Happy 3rd and 5th of July!

One of her great aunts gave her this adorable dress with matching hat. I was so glad it fit her to wear for the 4th of July. Kara was decked out in her Red, White and Blue, to her first of two BBQs that weekend.


We first went to a BBQ on Friday the 3rd with Andrews coworkers. It was at Todd and Diann's. Their house was across the river in IL. and down a little road out in the middle of corn fields. They have a big house with a nice size pool in the back where everyone was at for the BBQ. Too bad Kara wasn't just a wee bit older and she could have tried out the pool for the 1st time. There were other kids there slashing and jumping in all night long. Three boys would repeatedly jump off of the diving board, get out of the pool, and jump back in off the diving board. It was fun to watch, they were getting creative with each jump in. But it was also tiring watching them go in and out of the pool, they had so much energy!
Our friend, Jay, who works with Andrew was at the BBQ and held Kara for a while. New best friends, he was so good with holding her, a natural. Baby Kara loves her daddy, Andrew. Everyone got their turn holding her. I also brought along the baby backpack with us. This thing is so handy, to be able to have Kara strapped in and have both hands free. Usually I place her in the baby backpack facing inwards towards me. At the BBQ I tried for a change facing her out to see everyone...she is a little baby still with her head peeking out the top. It was too cute. She was able to look around at everything this way. Later on she fell asleep in the baby backpack, but not for too long, there was too much fun going on to keep her interest at the BBQ. family photo of the three of us at her first BBQ. All that yummy food and she didn't eat any of it, she hadn't started on solid foods yet, just breast feeds.

Once it got dark some of the guys set off fireworks and the load noise startled Kara only twice...the rest of the time she was mesmerized by the pretty colors up in the sky. (photo below, crying from the load startle)When we got home she slept through the WHOLE night! We wore her out. heehee. She didn't wake up until 6:30am AND she slept in her own room that night, I was so proud of her! Kara's first 4th of July on the 3rd.

The second BBQ was on Sunday the 5th of July. We went to our friend, Julies place. A smaller group of people than the 11st BBQ. My friend, Carissa gave her this cute onezie that reads, "baby's 1st fourth" I dressed Kara in that with the hat that was with the dress she had and a pair of jean shorts. She is starting to grow out of her newborn onezies and into her 0-3 month and the 3-6 month clothes. At Julie's BBQ, we ate hot dogs, fruit, Cesar salad, cupcakes... I went there knowing that Kara is 15 weeks old and babies don't really start eating solid foods until one more month or older. We brought along cut up watermelon, and I had a piece on my plate, holding Kara in my lap. I thought I would see if she would like the melon. She loved it! Sucking on the watermelon was the best stuff on earth, it was such a treat for her. I started to take it away and she got a little fussy, telling me to give it back in her baby talk. It was amazing, I put the watermelon back in front of her mouth and she latched on sucking it dry. Everyone was amazed at how much she was enjoying this piece of watermelon. She kept making slurping/sucking noises it was to cute! BIG hit with the watermelon! SHE LOVED IT! Photo below of Kara in my lap, chomping down on the watermelon. MMM good! It almost was a joke, that you have to give her watermelon if you want to hold her... with out the melon she would get fussy. Photo below is Julie with baby Kara and watermelon in hand.

I'll keep an eye on her the next couple of days for any allergic reaction she may have from it. She is sticking to the Breast milk and formula diet. Not going to introduce too much of the solids quite yet. We were just at the BBQ with her and wanted to give her a little treat to enjoy. I hope your 4th of July weekend was as eventful as ours was. We had a blast, times two!