Faith Elizabeth

I am writing blog posts about each of our kids in honor of their upcoming 2nd birthday, so this post is dedicated to Faith.

When Faith was one week old, I wrote this in a blog post:

"Faith: Although you only weigh a few ounces less than Alexis, you are definitely the tiniest.  You also have the loudest cry and, even though we don't like it when you get upset, your cry is adorable.  Like your identical twin Alexis, you are a bit feisty and you definitely make your opinions known.  You also do not like wearing your CPAP headgear even though it is helping you grow right now, and you definitely need to grow!  You have the same long, beautiful fingers as Alexis. We can't wait to see how you and Alexis are alike and different since you're identical twins, and both of you have such strong personalities already.  You're the baby of the family and we love you so much!"

Like her NICU days, Faith continues to be a strong-willed and determined toddler. She tends to be the first to accomplish things developmentally, especially when it comes to gross motor skills. She also fights us when it's time to change her diaper or clothes, and she often wrestles with us when it's time to get in the car seat. Although Faith now weighs more than Jack, she has the thinnest legs of all three so she has a skinny appearance, just like when she was born. She is often called "Baby Faith" as a nickname, especially by Micah, but we don't really think of her as the "baby" of the family anymore since she is often the leader of her siblings.

Here are some of Faith's traits as an almost 2-year-old:

• She is fairly social and will ask other adults to hold her by reaching out or saying "up"
• She is especially interested in what "big kids" are doing and will spend a lot of time watching them 
• She tends to be more a of a daddy's girl than a mommy's girl
• She loves to give big hugs
• She is very independent of her siblings and seems to be the leader most of the time
• She is very attached to both of her stuffed husky doggies (one is the beanie baby we just gave her when she gave up the pacifier)
• Although she seemed to be really attached to her pacifier, since we got rid of them on May 10 she seems to have forgotten about it! She did ask for it occasionally in the weeks after we got rid of it, but I don't think she's said anything about it in over a week.
• She may be the first to potty train as she tells me when she has a "stinky" (or when she is about to go!)
• She is brave and is not afraid to do try new physical activities such as go down a twisty slide by herself, even if it really is dangerous (some of those slides are really fast and have tight turns)
• She loves dogs and gets very excited and screeches when she sees one up close
• She loves to say, "See that?" and point to things such as airplanes in the sky
• Her favorite phrase right now seems to be, "Oh wow." She says it when looking at books or when she sees something out of the ordinary. I've realized that I say that a lot too, so I guess that's where she got it from!
• She can be a little sensitive about her footwear and when I put her dressy sandals on she says "owie" over and over. She also won't run around with her shoes un-velcroed.
• She is very concerned about messes. The other day I said something out loud about her face still being dirty after dinner, and she ran to the drawer with the Norwex cloths and pulled one out for me to clean her face with.
• She loves to play 'show and tell' when we are on FaceTime with grandparents and she will bring up her doggies and other things to show them off.
• She likes to pretend to feed her babies. The other morning after she woke up she grabbed two dolls and said, "Babies hungry" and then started to "feed" them from a bowl.

Here are photos of Faith from the day she was born through now:

A couple of hours after she was born on 6/7/13

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

13 months

14 months (in box)

15 months

16 months

17 months

18 months

19 months

20 months

21 months

22 months

23 months

(almost) 24 months...notice the shoes which she put on herself

Faith spent the most time in the NICU (2 months as opposed to six weeks for Alexis and Jack), but it is really hard to believe as she is a really strong little girl. We can't believe our "baby" is turning into a little girl before our eyes, but we look forward to the years to come!