Half birthday

It is Nicholas’ half-birthday today. Sam even wrapped up some pre-loved presents for him (a drink bottle, bib, spoon – what every six month old desires) to celebrate our Littlest Love being in the world for six months. Here’s a run-down on our little man at the six month mark…

We have had a flurry of six-month-checkups in the past week and all have confirmed Nicholas’ status as a very healthy kid. He is weighing in at 7.4kg, which is hefty for any baby, but especially one with Down syndrome. He is also quite long at 69cms. While we have started (very slowly… poor third child with distracted mumma) on solids, that breastmilk obviously hits the spot!

Approximately 50% of children with Down syndrome are born with congenital heart conditions. We have been so lucky that Nicholas hasn’t experienced any concerns with his heart, except that it was noted his his patent ductus arteriosis didn’t close at birth. However, apparently this is very common in any baby, especially as the first scan done on his heart was at a mere 12 hours old. A quick trip to the cardiologist last week confirmed that the PDA has closed up of its own accord, thankfully, and no further appointments are required.

And today our paediatrician confirmed that Nicholas’ thyroid, which can be another potential issue associated with Down syndrome, is functioning well. The only ‘black mark’ we received on our near-perfect health check was to be referred to an opthalmologist for some further eye checks. Oh well, you win some…

Nicholas loves playing with his physiotherapist each week at our local Disability Services centre and she seems happy with his progress so far. We’re currently working towards rolling and sitting independently. While lower muscle tone means that he has to work a bit harder to reach milestones, Nicholas is strong and has quite good head control so I’ve no doubt he’ll be chasing his big brothers before too long. We also regularly visit our favourite osteopaths and Nicholas spends most of the appointment chatting or gazing adoringly into their eyes 😉

Our littlest Love has slotted beautifully into our family over the past six months. He is a happy, easy-going little man who loves to chat, and smiles with his whole body. There is a mutual admiration society going on with his big brothers, who rarely leave his side, and I regularly get requests for them to ‘tuddle Nick’. Luckily our little snuggle bunny likes nothing more than a good ‘tuddle’, and is also very tolerant about being squished by toddlers.

Nicholas has ticklish ribs and gives us a faint giggle whenever we find them. He still sleeps beautifully overnight and has started having bigger sleeps during the day now, so I feel very blessed (now I just need to get the other two in line and we might get full nights of sleep again!). But thankfully, despite being dragged from pillar to post, he manages to stay in pretty good spirits even if he only catches a nap here and there. He rarely cries (although he does have a cracker bottom lip that he pulls out in sympathy if he hears anyone else get upset) – just talks progressively louder until we pay attention 😉

We feel so lucky to have this divine baby in our lives. Happy half-birthday little one x

But the next baby born was truly divine,
a sweet little child who was mine, all mine.
And this little baby—as everyone knows—
has ten little fingers, ten little toes,

and three little kisses on the tip of its nose.

~ Mem Fox, Ten Little Fingers & Ten Little Toes