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Introducing Josephine Mae Trouba

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 07:42:47 -0600

As most of you know, we had our third daughter on Friday, January 29th. We named her Josephine Mae, in honor of Donnie’s grandfather and my grandmother. She was born at 3:40 p.m. and weighed in at 7 lbs. 9 oz. She has more hair than our other two did, but that isn’t saying much! The little hair she does have is light brown/blonde. Her eyes are very dark grey/blue maybe brown, it’s kind of hard to tell at this point.

The delivery was uneventful, as was most of Friday and Saturday. Late Saturday afternoon when the nurse was taking Josie’s vitals, she noticed an irregularity with her heartbeat. They hooked her up to an EKG and called the pediatrician on call. The doctor agreed with the nurse and to make a long story short, we ended up at Children’s Hospital in the NICU Saturday night. Because she was doing so well (she was pink, breathing well, eating well, acting fine), they put off any tests until the morning - other than hooking her up to various monitoring equipment. Sunday morning they did an echocardiogram, ran a 15-lead EKG and put her on a 24-hour holter monitor. The 24-hour monitor is basically a constant EKG that the cardiologist could look at to see how frequent the arrhythmia was. She was quite the little trooper, even at less than 2 days old, and didn’t seem to mind the poking and prodding.

Fortunately, after all of that, we were able to go home Monday afternoon after all of the results were read by the attending cardiologist. She still has the arrhythmia, but it is considered benign, and there isn’t really a known cause. She has pre-atrial contractions or PACs, which has to do with the firing of electricity through the heart. The heart itself looks perfect and she has no outward symptoms. It will be monitored by our pediatrician and a cardiologist at Children’s.

Other than that, what a sweetheart! She is amazing, as all newborns are, with her perfect little round face, adorable ears and dark eyes. She is very alert at times, making us laugh with her funny expressions. Sidney and Charlotte are both doing well with the new addition. Sidney is VERY attentive and “helpful”. She means well and that is what matters. Charlotte isn’t quite sure about all of this, but gets very concerned when she hears Josie cry and today had a very “moving moment” as Donnie put it. Donnie was laying on the couch with Josie on his chest, and Charlotte was laying next to him. Charlotte reached over and took Josie’s hand and gave her a little kiss. I think she’ll be a great big sister, just like Sidney.

We want to thank everyone who helped out last week and this week. Especially Don and Emma, Janet and our neighbors Kyle and Crystal. Thank you!!

We’ll try to get some updates to you as things progress!

Now Halloween is here

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:47:48 -0500

Here are the Halloween photos I promised! Sidney was Ariel (again) and Charlotte was a chicken. It took Charlotte a few houses to get warmed up, but once she did she didn’t want to stop. Sidney wanted to stop as soon as we got the laffy taffy sticks, so she could go home and eat hers. Donnie enjoyed the holiday as well, if you couldn’t tell from the photos. When we finished trick-or-treating, Sidney helped Donnie hand out treats at our house. It was Sidney’s job to make sure everyone said, “Trick-or-treat!!” before she would hand them a popcorn ball. (Act II popcorn balls, by ConAgra Foods of course)

Feel free to send your Halloween pictures and we’ll post them in the Halloween 2009 gallery!

Halloween is here! (in a few days)

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:21:13 -0500

My plan is to post a nice long update today, then follow it up with a few Halloween pictures this weekend. We’ll see how that goes.

Happenings since my last update:

Sidney started preschool on August 17. She has been doing very well and really enjoys going. Her favorite parts of preschool are playing with her friends and Monday’s Stretch and Grow.

We finished our kitchen remodel! I love having more counter space, and Sidney enjoys eating breakfast at the breakfast bar every morning. Misha is definitely NOT a fan of the floor, but she has yet to scratch it! Some pictures were posted in a previous gallery.

In early September we took a short trip to Chicago with some friends. We went to a Cubs game, visited Donnie’s cousin Eddie and his wife Francesca and met their daughter Gianna, who celebrated her 1st birthday about a week after our visit. We capped off the trip with U2’s first US show of their 360 tour. Unfortunately, the sound was an issue as there was a major echo off the scoreboard at Soldier field, but we had great company and still had a great time! (Donnie mentioned this all a quick post a couple of weeks ago.)

Sidney celebrated her 4th birthday on September 22. Can you believe she is 4 years old? She may seem mature since she’s been talking since she was 10 months old, but she still throws her share of tantrums, like a normal 4-year-old. She is still as clever as ever and is a really great big sister. She tells me all the time how much she is going to love the new baby. (have I mentioned that we’re expecting, I can’t remember) Sidney had a small birthday party at Boingz! in Omaha. It is a fun place for the kids. They have a large room filled with big inflatable bounce houses. Charlotte especially enjoyed herself and left kicking and screaming.

Shortly after Sidney’s birthday, Kevin, Christina and Jonathan visited from Indiana. Donnie was out of town for the beginning of their visit, but was able to make it back in time to spend a day with them. Unfortunately I didn’t get any good pictures, but if any are sent to me I will post them!

On October 10 we experienced our first snowfall here in Gretna. Everyone knows how the weather can be crazy around here. Today it is beautiful, and a couple of weeks ago it was freezing! We are hoping the nice weather holds out until Halloween, so we can get some nice trick-or-treating in. There is a picture of Charlotte in the snow in the most recent gallery.

Moving on to October 18, Donnie and some friends went to see U2 in Norman, Oklahoma. They had a great time, and the sound at this show was much improved! Thanks to the guys for a fun trip.

Finally, on October 23, we took a very short trip to Las Vegas to see (yes you guessed it) U2 perform again. This show also had terrific sound and we had spectacular seats thanks to a contact of our friend Isaac. We were in the front row, no obstructions. What a show!

There were also a few notable births to mention:
August 16, 2009 - Paityn Kay, daughter of Jen and Nathan Vacha

August 19, 2009 (not completely sure of this date) - Jett Brady, son of Andrea and Brady Vacha

Mid-September, 2009 - Joseph (not sure of middle name), son of Leslie and Matt Buggi

October 6, 2009 - Payton Grace, daughter of Dana and Curtis Southard

Congratulations to all the new parents (most of the group are first-time parents)! My advice to everyone: get as much sleep as you can, take lots of pictures, and ignore all the advice you get.

There are lots of pictures from the past two months in the most recent gallery. Also, be sure to check back next week for those Halloween pictures I promised!