Serious Casto Fun

We had a great time this week with Trent's brother, sister-in-law & their 4 boys. Here are some of the highlights...

Jace turned 1 on Wednesday! We had so much fun celebrating his birthday all day!

We played putt-putt.

The girls

We walked the 2.25 mile boardwalk through natural swamplands at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

It's a great place to see a lot of Florida wildlife, but we didn't see too much.

Anna Kate enjoying nature

Six Little Castos

First, I want to say that Trent is MUCH better! He passed the kidney stone on Friday evening, about 28 hours after the pain started. It seemed amazingly similar to many women's labor, except the end result was what looked like a little piece of gravel. We are both rejoicing that he's better.

A couple interesting things we learned about kidney stones is that we live in the "kidney stone belt" and this is "kidney stone season." More people have kidney stones when the weather is hot & sunny, but also breezy. The sun causes people to sweat and need more water, but when there's a breeze people drink less water since they're cooled off. When you're kidney's aren't getting enough water they can develop stones. Needless to say, we've both consumed a lot of water over the last few days.

Trent was better just in time for his brother & family to come! Chad & Jessie have 4 fun boys.

Jessie with 5 boys in the pool.

The 5 Casto boys on the Naples Pier

Austin trying to help his brother, Jack, smile

Anna Kate wearing her first bow.

Yesterday I wore a shirt that said "My Husband Rocks." Well, it got changed by an ER employee (with a stickie note) at our local hospital to "My Husband Has Rocks." Trent was literally knocked down at work yesterday with a Kidney Stone. He still hasn't passed it yet. He's at home and it was a long night. We're praying it passes quickly.

I thought I'd use this post to share a few more pictures from Trent's ordination that his mother took.

Elders from several churches praying for Trent, our family & his calling as a Pastor

Doing his first official act as an ordained minister- giving the benediction that day.

The Big Brother

I am happy to say that Hudson is enjoying being a big brother again. Last weekend, he went to a big brother party and had a blast! Two of my friends and I decided to get one babysitter for all of our boys. We all have little baby girls as well. So, instead of just having a babysitter (while we all took our baby girls to the party we were going to), my friend turned it into "Big Brother Camp."

They did several "big brother activities", including making these crowns. Hudson wore his everywhere we went for a few days. He got lots of people congratulating him on being a big brother while we were out running errands.He loved the attention.
He has asked to hold Anna Kate a few times and has done an excellent job being gentle.
He's also wanted to sit next to her and console her when she cries.
Tomorrow we are having a potty party at our house! Hudson is SO excited! I am so not excited. Mostly I just do not feel confident in my timing of trying to start potty training Hudson tomorrow (he's been asking for awhile to use the potty) or in my competency of my method. I'm wanting to cancel the whole thing, but Hudson would be crushed and confused. So, I will venture on.

If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them (although I'm starting first thing tomorrow morning!). The plan is to hang-out on the porch/pool deck (where I can easily hose it down) with Hudson only wearing a t-shirt. We have a little toddler potty out there. I let him pick out some juice today (a huge treat), some tic tacs (his favorite treat...he's crazy about tic tacs!) and some big boy underwear (he chose cars). The plan is to encourage him to drink lots of juice/water and regularly put him on the potty.

Do I put a diaper on him for his nap/bedtime? If anyone has a thought before 1pm EST, I'd be happy to hear it.

One Month

Although Anna Kate is 5 weeks old now, she had her 1 month check-up yesterday.

She's 10lbs 7oz, which puts her at the 75th percentile for weight. Can you see the rolls in her arms? I love them! She's 21 inches long, so 50th percentile for height. The pediatrician said she looked healthy!

She's playing and interacting more and more. It's so cute to watch! She even gives us and her toys from her activity mat lots of smiles.

We love you so much, Anna Kate!

Our New Mode of Transportation

I'm loving our new stroller and looking forward to cooler weather (in several months) when we can get even more use out of it.

We can walk to the beach, a park or a friend's house and let Anna Kate nap while we play.

In case anyone's worried, Anna Kate normally has a head support (a rolled up receiving blanket) in the stroller, but I guess she doesn't have it in the pictures I took.

Finger Painting

How fun!

Hudson was very proud of his work

and glad to have his Daddy home!