As of October 8, 2017 Kymani Lyrique is 4 months old (actual)! Can you believe it? So, how is our former 30 week  gestation preemie doing? Kymani's adjusted age (the age she would be had she not been born early) is two months. So, is she more in line with that or with her actual age?

Kymani is really becoming quite a character. She's generally a quiet baby, but she often has these bursts of happy speech and laughter that are very loud. If Kymani cries, she is either hungry, needs a diaper, teething, or is gassy. But she really isn't very fussy at all.

She's growing like a weed and is already wearing mostly 6 month clothing. It seems lately she's in a new size every couple weeks.

Nova has become quite interesting to Kymani lately. She tries to get her all the time. If you put Kymani on her tummy for tummy time, she will pull herself toward things. She hasn't quite gotten most of them yet, but she is determined and has occasionally gotten toys or a person. It depends on how close the object is, as she can usually move several inches at a time.

Kymani loves to laugh. In fact, Kymani was cracking the heck up at me on the way home from the walk to the store today. I don't know what I was doing that was so funny but she was just smiling away at me and then when I smiled back, she just kept laughing and laughing. Perhaps I'm not funny, just funny looking.

Kymani has been playing with toys more actively. She has been grabbing at them for a while. But now she is even more interested. She especially loves mirrors and toys that are multicolored. She can hold them tightly, move them around, and will let them go when she is no longer interested.

Speaking of holding, she's been partially holding her own bottle and when her teeth hurt, she will purposefully bite her fist or pull mommy or daddy's finger as a biting object. She has a few teething toys that she will use with assistance.

Kymani loves tummy time and can no longer use certain smaller infant beds or mobiles because she is rolling over both ways (tummy to back and also from her back to tummy) and she is also doing something else awesome!

Kymani has now started to sit. She pulls herself up and then goes back down, kind of like a sit-up. During this, she has periods of time where she pulls herself all the way into a seated position and stays for long periods of time (anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes at a time). The very first time she did this, Nova was her motivation. She really wanted to get her sister, Nova. So she sat up and was reaching toward her.

As mentioned above, she also scoots toward people and items during tummy time. She can lift her head in this position, hold herself up with her elbows, and move her head in all directions.

She babbles a ton and has been saying something that sounds like "hey" when she wants attention. We think she is actually saying hey because she does it deliberately and has been doing so for a long time. We are counting this as her first word, unless it's proven otherwise. Nova actually did the same thing at around two months, which is when Kymani started doing it. So it's definitely possible.

Kymani is extremely cuddly and absolutely loves attention from her family. She definitely has preferences for specific people at specific times. If she hears someone's voice that she wants and that person doesn't get her, she gets a little upset and will pout about it until she has that person. Then, she goes back to smiling. If we call her by her name or by one of her nicknames, Mon-Mon or Mani (pronounced Mah-Nee) she will look and sometimes smile.

She loves hearing most music and especially when we sing a silly song that Nathan made up for her. Opposite of Nova, she seems to have a dislike for particular genres and only want to hear certain ones. Nova has favorites, but likes them all. Whereas, Kymani will actually cry if you play certain music.

When comparing Kymani's milestones with data from the CDC, we learned that Kymani is on track and maybe even ahead. She has met and surpassed all the 2 month and 4 month milestones and has met a lot of 6 month milestones too. We didn't look further ahead than that and her doctor may have some extra ones not listed there. She hasn't yet been to her scheduled 4 month appointment.

Keep in mind that all babies do things at their own pace. So, this does not say Kymani is "better" than another baby. It really just will give us and her doctors an idea of how well she is thriving. We will find out more the next time she goes to the doctor, such as more milestone info, a new weight and height, and so on. So far, there are no warning signs. Kymani is definitely appearing to be on track for a preemie baby and seems to actually be following the pattern of  a term baby. Time will tell, but so far, she doesn't appear to be affected developmentally by being born so early.

Kymani has been growing like a weed lately. Learn why, as well as see cute new photos of her, including those of Nathan and Nova holding her. At a little over two months old, you can hardly tell she was born at just 30 weeks gestation!

Apparently, preemies often grow at a faster rate than term babies so that they can catch up -- and Kymani is proving that to be the case. She recently grew out of a bunch of clothing, starting with all of the preemie-sized stuff. Just in the past few days or so, she keeps growing out of many of her newborn-sized clothes as well. She is currently wearing 0-3 months, but some of those are getting snug now, too. We expect she will be into the 3 month clothing before we know it.

Her appetite and sleep pattern is definitely in line with a growth spurt, as those have increased as well. Even though she is still small for a "regular" two-month-old baby, her appetite is in line with the bigger two-month-old babies. Her growth is very rapid, in comparison.

In addition to wanting more food and growing like a weed, Kymani has also wanted lots more cuddles and attention. She really enjoys being held by everyone, especially her siblings.

This morning, we captured some cute photos of Kymani after getting dressed, as well as while she was being held by both Nova and Nathan. She had on her studying face in many of them because she was studying everyone very closely.

Enjoy the super adorable and cuddly photo slideshow below!

by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

Kymani is now a little over two months old and lately she has really been enjoying the toys on the Infantino Activity Gym play mat that Nova used to enjoy. Her facial expressions are so cute as she bats at the toys and studies the patterns.

The one we have is an older model, since it was Nova's before Kymani used it and we got it secondhand then. But it's built really well. I highly recommend an activity gym/play mat from this particular brand if you get one for your baby. It's extremely durable and the kids love the various colors, designs, and textures.

Enjoy the photos of Kymani with her Infantino activity gym below.

Kymani's two months old (actual), as of 8/8/2017! Her adjusted age is 40 weeks gestation today. How did her two-month check-up and her follow-up regarding the eye immaturity go? Read along and enjoy the photos to find out! Kymani has been home from the NICU for a little over a month now.

Kymani had her follow-up for the eye immaturity concerns. If you follow things on Facebook, you can learn more about the eye immaturity and ROP in a post I made on July 20th. I will accept most friend requests.

At that July 20th appointment, we had discovered that her left eye was fully developed and the right eye still had work to do.

Guess what?! Her August 10th eye appointment showed that her right eye is now fully developed as well. She also is showing zero signs of ROP!

This means that her next follow-up for the eyes won't be scheduled for 6-12 more months and she also will not need the exam that involves prying the eye open next time. The following exams for the eye will be about checking for risks of needing glasses or for things like amblyopia (lazy eye).

Kymani's weight, as of August 10, 2017 is 7 pounds, 7.6 ounces. Her height is 17 3/4". Her reflexes and reactions are strong. She's eating and growing like crazy.

Kymani is like a champion preemie. Actually, in my opinion, all preemies are strong little fighters. Even though Kymani's adjusted age would have been almost 40 weeks at her two month follow-up, she met and exceeded the two month developmental milestones. We didn't remember what was on the two-month screening questionnaire and were unsure if she'd meet the goals, since she was early. But she did just fine, not only for a preemie, but for a term two-month-old. Yay!

Now, I should note here that while this is an amazing accomplishment for a baby born at just 30 weeks gestation, parents should remember that milestone-meeting is NOT a competition, nor is it proof that anyone's baby is "better" than another. The milestones are there to help doctors  and parents estimate  how the baby is developing and whether there is anything that should be cause for concern.  If Kymani had not met her milestones, because she was born prematurely, this would not necessarily be a cause for a concern. Also, all babies develop at different rates and even some term babies don't meet all of the milestones at the same time.

Kymani also had her 2-month immunizations, of course. That part wasn't fun. She's a bleeder and a crier. She was a bit cranky the first night, but she didn't get a fever and had none of the warning symptoms. Again, she's a strong little fighter.

The doctors are still advising to fortify her breastmilk with a 22 calorie fortifier and feed via the bottle. She can suckle at the nipple a few times per day now, but only for a few minutes at each. Her feedings need to be measured, so the suckling is just to keep up the milk production. It also gives her the experience in case she is able to switch to the breast at a later date.

She still uses Dr. Brown's bottles, but now uses the stage 1 nipples, instead of the preemie size. She has grown out of pretty much all of her preemie clothing, as well as many newborn pieces. She's wearing mostly 0-3 month clothing now, except in the case where some of the clothing is bigger than the size it is supposed to be. This happens often with baby clothing.

Kymani has started to grab at her breastmilk bottles and pull them closer to her at times. She also likes to grab toys and her pacifier. It's a good thing because Nova really wants her to play. Big sister Nova sets toys next to her, expecting her to hand them back or play. Not yet, Nova. Soon.

Kymani is awake more often than before, having periods of time where she smiles at people, grabs things, babbles, and more. Her swing, binky, and almost any blankie are her favorite soothing devices, besides mom and dad.

She can now roll over from back to tummy and from tummy to back. When she gets tummy time, she lifts her head up and moves it from side to side. She also moves around a bit like a snake or inchworm.

If she is in mommy or daddy's lap, she likes to lift her head and start to sit up. We have not tried letting her sit up  anywhere else, as she is still a bit small. It's just something she does herself on occasion. We do have an infant positioner seat when she is more ready. She is gaining more control of her head now. When she has full control of it, we will try the infant seat for practicing sitting.

She's doing a lot of things and I'm sure I forgot to mention some of them.

Basically, Kymani is a baby being a baby. And she is doing that very well.

Be sure to stay tuned for the next update or adventure and check out the rest of the recent photos in the gallery below.