Sadbh’s update – July 5th 2013

Helen worked an extra hour and a half this morning and allowed all three of us to sleep in. It worked out perfectly as Sadbh woke up just as her shift ended.

We had a busy morning planned as there was a contractor coming by at 8 and after breakfast we had an appointment to get Sadbh’s US passport.

She was great and allowed us to get everything taken care of without any problems.

Sadbh fell asleep in the car on the way home so we quietly carried her in and got her ready for her nap.

Trach care was very easy since she was in a deep sleep and she slept on for another hour and a half after we finished up.

She woke up in a very lazy mood and hung out playing in her cot for a while.

Her new nanny stopped by to discuss her contract and Sadbh was very shy at first. It did not take long for her to warm up and soon she and Mariana were playing in the garden with Sadbh’s kitchen.

Uncle Neil stopped by and after Mariana left we loaded up the stroller and headed off up to the Seattle U campus for a walk. Sadbh was in a great mood and happy to be out in the sunshine.

We stopped off in her favorite church where she loves to hear her echo. She started to sing “Happy Birthday” to Annabelle and Fionn until she stuck her finger into one of the candles.

Thankfully she did not burn herself.

She had a great time hanging out with Poppy and the rest of us this evening and was entertained with Poppy playing his imaginary bagpipes. Sadbh laughed hysterically.

When it came time for Sadbh to go to bed she was quite pooped. She was in a great mood and did not want to go, but after a nice relaxing bath she was soon happy cuddling up with mommy.

New photos.

Photos from July 5 2011.

Photos from July 5 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – July 4th 2013

By 6:30 Sadbh was wide-awake and asking for mommy.

Instead of heading upstairs, Sadbh and I had breakfast and hung out until almost 9 allowing mommy to sleep in.

Sadbh had a fantastic morning and got some good quality time with Poppy.

When it came time for her nap she was exhausted and allowed us to manage trach care without any problems.

She slept for only an hour and woke up very upset.

Mommy was at the shops getting groceries and as soon as she pulled into the driveway Sadbh’s mood instantly changed.

For the 4^th of July celebrations we headed over to Theresa and Orla’s house for a barbeque.

Along the way Sadbh surprised us by singing a song to her cousin Annabelle telling her that she loved her. Thankfully Katie was able to catch it on video.

Sadbh had so much fun hanging out with Conor, Ixchel, Ellison, Aidan, Aibhin and she even got to meet four-week-old Bastian.

There were a few tense moments as all the kids got tired or when Sadbh did not get her way, but all in all the kids got along and had a wonderful time.

We arrived home just as Helen did and it took Sadbh a while to get to sleep with all the excitement. The neighborhood sounded like a war zone with all the fireworks going off but thankfully Sadbh was not bothered and slept right through.

New photos.

Photos from July 4 2011.

Photos from July 4 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh. 

Sadbh’s update – July 3rd 2013

Before Sadbh went to sleep last night Katie told her that Poppy was coming to visit for the weekend.

She had a great sleep and woke up asking where Poppy was. She searched all over the house until Katie explained that he was due to arrive later in the day.

Mommy made Sadbh banana-blueberry pancakes for breakfast and Sadbh devoured two enormous ones.  Afterwards, they packed up the stroller headed off for a walk. 

Katie had some errands to do up on Broadway and afterwards they nosed around in the shops for a bit.  Sadbh was in her element and she loved looking at all the dresses, shirts, purses, shoes, earrings and everything else she spotted.

On the way back, Sadbh quickly fell fast asleep in her stroller so Katie decided to continue walking around Capital Hill.  Sadbh didn’t sleep long, however, and when she woke up, Katie and Sadbh both enjoyed a nice cold ice cream treat.

Sadbh was in such a good mood that Katie decided to take her with her for a quick pedicure.  Sadbh sat on Katie’s lap while Katie had her toes painted.  No doubt the first of many Mommy and Daughter pedicure visits.

Sadbh and Katie made their way home just in time to get everything ready for a quick trach care routine as soon as daddy got back from work.  Trach care went well and as soon as we were done, we packed up in the car to go get Poppy from the airport. 

On the way to the airport, Sadbh received a beautiful video from her little cousin in Cork, Fionn.  She loves watching videos of Fionn and asks to see him every day. 

As we approached the airport, Sadbh kept saying that Poppy was right there (pointing out the window).  She soon decided that he must be hiding behind one of the trees in the distance and he was going to “pop” out.

She was delighted to see him and even more excited when we all went out to dinner over in West Seattle.  Sadbh had a lovely dinner, but she mostly loved stealing French Fries from everyone’s plate and wandering around saying hi to everyone else in the restaurant.

Before heading home we stopped off for a stroll along Alki beach.  Summer is in full swing in Seattle and there is nothing more beautiful than sunset on the beach.  Half of Seattle must have been out and there was even one little boy who was buried in sand up to his neck.  Sadbh thought this was very interesting and she stopped to watch him for quite some time. She was definitely in her element and was even more excited when she got her second helping of ice cream for the day.

It was a great day all around and we are all looking forward to spending the long holiday weekend with friends and family. 

New photos.

Photos from July 3 2011.

Photos from July 3 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – July 2nd 2013

Sadbh had another good night and woke up very happy to see Katie.

It was mommy’s turn to stay home with Sadbh today and Sadbh was so happy.

After a big breakfast Sadbh immediately got stuck into some serious fun. She had a lot of energy to burn off and thankfully mommy was right there with her keeping up.

Her friends Aibhin and Conor stopped by for a couple of hours to play and they all had a fantastic time.

While playing her ukulele Sadbh sang happy birthday to Conor, which is probably a first for both kids.

Sadbh had a short nap and woke up ready to play some more.

It was definitely a slightly cooler day compared to yesterday however the back yard gave Sadbh plenty of shade from the sun and heat.

As soon as she was done with dinner we headed inside and got Sadbh ready for her bath and then trach care.

Everything went well and her neck looked great.

New photos.

Photos from July 2 2011.

Photos from July 2 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – July 1st 2013

Sadbh slept great last night and woke up at 7:15 in a very good mood.

Larissa has the week off so I took today off from work to spend it looking after Sadbh.

When she woke up she started to call for Katie and was surprised when I popped one of her ugly dolls over the side of her cot. She was not expecting to see that face looking at her and was laughing her head off as a result.

As soon as her equipment was unhooked we headed upstairs to see mommy.

Sadbh could tell that mommy was getting ready for work and she was not having any of it.

Sadbh had a nice breakfast sitting out on the back porch with one of her dolls. It was shaping up to be another scorcher of a day so I stocked up extra water and plenty of sun block for Sadbh.

By now Sadbh was fine with mommy going to work and soon we were both heading off up the street towards Capitol Hill and the Seattle U campus.

It was a nice walk and Sadbh was very content sitting in her stroller the whole way.

Our first destination was Elliot Bay Books and Sadbh was thrilled as soon as we set foot inside the door. She wanted to get out of the stroller as quickly as possible and ran to the kids book section as quickly as her little legs could carry her.

I spent the next half an hour replacing all the books that she loaded into the stroller and occasionally she took a few minutes to sit and glance through a few books that she found most interesting.

It was a fun trip and by the time we left Sadbh had another 5 good books.

I had promised Sadbh ice cream however it was still very early and none of the four ice cream parlors I tried were open. I headed off to a grocery store on Madison and thankfully they had good ice cream in a small tub for Sadbh.

I was sweltering myself from all the walking so I decided to treat myself to a nice cold treat also.

Sadbh and I then headed back down the hill to the Seattle U campus so Sadbh could get a chance to run in the park. There were lots of little kiddies around and Sadbh was desperate to join in on the fun.

Eventually we headed home so Sadbh could take her nap but she would not leave her kitchen in the back garden. She was very busy cooking and kept serving me fried tomato for dinner.

It was an effort to get Sadbh into her bath and as soon as she put her toes in you could tell by the smile on her face that she found it a relief from the heat.

Naptime was not easy as she was overly tired. It took almost an hour of her bouncing around her cot before she finally dropped off.

Two hours and twenty minutes later Sadbh was awake and in a great mood. It was time for the fun to start again and after snacking on some nice refreshing treats she was off out into the garden to play with her kitchen again.

Sadbh had a fantastic day and we both had a lot of fun hanging out.

When it came time for bed we were both exhausted but Katie and I still had trach care to manage.

It all went well and after a nice long snuggle with mommy Sadbh was off to sleep.

New photos.

Photos from July 1 2011.

Photos from July 1 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – June 30th 2013

Sadbh was quite restless throughout the night but managed to sleep until 7:15. She wanted mommy straight away so we headed upstairs for a quick snuggle before heading back downstairs for breakfast.

Sadbh did not have a big appetite and grazed on her food for a while.

When she was done eating some time later we headed back upstairs to hang out with mommy.

She had a fun morning and got to Skype with Nana and Granddad.

After trach care and her nap she wanted to get out into the garden to play. It was a scorcher of a day but thankfully we had plenty of shade in the back garden.

Sadbh was very busy playing her kitchen and both Katie and I were very surprised with how neat and organized she was.

We had a fun evening playing and when it came time for bed she decided that she was still hungry and insisted on having yogurt.

She gobbled down some banana flavored yogurt but was still not ready to go to sleep.

It took almost an hour and a half to get her to sleep and by the time she finally dozed off she was wiped out, as was mommy.

New photos.

Photos form June 30 2011.

Photos form June 30 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.

Sadbh’s update – June 29th 2013

Sadbh slept great but Danielle had no luck trying to cap her trach. It seems that she can manage it well throughout the day but has no desire to wear it at night.

We decided to give her a break at night for the next couple of weeks.

She woke up just as Danielle left and was quick to help mommy with making breakfast. She even discovered the Taytos (potato chips) that I had brought back from my recent trip home to Cork however, unfortunately for her, she did not get to eat any.

After breakfast we headed to Costco to get a few things and most importantly a photo of Sadbh for her US passport. She was so good posing and we ended up with a great photo.

By the time we arrived home Sadbh started to fall asleep in the car. We carefully moved her into room and set about preparing for trach care.

She slept right through and after we placed her in her cot she slept for another hour.

Uncle Neil came by and as soon as Sadbh was dressed and fed we headed up to Capitol Hill for a walk.

It’s Pride weekend in Seattle this weekend so Sadbh got to join in on the festivities. She had a great time and was thrilled to see all the rainbow flags. She kept saying “its my birthday” and singing “Happy Birthday to Sadbh”.  She also sang the rainbow song a lot “Red and Yellow and Pink and Green, Purple and Orange and Blue”. 

We met up with an old neighbor of Katie’s and he was very excited to meet Sadbh. She even scored a new pair of sunglasses off of Don.

Things got very exciting when a bunch of people started prancing around the park dressed up as unicorns. Sadbh could not believe her eyes and followed them in complete awe.

Soon after she was joined with Dylan, Conor and Aibhin. Now the real fun was about to start and the kids had a fantastic time running, chasing bubbles and hanging out.

Dylan is a few months older than Sadbh and he’s extremely adventurous and has no issues investigating new and interesting things. Sadbh on the other hand is fairly cautious and done not like to get dirty. As a result she was very busy chasing Dylan around with a clean wipe ready to clean his hands or face anytime she felt he needed it.

After hanging out in the park for a while we decided it was time to head off to get some ice cream and cool off. I think Conor was the only kid not to end up with a big mess and Sadbh even needed to change all her clothes she was so messy.

After saying goodbye to everyone it did not take us long to walk home and after a nice bath Sadbh was soon fast asleep.

Not a bad way to end her day and first pride celebration.

New photos.

Photos from June 29 2011.

Photos from June 29 2012.

All the best,

Wayne, Katie and Sadbh.