The Meert Family... now in Florida!: Nine months

Maylee turned nine months on Sunday the 4th (and yesterday turned 7 months corrected age, based on her due date)! I haven't done a big update on her in a while, but you can probably guess from all the photos the last several months that she's doing great! She was 17 lb 13 oz at her 9 month check up (25th percentile) and almost in the 50th percentile for height... she continues to grow really well. Every time we hear more good news like this it's such a relief! She's just a bit bigger than Rylan was at this age (amazing since she started so small compared to him... I think this is partly because she is a better breastfeeder than he was... which is also amazing because she left the hospital getting most of her milk from bottles, and we didn't know if she'd really pick up on breastfeeding... she's a miracle in a lot of ways). She had a visit to the UW High Risk Infant Follow-up Clinic in December where a physical therapist did a full evaluation, and she was right on track for her corrected age and was doing a few things closer to her actual age. She's had two follow-up vision tests since her stay in Tennessee, and has normal vision so far, with no need for more follow-ups. She's also gone to the doctor monthly since November to receive Synagis, an antibody treatment to protect her against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), which can be especially harmful to preemies. Our insurance continues to cover the majority of the medical costs above deductibles, which is yet another blessing.

Maylee has a wonderful personality, and continues to love smiling and laughing, especially at her brother! (He is doing so great with her... a few fun things -- he'll join me to sing goodmorning to her when she wakes up, and will often go jump or sing or dance for her, and tells her "I love you Mei Mei" and gives her hugs). She's sitting by herself pretty well and can scoot a little on her bottom and on her tummy (just backward so far!). She gets more motivated about moving every day and is now regularly going from sitting to her tummy without doing a face plant. :) She'll pull up to standing if you hold out your hands for her, and has a very wobbly "walk" with us holding her hands (mostly backward! Though she just started doing some forward steps too!). She recently started more babbling... daddy was showing her pictures of all of us, and she busted out with bababa and mamama and now enjoys talking more with us. She loves to be with me and Jason, but has stranger anxiety and is a little unsure around our friends.

We are very blessed and thankful that things continue to go so well for our sweet Maylee, and pray that she continues to grow and develop well.

Here are a few photos of her on a hike on the day she turned 9 months old...