our Bartlett neighborhood and yard

We live in Bartlett - which is a suburb of Memphis.  We lived in Cordova the first year in Memphis, but moved across town at the beginning of Matt's second year.  We are renting this house from a guy who just finished his radiology residency.  We have the best neighborhood.  The houses are beautiful and well maintained.  Our street is quiet.  Our backyard is private and huge.  There are sidewalks and a park we can walk to.  We're in a great ward and live only 5 minutes from the temple.

 

 

Our neighbors put this purple jeep in their trash pile one day.  I called Matt and told him to fish it out and bring it home.  It doesn't have a battery and we're too cheap to buy one and see if it works.  Our kids don't know any better.  They love it.  They climb all over it, pretend to drive it. and when friends come over, they push each other around.  It's almost better that it doesn't work.  This way we don't worry about breaking it.  We leave it out in the rain and let the kids do what they want to it.

 

 

Willa has gotten really good at her scooter.  Our neighborhood is perfect for taking walks.  We take walks all the time.  There are nice wide sidewalks and empty streets.

 These pictures were from when Marcia came to watch our kids while Matt and I went to Vancouver.  My kids are so lucky to have awesome grandparents.  Clark and Willa love the trampoline.  They spend a lot of time running around on it and jumping.

Clark - 11 months

I haven't done a post dedicated to Clark in... um... have I ever?  Oops, I guess that's what happens when you're not the first born.

Clark is 11 months old today.  And I finally, get ready for it, feel adjusted to being a mother of 2.  Hallelujah! Actually, it's been coming on gradually over the last month.  Clark has turned into the sweetest little guy.  I adore him.  And Matt adores him.  Which feels so good to write because for so long, we wondered if life would ever feel "normal" again.  

We've spent the past 8+ months playing pass the baby because neither one of us wanted to hold him for very long.  He was so hard to hold.  He wouldn't cuddle, he wouldn't bend, and he cried a lot.  You had to be constantly standing and bouncing him and moving around and blah, blah, blah.  But he has turned a corner.  He has relaxed and is just doing so well.  He was (I guess he still is but just not as much) getting Physical and Occupational Therapy for spasticity and increased muscle tone.  But that seems to be in the past and he can finally sit on our laps and cuddle and relax (as well as all of the other stuff he is supposed to be doing like crawling and cruising and exploring).

His digestive issues are pretty much gone also.  He doesn't take reflux medication anymore.  I have introduced some dairy into my diet again (cheese, sour cream, cream cheese) and he doesn't have a reaction to them. (Milk and ice cream still cause diarrhea and vomiting, but no apparent pain.)

I took the pictures in this post last night.  Of course I chose the ones where his eyes look almost perfect.  At his eye appointment last week, the ophthalmologist said his eyes look more crossed then they are.  I'm not entirely sure what she means because they still seem crossed most of the time to me.  So we're still just playing the waiting game.  No further surgeries are scheduled.

41

In October, we visited our 41st state together... North Carolina.  We had both been there before but never together.  My family took a trip to Northern Georgia for a little fall getaway.  While we were GA, we  realized we were only an hour away from the NC border so we hopped in the car and drove across the border.

We've now visited every state in the Eastern United States except Delaware...darn you Delaware.  Matt has to do a month long rotation in Washington, D.C. next year so maybe we'll drive to Delaware while we're there.

Other then Delaware, we have Alaska, Hawaii, North & South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Washington (we've both been there but not together) left.  We are getting close.

one... two... THREE!

Willa turned THREE last week!  She had such a great birthday.

We spent the morning at the Children's Museum.  It was practically empty so Willa shopped at the mini grocery store, loaded packages onto the FedEx plane, made slime, and danced, danced, danced without having to wait in line or take turns.

We spent the evening at home and celebrated with presents and cake. 

We got her a mini kick scooter.  When she opened it, she exclaimed - THIS IS WHAT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED. 

She's no master yet, but she's learning.

Here's a picture of Clarky on Willa's birthday.  His eyes are pretty much healed, but unfortunately, they cross a lot.  We go back to the ophthalmologist in early February.  I am guessing that she'll want to do a second surgery.

Willa's birthday party was at Pump It Up.  She loved it.  And Matt and I loved it (which is just as important).  I wish I could have every one of my kids' birthdays there.  It was soo much fun bouncing around and sliding down the huge slides and racing through the obstacle course. 

  After bouncing around for an hour and a half, we moved into the party room for pizza, strawberries and cupcakes.  Willa invited 21 friends and they all came.  The party room was  mess - I was so happy the mess was there and not on my kitchen floor.



It was such a great party.  The kids had a blast.  The parents had a blast.  And the employees did all of the work.

Happy Birthday Willa!

SNOW!

We woke up to snow today! Hooray!

Clark wasn't sure what to think...  He crawled around a little...

Took a few bites 

Willa showed him how to make a snowball

And then after about 2 minutes, he gave his warning by sticking out his little lip (if you've been around him you know what I mean), and started crying. Must be that Floridian blood in him.

Willa, on the other hand, man, oh, man!  She's full Montanan.  She loves the snow!

She was a happy girl.  She didn't want a hat or a jacket.  She just wanted to play.

Halloween

We had a busy, busy Halloween season again this year. 

We painted and carved pumpkins

Willa was a fashionista... as every 2 year old should be around Halloween.  She wore a different costume to every Halloween event we went to.

She went as a princess to the Trunk-or-Treat at church

The rest of the Wetzels went as farmers (costumes put together in under 5 minutes)

Willa's second costume was a farmer - her request.  So we all went to Matt's work party sporting plaid, denim, and straw hats.

And on Halloween she decided that she wanted to use her blue bird costume.  So the costume that actually cost money, a trip to the fabric store and some time was used.  Matt said people thought she was the Cookie Monster.  I can see the resemblence.

Matt took Willa out trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  They were gone less than an hour and Willa came home with more candy than any 2 year old should ever eat.

My favorite part of Halloween was watching Willa pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to our door.  As soon as Willa learned that kids in costumes were going to come to our door asking for candy, she sat on the bottom of our stairs (that are right by the front door), held the candy bowl (without eating any), and patiently waited.  She got so excited when kids came.  She hollered out "Happy Halloween" and passed out the candy and was just so sweet and cute.