Happy Healthy Kids

Yes, I am getting worse at remembering well-baby and well-child checkups. Up until this year, Janelle has had her yearly checkups right on time. Spencer - well, his keep getting later and later. Oh well, at least they eventually get them, right? So Janelle had her 5-and-4-months-old checkup today and Spencer had his 18-month checkup (even though he's technically 20 months old). We totally lucked out, Janelle didn't have to get any shots and Spencer only had to get one. They're both growing great and are nice and healthy.

Janelle gained a total of 1 lb. from last year and topped out at 46 inches...lucky tall skinny thing. She's all caught up on her immunizations to register for kindergarten in a few months. Woo hoo!

Janelle's favorite things these days are swimming, preschool, building animals out of legos, the Barbie movies, jumping on the trampoline, and reading....she LOVES reading. She loves being read to and reading beginner books. She can't wait to start kindergarten, and talks about it every single day!

Spencer weighed in at 28 lbs. (80th percentile) and measured at 36 inches (97th percentile) and exactly 10 inches shorter than Janelle. He is catching up to her really fast!!! Technically those numbers are a little skewed since he's 2 months older than what he is measuring against. I'm going to really try and get him to his 2-year-old appointment on time. He's a little pigeon-toed (when he walks his legs point in a little bit), but my uncle (our doctor) said that usually once they start gaining more weight they straighten out. He said all they can really do at this point is watch it and if it doesn't go away by the time he's six, then they actually start doing tests and stuff. I just love that my uncle is our doctor. He is so patient and mindful of my questions and concerns. We totally lucked out!!!

Spencer's favorite things to say are: "Aba" - granola bar, "Boppa" - Grandpa, "Airee" - Aunt Erin, "Cookie," "Isit?" - Where's my blanket?, "Apple," "Daaden" - just means Daddy now, "Mommy," "Gigi" - Janelle, "Uh-uh" - no, "Choo Choo" - train, "Tash" - trash man, and our all time favorite: "BUS!!!" - which he calls all things that have wheels.

Spencer loves to play with his big sister, go outside, eat sidewalk chalk, get into everything, run, watch "Rachael Ray," and he does NOT like going to bed!

And in case you were wondering, Spencer's kidneys are doing pretty well. He had an appointment with his urologist in December and his hydronephrosis (the enlarged kidney) is starting to slow - a definite good sign. It's still bigger than it is supposed to be, but it's not growing at the rate it was before and it's still functioning completely normally. He has a scheduled VCUG (the catheter test where they watch him pee) in May to check to see if the other kidney's urinary reflux is gone. His last test was last summer and it just showed slight reflux, so hopefully by May it will be gone. He has been taking antibiotics since the day he was born to prevent any kind of infection and I will be REALLY happy when I don't have to give that to him anymore. Fortunately, for this test they're sending us to a pediatric specialist so they can put him out for it. He's been awake for all of them so far (all 5 times) and the bigger he's gotten the harder it has been to hold him down. Last time was horrible, he screamed and flailed the whole time - meaning they had to put the catheter in more than once, poor kid! Hopefully this time will be a little less eventful.

So that's our most recent health report. I'm so grateful for happy healthy kids!