five years two dogs and a baby later

We have decided to start a blog for a few reasons. First it's a great way to keep all of you informed about day to day life if the Mann household without your having to sign up on a social networking sight. Also our lives our so interesting we assumed that everyone should be able to find out what is going on. Lastly since we are in the beginning stages of doctor appointments for Abigail due to neurofibromatosis 1 being likely we thought this would be the easiest way to update everyone. So here you go.

For those very disconnected Jason and I just had our fifth anniversary! We have a chocolate lab, and beagle and best of all a beautiful daughter born in September of '08. If you can not tell by picture she is adopted. The last five years have been full of ups and downs, but we can both say now that we love marriage, and it has gotten easier with every passing year. We live in urban Muncie in a home we have "owned" for four years....the term owned is funny to me since REALLY the bank owns it and we are responsible to pay them AND to take care of anything that needs fixed. Maybe we are slightly jaded since we have had more than most when it comes to home ownership. As a result this house is definitely home.

Jason washes windows full time and I manage the house (stay at home). We have found that having a child is better than television. We love watching her right now because she is fascinated by her hands. When she is playing and eating she will stop and look at them and turn them over to examine them. It's also great because when Jason and I are talking at dinner we both move our hands and gesture a lot and we often look over to see her mimicking the movements. She also has started to point at things. She loves trees and she sticks her chubby finger up and says "t" when we are on walks. Some of you are probably rolling your eyes at our gushy first time parent talk, but it's what we are supposed to do. If you are truly annoyed you probably shouldn't read our post!!