Sick during Christmas

On Wednesday, the 22nd, Jenni called me to tell me that Marleigh was running a fever and not acting like herself. She wasn't eating very well, and very cranky. Marleigh's fever got up to 102.8, so we decided with the holidays coming, we would take her to the doctor. It took what seemed like forever at the doctor's office. The doctor thought Marleigh had strep. Finally, at about 7:15pm, we walked out the door with our prescription for amoxicillin in hand. We tried both Walgreens and Wal-Mart in Great Bend, but both were already closed for the night. With her fever being high and her not eating, I really wanted to get Marleigh started on her antiobiotic that night. As much as I hated to, I called our local pharmacist, Brian Reed. He is such a nice guy. He ran down to the pharmacy and filled her prescription. The next morning her fever was down. We thought things were getting back to normal. She still wasn't wanting to eat much, but we chalked it up to her throat still being sore. By Friday (Christmas Eve) she still wasn't wanting to eat much. Now, she was also very gassy, and just wasn't her normal happy little self. Her diapers were horribly potent. Christmas Eve night was awful. She was up most of the night. She would only sleep if one of us held her. Christmas Day & night brought more of the same. You could tell that she just didn't feel good. Sunday, was a crappy day. Literally. I think I changed 8-9 dirty diapers. Everytime she would have a bowel movement, she would come running to me saying, "poopy, hurt." It was so nasty it was burning her little bottom. I had been suspicious the antiobiotic was tearing up her tummy. Marleigh has always had a sensitive stomach. Marc & I decided to stop giving it to her. We were going to call the doctor Monday morning. Sunday night she FINALLY got a good nights sleep. It has taken her another 3 days, but now she is back to our sweet little girl. We're sooooooo glad! It was not a fun few days at the Johnson house!

Johnson Christmas

The weekend before Christmas we traveled back to Mound City to have our Johnson Christmas. Although not all the family was there, we had a fabulous time. Aunt Myra had just started a new job and wasn't able to take off. We greatly missed her. Marc's oldest sister, Michaela, and her family weren't able to come until late Saturday night due to pink eye, but we still all got to open presents together on Sunday morning. Marc & I were very proud of Marleigh. She was such a good girl for the entire trip.

Marleigh got lots of great presents, but she particularly like the two baby dolls. She picked them both up and was loving on them. It was priceless! I helped Marleigh open her presents, so we didn't manage to get many pictures, but here are a few.

Marleigh opening a pretty dress from Grandma and Grandpa.

Loving on her baby doll.

Keira with a sack on her head. (Notice her big sister's hand on top of the sack! ha ha!!!)

Keira opening a present.

Reese with one of her presents.

I didn't realize it until we got home, but somehow, we didn't get a picture of Brinley, our other niece. :( We also never managed to get all the girls to hold still long enough for a picture. They're all way too busy!!!

Big news!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Just have a few minutes, but wanted to update with our big news.....

We're having a baby!!!

Baby Johnson #3 is due July 23, 2011. We are beyond thrilled!

~~~~

I promise to post about our holidays in the next day or two!!!

Time flies

I am not sure where the last 10 days have gone!

I was gone Wednesday through Friday last week for tax school. (Ugh.... I'm not ready for tax season again!) I think Daddy & Marleigh had fun without Mom being home. Daddy isn't near as uptight and precautious as I am. He jokes all the time that I am way too overprotective. He's probably right!

Saturday we headed to Hutch for Luke's 3rd birthday party. It was fun. The kids had a good time playing and laughing together.

Last night Aunt Myra was over. Marleigh had been asking about her. As soon as Aunt Myra got on the floor, it was on. Marleigh was crawling and hanging all over her. Myra was playing with her and being funny. Marleigh was laughing and said, "Silly, Myra!" It was cute.

We head back to Mound City for Christmas with our Johnson side of the family this weekend. I can't wait for all the excitement of Christmas with a 4 year old, and 3 girls under the age of 2! I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share when we get back!

Neglected Blog

I'm so sorry that it has been so long since my last post. We have been very busy!

We've been to a KSU game, Marc was in Florida for a week, Marleigh was sick, I was sick, we bought and moved into our new house, hosted Thanksgiving, and.... well, I guess that is it!

Marleigh is continuing to amaze us every day. She is now counting to 10! Her vocabulary is increasing rapidly as well.

I don't have much time, but I will share one cute story. Anytime Marleigh falls or gets a booboo, I give her a quick hug and tell her, "you're okay." As I mentioned, I have been sick. Whenever I cough, she comes running, lays her head on me or hugs my leg and says, "you're okay." She is just the sweetest little girl ever.

I promise I'll post again soon! :)

Green was not a good color on me.

This is a brutally honest post. I am not at all proud of some of things I have felt or thought. I am actually utterly embarrassed, so please don't chastise me.

~~

I can remember shortly after the girls were born. We'd be heading up to the NICU and we would cross paths with a new mother and her baby being discharged. They were so happy. Oblivious to anything except for the immense joy of that little tiny person that they were taking home. Experiencing the most pure love and being blissfully ignorant. Almost automatically, I would feel insanely jealous. I would have given anything to be able to take the girls home with me when I was released from the hospital. I would LOVE to have that ignorance and think everything was always just roses when a baby was born. Instead, I had to leave my poor, tiny little babies every night. My sweet children were fighting for their lives.

As Natalie was so sick, I can actually remember thinking, "why can't this be happening to one of the other babies in here, that no one ever comes to see? Natalie is SO loved and wanted. Why our little girl?"

For the longest time (ever since losing Natalie), I have had a very hard time hearing about twins or seeing twins. Of course I was happy for whomever it was, but many times, it resulted in instant tears. I would wonder if the parents knew how incredibly lucky they were? Did they appreciate the amazing miracles they had been given? Sometimes, the most random of thoughts would run through my mind. For example: I will never have a picture with both of my children in it. Or, Natalie never got to feel the sunshine on her face. I long to be able to hold both of my girls in my arms, to have them both here. I know in my heart, that Natalie is in a far better place now. She had a very special purpose in her short life, but God needed an extra special angel in heaven.

I was consumed with jealousy.

A few weeks ago, I was having an especially bad day. I was crying to God. I was asking "why me?" Then I started thinking. Why not me? I am no better than anyone else on this Earth. How incredibly arrogant to ask, why me? Bad things happen all the time to good people. It is not some form of punishment from God. Do I stop every time a good thing happens in my life and ask, "why me?" No, I just thank God for my blessings and leave it at that. I don't necessarily "deserve" every wonderful blessing that I have been given and I don't question that, so why would I question the bad?

In my conversation with God that day, I found myself trying to explain to Him how I felt. How much my heart hurt. I then realized how blind I had been. How dare I think that God doesn't know my deepest emotion? He knows my every thought before it is spoken. I then became so very ashamed of some of the things that passed through my mind.

I also had a revelation. I had begged, prayed, asked God to take me instead of Natalie. I had tried EVERYTHING in my power to keep my little girl here on Earth. I was so mad for a while. He couldn't comprehend the hell on Earth I was living. Only, He does understand. Furthermore, He willingly gave His son because He loved me so much. What an awesome love that is. How foolish I had been. He understands better than anyone.

I am so lucky that our God is so tolerant and forgiving. I am thankful that I can ask for His forgiveness and it is granted. I still ache deep in my heart for Natalie, but that's all it is now. No more jealousy, no more anger. I don't ever want to return to that jealous person. Green was not a good color on me.

Smart little girl!

I know that I am totally biased, but I can't help but think that Marleigh is the smartest little girl in the entire world! It seems like everyday, she learns more.

Marleigh now knows several of her shapes including: circle, rectangle, triangle, and circle! :) She can point them out and call them by name. She is also consistently counting to 4. On a rare occasions, higher, but most of the time its 1-2-3-4-6. Not sure what happened to 5! She knows the colors yellow, pink, and purple. (Pretty sure Daddy taught her purple!) We've been singing our ABC's a lot lately, as well. I'll say a few then pause, and most of the time, she'll tell me what comes next. My favorite is after I say "Z", she sings, "now I know". She can visually recognize the letter "M". Athough when she says "M", it is always, "Mmmmmmm".

I am also proud of the way she follows directions. Most of the time, whatever we tell her, she does. She is even able to follow some 2-step directions. I've learned that as long as I tell her what is going on, she is fine. If I don't explain why we're doing something she gets upset, but if I talk to her like a big girl, all is well. For example, she isn't real fond of changing clothes. She doesn't throw a fit, but just doesn't really care for it. The other night she was running from me because I was trying to change her clothes. When I told her that she could take a bath as soon as we got her clothes off, she quit running and laid down to take her clothes off. She LOVES bathtime!

Oh, and did I mention teeth 5,6,7,8,9, & 10 are peaking out? It is crazy! We waited 10 long months for teeth 3&4, and she has now gotten 6 in the last 2 weeks! Amazingly, Marleigh has still been pretty happy. We're just lucky to have such a good girl!

Halloween

Sweet little Lady Bug

Happy with Papa

Daddy was just getting home from the KSU game.

All wore out from all the fun.

Eye Check up

I'm so behind....

Monday of last week Marleigh had an eye appointment in Wichita. The doctor looks into her eyes and can somehow tell whether she is near sighted, far sighted, etc. We got some bad news. Marleigh's right eye is over twice as near sighted as her left eye. She is going to need glasses at some point in the future. As of right now, her eyes aren't crossing, and it doesn't appear that she is straining to see. However, the doctor is worried that her right eye will become weak, and as she grows and develops, she would rely more on her left eye. That would put her at risk of developing some learning disabilites. He is hoping she can go at least another year or two before she will need glasses, but if her eyes start to cross, we notice her straining to see, or think it is affecting her development, we'll have to put them on her.

I know we are so incredibly blessed by this amazing little girl, but I couldn't help but cry as he was telling me that she was going to need glasses. I don't know if it is because I still feel guilty or exactly why I was so upset. When I stop to think logically, this is so minor compared to some of the problems she could have.

I've been praying that either the doctor was somehow wrong about her eyes or that the Lord will help her vision to improve. We go back in 6 months for another check up. I am believing that when we go back, her eyes will be better!

18 month pics

Just a few of my favorites. Brooke Jantz was the photographer and she was AMAZING! I highly recommend her. Marleigh was actually very grouchy this day. I was astonished by the number of great shots Brooke was able to get.

Natalie's Night

Natalie's Night at Wendy's was a huge success! I was told they normally do around $300-$400 from 5:00 to 8:00. They did almost $1300 on Tuesday night. Jason Toll said that the check will be for $250. Thanks again to Jason for allowing us to do this and for everyone who ate at Wendy's.

~~~~

I am the eternal optomist. I believe that the majority of people are good, kind, and honest. Well, apparently that is very naive on my part. We had a donation jar set up at Wendy's from Friday of last week until Wednesday. I know for a fact that there was at least $85 in it (that is just what our family had put in). When I went to pick up the jar there was only $9. I was crushed. I felt as if I had been slapped in the face. If someone needed money that badly that they had to steal from charity.... I guess I should pray for whoever it was.

To everyone that put money in the donation jar, I am truly sorry that someone robbed you of the opportunity to contribute to such a special project.

~~~~

I'm still taking donations through the end of the month. My initial goal (remember, I'm the eternal optomist) was $5000. I am very pleased to say that we now have raised $2800 in memory of Natalie. If there were only words to explain just how much this means to us and how lucky we feel to have such great friends and family.

Thank you.

Natalie's Night at Wendy's

Natalie's Night

at Wendy’s



Tuesday, October 12
5:00-8:00

Great food for a great cause!

20% of all proceeds will go to the Splash Pad in memory of Natalie Johnson.

I couldn't get the flyer uploaded, so that is the basic information. Jason Toll (our local Wendy's owner) has been very generous and allowed us to have a special night to raise money for a great cause. If you see Jason, please let him know how much he is appreciated for all he does for our community.

I am in the last major push to raise money in Natalie's memory. So far, we have about $2000.

We are so very grateful to all who have donated.

Picture update

Harvest is so much fun!

Just hanging out in the tractor tire.

Assessing the crop.

I LOVE harvest with Papa!

Driving combine with Dad.

Matt, me, and Ben. I am so proud of my cousins!!!

Matt #77 is the center.

Ben #10 on defense. Wish I would have got a pic of his long TD run!

Aunt Jemima?

Marleigh's sippy wasn't good enough. She wanted Brin's, too!

Marleigh, Aunt Monica, and Brinley

Love the sign in this pic at the petting zoo. Cause guess what?!? We finally have top AND bottom teeth!

Luke driving the bobcat at the State Fair.

I've got Marleigh's 18 month pics I need to upload. Maybe tomorrow!