Smiles and Coos!

Thought you might like seeing her in action. Can you believe she's 3 months already? Time flies by so fast!

Pictures, physical therapy and the hearing test

Practicing lying on her side during physical therapy. Look at those chubs!

She has lots of personality.

She started trying to suck her thumb. Sometimes she gets it in, sometimes she doesn't.

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. Faith continues to grow and is as cute as ever! In February she got her 2 hour hearing test at the hospital in Portland and passed with flying colors! Although it was a long test, we were very happy with the results.

She also started her physical therapy recently. Just some tips and tricks the PT told us to use to get her on the right track. So far she is doing great. And the kids love the time we get to focus on her exercises. Because it's mostly a time to play with her. A visit with the doc showed a good growth and she's around the 50th percentile for both her height and weight for a baby with down syndrome. All in all, lots of good news.

Our Little Love Bug!

Faith is growing healthy and strong. She is now a good 9 lbs. One of her new found talents has been cooing and smiling. She has many awake moments, whereas before she slept almost all the time. Having older siblings who love and adore her are her constant entertainment and she will quite often affix her eyes on them. The only thing she's battling right now is thrush (yeast infection in her mouth), but I have been treating it with some homeopathic medicine and it is slowly subsiding.

Everyone at our church has fallen in love with our little "love bug". I bought a new outfit for her that suits that saying. Thank you all for your prayers and support once again. She is an amazing little girl! Here's a sneak peak at that outfit:

She's so alert now!

Cheeks "R" Us

Her new Valentine's Day outfit

A little cuddle time with mama. I LOVE IT!

Yippee! Faith doesn't need open heart surgery!!!

Thank you for all your prayers! Faith does not need open heart surgery!!!!! The hole closed on it's own. What remains are 2 holes that are normal in newborns, but usually closes around 3-4 weeks of age. Even if they were to remain open, when she is 3 yrs. old, they would only need to catheterize the holes to fix it and not have any open heart surgery at all. God is faithful.

The only other hurdle left is her hearing in the left ear. They did a newborn screening test for her hearing and her left ear failed it. So we need to go to Portland where they have better instruments to test her there. Please pray that her hearing is normal and that it won't affect her communication later on.

Love you all,

Gizelle

Eyes Opened

Finally caught a picture of her with her eyes open

More pictures!

Sleeping soundly at the hospital on day 1!

A cute close-up with her new blankie.

Time to go home :D

Swallowed up by her car seat. My pinky is her fav pacifier.

At home all cozy.

Faith is born! 6 lbs. 11 oz. & 19 in.

Sorry this took so long to post. It took a while getting use to a newborn around the house once again as well as all the holiday busy-ness.

Faith was born on December 17th at 4am. It was an easy and absolutely smooth labor and delivery, Praise God! She was in my arms 4 hours after we got to the hospital! Vibrant and strong as ever. The doctors said her muscle tone was great and she now is nursing very well (with only a little difficulty the 3-4 days). They still here a slight heart murmur from the hole in her heart, but are still hoping to see it close on its own before her 1st month check up with her cardiologist. Only a bit of jaundice remains and is slowly subsiding. She is a very good baby and absolutely loves being held (which we all love doing anyway). All in all she has amazed us all! I often find myself just staring at her and pinching her chubby cheeks. God is SO good!

Thank you for all your prayers. He is and has held her in the palm of His hands.

Enjoy all the pictures!

Epidural is in place. What a helpful tool that is! See how happy I am.

Fresh from the womb!

All cleaned up. Our very own china doll.

Big brother and sisters finally meet her

A pro at being the big sis.