Happy Birthday Brody!

It took this momentous occasion to get me to finally update the blog!  I just can’t believe that our little guy is going to be a year tomorrow– it went by SO fast!  Much fast than I remember Desi’s first year.  To be fair, it has been quite an adventurous year.

A year ago tonight my biggest concern was how I could possibly love this baby as much as I loved Des– I was very sad for Des to be bringing this new baby into the world that would take away so much of my time I had just for him.  Boy, was that worry I didn’t need!!  Your ability to love truely does expand exponentially, and giving Desi Brody as a brother is most likely the best gift I will ever give to him.  They are already best buds.

In looking back, here is a list of all of the things our little man expirienced in the past year:

• Met his big Brother (and mom and dad of course!)
• Sold our house in Santa Barbara
• Flew to the east coast to meet his Great Grandma
• A LONG drive from Santa Barbara to Oregon
• Family vacation in Boulder (100+ degrees!)
• Moved into new house in Seattle
• Flirted with a series of nanny’s as mom went back to work (and we didn’t have the best luck)
• Beer Pong!
• Weekend away to Bainbridge Island
• PUMPKINS!
• Met Santa (was not impressed)
• Went sledding
• Visit back to Santa Barbara (not that he remembers it)
• First steps (we didn’t miss it!)
• Too many kisses to count, from all of the people who love him and came to visit us– he really is one lucky kid!

And while he is lucky, I count my blessings every day to have such a sweet, silly boy join our family.  Brody could not be a better fit for us, and Desi could not be a better big brother.  Jason continues to be an incredible dad to them both– I think the three of them started wrestling when B was about 3 months old.  It’s only become more hilarious (and stressful!) to watch since then.

We love you Brody, Toady, little fellow, and can’t wait to watch you grow!

Oh how we’ve missed you Seattle…sort of

We are alive! I think I have to say that every time, since I am the worst blogger ever.  We are finally somewhat settled here in Seattle, and thought I’d take a minute to give a quick update on us.  A few highlights:

• Moving is not super fun, especially with a 4 month old and a toddler.  We made it though- after the movers took about 10 hours to load our stuff and we spent days trying to get everything finally packed.  We ended up only having to spend one night on air mattresses which was nice, although also made it seem as though everything happened very fast!
• Seattle in the summer is still Seattle.  We thought we were coming at just the right time for good weather, yet it’s been cloudy more than sunny since we arrived. We’ve even had a few thunder storms, which Des is not a fan of.  Perhaps it is just getting us prepared for the fall and winter, but I’ve make it clear that my bitterness will be strong this first 12 months back.  I keep forgetting things like jackets and shoes and socks. How spoiled we’ve been!
• Ok- happier things.  My sister is pretty much the greatest thing in the world.  From coming over for dinner weekly to taking Des on little adventures to helping me slug them both through green lake it is THE most incredible thing about being here.
• Our friends are pretty great too.  I think we’ve been out more in the past 4 weeks then we were in the last 6 months in Santa Barbara.  It’s awesome having a set group of friends who just happen to be super fun.  We also seemed to have found a few great babysitters, including Katie who I babysat back in college.  Doesn’t make me feel old at all.
• Visitors! We’ve been lucky enough to have lots of visitors– it’s so nice being just a few hours from Corvallis.  We’re planning our first trip in September, but for now we’ll have to settle for people coming to us for now.  It’s been great having the extra help to unpack boxes and made it possible for the bullet above!
• A new house means new projects.  And lots of them. I feel like we were just getting settled in our old house and now we have a new one to tackle.  Have already had to buy some new stuff, and the list of things for Jason to build is getting longer every day.  Now to find the time…

Ok, that’s just the tip of the iceburg but is likely too long for those who really just want to see pictures.  So here they are!

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April

Ok, so a little later than planned but I do have pictures from April!  Here are some updates:

• For those of you who don’t already know (which I doubt is any of you) we are headed back to Seattle… and soon!  We’ve sold the house and actually bought a new one in Magnolia.  More details on that in another post.
• Brody is still cute as ever and is starting to get a little more fun– lots of smiles, moving all around and can finally put him down to look at his mobile or on his new playmat for a few minutes at a time.   This comes in very handy when I need to get Des dressed, eat a meal or just need a minute or two.  Jason thinks he will be crawling within the week. The rest of the time he is happiest being snuggled.
• Des gets more funny every day– his imagination is incredible.  Every morning and after each nap he tells us all about what he dreamed of– the most recent favorites include monkeys dancing with bananas, T-rex’s reading books and Giraffe’s eating grass. We are also attempting to potty train– he loves to get treats from peeing on the potty, but doesn’t quite seem to get that he actually needs to tell us when he has to go.  Any suggestions appreciated!  Other than that we spend our time outside or doing puzzles.
• Jason spent almost a week up in Seattle working and trying to find a place to live, so Grammy came to visit during that time.  It was great! We went to the zoo, did lots of puzzles and I got some much-needed time to get her haircut.  We only wish she lived next door!  When Jason returned we were able to take Desi to his first carnival, which was so fun! We rode the merry-go-round at least three times, and he even won a stuffed animal (all on his own!).
• Since we now know we are leaving Santa Barbara, we’ve been trying to get in as much as possible around here.  We had a great adventure to Carpinteria a few weeks ago– went for a little hike, stayed at a local book store for a good 2 hours and had our fill of cupcakes (or at least Des did).  A mini, 1/2 day vacation was fantastic.
• Des and Brody are still very good together– Des loves to give him kisses and has given up calling him Lollipop for the most part.  He is very protective of the little guy at school when the little kids want to see him.  He is very proud to tell them he is his little brother.  It’s adorable.

I am sure there is more I am missing, but between still not sleeping great (but better), the stress of finding a place to live, starting to pack and trying to get as much sun in as possible things are a bit foggy.  But, here is what you are really waiting for– pictures!

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March

So I’ve come to the conclusion that I will never be able to post daily, weekly or on any regular basis.  But, I think I can try to post once a month at the very least, so that is my new goal- monthly recaps of what we’ve been up to.  Here is the first installment for March (better late than never):

• Lots of visitors! Kristin, Mark, Tani, Carol, Don, Mindy and Vic all visited us this month to see little Brody.  It was so nice to have the help– playing with Des so I could nap, cooking super yummy meals, lots of coffee and overall support which was much needed (at least for me!)
• Brody is officially out of newborn diapers and most of his newborn clothes– a little bitter sweet but we are very glad he is growing so well.
• Still no sleep– 4 hours is a good night still, but I’ve gotten 5 a few times which has been great.  And to be clear that isn’t in a row, that is total.  I sort of forgot how bad the lack of sleep is, but at least this time around I know it doesn’t last.  Hard to remember that at 4 a.m. sometimes when you were just up at 3:30.  Good thing the little man is cute!
• Des is still a great big brother– gives B at least 5 kisses a day and reminds us how tiny he is.  He can’t wait until they can play together and he can teach him to play basketball and go for walks.
• Still unsure what Brody’s temperment will be– we spend a lot of time on the yoga ball bouncing as that makes him happy.  We have gotten a few smiles out of him as well which is pretty amazing.

Here are some new photos to hold you over.  Hope to post again soon!

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Pro family photos

Here are some photos we got taken with a pro– they almost make us look good on such little sleep!  More to come on how our March shook out– lots of great visits we are sad they are almost over! Two kids is way harder than one we are learning.

Enjoy!

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Brody’s first few weeks

Sorry for the delay in getting these photos up– I almost forgot what it is like going on 3 hours of sleep each night.  While the new addition in many ways seems a bit mellower than Des at this age, his sleep habits aren’t too far off…he likes to wake up at night.  A lot.  We are hanging in there though and feel very blessed to have the little nugget in our lives.  Des is proving to be an incredible big brother thus far, giving lots of kisses and lighting up when he notices the baby in the room.  I am sure this won’t last forever, so we are enjoying it while we can!

Will post even more photos soon once we get some rest!

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Broderick Franklin Mann – 2-21-12 (and Des)

Here are a few photos of Baby Brody from his birthday.  Our favorite is Desi giving his little brother a kiss.  We also added a few photos of Desi at the park a couple weeks ago.

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Adorable Des

As promised, here are some somewhat recent pictures of the little guy.  More to come!

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Almost a family of four!

I won’t even try to make excuses for not updating this in so long, because really, I have none.  I can’t believe in less than two weeks we’ll officially be a family of four!  Very exciting.  While I don’t know if Des fully gets the changes about to take place, he does seem excited to have “lollipop” join our family.  That is what he has named the baby for the time being, and given we still don’t have names picked out it might just stick.

A few weeks ago we did a quick photo shoot of my big belly that I wanted to share.  I’ll try my hardest to get some other recent photos up soon.  Des is getting so big and has quite the personality.  He has a great imagination in addition to the incredible focus he gives to his puzzles.  He is an amazing little man and I almost feel bad for baby #2 and all it has to live up to!

We hope you all are well and can’t wait to share the news of our new arrival!

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Alive

Really, we are. This summer has been a bit crazy, but we do have some good excuses for slacking on the blog:

• We moved into our new house (which you saw a few pics of).  While it was pretty much good to go, we’ve had a number of projects/purchase decisions that took up a lot of our brain space.  Who knew finding a rug would be so hard?!
• We’ve been traveling, too much!  We managed to fly to Seattle, Corvallis, Sun Valley and Spokane this summer, which is a lot in 3 short months.  Between the getting ready time and the recovering time, it seems these trips took over our lives (in a good way of course!)  Oh, and a last minute trip to Mongolia by Jason.  I’ll let him share those details.
• We’ve had visitors– just not enough!  Hint, hint… 
• Desmond is now a toddler, which means we never really stop. At the end of the day, we’re pretty pooped as you can imagine. 
• Early preparations for adding a new member to the family in February!

Ok, enough of the excuses I am sure all you really want to see are photos of the little man.  Here are some shots over the past several months that we love.  We’ll post more detailed photos of our adventures in the coming weeks in attempt to catch up.

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