The Deibel Crew: November 2007

Friday, November 30, 2007

Houston, We Have a Bottle!!

This is her second bottle. And this is how I have to hold her to get her to start

drinking. Once she's into it, I can shift her around.

Its been an interesting 24-36 hours in the Deibel home....in a whirlwind of events, I (Jen) started having trouble with my wisdom teeth and molars. It was decided Wednesday that I would be getting the wisdom teeth removed on Friday (today!!). Ack!!! The surgeons that do the procedure via local anesthetic are all booked up until at least January, possibly February and based on the *ahem* "discomfort" I'm having, I did not want to wait that long. Soooo, I'll be put under, thus, we started a crash course weaning of Cailyn. It wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. From midnight Wednesday to 1pm Thursday, Cailyn refused to eat anything I put in the bottle. Finally, after her nap at 1pm she took 5.5 ounces of a combo bottle of formula and expressed milk. At 4/4:30 she drank another 5 oz cocktail. At 6:45 she drank another ounce and went to bed w/out a peep. She slept from 7:30ish-4:15am!!!!!!! I can't remember the last time she did that. Of course, I couldnt' sleep and was up past midnight. LOL When she woke at 4, I wasn't sure what to do. I had 3 oz of nature made milk ;o) in the fridge, but wanted to save that for Seth to have on hand just in case. So, I made a bottle of straight formula. She fought it when she felt the silicone bottle touch her mouth but the a little bit of formula dripped in her mouth and she started chugging!! She even got mad when she accidentally pulled the bottle out of her mouth! She drank 4 oz and went back to sleep!! I, on the other hand, have been up since (its 5:45am now). Those of you who've been through this process before know why I can't sleep...But, I"m just so thankful that God has been so gracious and merciful through all of this and I honestly didn't expect it to be this easy! During those 13 hours where she wasn't eating, she was happy and smiling and playing. She would only cry when a wave of hunger hit and I offered a bottle. I had prepared myself for a full day of crying and screaming (from both of us lol). So, to those of you who knew we were starting this and were praying - thank you!! And Hannah, oh my sweet Hannah! She was so wonderful during all of this!! I gave her a bottle of water (cleverly plugged so as not to make a mess) and she fed her baby. That dern baby and bottle went EVERYWHERE we did today...and she was so well behaved and sweet! I sure do love my girls!

Hannah feeding her baby

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Thanksgiving and other random pictures

We had a wonderful time with Seth's parents, brother, sister-in-law, and their two kids. They were here for several days over Thanksgiving (though too short a visit). We went to the zoo, Chuck E. Cheese's (in the same day!!), went and saw where JFK was shot, and spent lots of time playing. All the kids had a great time playing and Hannah is adjusting to life without Rachel and Jared around. We celebrated Seth's birthday (which fell on Thanksgiving Day this year). Seth brought home the Nintendo Wii from the church and we had a blast with that. Even Leanna got in on the Wii fun, though somehow managed to escape being photographed! The photos below are a bit jumbled in order, but still fun to look at. :o)

Trying to get a group shot of the kids at the zoo: