5 and 2

The boys are doing great. Here are some updates:

Joel has started kindergarten this year and is thriving! He's reading books already and writing sentences. It has been amazing to watch his growth this year. His teacher, Ms. Kennedy, says he is very smart and has a great sense of humor. He just celebrate his 100th day of school and a few weeks ago he was Star Student of the week. We are very happy with how the year is going and can't wait to see how much more Joel gets to experience and learn at his awesome school.
Outside of school, Joel is VERY into Star Wars. The latest movie, The Force Awakens, came out recently so Benny bought all the old movies. He and Joel watched them before going to see the new movie. So now he has Star Wars video games, bed sheets, books from the school library- you name it. He says he wants to try karate this summer instead of soccer, so we'll see how that goes.

Henry is two and 3 months and is talking so much more now. At his second birthday, he was only saying a couple 2 word sentences so I was a little worried about his speech development. But since Christmas his vocabulary has really expanded. He is talking all the time and putting all kinds of 3-4 sentences together so I am happy about that. He is also doing well in his little school. All the teachers seem to like Henry and he is obviously happy there- can't ask for much more when you're a working mommy.
Henry loves animals and is starting to get interested in trains, or as he calls them "shoo-shoos". His personality seems like he might push the envelope a bit more than Joel, but he is just as loving and sweet. He loves to give hugs and kisses to everyone in the house before bedtime. Henry also has a special fondness for all his grandfathers. Anytime Benny, my dad, or Mike are around he climbs right up into their lap and not much else matters to him at that point :)

So in a nutshell we're all doing well and I am thankful for our health and happiness. Here's hoping 2016 continues to be a great year for our family.

A 5 Year Old's Favorites

Show: Teen Titans Color: All the colors of the rainbow Food: Spaghetti and Meatballs Toy: dinosaurs (really it's Skylanders but that was his answer) Store: Toy store Friend: Friends at school like Cole Drink: Chocolate milk Movie: Avengers Holiday: Christmas Place: Dinosaur Museum (Witte) Animal: Dinosaurs When you grow up? I'm not sure...umm a police officer

5 years and 19 months

Here's what's new with the boys. Joel played soccer again this past spring. His team name was the Snakes and Benny coached them again. Lots of games and practices were rained out, but the kids seemed to have a good time. He did a lot better staying focused on going after the ball! He finished up Pre-K this past May at The Summit and we have been getting ready for kindergarten! I am really excited for him to start school and experience all that it has to offer. I have a feeling school will come easy to Joel. He seems to catch on to things quickly and is curious about how things work. He can do the basics like count to 100, read some sight words, and is getting pretty good at sounding out words. When we are out he will read signs, we are very proud of him :) Joel has also really impressed me with how good of a big brother he is to Henry. He is so patient and compassionate towards Henry. Anytime he gets upset, Joel talks to him in a calm voice and tries to make him feel better. Henry is actually the rough one out of the two, but Joel never tries to hurt him back when Henry accidentally takes it a little too far. Joel just has this huge heart. He is sensitive and reminds me of an old soul. Just to give an example, I was showing him a video from facebook that was set to a soft piano tune. It was a montage of 10 years of being on facebook. When it showed the picture of Joel meeting Henry for the first time at the hospital, Joel got all choked up and starting crying. He said he was crying because that was such a happy day. What five year old does that? I love him so much I hope he never loses that part of himself. Henry is our little rascal :) Henry is fearless and does things his way. Joel is more on the cautious side, but Henry doesn't know what it means to be afraid. Which scares me! I am almost certain he will be my kid in the ER with broken bones. He has been quicker to run and jump and get on the move than Joel was, but he's not much of a talker yet. He can say Mama, Dada, shoe, Booo (book), more, and please. When he says please it is so cute. It's always when he wants more food, so he'll rub his belly while kind of bouncing up and down and saying "Pleeze, pleeze". Henry loves to be around mommy right now. Anytime I walk out of the room he usually goes into a little bit of a meltdown. He likes to wrestle and jump on everyone, as well as jump off the couch. We line the carpet with the couch cushions and he will just keep going to like 30 minutes. He has found a love for listening to books, which I thought wasn't going to happen. When he was a baby he never had interest in them. He'd push them away if we tried to read to him. But now he brings us multiple books throughout the day and just plops down in our laps. And he loves to dance. Whether it be in the car or a jingle on a commercial, if he hears music he's moving. I think Henry will be adventurous and fun-loving, and be my momma's boy :)

Poor Baby #2

Poor Henry...I'm sorry I haven't kept up with this blog with updates about you. Between taking care of you and keeping your big brother entertained, seems as if time to just sit down to type is few and far between. I'll try harder, promise. So what can I say about you sweet Henry... well first of all, you have been the BEST baby I have ever known. From the first night we spent together in the hospital, you are the easiest baby to take care of. You have always slept well through the night, only waking for feedings, and then going right back to sleep in my arms. We spent the first 6 weeks (probably more) on the couch in the living room at night. That sounds a lot worse than it is. It's a really comfortable couch :) Daddy was still working while I was home on maternity leave, so I stayed out there with you so he could sleep through the night. At first you slept on a little baby lounger pillow right next to me, this was when you wouldn't hardly move at all. Then you started sleeping on my chest or right next to me on the couch. I know they say this is not the best idea and you should sleep in your own bed. But we were fine and when you're that little and cozy it's hard to watch you be all alone in a crib. You were a little congested when you were really little, so from there you went to sleeping in your swing. It propped you up a bit, so it was easier for you to sleep through the night. I think it was around 4-5 months, maybe sooner, that you started sleeping completely through the night. You now sleep in your crib, which is in our bedroom. Joel has taken to sleeping in our bed, so while it doesn't make for the most comfortable sleeping conditions- I kind of love that we're all there in the same room while we sleep. Right now you're a little over 8 months old. You love to go, go, go when you are awake. The only time you really settle down and let me hold you is when you're having a bottle. Otherwise, you want to crawl, pull up, explore... Everything goes into your mouth. EVERYTHING. The hardest thing has been keeping Joel's little toys off the ground so that you don't choke on them. Because you really only like to play with his toys, not the baby toys we have for you. And so it begins... :) The only time you cry is when you are hungry and I am not fast enough with your food. When you get tired you'll rub your eyes and whimper a little. I'll put you in your swing for a nap and down you go. See what I mean? Easiest baby. You have never had a long, drawn out bout of crying like most little babies do. There has never been a time I felt helpless like I didn't know how to make you feel better. I'm telling you, best baby ever. You seem to look like Joel, but you two don't have the same eyes. I think your eyes will end up looking more like mine. You are a chunker. Big boy all around. You're head is especially big, but not in a looks-weird kind of way. It's just something us Del Castillos have- big heads :) You're starting at a new daycare school in a couple weeks. I am so anxious about it because I want whoever you spend your days with to love you like I do. I love my job as a teacher, but it is hard knowing I spend so many hours away from you and your brother each week. Luckily we have so much time together during the summer and over holidays- I feel like I get to know you boys all over again during those vacations. Speaking of vacation- we went on our first (with you) real vacation, although it was short, this summer. We spend a few days in Galveston. You did really well at the beach. I sat with you in the shallowest part of the water, and of course, you just tried to shovel muddy sand into your mouth. We brought the playpen and set that up so you could have a sand-free place to hang out. You really loved the pool at the hotel the best. You even made some friends- little kids in the pool came over and wanted to talk and play with you because you were being so cute splashing and squealing. So it looks like you'll be walking by your first birthday- you already love to pull up and try to stand on your own as much as you can. I'll make sure to stay up to date on your new milestones as you hit them. I love you sweet baby!

Four Year Old Joel's favorites (better late than never)

Show: Team Umizoomi Color: blue Food: Spaghetti Toy: cars Store: HEB Friend: Jiovanni Drink: water Movie: Walking with Dinosaurs Holiday: Halloween Place: Dinosaur Museum (Witte) Animal: Dinosaurs When you grow up? Paleontologist I forgot to ask Joel these questions on his 4th birthday, but this will do :)

Henry's birth announcement!

Stationery Card

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Henry's birth

Thursday, November 21, 2013

6:00am- We arrived at Methodist Stone Oak for our scheduled induction on Henry's due date.

Between 6:30am-7:30am- The nurse tried to start my IV and my vein apparently "popped" twice. She kept saying, "It popped. Oh no. This is not good. It popped..." and I could feel blood spurting out of my hand, even though my head was turned and I couldn't see anything. This caused me to start feeling very nauseous and lightheaded, just like I had previously experienced at work a couple weeks back. The doctor called this a Vagel response/episode. Basically, the stress of the situation causes my blood pressure and heart rate to drop quickly and drastically. Which also affected the baby and his heart rate. The nurse called another nurse in to try the IV in my other arm. She did so with no problems. I looked up to see 4-5 nurses in the room looking at the baby monitor. My doctor was called in and he said he wasn't sure this baby was going to tolerate labor- not a good thing to hear. So Dr. Feinstein told me he wanted to let the baby and I relax for a while before we started any induction techniques.

9:00am- Dr. Feinstein came in and broke my water and started pitocin. I had been having contractions on my own, so the nurses were thinking this was going to go quickly.

10:20-ish- I sent Kristin a text that contractions were starting to hurt.

11:07am- Texted, "I'm about to say screw this and get an epidural." Then they upped the pitocin, so it was ago on the epidural.

12:00pm- I got an epidural. BUT it didn't work, not completely. My right side of my abdomen was numb, but the left side didn't take for some reason. The pain from the contractions went from being in the low center of my stomach to all of the left side of my torso. It hurt so bad I couldn't talk through them- all I could do was lay on my side and try to breathe through them. At one point I did start crying too. I remember the anthesialogist kept coming in and trying to give me more medicine, or adjusting the line in my back, but nothing was helping.

2:15pm- Dr. Feinstein came into the room dressed in his scrubs and ready to go! The nurse had been getting a little frantic beforehand and was moving around quickly. I'm not sure if I was a little out of it because I was still in a lot of pain, or if she just didn't say much, but the time before this all happened very quickly. A few minutes before Dr. Feinstein came in, Dr. Dubois came in again and gave me a double dose of medicine in the line in my back. So right before I started pushing, I FINALLY was numb on both sides. I remember pushing when the nurse told me I was having a contraction. We would do sets of three pushes. I could feel in my face I was pushing as hard as I could, but I couldn't feel my bottom area at all- so it was hard to tell if I was doing it right. All I could go off of was the nurses and Dr. telling me good job and that I was moving the baby down.

2:27pm- Henry is here! I was shocked when I opened my eyes to see him coming out- it happened so fast! They laid him on my stomach and he immediately started to pee, mostly on me :) The Dr. asked Benny if he wanted to cut the cord, but he didn't since he "doesn't feel qualified for that", so then the Dr. asked if I wanted to- so I did :)
7 lb. 5 oz. 20.5 inches long with beautiful dark hard and a healthy set of lungs. Love at first sight <3