Wenzler Summer 2014

Woah! This poor blog! Okay, I will try to get us caught up. This will be a catch-all post from our summer living in the apartment in Cool Springs (Franklin, TN). This is (almost) an entire summer's worth of photos, so I can guarantee that it will be pretty long. ;)

We moved into the apartment the first week of May. Keith and I have different views on how "awesome" living in that apartment was. I felt that it was tight with the five of us in the space. It was a three bedroom apartment (and it DID have a garage, which was nice). Etta and Daniel each had their own bedrooms and we had Alice's crib set up in our room with us. We were bursting at the seams with STUFF! We turned the "dining room" into the kids' play space and we bought a very small bistro table that only the three kids could fit at. Keith and I usually ate our meals standing up or on the couch after the kids had gone to bed.

I found that spending the summer,a time when Etta was mostly out of school, living in a place without a backyard to be very difficult. At this point, I am not comfortable managing the three kids at a playground on my own. Etta still runs off, Daniel was/is JUST starting to learn to listen and Alice started walking in mid-June and is active now. So, she's not as content just hanging out on my back in the Beco. So, three little kids trapped in an apartment without a way to really get any energy out was tough. The apartment complex did have a small fenced in playground right next to our unit, but it was a mosquito pit and had a zillion wasps buzzing around. We went a few times (covered in bug spray), but I didn't like it.

We spent our days running errands to Target/Walmart and on the days that Etta had school, I would take Daniel and Alice to a playground (Side bar: Etta was in school until the end of May. For three hours a day, four days a week. Etta also qualified for Extended School Year this summer. So, for two weeks in June and two weeks in July, she again went to school for three hours, four days a week... in Spring Hill. So, I drove her down every day and killed the 2.5 hours running errands/killing time in Goodwill/going to the park with the littlest ones. She started Kindergarten in early August.).

Shopping (we manage to make our trips to Target/Walmart very full- including popcorn at Target, a stop to play with the trains, checking out the fish in Walmart- we, of course, bought some "bish", checking out the "cwocks", stopping by the dog grooming window, and picking out cookies for being a good boy):

The day that Daniel got his "bish".

(we bought that Barbie "bus". It was only $3.99 at Goodwill!)

(and this pair of motorcycles)

Playground/Park Trips (while Etta was in school):

We also passed the time with two different trips. Our big BEACH TRIP at the end of July (which I blogged about here) and then we also went home to my Mom's in Alabama for a long weekend over Labor Day (to celebrate her birthday).

My favorite thing about the apartment was living in Cool Springs. EVERYTHING was just SO convenient (including food! I gained a few lbs living in that place. *sigh*). The apartment was just down the road from Keith's office. He came home at lunch every day to walk Whiskey and when he left work at the end of the day, he would be home less than 10 minutes later. That part was really great!

So, on to the part that was Keith's favorite- there were two pools on the property. Keith considered this "resort" living. So, when he would get home from work in the evening, he would take one of the kids out to the pool for an hour or so to get that energy out- and on the weekends, he basically lived at the pool, taking turns with Etta and Daniel because it was too much work to take both by himself (and safety around water is always a priority). I only went to the pool twice all summer.

We also regularly took our little family to local playgrounds/walking trails on the weekends and in the evenings to get some of that energy out. There was a very convenient one just outside of the apartment "resort".

We also spent some time up at GiGi's Playhouse this summer:

Etta graduated from the Spring Literacy Session. :)

Just random photos:

GiGi's Playhouse Golf Outing

Etta's annual visit to Dr. Hunley- her Nephrologist (Kidney Doctor). He has a sweet relationship with her. Dr. Hunley has been following Etta since she was about 2 days old and in the NICU there at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. The report is that her kidneys are still functioning at about 75% and holding steady. No changes in blood work and urine looked good and her kidney ultrasound looked good. Follow-up again in a year.

And because I am crazy, I also scheduled Etta's dental appointment for the same day as her nephrology appointment. Now that she's in school full time, I want to limit taking days off for doctor's appointments as much as possible. She did well at Dr. McNutt's office. He's really great and he knows Down syndrome and his staff are all patient and kind.

(she did this to herself. lol.)

We spent Father's Day at the Zoo at a Family Fun Day hosted by DSAMT

I had my friend Erin join me for a couple of outings this summer so she could help with the kids. We went to an indoor play place, Monkey's Treehouse and the other day, we went on a nature hike at Radnor Lake State Park.

Alice learned to walk early in the summer (at 15 months old).

And last, but certainly NOT least (This should have warranted its own blog post)- ETTA STARTED KINDERGARTEN!! This was an enormous event for me. Etta had a pretty easy time with the transition, but I was a nervous/stressed out MESS! She had some issues with potty regression, but we managed to move past it after a few weeks. The days are long, and she struggles some in the afternoons with non-compliance, but we're about 12 weeks into the school year now and seem to have found a pretty good groove with Etta's teachers and support staff.

Alrighty, well, I think that about has us caught up through the summer. Next up, my post on our BUSY October 2014!