Princess Parker is 9 months old today!

She now weighs 17 lbs 6 oz and measures 26.5 inches long — more than four times her birth weight and over half a foot taller than her tiny 4 lb 3 oz, 19-inch NICU debut.

She had a big checkup last week. The hole in her heart (an atrial septal defect, or ASD) is still there. All babies are born with an opening between the top chambers of the heart — hers is just taking its sweet time to close. Her cardiologist isn’t concerned and plans to give it another year before reassessing. We also found out she has something incredibly rare (seen in only about 0.05% of the population): a quadricuspid aortic valve, meaning her valve has four flaps instead of the usual three — shaped like a little four-leaf clover. Of course we’ve always known she’s a lucky charm, but this just makes it official.

Parker’s officially on the move. She’s crawling full speed ahead, pulling up on everything she can reach, pivoting between pieces of furniture, and even balancing for a few seconds before falling over. We’ve already lowered her crib mattress two notches — because instead of sleeping, she prefers to stand up and scream until her heart rate spikes high enough that we give in and rescue her. She just doesn’t want to miss a thing, especially those front porch hangs.

Princess Parker is 8 months old today!

This morning she weighed in at 16 lbs 3 oz with a height of 26 inches. That’s nearly quadrupling her birth weight and growing a little over half a foot since her tiny 4 lb 3 oz, 19-inch debut.

Even though she’s technically only an adjusted 6.5 months old (due to her preemie status), Parker’s keeping up with her milestones like a champ — just in a much smaller package. She’s still rocking 3–6 month clothes (only at our insistence), because she can still wear many of her newborn and 0-3 month outfits, especially if the footies are convertible.

Princess Parker is 7 months old today!

Parker Evelyn continues to grow, glow, and keep us endlessly entertained. She is now a little over 3.5x her birth weight at 15lbs, and is 24.5” long— petite but mighty, with all the sparkle packed into a small frame. This past month, her little personality has really taken off — equal parts silly, sweet, expressive, and opinionated. She’s always watching, learning, and letting us know exactly how she feels. She is joy in motion — a tiny, determined rainbow who keeps rewriting the rules and dazzling us as she grows.