Long Overdue Update

Aerin is doing wonderfully well. She went to the doctor for her 9-month/6-month check-up and he gave her a clean bill of health. Dr. Al-Mateen "couldn't be more pleased" with her progress. She's developmentally on target and physically fine. She's just below the 50 percentile in height and weight for a 6-month-old (still not on the chart for her chronological age). She's still on Pepcid twice a day for reflux and will probably continue to be for the next few months. She's still spitting up, but not nearly as much. Dr. Al-Mateen also feels that the lung scarring from Aerin's BPD will eventually correct itself, which is very good news.

While we got mostly good news at the check-up, we did get some not so good news. Aerin's hemangioma is continuing to grow in a way that the doctors are not pleased with. It seems fairly certain that it will not go away on its own. We’re taking Aerin to a pediatric dermatologist in a couple of months for evaluation. Nothing can be done until after the age of 2 years, but Dr. Al-Mateen wants it documented by specialists to make future treatment easier. We will likely go to Children's Hospital in Boston - their Vascular Anomalies Center is the best in the country.

Though she is not crawling in the true sense of the word, Aerin gets where she wants to go (naturally). She will get on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. Then she will launch herself forward in a bellyflop and get back up again. This moves her several inches forward and is very dramatic and hilarious. She can also roll to where she wants to be. She's almost figured out that she needs to move her hands and legs to crawl - she'll move a leg forward, reach out a hand, and decide to bellyflop instead. She loves to move and is very proud of herself. She'll just rock and laugh and I always crack up. Recently, she’s started pulling herself up into a sitting position. She still needs one arm to support her, but I'm impressed. Aerin never cries when she falls (she never gets hurt since we only let her crawl on the bed), even when she's startled. I make sure never to show that I'm worried or upset and I always smile when she looks up at me. It seems to have worked - she takes falls in stride and is very adventurous. She'll take a header off the bed if we didn't watch her.

Aerin is "talking" more and more. Her babbling now has consonant and vowel sounds. I think she said "Dad" yesterday, but Andrew doesn't think it counts as her first word. I think it could, because I heard her say it twice.

When she's not on the go, Aerin still insists on being held. She's up to 15 pounds, 8 ounces, so I'm getting good daily workouts. She still won't go in a bouncy chair or swing for very long, but she's doing okay in her new high chair. She's been eating solids for a few weeks now and is doing really well with them. She eats peaches, pears, green beans, and squash. Her favorite is pears. We give her one fruit to every two vegetables and we introduce a new food every week. Next on the list is peas, then carrots.

We have had a lot of visitors this spring and summer - Aunt Julien (who's expecting a little girl in September), Grandnana, Grandma & Grandpa, and Andrea & Joe. I'll be writing about their visits in the next couple of weeks. I'll also be writing about our very first trip with Aerin, which is also our last (it didn't go well).

We're expecting more visitors, including Jim, Amy, & Emily Anne, Aunt Cara, Uncle Daniel, Great-Aunt Amy, Great-Uncle Tom, Cousin Hallie, & Cousin Rachel, and all the grandparents. We're hoping that Aunt Jenn will be able to come down. She just finished a marathon in Alaska to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and we're very proud of her.