Join in the chaotic fun with the MacPherson family in this thirty-first "Baby Blues" cartoon collection
Child-rearing reaches an entirely new level of delightfully messy chaos in "Baby Blues: Wetter, Louder, Stickier." Battle-ready and perpetually exhausted, Daryl and Wanda team up to navigate a new front of challenges, like Zoe's enthusiasm over the "Smoochy Boyz" concert, deciphering baby Wren's attempts at language, and determining Hammie's place as a colon in the school play---whether "colon" refers to punctuation or digestion remains undetermined. Armed with "performance-enhancing substances" (a.k.a., chocolate donuts), the perfectly normal MacPherson family will surely bring a barrage of smiles and laughter to familiar fans with their perfectly chaotic lives.
"Baby Blues" has enchanted new parents, grandparents, and kids alike since it first appeared on the comics pages in 1990. As the years passed, the list of newspapers carrying the feature has grown almost as fast as the MacPhersons' kids "Baby Blues" now appears in more than 1,200 newspapers worldwide, and the adventures of America's favorite first-time parents have also been chronicled in 31 anthologies and four treasuries. In 1995, the National Cartoonists Society recognized "Baby Blues" as "Best Comic Strip of the Year."

Both folly and food are flying in "Motherhood Is Not for Wimps," the collection of the immensely popular strip "Baby Blues." The parents of young Zoe and Hamish uncover chicken nuggets in the dryer, bribe their children with Fudgsicles, referee a debate on which child got the bigger cookie, and learn that there is quite likely maple syrup in the VCR. And fun with food is just the start of the countless laughs and never-ending mayhem in this collection.

The charm and universal appeal of "Baby Blues" lies in its ability to humorously capture the everyday joys and trials of parenting young children. The strip helps moms and dads the world over laugh their way through the daily challenges of keeping up with their kids. Yet, you don't have to be a parent of small children to appreciate the humorous situations fictional parents Darryl and Wanda face in "Motherhood Is Not for Wimps."

In the third collection of this heartwarming strip, parents Wanda and Darryl are bewildered in their new roles as Mom and Dad to newborn Zoe. Their true-to-life uncertainties give incisive glances at the humorous, and sometimes trying, moments of parenthood. Baby Blues appears in newspapers worldwide, with a daily readership of almost 40 million.

Their life is hectic, filled with terrible twos, teething, and temper tantrums... but Darryl and Wanda wouldn't have it any other way!

Since 1990, the MacPhersons have staked their engaging claim on the comics page with their realistically wild-eyed and worn-down reaction to parenting. We watched as Wanda gave up her job to be a stay-at-home mom, wondered how the couple would handle countless sleepless nights, and laughed when they unexpectedly found themselves expecting. Now, as Zoe grows into a walking, talking toddler and newborn Hamish learns how to roll over, the couple's pride, joy, and exhaustion reaches even greater heights.

Winners of the National Cartoonists Society's Best Comic Strip of the Year for 1995, "Baby Blues" creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott continue to entertain readers around the worlds. "If there's one service that we provide, it's to let parents know that they're not alone," says Kirkman. "I think it's comforting for readers to know that no matter how unmanageable life can get for them, Darryl and Wanda probably have it worse," adds Scott.

"One More and We're Outnumbered!" Follows parenthood classics such as "I saw Elvis in My Ultrasound," "Guess Who Didn't Take a Nap?" and "I Thought Labor Ended When the Baby Was Born," Through them all, endearing illustrations and dead-on dialogue provoke laughs of recognition and keep fans clamoring for more.

"Baby Blues" makes life with children seem funny, even when they smear peanut butter on the walls and give the baby a makeover with Mom's cosmetics. Says writer Jerry Scott, "As long as kids keep having runny noses and wiping them on the drapes, we're in business."

"Our Server is Down: Baby Blues Scrapbook #20" captures the perils and pratfalls of raising young children in suburbia. Daryl and Wanda MacPherson are a couple in their mid-thirties struggling to juggle work and three kids with hectic schedules-and maintain their sanity.

Zoe, the talkative eldest, is seven and more worldly than ever. Hammie is the newly anointed (by the recent birth of baby Wren) middle child. At age five, he's a willing student for Zoe and a virtual Velcro board for blame. Wren is the newest addition to the MacPherson clan-so far, all giggles and sunshine . . . with a few clouds on the horizon.

Parents worldwide have delighted in this slice-of-life comic since its debut in 1990.

"One of the best things about "Baby Blues" is that it follows reality so closely that you're never quite sure whether Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott are over the top or are merely excellent reporters." Oh, baby, it's "Baby Blues" Just when readers thought the MacPherson world was baby-proofed, cocreators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott flip up the toilet-training lid, throw open the kitchen cabinets, and drag the garden hose into the house with "Wall-to-Wall Baby Blues: A Baby Blues Treasury."
"Baby Blues, " of course, is the delightful internationally syndicated comic strip that depicts the adventures of the MacPherson family: Dad Darryl, Mom Wanda, and the three youngsters: Zoe, Hammie, and newborn Wren. From games of Destroy the Legos to how to blow a two-year-old's nose with just one box of tissues, "Baby Blues" never fails to revel in the funny facts and fantasies about raising kids.
"Wall-to-Wall Baby Blues: A Baby Blues Treasury." represents a treasury of the best moments from three previous Kirkman and Scott collections--"Baby Blues: Unplugged," "Dad to the Bone, " and "Never a Dry Moment."
This combination of daily strips and full-color Sunday features delivers an array of hilarious family comedy. "Wall-to-Wall Baby Blues: A Baby Blues Treasury." has young readers, parents, expectant parents, and grandparents nodding their heads in recognition of life in the MacPherson household. It's truly family fun for everyone in the family.

"Nothing is certain but death and taxes. And laundry." --"Baby Blues" proverb

When the recipe box has more pizza coupons than recipes, or for those parenting days when all you seem to accomplish is brushing your hair and making a tray of ice cubes, "Baby Blues" offers parental fatigue redemption. The brainchild of Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, this "Baby Blues" treasury features cartoons from "Briefcase Full of Baby Blues" and "Night Shift,"

From prophetic "Baby Blues" proverbs like, "The grass is always greener on the knees of your kid's new white pants," to Dinner Table Olympics where Synchronized Whining is the main event, young parents Darryl and Wanda keep pace with energetic children Zoe, Hammie, and baby Wren, as Kirkman and Scott expertly navigate the daily nuances of newborns, nocturnal diaper changes, and the nirvana of family life.

It's a family feud full of fun and togetherness in Kirkman and Scott's "The Natural Disorder of Things." Readers step into the home of the MacPhersons, a perfectly normal family with perfectly chaotic lives. Daryl and Wanda are deep in the trenches of child rearing, earning their stripes as parents to Zoe, Hammie, and baby Wren.

"Baby Blues" is genuinely funny, portraying parenting the way it is, including the good, the bad, the ugly . . . and the sometimes smelly.

"Baby Blues" "recently celebrated an achievement that is considered the comic industry's top milestone: surpassing 1,000 newspaper clients around the world." --Arizona Republic

In the early days of "Baby Blues," Darryl and Wanda were surprised at the unexpected demands of parenting. Now, however, the nonstop antics of their lovably active kids, Zoe and Hamish, keep them hopping. Darryl and Wanda have accepted, and even learned to laugh at, the general upheaval of their lives.

In "I Shouldn't Have to Scream More than Once ," the MacPhersons continue their quest to raise their two small children. One day, Zoe asserts she needs her mother to teach her how to jump rope-""It's a girl thing,"" she tells Darryl. Later, Wanda and Darryl are happy their son has gone to the potty himself, until Zoe queries, ""Don't you want me to tell you where he went?"" And Wanda resorts to feeding Hammie on the floor after Zoe spots him picking up old peas. At the MacPherson household, it's all fodder for fun that has a delightful edge of truth for parents the world over.

"Artist Kirkman and writer Scott obviously know about parenting. You can see it in every installment of the true-to-life strip they create." --Cartoon Opportunities

Life's not getting any simpler around the MacPherson household with Zoe starting preschool, Hammie approaching toddlerhood and parents Darryl and Wanda just trying to keep up. Since 1990, the daily comic strip "Baby Blues" has delighted readers with its fresh prospective on the nature of parenting, earning it 1995's Best Comic Strip Award from the National Cartoonists Society.

Scenes such as Zoe's disarmingly honest response to a complimentary stranger in the grocery store--"I think you have a really fat bottom"--strike an all-too-familiar chord with anyone who knows a child. And what parent wouldn't recognize the truth in the fact that it took only five seconds for Darryl and Wanda to move all of their valuable possessions (one framed photo) out of Hammie's growing reach?

"Baby Blues" creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott receive countless letters and e-mails from fans who describe their heartfelt connection to the MacPhersons. Like no other family-oriented comic strip, "Baby Blues" speaks to millions of people who, like the MacPhersons, experience both the tremendous joy and nagging frustration of being parents.

"The antics of Zoe really prepared me for my own child, and I really enjoy every one of the "Baby Blues" books over and over as my child grows. When I feel that life is overwhelming with my baby, I read one of these books and suddenly it all comes into focus, because obviously other parents have gone through the same thing. I have purchased these books for other moms or moms-to-be that I know, and their great books for a baby shower." --A "Baby Blues" fan

Is it possible for the MacPherson kids to get any cuter? Zoe excitedly dipping water from the toilet to serve her daddy "tea." Hamish rolling efficiently across the floor instead of crawling. And Darryl and Wanda watching all their antics in worn-out wonder! Who hasn't experienced, or at least witnessed, that final humiliated plea for the check after a restaurant is turned into a war zone by active kids? Well, Darryl and Wanda are there now.

Since 1989, "Baby Blues" fans have witnessed the amusing transformation of the career-oriented MacPhersons into realistically warm and wild-eyed parents--from Wanda giving up her job to be a stay-at-home mom to Darryl fitting in daddy duty after demanding days at the office. As demonstrated over and over in "Check, Please...," the MacPhersons are no different from many new parents, forced to make adjustments that have come fast and furious.

"Let's name the Baby Lexus! It's gender-neutral... It's unique... Plus, people will be really impressed! "There go the MacPhersons," they'll say, "They have a Lexus!""

When Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman put their heads together comedy springs forth like a baby out of bath water. This cartooning duo delights readers with "I Saw Elvis in My Ultrasound."

"I Saw Elvis..." documents the day-to-day challenges Wanda and Darryl MacPherson face as they juggle the demands of raising adorable Zoe with getting ready for Bundle of Joy No. 2. The older, and somewhat wiser couple think they've got this kid business under control, only to find a whole new set of parenting problems on their hands.

Potty-training becomes "potty pleading," Wanda concludes that she's not just pregnant, she's "abdominally challenged," and Darryl admits that what he really sees in the ultrasound screen is... Elvis.

In January, 1990, American newspaper readers witnessef the birth of a family. Today more than 40 million people follow the daily exploits of parents Darryl and Wanda and their baby, Zoe, in the hilarious, true-to-life cartoon strip "Baby Blues". Now, for the first time, creators Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott have collected their delightful cartoons in book form.