TroelbyLog

Hello all and sorry for the recent lapses in blogging. We’ve been hunkered down here doing the same ol’ same ol’ and waiting for word from Sage’s schools. We learned this week that both are a no go, so that’s a big fat bummer. We don’t know what it means yet long term but for now we’re just keepin’ on keepin’ on.

Ben made the decision to leave Avenue and took a 3 month gig back at Planet working on a project for a familiar local client in Chicago. He’s excited to be working with PP again and we’re all looking forward to increased flexibility as well.

Reed doesn’t seem to notice any of this and continues to amaze us at every turn. He’s very curious and loves learning. We hope you enjoy this video of Reed exploring the solar system. We think there might be space travel in his future. - Troelbys

Exersaucer!

Originally uploaded by troelby.

Hi everyone, sorry it’s been so long since the last post. Life has been pretty busy around here lately. Reed is thriving, growing up so big way too fast. He’s unofficially 16 pounds now, is waking at most once a night and often sleeps all the way through. He’s making lots of new noises, exploring his vocal range. He loves to hear us sing (”You Are my Sunshine,” “Baby Beluga,” “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”), and loves to bounce and dance around with Dad.

For about a month now he’s really enjoyed standing up with a little help. He smiles really big and even stomps his foot sometimes. This has even led to some air-banjo hoedowns that have ended with the whole family, Reed included, belly laughing.

We got out the Exersaucerâ„¢ (thanks, Marggie!) a few weeks ago and although he has to hold onto a nearby giraffe or monkey for balance, he’s really enjoying interacting with all the little toys attached to it. What great fun! More pics of Reed in the Exersaucer can be seen here.

All in all, Reed is just a wonderful kid. Really fun to be around, an easy smile with just about everyone, and a patient, inquisitive little guy. We just can’t get enough of him, especially when he wakes up from a nap and is all soft and cuddly.

Sage is enjoying classes very much, teaching her favorite authors, and is often heard exclaiming how she knows she’s found the career for her. How wonderful is that?
On a less positive note, though, her recovery has not been easy and she has limited mobility because of it. She’s still experiencing postoperative pain related to nerve damage during the surgery, but we have a great team of caregivers now in the area, and she’s going in this week to the Pain Clinic at Rush University Medical Center to start treatment of it. Luckily we’re in a place that has good resources like this.

Ben is managing to get a few hours work in a week and has a couple of great clients he’s working with. He even had an agency approach him about a job as creative director, but turned them down because the timing isn’t right, for many reasons.

We’ve seen quite a bit of our Chicago friends in the past few weeks for the occasional dinner, party, or baptism, and we’ve continued to see our familes on a regular basis, which is just great. The grandparents make monthly visits, so Reed’s getting to know them well.

Ben found that there’s a “mountain” bike trail head just 2 miles from our house. It follows the Des Plaines river north and he can go from our place to the Kennedy expressway and back. It’s about 20 miles round trip and although not too challenging, it’s good to get out and blow the stink off.

Well, that’s the update. Hope all is well with everyone. Feel free to comment on this post, just click the link below.

Oh, and as always, there are new pictures on Flickr. Check them out here.

All the best and lots of love from Ben, Sage and Reed (Team Troelby).

The Happy Family

Originally uploaded by troelby.

Reed Charles Hirby came home from the hospital Monday afternoon. It was so good to sleep in our own bed and quit camping at the hospital, even with all of Grandma Gerri’s wonderful help there. We’re now on day 2 of our “babymoon” where the three of us are going to settle in to family life together.

Reed and Sage are getting really good at nursing now and boy can the little guy eat. We think he’ll be quite the gourmand. So far he’s a really mellow, yet alert baby. And he does all the things newborns are supposed to do so well: eat, sleep, and poop like a champ.

We’ve posted more pictures of us from the hospital, including a great bunch of visitors on Father’s Day. You can see them all here on our Flickr stream. More to come…

Sage, Ben, and Reed

GmasAunties

Originally uploaded by troelby.

What a rapt audience of Grandmas and Aunties!

SaraSageShower

Originally uploaded by troelby.

Here are the sisters, playing some baby games.

Sage and Ben shower

Originally uploaded by troelby.

More photos from the Iowa City shower two weekends ago.

IMG_0231

Originally uploaded by hirbyfam.

Theresa and Michelle threw Sage and all the girls a fantastic baby shower today. More to come soon, but for now you can enjoy this photo of Sage wearing some of the presents.

We’ve decided not to find out the sex of Baby Hirby by ultrasound, so I’ve reverted to some old wives’ tales to help guess:

I am carrying the extra weight out front, so it’s a boy (because boys “like to be out front and independent”).
I sleep with my pillow to the south, so it’s a girl.
My feet are not cold, so it’s a girl.
I refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread, so it’s a girl.
I am looking good during pregnancy, so it’s a boy (because “girls steal their mother’s looks”).
A needle on a thread held over my belly moves in circles, so it’s a boy.
I (now) crave sweets, so it’s a girl.
When someone asks to see my hands, I show them palm side down, so it’s a boy.
I hold the body, not the handle, of a mug, so it’s a girl…

Confused yet? Oh yeah.

Sage at 6 months

Originally uploaded by hirbyfam.

Pat and Steve visited Madison on Saturday for a chance to see Sage visibly pregnant and to spend some quality time. We enjoyed a lunch of navarin, a lamb stew with spring vegetables, then took advantage of Steve’s strong back to rearrange some furniture to make room in the nursery, which is going to work out really well. We also spent some time at Happy Bambino, our favorite local baby store. Wow, is there a lot to know about poopy diapers!

Baby is movin’ around and Sage is starting to feel it. She’s been feeling funny stomach twitters for the past week, but finally put it all together at the doctor’s office when the nurse put the fetoscope to her belly when wham! baby Hirby gave it a good one and at the same time, there was some noise feedback. Oh, so that’s what that is…

We’ve had a nice little baby shop open up a few blocks from us called The Happy Bambino and they’ve been a big help with books and belly balm. Check them out if you’re in the neighborhood. It seems like another great, East-side business to support.

It all started one day after canvassing a campus neighborhood for Kerry back in September. We were feeling good, like we were making a difference. So we decided to go home and make another Democrat!

Now we’re in the pregnancy honeymoon stage, past the first trimester (nausea and exhaustion) and things are moving along pretty well. Sage is starting to show now and has fashioned some emergency pants to make things more comfortable. Her appetite is still voracious, especially for things hot, spicy, and pickled. Pepporoncini are a big favorite.

We’ve been given lots of baby books and are reading as much as we can about what’s to come. Somehow I think nothing can really prepare us, though…

The due date is in early-mid June, which puts us right about at week 17 at the moment. More to come soon!

Hmmm… let’s see here… nothing much happened in 2004…

We soaked up the rays in the Dominican Republic in April, attended the wedding of Sage’s fabulous uncles in Toronto in May, ate our way through France after going to our friend Sophie’s wedding in October, and then Sage and Gerri snorkeled with some Texas Republicans on a cruise to Mexico in November…

And this spring, with the help of some generous and very strong backs (you know who you are), we built a patio in our backyard and it turned out great. It was almost worth it. We’re sure after a few more barbeques and late summer evenings with a good book we just might step onto it without an involuntary back spasm…

So, we both worked hard this year, especially Sage, who successfully defended her dissertation on December 13th! So you can call her “Dr. Sage� from now on. Ben continues as Active Media Director at Planet Propaganda and enjoys his work as much as ever…

We adopted a second dog in May, a red male Shiba Inu named Kai and he’s our darling “Pupser Lupsers.� He gets along great with Kocho (“Koter Poties�) and only chases Kitty sometimes. But with two dogs and a cat, we found the humans of our pack outnumbered. So, we decided to do something about that, and the baby’s due in June!

Lots of love from Ben, Sage, Kocho, Kai, and Kitty