Sadbh’s update – April 7th 2013

Sadbh had a good night sleep and woke up happy to see Gerdie.  She played for a while in her bed with Nana and then woke up rearing to go. 

It was a busy morning as every one in the house was finishing their packing and getting ready for the trip to Chelan.  It always takes longer than it should and by the time we were just about ready to go, Sadbh was showing signs of being tired. 

We decided to do an abbreviated trach care routine, skipping the bath.  It seemed like Sadbh was going to go to sleep, but suddenly she got another burst of energy.  We decided to do something different and talk her through trach care while she was awake.  Grandad helped by holding the iPad so Sadbh could watch Kipper.  Katie cleaned and Wayne held the trach.  Sadbh was a star (as usual) and she stayed calm and even giggled as she saw the funny things that Kipper was doing on the iPad. 

Soon, trach care was done and the crew could continue getting ready for the road.  Once in the car, Sadbh was fast asleep in no time. She slept for the first hour of the journey and woke up just after we past Snoqualmie Pass.  Since Sadbh is nearly two, we turned her car seat around and she was able to look forward and watch as the snow came flying against the windshield.

The rest of the trip went well and Sadbh busied herself with snacking, drawing and playing with her doll.  She especially loved using the Walkie Talkie and hearing Poppy’s and Gerdie’s voices from the other car through the device.  When we arrived at the house, she was ready to get out and play.  She was delighted to run around the house and find new toys that she could play with.  The toy trucks were especially fun to play with!

The evening was spent jumping and dancing around the house.  At dinner, Sadbh was singing “Happy Birthday Sadbhy”.  She definitely knows that her big day is coming soon!  Its hard to believe she will be 2 years old on Wednesday.

It was a late bedtime since we had lots of putting together to do.  Sadbh loved watching Wayne and Gerdie set up her bed and she couldn’t wait to get into it.  Katie asked her if she was tired and wanted to go to sleep and she said “Yes, in bed!”.  Once the bed was ready, Wayne and Sadbh laid down and they were both fast asleep in moments.

We hope Sadbh will sleep well tonight and for the whole week.  We do not have nurses here so she will sleep next to Katie in her new bed.  We are all looking forward to a nice week away.

New photos.

Photos from April 7 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – April 6th 2013

Sadbh was very restless and tossed and turned all night. She was so wiped out that she did not wake until 8am.

Granddad took over from Helen at 6 and when Sadbh finally woke up she was surprised to see him. They had a great morning but soon she joined Katie and me upstairs for a cuddle.

We were planning on heading to Lake Chelan for the week but had to postpone it by a day since it took us too long to get all her supplies together for the trip. She sure has a lot of baggage and that does not include her clothes or toys.

She had a great morning and when it came time for her nap she was exhausted.

Trach care went well and Sadbh slept soundly for just over an hour.

Later in the evening we all headed over to West Seattle to Jak’s grill for dinner and unfortunately we had a long wait.

All of a sudden Sadbh wanted a yogurt and got very annoyed. In an effort to calm her down I headed out to the local super market a couple of blocks away and when I arrived back she was happy eating some mac n cheese that Katie had ordered for her.

The service was very slow but Sadbh had a great time. It was well past her bedtime by the time we left and she was soon fast asleep in her car seat on the way home.

Despite the short notice Helen was able to work tonight so Sadbh can hopefully get caught up on some sleep.

New photos.

Photos from April 6 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – April 5th 2013

Sadbh had another restless night but managed to tolerate her trach cap for an hour and fifteen minutes over three sessions. Eventually she had enough so Larissa let her sleep on.

Sadbh woke up very happy just before 7 and was in a great mood.

Granddad took over early this morning, as Katie needed to get ready for a conference call with work.

After a big breakfast she was ready to get busy having fun.

She had a very busy morning with Amy, Nana and two of her grandfathers. Despite the lack of interaction with other kids, Sadbh sure does get a lot of attention from everyone else.

Her morning wiped her out and soon Sadbh was ready for a nap. Trach care went really well and she managed to sleep for an hour and a half.

She had a wonderful evening and she was over the moon when both Katie and I arrived home at the same time.

We both had a tough day but things all felt much better after we each got a big hug and kiss from Sadbh.

She was in such a great mood and the evening was spent having a great time.

Before bedtime she was having a snack and after placing bread over her top lip she declared that she had a moustache. Then she placed it on her chin and started to say “beard”. It was very funny.

Danielle could not work tonight so thankfully Helen agreed to cover tonight.

Sadbh was in a deep sleep she Helen arrived but woke up startled shortly afterwards. I was able to get her back to sleep and hope that she will sleep well for the rest of the night.

New photos.

Photos from April 5 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – April 4th 2013

Sadbh woke up from what seemed to be a bad dream last night and asked Larissa to cuddle her, “blanket sit” were the words used. The rest of her night was very restless however her heart rate was quite relaxed and stable.

She finally woke up just before 7 and was happy to see Katie.

Amy arrived an hour later and she prepared a nice big breakfast for Sadbh.

The weather had turned bad so Sadbh ended up staying indoors all day. She had a lot of fun playing with her grandparents and Amy.

At one point she wanted to play with Nana’s needlepoint and she had to have Nana’s glasses on. Unfortunately for Nana, Sadbh accidentally broke her glasses.

Trach care went well today as Sadbh was very tired and after a nice cuddle with Granddad she was out like a light.

She slept for almost three hours and as soon as she woke up she could not get out of her cot fast enough. She was eager to get the fun and games going again and was in a fantastic mood.

She had my parents in hysterics when she grabbed her pink purse and turned to my parents and said “good luck lads”.  She’s definitely very Irish.

Sadbh’s other grandfather, Poppy, arrived from San Francisco tonight and Sadbh was shy for about five minutes.

She soon entertained him by singing a few of her favorite songs and soon she had everyone joining in.

Sadbh did not want to go to bed and poor Katie had to work very hard to finally get her to sleep.

Tonight is Larissa’s last night shift as she will be moving to day shifts after a week’s vacation.

Hopefully Sadbh will have a much better night tonight but it is good to know that if she wakes up that Larissa is there to look after her.

New photos.

Photos from April 4 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – April 3rd 2013

Sadbh did great with her trach cap last night and managed almost two and a half hours over two sessions. The second session only lasted 46 minutes and ended when Sadbh sat up, pulled her cap off and handed it to Larissa before heading back to sleep.

Her total amount of time being capped yesterday up until midnight was 7 hours and 11 minutes. I believe this is an all time record.

Sadbh was in a great mood when she woke up at 6:40 and as soon as she laid her eyes on Katie she new the fun was about to start.

Her nurse Caity worked today so it was a full house. Sadbh was delighted to see Caity and Amy and after a fun morning they all headed outside to enjoy the nice weather.

Sadbh and her gang headed up to the park in Madrona however it was full of kids. Fearing the risk of exposing Sadbh to unwanted colds or bugs Grandad decided that it would be best to avoid the park and thankfully Sadbh was good with the decision.

Later in the morning Sadbh started to get tired so they gave her a bath and got her ready for trach care. She was soon sleeping her little head off and everything was going well with trach care when all of a sudden she woke up with a fright. She must have had a nightmare and it was impossible to get her back to sleep. Granddad calmly explained to her that he needed to put her trach tie back on so she relaxed for long enough for him to do that.

The rest of her day was spent having a great time with Amy, Caity, Nana and Granddad.

She was exhausted when it came time for bed and was fast asleep within a few minutes.

Katie and Granddad took care of trach care tonight and thankfully Sadbh slept through the whole thing.

Today was nurse Caity’s last day working with Sadbh as she just recently took the position of nurse supervisor for the agency. We will miss working with her but hope that she gets assigned to Sadbh’s case so we can see her from time to time.

New photos.

Photos from April 3 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – April 2nd 2013

Larissa was working again last night so Sadbh had some quality time with her trach cap. She did great considering that she had not been capped while she slept since Thursday night. She tolerated it for two hours and twenty minutes over two sessions.

She was so relaxed that Larissa had to keep checking to make sure that the cap was still in place.

Sadbh must have been very tired as she slept soundly until almost 7am. Katie had taken over from Larissa and Sadbh was very happy to see her when she woke up.

After a nice big snuggle they both headed upstairs so Katie could get ready for work and Sadbh could catch up with her favorite shows.

Sadbh had a great big breakfast and afterwards she got some good playtime with Amy.

It was a cloudy but pleasant day so they all headed out for a walk. There are so many kids parks within a mile or two of our house and today they headed to Powell Barnett Park. There is a huge kids play area with a kid’s fire engine that Sadbh could not get enough of. She had a fantastic time and got to use up a lot of energy.

Trach care went well and Sadbh slept for two and a half hours afterwards.

As soon as she woke up she was ready to get back to having fun and could not wait to play with her toys.

She did not want to eat but after quite a bit of convincing she finally gave in and had a big dinner.

She had a great evening and when it came time for bed she kept talking about her birthday. When Katie asked what type of cake she would like she responded by saying “yellow”, only to change her mind a minute later by asking for a “red then “pink” cake.  Oh, and she also wants yellow ice cream.

Bedtime was a bit of an effort as she kept rotating between three binkies. She refused to allow me to put her into her bed and after forty minutes the both of us nodded off to sleep.

New photos.

Photos from April 2 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – April 1st 2013

Sadbh slept great and did not wake despite ending up at the foot of her bed.

This gave her nurse, Helen, a good opportunity to gauge her baseline and to get to know Sadbh as she slept.

She was wide awake by 6:15am and happy to see Katie.  Sadbh, Katie, Regal and Meow Meow went upstairs to get ready for the day.  When they came down, Granddad was just finishing up his specialty blueberry pancakes.  Sadbh was in a great mood all morning.

Later on, Sadbh, Nana, Amy and Granddad went for a nice long walk and saw lots of buses and dogs.  Sadbh wore her cap for a total of 2hrs and 10 minutes (two sessions) and by 1pm she was ready for her bath, nap and trach care.  Amy and Granddad managed trach care well and Sadbh slept on until 3:30pm.

When she woke up, she wasn’t hungry and she refused to eat the lovely dinner that Granddad had prepared for her.  Afterwards, Sadbh had a great time exploring the garden and she wore her cap for again for 1hr 37 minutes.

Sadbh was outside talking to her neighbor Pat when I arrived home.  She also was outside on the street when Mommy pulled up.  She had a nice evening and helped Mommy and I to prepare dinner.  After dinner, she colored for a little while, then Mommy read her a few books before going to bed. 
She did not want me to put her to bed and put up quite a fight. After a while she finally gave in so I laid her down in her cot while she drifted off to sleep. Within a couple of minutes she was standing up calling for me so when I went back into her room she told me that she was "scared" and asked to be held. 
I tried rocking her to sleep in my arms but she insisted on me sitting down and cuddled in tight to me. Within ten minutes she was in a deep sleep and back in her bed.

Larissa works tonight and this will be her last week working night shifts for Sadbh.   Starting the week after next, she will be moving to day shifts with us and Sadbh will get to know the person who looked after her while she slept for over a year and a half.

New photos.

Photos from April 1 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.