9 Months Old!

Dear Abby,

Today, we celebrate so many things: You are 9 months old! You are growing so beautifully and have had such a spectacular month. You are also 39 weeks old today. In less than a week, you will have been an outside baby as long as you were an inside baby. It's amazing how differently those two periods of time feel. I cared about you so much before you were born, but it can't even compare to the love I have for you now, the love that I've developed since becoming your mommy. As I celebrate my first Mother's Day, I am so so thankful for the ways you've changed me and opened my heart.

I look at you with absolute awe. This tiny, beautiful soul who has conquered the odds and faced so many challenges, all with a smile on your face. A smile that completely breaks me. I can be in the foulest of moods on the most exhausted of nights, but you smile at me and, like magic, I turn into an ooey gooey pile of weepy emotion. Even with all of your complications, your broken little body, I know that I got the best baby in the entire world. I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I will forever be thankful that God was able to look past all of my faults and bless me with the most beautiful of gifts. You will always be my baby, no matter what happens, and I will always be your mommy. Nothing can ever change that.

I'm so proud of you, Abby. The ways you've changed over the past month are astonishing. You're tolerating our trips out into the world better and better. It always takes you a little while to adjust and warm up, but once you do, it's so much fun. We took our first trip to the zoo, where you met a bunch of wonderful friends and had your first interactions with other babies. We've gone to restaurants and the park, you're even riding in the big-girl stroller now! You've started rolling onto your belly, showed some interest in a rice rusk, are lifting your head up more and more while laying on your stomach, and can sit in the bumbo seat for a few minutes at a time. You are making so many noises and love banging toys together. All things you weren't able to do a month ago. 

From a health standpoint, you're doing as well as you ever have! You've maybe caught your first cold, so we have to keep a close eye on you, but all in all, you're really doing wonderfully. GI issues are our biggest day-to-day struggle, as you still have a tendency to puke quite a bit. We have your next 3D CT scan this week, and then our follow-up with neurosurgery at the beginning of next month. At that point we'll find out what the plans are regarding another cranial surgery. Your heart will always be a concern, but right now just requires medication and monitoring. Hopefully, it stays that way for a long time.

I love you, my sweet girl. I'm so incredibly grateful that I get to spend every day with you, watching you grow and experience the world. I am grateful that I get to be your mommy.