Sadbh’s update – day 260

Sadbh was very restless again throughout the night and eventually Katie fed her at 5am.

Other than her restless sleeping, she had a great morning and around noon, she had a play date with Cormac and Clodagh.

She had a great time with both of her friends and they got to play with all her new Christmas toys.

Clodagh tried to get Sadbh playing with her Lady-bird rocker, however she was having none of it.

Both Derek and Suzie received trach care training at Children’s a couple of months ago and today was Derek’s turn to sit in on trach care.

Katie and her mum Peggy managed the cleaning, while Derek watched.

We are so lucky to have such great friends.

All in all, Sadbh had a great day and hopefully she will get a much better night’s sleep tonight.

New photos.

Photos from October 27.

Take care,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.       

Sadbh’s update – day 259

Despite the lack of sleep throughout Christmas day, Sadbh was awake shortly after 2am and needed suctioning and a snack.

She joined us in bed for the rest of the night and slept until 7am Monday morning, when she awoke for her breakfast.

Since we had nothing planned for the day, we decided to relax and sleep in as long as we could.

It was great as we managed to sleep until 11am and Sadbh was able to catch up on some well-deserved rest.

After we finally dragged ourselves out of bed, we Skyped with Katie’s Aunt Cammy, Uncle Einar, cousin Bjorn, his wife Erin and their son Sam in Norway. Sam was very entertaining and showed Sadbh his new lion.

As soon as we finished Skyping with Norway, it was time to Skype with my folks in Cork. Their friends Sheila and Richard were visiting, and got to see Sadbh showing off her ability to blow raspberries and how good she is at trying to stand.

The rest of the day was very lazy and Sadbh got to hang out playing with her new toys.

For dinner this evening, we introduced meat into her diet, and she loved it. It was a blend of chicken, carrots, potatoes, leaks and tomatoes.

I’m thinking that we introduce her to a nice medium rare filet mignon next week.

New photos.

Photos from October 26.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Carnivore Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 258 Christmas Day

It seems that Sadbh’s routine has changed and she is now waking around 3am for a late night/ early morning snack.

Christmas morning was very exciting in the Walsh household. Maybe not so much for Sadbh as it was for Katie and myself.

In fact, Sadbh was terrified of the first gift that Santa gave her.

It was a rocking ladybird that plays music, and it has a nice big comfortable seat for Sadbh to sit in. I think she will get used to it, but she certainly did not want to have anything to do with it Christmas morning.

She was fascinated with the gift wrapping and bows.

Peggy and Kirk arrived for brunch and next thing, the Skyping started.

We first Skyped with my brother, his wife Ann and her family in Killarney.

Sadbh got to meet Sean, Lisa, Andy, Eabha and Sadhbh (another spelling of Sadbh), and they all got to tell Sadbh what Santa brought them.

Afterwards, we Skyped with my parents and all my cousins in Cork. Sadbh even got to meet baby Layla, the latest edition to the family.

Next it was time to Skype with Katie’s sisters family in Portland and Sadbh was serenaded by Lulu who sang the 12 days of Christmas.

By the time we were done Skyping with everyone, Sadbh was exhausted, so Peggy and I gave her a bath and started trach care.

As soon as I her trach ties removed and had started cleaning, her eyes shot open and we realized that we were going to have to work extra hard to get her back to sleep and to finish trach care.

Once we were done, we bundled her upstairs to her cot, however she wasn’t having any of it and it was back downstairs to unwrap the next present.

For Christmas dinner, our friends Theresa and Orla generously hosted at their house in West Seattle.

They had set their basement up as a play area for all the kids and the house was so full of delight and Christmas cheer.

Sadbh was surrounded by all her friends and got to take part in another gift exchange with everyone.

Clodagh gave her a cute wooden train set in which each carriage was a letter that spelt out her name.

Luna and Cora gave her a toy camera. Now it’s Sadbh’s turn to start taking photos of me to make up for all the photos that I have taken of her.

Aidan gave Sadbh a cute book on what’s yummy and what’s yucky.

Dylan gave her a wooden box for sorting wooden shapes.

Cormac gave her a cute red tutu and a green headband. She looked adorable in her tutu, and with the addition of her headband, she actually looked like a strawberry.

Despite having only a 15-minute nap throughout the whole day, she did not want to miss out on any of the fun. There were times during the evening where she could hardly keep her eyes open, however she fought hard to stay awake and was so happy regardless.

By 9pm, she was definitely having a tough time staying awake, so we bundled her up and left for home. She wasn’t in her car seat more than a minute before she was fast asleep.

Theresa and Orla really outdid themselves and made Christmas so much fun for everyone.

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends.         

It was quite obvious that Santa had a busy day, as I’ve never seen so many happy kids.

New photos.

Photos from October 25.

Merry Christmas,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 257

Sadbh slept soundly until 3:30 this morning, but then started tossing and turning until 5 when she finally woke up for her breakfast.

Eventually she fell back to sleep in our bed and did not wake up until after 8.

Since it is Christmas Eve, we had a fairly busy day planned and tried to get as much done in preparation for Christmas.

We actually made a list of all the things we had to achieve today, however we really didn’t achieve much on the list. That said, despite not being able to take care of the things we had set out to, we did accomplish a lot more than we had anticipated.

Sadbh got to Skype with her cousins in New Zealand as they got to celebrate Christmas Day, and straight after that, she got to Skype with my parents back in Cork.

By the time she was done Skyping all over the world, she was wrecked tired, so we took advantage of this and got trach care out of the way. She was out like a light and before she knew it, she was bundled up and in bed in her cot upstairs.

An hour or so later, she was wide awake and ready for lunch. Next thing we got a surprise visit from Sophie, her fiancé Felix, their son Felix Jr., and their newborn Vivienne. Sadbh was fascinated with Felix Jr. and couldn’t keep her eyes off of him.

Sadbh was exactly the same weight and length as Vivienne when she was born, and it was really interesting to the difference in size she was today in comparison.

Vivienne is the cutest little girl and it was great to see the pride in both her parents. She is so lucky to have a great family and we cannot wait until she is big enough to have play dates with Sadbh.

Our friends Sarah and Gerry hosted a Christmas Eve party at their house, so we headed over there in the evening. It was wall-to-wall children and Sadbh had a great time.

The funny thing is, since everyone has kids now, the parties end a lot earlier than they used to.

Even though Sadbh doesn’t know who Santa is, or what Christmas is all about, both Katie and I are really excited for Sadbh’s first Christmas and cannot wait until she get’s to open her gifts in the morning.

That said, I’m sure she will have more fun playing with the wrappers and boxes than what’s in them.

New photos.

Photos from October 24.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Love,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 256

Sadbh slept well Thursday night until 3am and despite trying to get her back to sleep, Katie ended up having to feed her to get her back to sleep. Sadbh didn’t make it back to her cot, and ended up sleeping with us for the rest of the night.

We are testing a new sleeping arrangement and instead of having Sadbh’s cot at the end of our bed, we have moved the bed to one side so Sadbh’s cot can be placed right next to Katie’s side.

Later in the morning, Katie texted my father to see if they were around to Skype.

As soon as my parents appeared on the screen, Sadbh instantly recognized my father and got the largest smile on her face. She was so happy watching and listening to both my parents.

After Skyping with my folks, Peggy arrived for a visit and it was time to Skype with Katie’s family in Portland.

Afterwards, Katie and Peggy managed trach care and Sadbh slept for almost an hour and a half.

I was able to leave work around noon and shortly after arriving home, Sadbh was just waking up from her nap.

This meant that it was time for lunch and then playtime.

A few weeks ago, Sadbh received a lovely gift of a cute outfit that included a tutu from our friends Emmanuelle and Claudio and their two girls.

Sadbh got to wear it this evening and spent the whole time trying to get the tutu into her mouth.

She looked adorable and was very happy in her new outfit.

                            

Katie and I had a dinner appointment for Friday night so we called on the services of Shaunti , the baby-sitter nurse, who we met though Audrey, the great nurse that looked after Sadbh throughout the summer.

Sadbh was quite happy hanging out with Shaunti and even went an hour past her bedtime.

A couple of hours later when we arrived home, Sadbh was still sleeping, however she was getting restless and starting to wiggle her way out of her swaddle.

It took a while to get her bundled up and back to sleep.

New photos.

Photos from October 23.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 255

Another great night was had by Sadbh, and she slept soundly until 6am.

Despite our woes with our nurses, we currently have one really good nurse that works great with Sadbh, especially at night. I’ve mentioned before that this nurse has a daughter that is two days younger than Sadbh and as a result, she knows exactly how to take care of a restless baby.

Over the last week or so, we have noticed that Sadbh is not as interested in crawling as she is interested in trying to walk. Tonight when I placed her in her cot she instantly grabbed onto the rails and dragged herself up so she was standing upright, and ended up looking for a way to escape.

I think it’s time to lower her bed down a few notches so she cannot fall out of her cot.

That said, it’s unlikely that she will get far enough to fall out since she is under constant observation.

Katie has all of next week off of work, so we have cancelled all nursing care until the new year, so Sadbh will be sleeping upstairs with us for the next week and a half. I love it when I get to wake up in the same room as Sadbh.

New photos.

Photos from October 22.

Take care,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – day 254

Sadbh had a very restful nights sleep and slept until 5:45am.

She was fussy around 11:30, and the nurse thought that she might be in for a busy night, however as soon as she got Sadbh swaddled and settled down, she was out for the rest of the night.

Sadbh had another great day with Peggy and unlike yesterday, she did a much better job eating solids.

Since we managed trach care so late yesterday evening, Katie went home at lunch time today to take care of it with the help of Peggy.

During the day, our day nurse send us a cute photo of Sadbh playing with a doll that my mother sent over, and in her e-mail, she joked at how Sadbh was sharing the dolls binky. After opening the photo, it was quite obvious that Sadbh was not sharing, but rather stealing the binky from her doll.

Later on after I arrived home from work, I found Sadbh playing with her doll, however it looked more like that she was wrestling with the doll rather than playing.

Big congratulations to our friends Sophie and Felix on the arrival of their baby girl Vivienne. We cannot wait to meet her and Sadbh is looking forward to playing with her new friend.

New photos.

Photos from October 21.

Take care,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.