mmmm dinner...

Rub made w/ brown sugar, paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic powder and onion - baked in oven for 2hrs then thrown on the grill with bbq sauce... delicious!

"put him in MY lap daddy"

Hanging with her bro'

some pics with the Mann family

Don's family seems to be the only ppl we remember to take pictures with!
Here they are with the kids!

Grandaddy Bill

Aunt Peggy (Don's Mom's Cousin)

Grandma Rose

And the winner is...

Tina is the only one who knew it was

Bennett
Madeline
Bennett

but, in fairness its bc she recognized the old pic of madeline and not the two new ones! But good job Tina, even we have a hard time telling them apart in baby pics!

xoxo

"jew'ry"

Madeline got some fabulous jewelry from our awesome doula, Ursula and has been feeling divinely dressed up these days!

quick pics

its way past my bedtime but i wanted you all to see some pics of the little bear today.

<

and video of how strong he is at 5 days old :)




julie thinks he has big hands so i took this pic-
hmm he DOES have some long fingers julie!


i am in love.

who's that baby?

which is madeline and which is bennett?






which is which?

Update Day 2

Bennett is officially 2 days old at 12:35 today.
We came home yesterday at lunchtime- working on a 24 hour turnaround but they wouldnt discharge us till the vampires came and took his blood for the newborn screen. Nevertheless, we got to have our afternoon at home in the warm sunshine of our house, homecooked dinner and a few hours of sleep in our own beds!
Madeline is thrilled to have us all home and takes every opportunity to kiss her little brother.

Here are a few pics
Bennett is sleeping like a champ (ok he is not even two days old yet) and we think he may have some serious milk from mom soon so we anticipate a few days without much sleep at all as it comes in and he starts to fill up.

On his way home from the hospital!

Home at last!

Sibling love


If we have not returned your calls or messages, Im so sorry- we are juggling it all still and hope to talk with you soon.
Much love
The Manns
Don, Ashia, Madeline and Bennett!

woah

What a day.
Supposed to come in for an induction at 9 but called at 8 to say we are running late since i was in labor all night.
After a hearty waffle and sausage breakfast (a la gramma rose)we arrived at the hospital to find we were more than halfway there. 2 hours of labor, transition and a few pushes and voila! We are a family of four!
Happy Birthday Bennett.

Loving her baby brother!

Madeline came to meet her baby brother and was tickled pink!
She was particularly thrilled with the size of her Bennett's thighs and several times mimed snacking on them!

more pics

Bennett James Mann

9lbs - 14oz
21 & 3/4 inches!

He was born at 12:35pm today 3/21/09.

Ashia had no induction and no medication. We had contractions through the night and arrived at the hospital just after 10AM. We labored at the hospital for 2 1/2 hrs...

All is well - can't wait to speak with everyone.

First Haircut

I finally gave in and we took madeline for her first haircut on saturday.
Don and i found one of those kid cuts places with the tvs and the bells and whistles. Frankly, she was equally amused at the Hair cuttery so we go there next time LOL!

She did great- was mesmerized, i think and after having been with me to watch Grandma Rose get her hair done, she was eager to have hers snipped too.
She got a little hairclip at the end and loved running her fingers through her new healthier locks.

i do miss those curly cues of baby hair but it is an adorable pixie cut. Our friends in san mateo have a little girl, Bella, whose hairdo this reminds us of, and she is precious so we are loving it.

here are some before, during and after clips
xoxo



get her done!



posing with her smock on at the salon.
(incidentally, she has a dance teacher named "miss salonge" and she is utterly confused by the similarity between the words...)


hamming it up with her pixie cut with Dad- making tapioca

Not Yet

No baby boy yet.
Which is normal.. In fact it is more abnormal to have had a baby by his due date. Approx 75% of moms dont deliver till after the EDD.

So... what that simply means is, this baby is growing and happy to be where he is for now. We are certainly in no hurry to have him arrive before he decides he is ready to be here. Although, of course we are so excited to meet him and mom's belly is growing and growing...
Everyone is perfectly healthy and happy and we intend to keep it that way :)

Anyway, we thank you all for checking in with us but we have no news to share as of yet and we PROMISE to post on the blog and send a few emails and phone calls when the big day comes.

much love
xoxo

name that character

what famous movie charcter do you see?

big sister

big boy

this boy is going to pick his birthday soon so we took some pics just before- to capture the girth of this belly of mine!
And sue, our photographer friend took some family pics too!

an omen

My dad had this visitor to his neighborhood and just sent this out
so we are hoping its a sign that the stork is coming to see us soon too!
maybe he got stuck in this bad weather and will arrive closer to the 10th after all :)