Gwen's First Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day was spent with my parents, Steve and Rita, Grandma Martens and Sue Ward stopped by to meet our little girl. It was a great dinner, and even better dessert! The Prieb family has so many things to be thankful for. 

Gwen's Thanksgiving outfit

This past weekend was obviously Gwen's first Thanksgiving, but it was also her first big road trip. Gwen has been on shorter trips to Salina, but this trip was an over nighter! We started early Saturday morning heading back to see Tamie's parents in Sedan, Kansas. Trying to time out Gwen's eating schedule with our driving schedule was the biggest task. Gwen eats every three hours. So, before we made it all the way to Tamie's mom's house we stopped in to see Norman and Diana Reeves. Norman was Tamie's pastor and friend through Tamie's teen years, and remains a good person to talk to when times get chaotic. After a quick stop to catch up with the Reeves, and to feed Gwen, we took off for the final 45 minutes of our drive. 

Gwen keeping warm 

Gwen was a perfect little girl the entire three plus hours she rode in her car seat. This made Tamie and I very very happy! Once we got to Tamie's mom's place we let the girl stretch out and eat while we ate. Her break from the car seat was short lived, and we were on the road again, this time heading further south to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. We made it to Bartlesville and still no crying! Hard to believe! We quickly checked in at a hotel and Gwen got to stretch, play and of course, EAT! While there, Gwen enjoyed her first Christmas light show! And then a nice dinner with Uncle Bob, Aunt Nancy and her family. After all of that, Gwen was ready for bed and nearly slept the entire night!

Yelling for the Chiefs, luckily Gwen doesn't yet understand how terrible the Chiefs are!

Sunday morning all three of us were up early and headed back to Sedan, for dinner with Tamie's dad, Tom. Just a short 45 minute drive back to Sedan. At Tom's we enjoyed fried catfish and mountain oysters for Thanksgiving! Unfortunately, no HORSEMEAT was served! Gwen finally got to meet some more of her cousins, and spent some time being cuddled by Aunt Nancy. Right after lunch we packed the girl up, and headed north, back to McPherson. What a great Thanksgiving, made even better because of our happy girl!

Trying on her pink cowboy boots!

Today Tamie and I put up our Christmas tree and holiday decorations. Which basically means, I push and pull totes out of the shed while Tamie fills the house with Christmas decor. Gwen is looking forward to some doctor visits next week. Next Monday, the 5th, Gwen goes back for another Upper GI test to see how she's digesting her food. Thursday the 8th is another big day with Gwen's two month doctor check up. Tamie and I are excited to see how Gwen's GI test goes and to see how our little girl checks up with the doctor.

Gwen's checklist is normally done every three hours!

We'll leave you with that for the week, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  

It's to COLD out!

Changes

Tamie and I have been taking everything one day at a time with Gwen. Gwen's colic recently took a turn for the very worst! Last Monday we took our little girl back to the doctor to attempt to try something new to help relieve Gwen's anxiety. The doctor came up with a cocktail for Gwen to drink, 2oz breast milk, half scoop of formula, and one teaspoon of rice cereal! And what a turn around we have seen with our girl! Since Monday, we have had only normal baby crying. No more three to five hour scream sessions! Tamie and I could not be happier. Having a happy, sleepy baby has made our lives, and Gwen's so much better. As of Thursday, Gwen weighed in a 9lbs 4oz, the formula mix has really helped Gwen put on some weight! 

In non-baby related news, Tamie and I have put our house on the market. We know, we know, as if we don't have enough going on. We happened to find a house that fit us and our baby just right! We currently have a contract on another house, contingent on selling our current home. Very exciting, very busy times! We will leave you with that for the week. Here's a few quick pictures of Gwen, and proof that she is finally a sleepy, happy baby!

Such a good sight to see, a yawning Gwen!

Such a great feeling to hold a smiling baby!

Gwen has recently learned to use that lower lip to get what she wants!

Pic from this morning. Gwen is not happy about being woke up to eat!

Happy baby! 

Busy Little Girl

Our little girl has been quite busy this week, actually, all three of us have. 

Last Wednesday we took Gwen with us to my BPU five year service award dinner. She did great through the entire lunch! 

Friday, Danielle, a childhood friend of Tamie's, brought her toddler, Addyson to meet Gwen. 

Saturday, they shopped Main Street for the Holiday Open House. 

Sunday, Tamie and I officially became members of First Christian Church, the same church where we were married, and have been attending for over the past two years. We are very happy to be a part of such a great church family! 

Monday, Tamie and Gwen enjoyed a cold rainy day in their pajamas while I finished up my last evening shift. 

Finally, today, Tuesday. Tuesday was filled with activities for Gwen. Unfortunately, not all of them were fun. Gwen has been spitting up often, almost after every feeding. We became so concerned we took her to the hospital, where the doctor scheduled an Upper GI(gastro intestinal) test. It was a simple test, and not harmful at all to Gwen. The doctor simply gave her a drink of barium water, and watched how Gwen digested her food through x-rays. They found that Gwen still had curdled milk in her esophagus and stomach, at 10am, from a feeding time of 7am. They also determined that Gwen has acid reflux with this test. However, through the entire testing session, our little girl was totally cooperative! Now we are waiting for the final test results to come back, and praying that the doctors can help Gwen. Almost immediately after the doctor Gwen got to go have some fun! Tamie's co-workers at Farmers Alliance had a diaper shower and chili lunch for us. Not only was the chili and dessert good, Gwen got her little red dress for Christmas. Tamie and I want to give a BIG thank you to anyone who helped make the lunch and diaper shower happen! 

Above, is the mound of diapers we were given from Farmers Alliance! Take a guess at how many diapers Gwen got! The answer is at the bottom of this post.

Gwen making a goofy face while being held by Mom.

Tamie often sends me pictures while I'm at work, this is just one of the many.

And finally, Dad got Gwen to smile while cuddling on the couch. 

Well, what's your guess on how many diapers? The final count was exactly 1,245 diapers! 

4 Week Picture

Hard to believe that our girl is four weeks old today! We'll be using her Cubs teddy bear for her monthly pictures. (Thanks Richard!)

Letters From Gwen Part 2

Hi again everybody! It's Gwen! Mom is busy doing laundry and Dad is yelling at the Chiefs. I sure hope the Chiefs win, it makes Dad so happy. I've been such a busy little gal this week. Mom and Dad took me to the doctor again. I have been staying awake WAY too much! I have only been sleeping 6-7 hours a day. Doctor Overholt says, "that's not enough". In fact, the doctor says I have something called Colic. I don't care what it's called, it keeps me awake, and makes me really upset. Thank you to the doctor for figuring out that all I need is four tasty drops to calm me down. 

 Here's proof the drops work! I'm asleep!

 That's me taking a snooze again, Dad says I snore. I don't think so!

 This was the outfit I was supposed to wear when I came home from the hospital; it just NOW fits me!

 Monday was Halloween, I dressed up as a skeleton! And when Mom and Dad shut the lights off, my bones GLOWED! I had so many friends stop by to trick-or-treat. Here's a few pictures of my friends.

 The monkey is Brody, and his little sister Bre is a duck. QUACK QUACK!

My other friends from Lindsborg couldn't make it to the house, but they sent us pics. This is Haley, and she was a little ducky too!

Haley's big sister Lilly was a duck too! QUACK QUACK QUACK!!

I've got another diaper shower from Farmers Alliance next week! I go through so many diapers, I keep Mom and Dad very busy changing them. I'm looking forward to meeting all of Mommy's co-workers. Daddy has a service recognition dinner at BPU tomorrow. He's been working for BPU for five years, I'm excited to meet some of his co-workers too! Uhoh, I gotta go guys, Daddy is done yelling at the Chiefs and Mommy is coming to check on me. 'Til next time...