Baby Jack!!

  All of my plans to add a blog post directly following the arrival of our little one were easier said than done… It's been one month since our little Jack arrived - he took his time: only 11 days late! and here we are, finally posting about him.
  We last posting on Feb. 2nd - our due date - Our little guy was just too comfortable to come on out, so we went in for a scheduled induction on Tues. Feb. 11th at 7pm, and *finally went into labor around 3am Feb. 12th, and Jack made his grand entrance on Thurs. morning Feb. 13th.

 Elisa: 30 hour labor, super painful Back Labor contractions, fever with uncontrollable shivering, oxygen mask, elevated white blood cell count, and antibiotics….

 Kevin: pushed so hard on my back for me whenever I asked him to - which was a lot. And  I would say "push harder!" and he physically could not push ANY harder - I couldn't see him at the time (behind me obviously), but he had himself pretty much as horizontal as his body could get applying pressure. He was great. And he cheered me on and counted to 10 so many times for hours of my pushing. We were so exhausted.

  Moms: Both of our moms were with us - we are so thankful they were there! They helped support and count, were right there with ice cold wash cloths for my head and neck. Some people thought we were a little nuts for inviting our moms to be there in the delivery room with us - you know, over-bearing mother-in-law stereotypes, etc. Luckily, we don't have that problem :)

  and most importantly Jack: got himself flipped around to be facing up ("Sunnyside up") which of course, make things more difficult for his mommy. Doctors had anticipated an infection for Jack ahead of time: my fever, white blood cell count, Jack's heart rate all pointed that way. They told me before he even arrived that when Jack showed up, he would be going to the NICU right away to get his own antibiotics, and stay there for 48 hours.
  Jack arrived around 8:45am - his cord wrapped around his neck (which thankfully I couldn't see how blue and white his skin was: just about gave daddy a heart attack) Nurses had him intubated and breathing so quickly and I got to meet him briefly before he was whisked away down to his special nursery. Kevin had to go with him because Jack didn't have a bracelet yet, so "daddy keep your eyes on the baby."
 

Ready to Go Home:
  We were SO relieved to FINALLY get to go home on Saturday morning, 2/15. Having been at the hospital 4 nights (and Valentine's Day), we pretty much cried when we got Jack through the door, looked at each other, and just took a deep breath. We did it - we finally had our little guy, and we were home.

  AND Rigby came home on Sunday 2/16 and was very curious about the new "little puppy" - he's been great with Jack, he likes to sneak kisses, and is already standing guard, very concerned with where Jack is at all times...

Is Today the Day?

  Cue music: The Final Countdown by Europe or better yet, watch the sweet music video… 

TODAY! is our Due Date!

  Our little guy has proven to be too cozy where he is to arrive early, but now we're REALLY thinking ANY time now…. soon right? C'mon!! We are SO ready…
  - Nursery = good to go: waiting for a few last details before we snap pics to share…
  - Our "Go Bag" is mostly-packed…a few last things to throw in there when the time comes...
  - Rigby's "Go Bag" is all set
  - Car Seat: installed securely!
  - iPad loaded with movies, ready for a hospital stay…
  - Diapers, wipes, creams and ointments - check!
  - Cozy clothes, swaddling blankets all washed and ready
  - "Contraction Counter" App = downloaded

  While we can't control whether of not Baby McBride shows up today, at least we have a few things going for us…

..like DONUTS!

Mmmm Yo Yo Bakery, Minnetonka, MN
Raspberry Filled, Maple Glaze with Bacon, Apple Fritters + good 'ol Raised Glazed. You can't go wrong…and we didn't: such a great Sunday morning treat.

+ today is also Groundhogs Day! See Punxsutawney Phil's official verdict - so silly how all those guys dress up in top hats with old-timey super relevant mustaches…

+ today is Super Bowl Sunday of course. I have a feeling there may be some Super Bowl Birthday Parties in our little one's future (if Kevin has his way…) We're hoping the Bronco's will pull it off...
  Rigby has placed HIS bets for Puppy Bowl X on Animal Planet - see their Starting Line-up. Kevin is pumped for penguin cheerleaders…..

Rigby is already focused on the cutest puppy shows on Animal Planet
+ Our money is on Hunter, the boxer pup, for MVP...

  So even though my fortune from dinner last week promised that Saturday would be an "exciting time," -  as Janelle from work pointed out: it might still mean NEXT Saturday??

…. Stay tuned!

Super Friendly Baby Shower

  Two of my best gal pals threw a 'friends baby shower' for me this past weekend! They cooked up a wonderful brunch, served mimosas, AND I've never heard of this before: they purchased 21 birthday cards - the kind with ages on them, so ages 1 through 21 - and had each of our shower guests write out birthday messages (one card per person), and seal them up for us to save for the little nugget's birthdays to come! What a cool idea + so thoughtful! (the card for 21st birthday even comes with a bottle opener!!)

Thanks so much Kym & Tabitha! You're the best!

Nursery Progress: Artwork

With so much fun artwork, Baby McBride's Nursery is becoming a little gallery…

We ordered this sweet "Muppet Alphabet" print by Mike Boon off of Society 6

Left: An illustration I did in college from my first little storybook "Jimmy's Tree" - the colors work out really well in Baby's Room.  Right: A super cute screen print from Sara Lintner of Too Many Suitors

"Nuggets in a Carton" - an illustration I doodled on a napkin one evening, scanned, and color digitally - became the start of many a Nugget projects - stuffed friends, tooth fairy Nuggets, Nugget finger puppets and wash mitts, etc…..

Yay! Raccoons on a tandem bicycle! This is an original screen print from my friend/co-worker Alyssa Nassner.
All of her work is the bee's knees!

Left: Here's "Robit Robot "rolling along by me + Right: Calla the bluebird and her babies in a little nest. I loaded this texture in the background: a scanned piece of Eucalyptus & Flax paper that Kevin and I made together back in school!

And a little something that's right up Kevin's alley!! Left: Our version of "Keep Calm and Carry On"
+ Right: a fun R2-D2 illustration I created, and Kevin approved.

When someone asked me if I was planning to add some of my own geekiness, I figured I'd better infuse some of what I get a little geeky over too :) Left: Got this great print from Painted By Renee out of Los Angeles on Etsy who sent it my way quite promptly +  Right: I found a pretty decent resolution version of this Platform 9 3/4 Hogwart's Express ticket online and printed it off for a little 3" x 5" frame

Last but not least, our McBride's family illustration I created over 2 years ago when we started this blog - and I've been adding family members to it ever since….

The Nursery is really starting to come together! Can't wait to share it with you!

Nursery Progress: Layout

  So much to do and never enough time! We have JUST reached the 3rd Trimester mark - yikes! A milestone that seemed REALLY far off not that long ago...
  We're trying to get the nursery started and mostly done before we get all that Minnesota snow and all we feel like doing it holing up in cozy pants and vegging out until baby arrives...

  The Nursery: Here's what we have to work with...

Yes. We have a bookcase - Expedit from IKEA. Yes, it needs to get cleaned off + prob relocated to another wall...

Kevin's been patching the drywall around the vents. (shorty after we moved in, we had a company come out to clean all the duct work in the house - they weren't gentle when removing the heat/color air return vents...)

    Nursery To Do List:
  - pick out paint color(s) - check! you'll have to wait and see...
  - paint walls
  - new light fixture?
  - order crib + mattress
  - put together new chair + dresser
  - drop off fabric & chair cover at Sara's mom's house, so she can made us a lovely cushion cover
  - pick out fabric for roman shade window treatment
  - swap out old, almond color outlets/light switch for new, white - check!
  - create some cute new artwork?
  - hang shelves + artwork
  - empty all the junk out of closet...
  - order cute rug - check!

Wish us luck!!

Nursery Inspiration: Color

  If you ask Kevin, our blueberry swirl cheesecake that revealed we're having a little boy, means our baby nursery should be "Space Theme." When I asked him "Why space theme?" he responds "How else will we get all of the Star Wars stuff to fit in?"       ......ummm.....

  I've been peeking around at nursery inspiration online - I started a secret Pinterest board back in June! - and yes, now that we know gender, it changes things a little bit. I'm not much of a 'theme room' gal, and despite gender, I've been imagining something more gender-neutral from the get go. In case you didn't know, I'm not much of a pink girl myself, so pink walls for a little girl wasn't really on the possibilities list. Just saying.

  We have some existing furniture that we want to incorporate into baby's room and our goal is to ensure the space is cozy, warm, modern (not in a stark, cold way) and eclectic. We have collected some items and decor over time, that would be really fun to incorporate into the room, and none of them really fit into a theme or overarching color family, so... eclectic it is!

For starters = Color Inspiration

I've really been responding to greens, oranges, aqua/turqs and gray color combinations....

1. Chevron Rug: Urban Outfitters  -  2. Little Nest Box, Etsy  -  3. Cord Roy Fox, Jelly Cat  -  4. Sugar House Ink, Etsy

5. Herringbone Rug: Urban Outfitters  -  6. Land of Nod  -  7. blablakids.com  -  8. how do it

9. Green Stripe Rug: Land of Nod  -  10. Cord Roy Croc, Jelly Cat  -  11. Ombre Dresser by Cape27  -  12. Wipe-Off Word Bubble Frames by Chez Larsson

13. Aqua Chevron Rug: Urban Outfitters  -  14. Paper Airplane Printed Pillow by Alyssa Nassner (we purchased this one of kind pillow from Alyssa!)  -  15. Illustration from "Jimmy's Tree" by Me! Elisa!  -  16. Gosh and Golly, Etsy

  I am liking the idea of doing an accent color wall: my fav idea so far = dark gray.

left. tumblr page no longer active...  -   middle. Follow Pics  -  right. Wall decals by Simple Shapes, Etsy

  I like how the dark gray walls really allow everything else to pop - feels light and airy even though its so dark! Hmmm....should prob get some little paint swatch samples before diving in...

More to come!

Blueberry Swirl or Raspberry Swirl.....???

   Kevin and I are so excited!! We went in for an ultrasound this morning, got to see the baby doing a little jig, its lovely spine and brain + all four chambers of the heart: So cool! - AND most importantly, to find out the little Nugget's gender! Our Radiologist/Ultrasound Tech was named Molly, which we took immediately to mean we were in good hands (Kevin's older sister is Molly), and she was a really good sport... Because we have a surprise planned for ourselves and our parents!

  Tonight we are having parents over for dinner, but they don't know about the appointment this morning. We plan to reveal our baby's gender for dessert - Cheesecake dessert to be exact. Will it be blueberry swirl or raspberry swirl?? This thing is: WE don't even know yet! Molly the ultrasound tech, included a little 'photo' and a note that says 'Boy' or 'Girl' in a sealed envelope that we brought directly to Muddy Paws Cheesecake in St. Louis Park - they bake the BEST cheesecake - and since Kevin and I aren't the *biggest cake fans, we decided that cheesecake would be best (we even did cheesecake for our wedding! So it fits...).

  When we got over to Muddy Paws, we barely said "a cheesecake for McBride" - all prepped to re-explain how we there to pick up one of two possible flavors... - when the bakery gal says "Oh I've been WAITING for you!" We sent her off in back with our envelope, and she reappeared with a box, no flavor or info listed on it, tied with gender-neutral orange, curling ribbon (so it would be tamper-evident!)...

So right NOW - at 2:19 pm - we are still a few hours away from dinner, and a then a ways still from dessert time - and this box is just sitting in our downstairs fridge, waiting.... Oh! the anticipation!!!!!


Stay tuned.....


Fast-forward to about 6:45pm this evening!!!!!

BLUEBERRY SWIRL!!!

It's official! The McBride's are having a little boy!! Hooray! We couldn't be MORE EXCITED!

the McBrides are EXPECTING!!

  It's true!! Kevin and I are SO thrilled to share that we are expecting a tiny little McNugget in Feb. 2014! Finch and Rigby are pleased as well even if they don't know it yet. Hooray!!

  As we work towards getting our home exterior projects (siding, landscaping, etc.) finished this summer/fall, and the basement up to snuff after all the water, we look forward to tackling what will become the cutest little room in the whole house! We can't wait to share some of the plans (I've been pinning on a secret Pinterest board since June!!)

Stay tuned!!

Welcome Baby Preston!

  He's here! Our new nephew has arrived and we were so thrilled to meet him! He arrived one day earlier than expected - he just couldn't wait any longer!
  Brooke is pretty excited about her new baby cousin as well: "Ohhh, he's so cute" - Brooke

+ Here is a little Birth Announcement Artwork that we've created just for little Preston!