diego from Travis, and an AquaDoodle drawing pad from Carla…. and let’s not forget the video games: Super Mario Baseball for the Wii from Cousin Matt and a LeapFrog video game system from Aunt Maura.  Evan was really psyched about getting all the great presents.  Thank you everyone!!!

After chilling out at Grandma’s house all day on Saturday, I decided that I didn’t want to rush around and pack everything up, so we stayed another night!  We took our time on Sunday morning and made it back to our house around 1pm… giving us enough time to get our chores done before settling down to watch the New England Patriots and the Red Sox.

I’m really happy that this weekend worked out the way it did.  I’m relaxed and rested… Evan had his birthday party, and for all intents and purposes (on my part anyway) he is now three years old, even though his birthday is really on the 14th of October.  I’m not going to mention his birthday again, except perhaps to ask him if he wants to bring cupcakes into his preschool to celebrate one of these days.  Now that Evan has had his birthday, the baby can come anytime…. there’s nothing left to take care of.. so come on baby! We’re waiting!

I’ve posted a few other pictures up on our Flickr account.

Yesterday, Jonathan turned the big 3-0, and we celebrated in true Manning style– a quiet (but how quiet can you be with a hyper 3-year old running around) party at the house with close friends and family.  Earlier in the day, Evan and I went into the city for a trip to the Boston Children’s Museum, you can see a picture of Evan exploring the bubble room on our Flickr account.  We met up with Grandma Priscilla and shopped at the new Trader Joes in Danvers on our way home.  Grandma made a delicious chili while I cleaned up the house.  We got our cake from the bakery just blocks from our house.  This was one of the local establishments that took us years to discover… and are we glad we did.  They not only serve delicious coffee, but delectable treats, too.  Jonathan requested black forest cake; and I was able to get him chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling with whipped cream frosting.

When it came to be the time to blow out the candles, Jonathan knew who to turn to for help.  Just like other boys in the family, Evan loves birthday parties, and he loves to blow out candles.  Now, this is fine if he’s at a party for a family member, but at another 3 year old’s party??  We have to keep him away from the cake!

By the end of the party, I was exhausted! (I’m 8 months pregnant, by the way) and I fell asleep while I was putting Evan to bed, even though we still had guests at the house!  But these were Jon’s buddies from work, and they stayed up late anyway drinking some of Jon’s homemade beer and playing a new game on the Wii.

We all enjoyed the party and we wish Jonathan another happy and healthy year!