Nandinha and Gracinha

Fernanda is still plugging along and doing wonderful!!!  She gained 540 grams today (that's 1 lb 3 ounces)....ridiculously amazing!  Seriously, i'm not feeding her growth juice or anything and I've been cutting down on bottles too.  It is all God.  We are thankful and praise Him daily!  I think she might be getting a bit jealous of Graca, though.  Our Bercario directors said they watched her try to calm Graca down while she was crying by stroking Graca's cheek and when that didn't work she held her hand!  WOW!  From no interaction to calming down her sissy!  That evening though, Graca attempted to return the favor, and Fernanda was less than thrilled.....let's just say it involved a not so nice look and the removal of Gracinha's hand, several times.  But the best part of Fernanda's constant transformation is.......................I got a big smile out of her tonight!!!!!  I said goodnight and blew kisses (as i do everynight and to each and everyone of my tykes) and she smiled 3x at me.  Little stinker.  Melts your heart.  We are still praying for her daily, especially over her emotional and psychological development at the moment!

Graca is still cute as always and gained 110 grams (3.5 ounces) yesterday but lost 20 grams (1/2 ounce) today.  We are still very thankful for her progress.  She has alot of nasal congestion and a bit of a chest infection, so we are working with the tias to remember when she refuses the bottle, it's cause she's having trouble breathing and sucking at the same time, NOT because she doesn't want it.....and anyway...she doesn't get to decide that.  So they are cup feeding her when she refuses it and it seems to be working just fine.  Please continue to keep her in your prayers.  She will start on super powerful anti-retrovirals this week on top of the chemotherapeutic TB meds.  Not a very good combination.  The ARV's usually make our kids vomit, not want to eat, have a belly ache, as well as other pains they can't explain.  Please pray she has NO sideeffects from these medications and that she continues growing.  Also pray she comes out of her shell and starts playing and laughing and bonding to the tias!

Thanks for standing with us!

ps.....little Chelsia is moving to the Baby House first thing tomorrow...pray for her quick transition and making of friends easily....of course she'll have Dionisio, Lucia, and Augustinho to keep her company too.  She gets a bit frightened of new people and large crowds.  She's been "visiting" for over 2 weeks now for playdates and has started settling in a bit.  We just pray this will be an easy move on her....and everyone else!  That means our Bercario is back down to 6 with 2 that are quite needy at the moment.  It keeps our 2 tias on there toes...especially since 3 of the others are very close to walking.  Wesley can take 2-3 steps when motivate and unfearful.  Francisco can take 11 steps without falling but still seems to prefer the safety of crawling....closer to the ground when gravity prevails.  Cleita would LOVE to be walking and grazes everywhere....she's also climbing everything (though i've told her walking comes first...she's ignoring me) and can stand for 5-10 seconds on her own.  She's quite good at "pinky walking" (walking with the use of only your 1 pinky for support), so i suspect we'll see some toddlers soon!