henry: ONE YEAR!!

weight/height
23lbs (super accurate bathroom scale, check my weight first, then pick him up and weigh) and 30in (also super accurate, lying in bed last night i drew lines at his feet and head and measured this am with a ruler). we will find out at his year check up tomorrow for sure.

health
im SO excited to post this... last week we had henrys VCUG (voiding cystourethrogram) appointment at maine medical center nuclear medicine. this was the procedure he had right after he was born- they insert a catheter and fill the bladder with a radiocontrast saline and the radiologist watches the contrast enter the bladder, checking to see if the contrast moves up into the ureters and kidneys (checking the severity of reflux). when henry was first diagnosed with kidney reflux/hydronephrosis, his right kidney was a grade 5 (scale 1-5, 5 being most severe), and his left kidney was a grade 3-4. we have had him on antibiotics since birth to avoid bladder infections, and were told that in the severe cases like this, only about 10% fixes on its own, and we were most likely looking at surgery down the road (disconnect the ureters, shorten them/take out the narrow entry, reconnect to the bladder). over the last year hen has not even had a fever (knock on wood), let alone any bladder infections, so we were hoping for good news from this procedure.
i thought i was going to need to be sedated for the procedure... we can hardly change henrys diaper anymore he is so squirmy, let alone allow someone to insert a catheter and then have him lay still for a few hours on a scary table in the hospital (so i was nervous for him)! but he did amazing and only cried twice (and i only cried once). the appointment happened to be right around his normal nap time, so ty and i sang to him and he just laid there smiling. he cried a little when they inserted the catheter and the contrast saline (he had just had a huge bottle, so im sure he felt very full!), and then he fell asleep bless his little heart. the radiologist thought she saw some fluid go up into the kidneys, and it took a long time for his bladder to empty, so i was anxious to find out at his appointment next week what the verdict was. i wasnt expecting for a phone call the next day from henrys pediatricians office telling us the results of the test... (que the tears)... henrys left kidney (previously grade 3-4) was now a solid grade 3, and his right kidney went from a grade 5 to a grade 2! when we were told about the grading levels in the hospital after henry was born, they told us if it was grades 0-1 they wouldnt even bother following up, grades 1-2 slight monitoring, grade 3-4 antibiotics and monitoring, grades 4-5 antibiotics, monitoring and most likely surgery for grade 5. we are SO incredibly happy to know that this is improving, and will find out tomorrow at his appointment with the urologist what the future plans are (im going to assume continue with antibiotics, monitoring, and another VCUG at some point, unless he gets an infection). so yay henry!!
as for henrys heart, we dont have the appointment with the cardiologist until june but from what he said at the last appointment many months back, everything should be fine (small ventricular septal defect should be closed/cause no further issues).

clothes
definitely into size 12 and beyond. i can no longer shop in the "infant" section, most places consider him a toddler now. (tears). i continue to pull 9 month items out of his drawers (have yet to actually go through everything again), but at least now i just toss them aside to be put downstairs instead of trying to see if they still fit one more time (they certainly dont. im seriously in denial.) im kinda excited just to let him run around in his diaper once summer arrives.

sleep
overall, sleep is good. the majority of the time (id say probably 98%)- in bed by 7:30pm, awake at 5:00am. two naps during the day, about 1.5 hours to 2 hours each. however, hen has decided that he doesnt want to nap and grammy and grampys house... and when this started, he then slept for 12 hours (7pm-7am) and then took a 2 hour nap that morning, then slept again the following night for 11 hours, followed shortly after with a 2 hour nap. i think he is getting another tooth and going through a growth spurt, but we certainly dont mind him sleeping so much! over the last few weeks (not sure exactly when it happened) all of a sudden hen stopped waking up with a wet diaper at 4am needing to be changed (thus resulting in him refusing to fall back asleep in his bed and us bringing him into bed with us/sleeping til 6am). when he wakes up now for the morning his diaper weighs about 5lbs (no exaggeration) but its nice he isnt having that early wake up anymore.

milestones
henry started clapping a few weeks ago and will clap on demand. he waves bye bye (grammy likes to call it his "royal wave"... look out prince george!), has 7 teeth, and can climb up the stairs.

outings
hen was going to go to the finish line of mommys marathon but decided to throw up all over himself and his carseat while on the drive down. poor grandma was beside herself! we were able to watch daddy finish his 5k and a park was nearby so while we waited hen went on his first swing! he finished up his swimming lessons and i cant wait to take him to the beach this summer! (i swore i would never take my kids to the beach myself, id make others take them and make sure they bathe them before returning them so as not to track sand all over my sparkling clean house... ha!) i look forward to nicer weather when we can take him to the animal farm.

diaper 
size 4 during the day, size 5 at night. we use mostly pampers baby dry, and have a few packages of cruisers (more expensive... i really will (maybe) do the diaper comparison blog one day, its pretty ridiculous). we got a package of target diapers a few weeks ago and hen broke out in a huge rash... but it was also around the time a tooth came through, so im not sure what the actual cause was.

diet
henry only wants to feed himself these days... so that makes meal time tons of fun (aka messy!). we started adding whole milk into his formula over the past few weeks to gradually ease him in (we had many digestive problems with formula back in the day), and all seems to be going well (minus a few throw up situations). weve finished up the infant formula, bought a container of toddler gentlease formula to continue to mix for a bit, and will ultimately transition to milk soon. new foods that hen seems to enjoy are watermelon, pancakes, spaghetti and meatballs, animal crackers, and he tried a little bit of ice cream. we might single handedly keep the puffs company in business (serving size 72... i think we probably come close. every day).

likes

dislikes
henry hates having his diaper changed. its literally like wrestling a bag of snakes. we bribe him by giving him cell phones or remote controls to hold which keeps him semi occupied, and sometimes he just crawls around on the couch with no diaper on (so far no accidents). this makes for a lot more fun/interesting times when #2 is involved. hes also going through a stage where he doesnt want to be put down. he screams bloody murder if you put him down, and then when you pick him up he squirms like he doesnt want to be held. awesome. he will not keep a hat on his head, socks or shoes on his feet, or let you wipe his face or hands after eating (if he will let you feed him). toddlers are fun.

Henry Aaron, 

You have brought more joy into our lives than we have ever known possible. It seems like just yesterday you arrived (although it sure did take you a long time to get here!) and in the blink of an eye you have turned into such a little man. We love watching you grow and learn every day, and we both cannot imagine our world without you. In the short time you have been here, you have taught us so much... about you, about ourselves, about never ending love. No matter how much dog hair or dirt is on the floor (or in your mouth), dishes in the sink, laundry in the hamper... everything can wait to get done. You are our number one priority, and you're only little for a very short time (as we have already found out). Watching you hit milestone after milestone... rolling over, crawling, pulling yourself up, trying to walk and talk... everything is a miracle to observe. Night after night of the same bedtime routine, endless verses of  "twinkle twinkle little star", "ladybug picnic", "they call me Henry"... we would sing til we lost our voices for you. The days are long but the years are short... and although this felt like the fastest year of our lives, we've heard it just keeps getting better. You are our everything, little guy, and although we wish we could just keep you little forever, watching you grow up is simply amazing. We love you, buddy!!

Happy 1st birthday, Hen!

All our love, forever,

Mommy and Daddy