It’s a Girl!

CRESCO - Kurree Marie is the center of attention in the McCarville family just for being a newborn and possessing cuteness overload. But she also has the spotlight in Howard County as she is the First Baby of the Year for 2021 for the Times Plain Dealer’s annual contest! She was born on Jan. 6 at 4 a.m., weighed in at seven pounds, 12 ounces and was 20 inches long.

The little princess joins her parents, Kelly and Samantha McCarville at home in Cresco, Iowa, along with her sister, Sully (almost six) and brother, Krew (three).

Sully was born on her due date, and Krew was nine days early, so Kurree’s parents were expecting her a little earlier than Jan. 6, a day before her due date of Jan. 7. Samantha says it doesn’t matter when she was born — the family is just happy she is a healthy little girl.

Mom and Dad came into Regional Health Services of Howard County before 1 a.m., and Kurree made her appearance at 4 a.m. “With Sully I pushed for two hours. With Krew and Kurree, it was only a couple of times,” said Sam.

She and Kelly both had COVID early in the pregnancy, which was a little bit of a concern at the time, but everything turned out okay. Sam mentioned she was happy it happened earlier, rather than later. They got a call from the hospital every day to make sure mom and baby were doing well.

Kelly is excited to have another baby in the house. “We are beyond blessed and happy that the delivery went well and she is healthy. I can’t say enough about Regional Health Services. They were amazing. They were great from the minute we got there until we left.”

With their first two children, the couple did not find out if they were boys or girls, but with already having one of each, they decided to do a gender-reveal party. “We did egg roulette,” said Sam. A friend was told the sex and had an egg colored. Sully and Krew then cracked the egg on Kelly’s head. Since it was a COVID year, the family didn’t get together. “After we found out, we then shared the results,” she added.

With all three children, Mom and Dad had a couple names picked out ahead of the birth, but they wanted to wait to meet the little ones before officially naming them. After meeting their daughter, they chose Kurree Marie. “Some friends from my hometown (Nashua, Iowa) had the name Kurree but spelled it different. And Marie is my mom’s middle name.” All three children have a middle name from her side of the family. She said since their last name is McCarville, they get names from the Harrington side of the family!

Besides the immediate family, grandparents are also very excited to meet their new granddaughter. With COVID restrictions at RHSHC, Steve and Kathy McCarville of Cresco and Bill and Sandy Harrington of Nashua all met Kurree through the window and are anxious to get some hugs and kisses in. Also waiting to meet her are great-grandparents, Jean McCarville of Cresco and Bob and Kathy Harrington and Nancy Hillesheim, all of Nashua.

Sam said Kurree’s siblings were very excited and eager to have her come home. “Our five-year-old will be more helpful. The three-year-old might be a little jealous since he has been the baby for a while. And Sully is most excited to have a baby around, although our nieces are also excited to add another McCarville to the family. For the past few weeks, they were trying to guess what her name would be. She’s a lucky girl to have so many cousins to take care of her.”

Kelly and Samantha have been married for seven years. They met in 2008 while both attended Wartburg for basketball. Kelly currently works at Camp Site RV, and Sam is at Donaldson Company.

For being the first baby of the year, Kurree and family have received items from area businesses that sponsored the contest. Kelly said, “The gift bag was really nice! We were very surprised at the nice items given to us.”

Those giving gift certificates or Cresco Chamber Dollars include CUSB Bank, Regional Health Services of Howard County, Plantpeddler, Dough & Joe, Evans Memorial Home, Dollar Fresh, Mill House and Fireman’s Inn.

Businesses that gave gifts were O’Henry’s Stitches & Prints (baby blanket), Holstrom’s Gift & Jewelry (silver spoon), Quilter’s Garden (cloth book), Fareway (diapers), Marti & Company (gift certificate and headband), 2 Chicks in a Barn (gift basket) and Times Plain Dealer (year’s subscription to the newspaper).

Congratulations to the happy family!