baby king has arrived.

we are so happy to announce the arrival of our sweet little boy, McAllister Kenneth King III, born at 11:51 am on March 15th. He was 8lbs, 9oz and 22.25 inches long.

my short labor & delivery story goes something like this:

my water broke at 5pm on sun march 14th at wegmans. that's right. at wegmans. talk about slightly embarrassing! after attempting to clean myself up in the bathroom, and getting walked in on b/c I was too anxious to lock the door, i bolted to find big mcallister. he was checking out so i said "my water broke. i'll be in the car."

my contractions didn't start right away. so our time at home was spent getting ready. i was really excited and anxious about finally getting to meet baby mcallister. the doctor said if nothing happened on it's own to come to the hospital at 8pm. so we waited! i made some phone calls to get my mom lined up to come out and watch lucy. and then i tried to relax. i think big mcallister was even more anxious than i was. he was trying to get me in the car at 7:20pm when the hospital is a mere 3 miles away ;)

we got to the hospital and sat in triage for hours. they were busy-busy with LOTS of babies coming that night. when they checked me i was 3 cm dilated and things were progressing. slowly, but progressing. so they checked me into a room and we waited for things to happen. contractions started late in the evening, but they were small ones about 10 mins apart and they weren't painful. big mcallister was being such a good coach and trying to massage and talk me through them. but they weren't painful, more annoying than anything b/c i couldn't sleep through them, so i convinced him that one of us had to sleep and it should be him. i spent the night playing suduko on my phone and watching awful tv. around 5 am - i was deliriously tired and starving. (note to self - next time around eat BEFORE going to the hospital!) they checked me at 5am and i was only 5 cm :( so they informed me i'd be going on pitocin at 7am. they offered me some pain relief to 'take the edge off' and get me to sleep b/c i was gonna need some energy so they gave me fentanyl with a small dose of morphine in it. it was great, didn't last long, but allowed me to sleep for 2 hours!

they woke me at 7am and started pitocin. things progressed quickly after that. i went from 5cm to 10cm in less than 4 hours! my mom and tom visited around 9am and she helped me through some of the contractions. it was around this time that i couldn't talk through them. they were 90 seconds apart. they still were fairly manageable until about 10am. when i got to 7cm - i requested the epidural for pain relief. although they had been telling me it only takes 20 mins to get it - the hospital was a bit BUSY that day. it took them 41 mins to get the epidural and they were the LONGEST 41 MINUTES OF MY LIFE. the pain was so intense i couldn't be in the bed - i had to be on my hands and knees or the birth ball. my doctor, whom i love, came in
and saw that we were so close - she managed to get that anesthesiologist pronto. he gave me a smaller dose since i was so far along but it was heavenly. in hindsight - i wished i would have had more time to enjoy the epidural but i'm still happy i followed my plan to labor without it for as long as i could.

throughout the entire pregnancy, i was scared about pushing the most. surprisingly - it turned out to be the easiest part for me! i started at 11am and the little guy was out by 11:51. (this apparently is very fast for a first time mom. or atleast the doctors were trying to make me feel good by telling me that!) i credit it, and my easy recovery, to my AMAZING doctor and attending that assisted the delivery. everything was calm, simple and they were chatting us all up in between contractions like we were old friends. they were both so great and i feel so lucky to have landed them!


baby mcallister... i will never forget our first moments. when i think about them, i go back to room 303 and relive seeing you & hearing you for the first time over and over again. these moments are forever etched into my memory. when the nurses put you into my arms, you stole my heart. all of it. happy birthday peanut :)

spring giveaway.

i've been eyeing the vintage pearl's hand-stamped jewelry for awhile.

how cute is that family tree?! those initials?!

i want ONE of each.

please :)


lo and behold - she is having a spring-break giveaway on her blog.

maybe this is my lucky day!!

38 week update.

the 38th week was so much better than the 37th for mom2be! no swelling OR nausea - HOORAY! i lost 4 lbs at this appointment but it's likely do to fluid retention from last week. we found out that things are progressing nicely and the doctors estimate that he will be between 7-8 lbs at full term.

only a little while longer until we meet the handsome man!

belly laughs.

just got this in my 38 week pregnancy newsletter.

made me laugh.

for the love of birch.

for my bridal shower last year I received a gift of Jessica Rust Design's personalized dinnerware from my maid of honor, allison. she gave us these beautiful mugs that had brown birch trees on them, and our initials and wedding year we're carved in the trunk of the tree. they are absolutely ADORABLE! i love how petite & fancy the china is and the birch trees are SOOO me.


well fast forward a year. we had several reasons to not exchange anniversary gifts this year, the biggest of all being my upcoming unpaid maternity leave and all the surmounting baby purchases we've seen the last few months. well after scouring the Internet and discovering a coupon code, i buckled the day before our anniversary and decided to expand our birch tree collection by purchasing the dessert plates.

happy anniversary to me! now we can enjoy the birch trees w/our carved initials in them for dessert & coffee :)


who knows, maybe someday we'll get the platter too :)


and they also have other cute designs... like these birds on a wire!

happi anniversary to us.

"The best love is the kind that weakens the soul, that makes us reach for more, that plants fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that is what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever. "

Happy 1st Anniversary to my best friend.



LOTS more wedding pics can be found here.

reason #1305

...why i love my husband so much. he still leaves me love notes!

(the scheduled, early pot of decaf coffee won him points too)

big mtg @ work today so i brought the post-it for good luck.

baby mccutie.

i apparently have no willpower. we were back and forth to the baby store a few too many times this month b/c somehow this st patty's day onesie & bib couldn't resist jumping into my cart. baby king is already a McCutie.

36 week update.

my how the belly has GROWN since 31 weeks.

so far i've gained 25 lbs (total, not in 5 wks!) and many more inches than that around the middle :) baby king has had some very active days the last week keeping me on my toes, and up at night! i'm starting to slow down a bit which is making me more restless, but easing into the last few weeks i'm trying to embrace the slower pace while i still can.

one of my latest, more vivid dreams was about baby king's love for NINJAS. he was about 3 yrs old, wearing a ninja bandana across his forehead and came flying into our kitchen to ask me if April O'Neil could be his girlfriend.

Turtle in a half-shell April O'Neil?!

Girlfriend?

I told him to go ask his father...

baby book quest.

i'm trying to find a darling baby book to record baby king's first moments & i stumbled across this gem...

it's the Mother Stork’s Baby Book. the story goes something like this. the founder discovered her Grandmother's baby book, filled in by her Great Grandmother, and she loved the book so much that she wanted to get the original 1904 version republished. so she started a company to do just that! The republished 100 year anniversary edition of Mother Stork's Baby Book is now in its third printing. And clearly, to purchase one for your child is to have an heirloom in the making.

Vintage. Charming. Lovely.

You can take a tour of the inside pages here.

only problem is... it's $135. YIKES.

have i gone completely out of my mind to fathom spending this much MOOLAH on a baby book?!?

anne taintor.

i discovered anne taintor designs when i was shopping for bridesmaids gifts. her modern, vintage humor is RIGHT up my alley. i scooped up some flasks & luggage tags for the travel themed occasion and have since, thoroughly enjoyed sending her cards to deserving recipients who will appreciate the humor.


i've decided that the next opportunity i get to have a ladies night cocktail hour, these beverage napkins NEED to come with me. you can shop for them here. AND since i'm not a stickler for rules, cocktail hour can be achieved by one or more persons attending.

happy valentine's day.

we're off to spend a night at the lovely country inn where we were married almost ONE year ago. i hope everyone enjoys Valentine's Day!


(guess I shouldn't have spoken too soon about being in a bathing suit)

nursery inspiration.

we've been plugging away at baby king's nursery and making good progress! it pays to have a plan down well in advance given we had so many projects lined up prior to actually being able to start it.

the inspiration for the nursery came from an unexpected place. hubby and i were registering together and we realized that neither of us really wanted your typical pastely, light blue on light blue nursery for Baby King. (hubby can be VERY picky when he wants to be!) there were strict rules, no Disney, no teddy bears, no pastels on the walls, etc. in fact out of ALL the bedding and decor ideas at Buy Buy Baby that we saw, we only agreed (in principal) on TWO. An alphabet design in primary colors OR a woodland-forest themed colorful nursery.

when we ran across this bouncy seat at Target, the color scheme was nailed. this baby will be surrounded by deep chocolate, lime green, turquoise blue and bright orange. throw in the occasional creatures of the forest and VOILA! we were fortunate enough to receive the bouncey seat as a shower gift so the daddy-2-be went to town last weekend setting it up. cheers to making progress!!

buffalo chicken wing dip.

remember this recipe?! well it came out just for the superbowl tonight. my husband is really spoiling me! YUUMMMMMMY.

nursery progress.

the former guest room has seen quite a bit of transformation over the last 2 months. previously lavender in color with a shabby-chic guest room flair, it is making it's way (slowly, but SURELY) to a modern, colorful forest themed nursery!

we went with a deep, rich chocolate brown color for the walls which will really make the white furniture and colorful accents POP. here are some pics of the painting progress lovely hubby made:

swimswuit love.

being 34 weeks pregnant, i really have no business even THINKING about swimsuits. but so far it hasn't stopped me from wanting this one and this one. they're just lovely.

oh, hello.

nice to meet you! (virtually)

yea, that's my tongue.

and there is definitely NO question i'm a BOY!

burp cloths for baby king.

i know, all my posts lately have been about babies, babies, BABIES. subject of the times, I guess :) while i was organizing my pics i realized i've been sewing quite a bit these days but never shared any of the projects...

i actually tackled these burp cloths back over turkey day when my fam was in town. they're easy-peasey and don't take very long at all!

basic ingredients: cloth diapers and fabric (i used fat quarters)

pin the fabric on the cloth diaper and then top-stich.

my fam was a BIG help. auntie justine helped iron all the fabric, mom oversaw the sewing and uncle jon actually busted out a few moves on the sewing machine. wish i had a pic of jon's fat fingers using the machine to share :)


next sewing-for-baby project up: diaper & wipes case!

31 weeks preggo.

many have asked for a belly pic... and here it is. (or as close as anyone is getting these days!) i did my best to crop off the flabby arms and my complete dis-regard for undergarments peeking out of tank tops. yay for wintery layers :)

the bump at 31 weeks gestation.

mom & baby are both healthy and active. (well, he is definitely more active than me these days!) mom's been blessed with a fairly textbook pregnancy so far - reflux & roadrage included! they have appts every two weeks where we get to check in and hear his heartbeat and have been spending their free time thinking about the nursery, pediatricians, daycare, the hospital stay and all the other wonderful joys that can overwhelm first time parents!


only 58 more days to go!

meet the babies 2009

sondra's little cutie pie, LELA, is featured in the democrat and chronicle's 2009 meet the babies contest. you can VOTE with either your facebook account or email address (or a hearty combination of both!) but hurry up because voting ends today.