Evan & Karen
Originally uploaded by MurphMutt

Dear friends and family:
Please forgive us for not sending you a Christmas card… things just away from us this year. In it’s place, I’d like to share some of our most favorite memories of the year.

2008 Highlights
- The year of Karen: We knew in January that she was going to join us. Most of the year was spent in anticipation of…
- Meeting Karen for the first time. October 22nd was a very special day. Since that day, she has integrated herself into the fabric of our family. I can’t imagine a time without her!
- Watching Evan transition from a toddler to a preschooler. In January, Evan was not speaking in full sentences. Now, he speaks of abstracts and truths, his feelings and his desires. We have interesting conversations and I love hearing him narrate the adventures of his trains.
- I (Alisa) finished all my schoolwork and exams this year, so I am full into the research stage of my PhD. In some ways this is harder than the exams because I have to schedule my work on my own time. Of course, I haven’t been doing very much on my maternity leave, and I’m looking forward to getting back to work part-time in January.
- Jonathan received another promotion at work and continues to earn the respect of his colleagues. He attained his “bareboat” sailing license over the summer and now looks forward to sailing in exotic locations.

We have been blessed with the opportunity to see most of you this year. Hopefully we will be able to see you again soon!

Here’s wishing you a safe, joyous and prosperous 2009!
Love,
Alisa, Jonathan, Evan and Karen Manning

In this video, you can see a hint of a smile….. probably gas, but she’s apparently dreaming about eating.

Karen has successfully had two bottles. She doesn’t seem to have a problem drinking from one, even if Mommy is in the room, preparing the next day’s bottle.

Here’s a video of the sounds Karen makes.

She’s not smiling yet– that will come in the next few months.  But she spends a good deal of time just sitting around, looking around the room.  She’ll swing her head around if you talk to her… she already loves the sound of her brother’s voice and will focus in on him when he talks to her.

We’re visiting Grandma and Grandpa Knodle. They have a stash of Richard Scarry books from when my older brother was a kid. I loved reading these and my younger brother, Phil, has even gotten an abridged version of “What Do People Do All Day” for Evan. Here’s a picture of Jonathan reading to Evan, which he only agreed to do after I was interrupted from reading when Phil called me. These books are very detailed and can be quite tedious… for us, not Evan.

We were at the pediatricians this morning with Karen.  She’s grown a few inches, or straightened out, so she’s now at 21 inches, and she has surpassed her birth weight; she’s now 7 pounds 5 ounces.  According to the pediatrician, everything looks great!

In other news, Evan had his halloween party at preschool this morning, and within 5 minutes of arriving, he was out of his bear costume. “I’m not a bear, I’m Evan Manning!” he said tearily.  When the kids had a little parade through the halls of their school, he put on the head covering, so at least he had a fuzzy head and ears.

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!