I am Growing!

Grace had her first appointment with her Pediatrician today. She weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces.. which means that she gained 1 pound 3 ounces since she left the hospital! We knew that she had grown, but we had not expected her to be that big! It should have been obvious to is since she eats so often. She also grew a half inch in length, putting her at 21.5 inches. We are glad that we don't have to keep track of her feedings and her elimination patterns anymore (or I should say Todd, since he was the secretary)! The doctor said that she is as alert as a one month old. We already knew that- Grace came out of the womb that way! :)

Grandma Pam's Visit

Todd's Mom came to visit and meet Grace this weekend. We had such a fun time. I am so glad that she got to spend time with Grace. Grace loves Grandma and Grandma is the best at getting her burps out! On Saturday we picked up an amazingly delicious pizza from Arizmendi and went for a long walk through the Botanical Gardens. We put Grace in an new outfit that actually fit her perfectly. It was quickly ruined after our walk because Grace had the biggest poop ever. It was so messy, we even had to give her an impromptu bath (which she did not enjoy) to clean her up. The Academy of Sciences opened up on Saturday and our neighborhood was the busiest I have ever seen. There were people everywhere! The traffic was horrendous and clogged all day. It took Todd almost an hour to find a spot in the morning. You could hear the constant horn honking throughout the day.

Grace has had a few hard evenings this weekend. She has always had a little trouble with gas and on Friday and Saturday, Grace was an upset little baby. She cried for several hours each night (from 7:30-10:00 pm) and was hard to soothe. It was hard for us to see her in so much pain and so sad. I am going to start keeping track of what I eat, in case that has had something to do with it. We will be meeting with the Pediatrician on Tuesday for her checkup, and I am sure she will also be able to help with some of our struggles. I can tell Grace has put on a lot of weight, so we are excited to see how much she has grown. And the bump on her head is almost gone!

My Week of Firsts

Grace has had a very stimulating week this week. She has grown so much since we first took her home and has become a great sleeper. She takes long naps in the day (sometimes more than 3 hours!), and is just as good at night (although she wakes up more often to eat). She wakes up for feedings, but usually happily goes down after. She is patient when she wakes up (by making cute little sounds) and will wait to be picked up to be fed without crying. We have learned many soothing techniques from the DVD "The Happiest Baby on the Block" which has been a lifesaver. At night, we often play the static sound on the radio to calm her. It is similar to the sound the baby hears in the womb and will calm and quiet her until she falls asleep. Grace is comfortable in her crib and has become rather content being placed alone with the mobile when she is awake. Our "Jungle Love" mobile is so stimulating and it keeps her interested for a long time. We were a little worried when we put it together because it was so massive, but we could not be happier with it.


On Sunday, we took her out in her stroller for the first time (not counting the walk home from the hospital). She really enjoyed the fresh air and we walked for about 40 minutes to Wallgreens without even a peep from Grace!

On Monday, we took our first car ride to Trader Joes. We know this will be a frequent stop for Grace. I put her in her sling while we shopped, and she was happy as a clam. She really enjoyed the car ride, and instantly fell asleep when the car started moving. She also went on a long walk through the park in her stroller. We LOVE the Bumbleride Stroller. It is the perfect SF Stroller, and can go through the grass, uneven terrain, and dirt with ease. We also put together her swing on Monday. This thing is amazing! She loves it and falls asleep almost instantly when she is placed in it.

On Tuesday, Todd and I took her for a picnic in the Botanical Gardens. We call Grace our "little goose" because she frequently makes loud quacking sounds. At the park we were surrounded by her friends, the geese. They poop as much as she does. She liked the sunlight and the long afternoon.


On Wednesday morning, we read Grace some stories and she was so interested in them! She is an extremely alert baby, and she stared at every page as we read them to her. She was even able to grasp some of the books after we read them. The morning time is Grace's most alert time, so we decided that she definitely takes after Mom.

My First Bath

Grace had her first bath today! She really liked the warm water. It was so much different than the sponge bath we gave her the first day we were home (she cried the whole time!).

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Thank You!

We feel so lucky to have the support of our family and friends. We have not had a chance to respond to every phone call or email, but please know how much we appreciate everyone's well wishes.

Update: In honor of Grace's one week birthday, her (stinky) belly button fell off. We were so happy to have our great smelling baby back! Dalia said in Egypt there is a one week celebration to honor the detaching of the belly button, so have a drink to toast Grace.

I thought these pictures were so funny. Grace is a deep thinker, who really wants to make a point!

"Hmm.."

"Let me think about this."

"I think it is obvious that.."

"And in conclusion......"

I Love My Family

Auntie Dalia and Uncle Dan came up for a visit this weekend to meet Grace. We had such a fun time with them. The paparazzi did not let up! I think Grace loves to be on camera. On Friday, Grace was in fine form- sleeping almost the whole time they were there, only to awaken right before we sat down to eat dinner. On Saturday, she showed a little more of her personality when Auntie Alli and Uncle Brandon came over to visit. She was awake most of the time, providing entertainment for the whole group. She was a hungry girl yesterday- feeding almost every hour and sleeping very few hours. Todd and I woke up Sunday morning very, very sleepy.

Our New Roommate

Our stay at UCSF was great - we felt so supported by all our nurses and midwives. But the time finally came to bring baby home, all on our own (with Grandy's help, of course!). It feels absolutely perfect to have her at home (with the exception of the the occasional paralyzing anxiety and sleep deprivation!) She is a sweet baby and is soothed pretty easily. However, gas is her biggest pet peeve, and it breaks our hearts to see her crying when she has big burps. Also, our house is a meat locker and we keep freezing our little girl =(. We have finally learned she needs about four layers to stay warm in our little place! We still cannot believe how blessed we are to be at home with our full family!!!

It's a Girl!

After 26 hours of labor, beautiful Grace Amelia McManus joined our family. It was truly the most amazing thing we have ever been through, and to hold her for the first time was like nothing I can put into words. She was so alert her first hours of life and she laid skin to skin on me for 2 hours. It was truly an emotional roller coaster- we never felt so much joy and fear in one day. We were happy that Grandma, Grandpa and Aunite Alli were able to meet her just hours after she was born. She has already brought so much happiness into our lives and we can't wait for every moment that we get to touch her, kiss her, sing to her, and love her.

Labor started at about 12:00 last night. We are still at home- contractions are about 7 minutes apart. Baby will be here soon.... :)

Gretchen and Paul had their baby girl, Elsa Fern Holland on Monday. She was 8 pounds. We are so excited for them! I spoke with Gretchen this morning and she had a good labor and says the baby is beautiful. "She looks like and Eskimo baby," Gretchen says. I am so excited for our little ones to play together and I can't wait for them to visit in December. Congratulations, Gretchen and Paul!

No Baby Yet

The baby is running out of room!
We went in this morning, and looks like we might have some more days to go.... We have an appointment scheduled for Friday for fetal monitoring. Hopefully we will get to cancel it. It feels like I have been pregnant forever. Let's hope I don't make it to 42 weeks.

Awaiting Baby

I have been off work for two days and have been trying to keep myself occupied. I baked some coffee cake this morning and did a little cleaning and organizing. I am trying to enjoy the peace and quiet and the beautiful September weather we are having. Todd has been a wonderful husband. He has been making these last weeks very enjoyable for me and did not complain once last weekend when I dragged him all over to do last minute errands and preparations. I am thinking and dreaming of what I will say to our little one when we finally get to meet face to face. We are so excited.

39 weeks, 4 days

Baby Showers

We feel so lucky to have 3 baby showers for our little one! We received so many wonderful wishes and gifts. It was so much fun to prepare the baby's room and to unpack and organize all the gifts. We are now just awaiting the arrival of our little one.

Aunt Leah threw a beautiful shower at her house in Los Angeles on July 19th. Todd and I both came down from SF. Todd hung out with his brother while I enjoyed myself with family and friends. The weather was sunny and everyone had a lot of fun! It was a great turnout! Leah worked so hard to make the day special including cooking a delicious vegetarian menu. So many people traveled from far away to come to the shower. Todd's Mom, Pam, flew in from Arizona, Grandma Flo and Aunt Flo drove from Palm Springs, and Aunt Elena, Stephanie and Isobel drove from Santa Maria. Thanks Dalia for taking such great pictures! http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=gevql8b.6l14znz7&x=0&y=7orjlx&localeid=en_US

Todd's coworkers Elizabeth, Becky and Darci threw us a shower in Vacaville on July 24th. When I told my Mom that Todd's coworkers were throwing us a shower, she replied, "at the prison?" Luckily, no. We all met up at Chevys. It was a very hot day and there was so much traffic that it took me over 2 hours to get there! I felt a little embarrassed because I was a bit late. We played some fun games, ate yummy Mexican food and everyone else but me drank margaritas and beer! I was glad to get to meet many of Todd's coworkers.

Adrienne and Alli hosted a couples shower on August 9th at Adrienne and Kenneth's house. My parents were able to make it up for the event which was exciting for us. It was a typical chilly August day. We ate Italian food and drank wine.... Alli and Adrienne really outdid themselves and made it very special. Our camera ran out of batteries, so we did not get many pictures. I uploaded the few we did take on Shutterfly.