July 4th Weekend

Friday: HAPPY 4th of JULY!

We had two picnics to attend this year. Jen and Brent Clouser always hold an annual 4th of July picnic and they were excited to throw their 1st picnic at the new house! Too bad the weather wasn't cooperative so we could all be out on the new deck. It was nice to hang out with friends we hadn't seen in a long time. Ryan really enjoyed playing with Lily and her cool new Thomas the Train set! Our little Kara was in one of her "moods" and was pretty miserable the entire day. :(

My parents also hosted a picnic this year. It was nice to finally introduce Kara to more family...especially her great-grandparents, Nanie & Pop-Pop Delp (my Dad's parents). As stated above, Kara was not a happy girly on Friday and wasn't in the mood to be passed around. We were lucky to get a picture with Nanie Delp! Ryan always enjoys playing at my parents' house...they have a huge swing set that he could spend hours on! My youngest sister, Bambi and her husband, Drew made an announcement that they have decided to pack up their family and move to North Carolina by the end of July!! What a surprise! While we are sad that the kids (Ian, Autumn, Ethan & Owen) will be states away from us, we hope this new adventure brings great opportunities their way.

Kara's 4th of July shirt (size 3 months = too BIG!) :(
(not sure why this photo is sideways?!!)

Nanie Delp & Kara


Family Photo (Great shot of Kara's mood these days & poor Ryan is tired of hearing her cry!)


Saturday: Cranky Kara strikes again!

We are starting to worry that our sweet little girl either has colic or has a dairy allergy. The crankiness started last week with her not napping well during the day. It starts about 1pm and sometimes lasts until 2am!! Needless to say, I am exhausted mentally (no sleep!) and physically (no sleep & nursing!). She is happy and content while feeding but crying hysterical while awake. I finally called the Reading Peds. today and the nurse said to cut back my dairy intake (if you know me well...you know that this is going to be the hardest thing for me to do- I love MILK!) and to also soothe her with "white noise". This can be anything from the vacuum to the hum of the car. We did notice that she is calm while driving in the car....so after a few hours of cranky Kara on Saturday, we decided to do some shopping! Off to Target we went to pick up storage containers for Ryan's new book/storage shelf that Chris made! (He did an awesome job too- we got the blocks from Just Cabinets and Chris stained them to match Ryan's new bedroom set.) It was a success with getting some relief from a crying baby.

Ryan has been such a good boy since Kara's birth. He took the transition to big brother with such ease. I was worried for most of the pregnancy about how he would react and if he would turn into a jealous, angry boy. Luckily we have not seen either one from him. He truly loves his little sister and gets concerned when she cries. It is so sweet to see him go up to her and say, "It's ok Kara- don't cry" in his little voice.

a little Daddy & Ryan fun at the local Target




Ryan's Big Boy Room Book/Storage Shelves!


Sunday: A Day of Rest

After another sleepless night with Kara, we just prayed Sunday would be a day of calmness. Our prayers were answered and we spent a lazy day catching up on some much needed rest!

Cat Napping (Daddy & Kara)