New things

So I always think I will do better blogging but it never happens. So instead of my normal drawn out updates I will do a quick recap of everything that has happened since the last post...

• each of us took turns getting the flu for a week
• we had to sell Mugsy because we found out Allison was really allergic to him which was so sad (but we made a $450 profit so that helped a little)
• we traded in our quickly dying Nissan Maxima for a new Honda Pilot and LOVE IT
• Darren's mom came to visit last weekend
• we got together with the grandparents and cousins for dinner at the park
• my mom and step dad came to visit for a week
• we had Darren take a day off of work and went to Midway with our friends and stayed overnight
• we rode on Thomas the Train in Heber City
• we got a lawn mower
• we decided we don't need a weed whacker anymore after teaching Emmie to cut the grass along the fence with scissors haha
• we decided that we really did want a vegetable garden this year and went out and got all the stuff to make it happen

So that's the quick recap but I actually have pictures for your viewing pleasure this time. We will also take pictures of the garden after we dig it out and plant it tomorrow and then hopefully of our little veggies as they grow!!!

First time for everything

So I can't even begin to explain how drained I feel. You know when something happens that just sucks every last bit of energy you have and it just leaves you feeling lifeless? That was me today. To explain here's the story...

Emmie has been feeling really sick for the last week and was throwing up and had a bad fever but it broke and we thought she was on the mend thinking it was just a 24 hour flu or something. The next couple days she still wasn't feeling too hot but seemed to be getting better just had NO appetite whatsoever. One day she only ate 4 crackers and a couple sips of water. Another day she had 1 apple and a couple sips of water. Saturday she wouldn't eat anything but was drinking a lot so we figured we were good. She had been taking a nap everyday last week which she never does but when you're sick you just want to kind of lounge anyhow. So anyway, Saturday was a really warm day but she kept saying she was freezing and had on sweat pants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and socks and kept a blanket wrapped around her. Her lips were totally blue and she felt freezing to touch so I thought great I guess this isn't the 24 hour flu and that she's just recovering maybe it's a bad bug. Well she ended up falling asleep in the middle of the floor in the afternoon so I just picked her up and took her to bed and went out to pull some weeds while Darren mowed the lawn. I heard her over the monitor a while later crying so I went upstairs and she kept telling me her tummy hurt really bad and was grabbing her side telling me her side hurt. So at first I was thinking ok she's just going to throw up again. But once I got downstairs with her she wouldn't stop talking about it so I felt her stomach and it was rock solid. That alarmed me since she hadn't eaten anything in days. So Darren and I called the doctor on call and she told us to hurry up to Primary Children's Hospital because it sounded like appendicitis. So we hurried and got in the car forgetting that it had no gas. We have never been there before so we ended up getting on the freeway going the wrong direction and ended up on our way to Wyoming not being able to find a place to turn around. Just as we found a place I looked back at Emmie and she started throwing up every where. It was this crazy brown sandy stuff so I of course freaked as we were lost, running on fumes of gas and my baby was now throwing up and not stopping. So I picked up the phone and for the first time ever in my life dialed 911 and they guided us to the hospital. They hooked her up to an IV since she was dehydrated and took her blood and ran some tests. She was such a trooper and didn't even cry! Luckily everything came back normal. So we don't know if this is just some crazy bug that she has or what but they sent us home after she got enough fluids and was able to keep some popsicles and slushies down. Today she is still under the weather but they told us that we should keep an eye on her and if she starts complaining of side pain again bring her right in.

I swear if I have to see the inside of a hospital or doctors office for anything other then routine things for the next year I am totally going to lose it. I can't handle sick babies. Everyone is telling me that it's probably just the fact that we have moved here and the girls aren't used to the new germs and bugs that Utah has to offer but man it would be nice to have a while month go by with no sickness!

So there is the reason for me being so drained. When I put Allison down for a nap today my body just couldn't handle it anymore and I sat down and crashed on the couch. Thanks Darren for letting me take a nap. That was as good as any present he could have given me for mothers day.

Well, Happy Mothers Day all you moms out there and I hope yours had a little less sickness to go along with it. Thanks mom and Derek for the gorgeous flowers. That was very thoughtful and they smell so nice!

More from the Mugs

He likes to sit under Allison as she eats because he has quickly learned that she likes to toss stuff down for him to munch on.

Emmie spent all day today telling Mugs to sit and shake. He is so good with her and puts up with her constant requests for his performances. Allison LOVES him to death and is constantly searching for him in every room. She loves to lift herself to stand by grabbing his fur and loves to touch his face. Mugs just lets her climb all over him and knows that if he gives her one good lick he can get her to stop her harassment for about 30 seconds while she tries to figure out what the heck just gooed her.

New member of our family

So Darren has wanted a dog really bad for a while now and has been looking extensively for the last little bit. He wanted a puppy but I was only ok getting a dog that was already potty trained and good with kids. Darren really wanted a bulldog but they are so expensive I thought we should probably look to other breeds. But Darren was determined to find his dog. He was looking on KSL multiple times a day and finally one popped up that was the right price. We went to see him yesterday and he is now the newest member of the Johnson family. He is 2 years old and house trained, will sit and shake and is awesome with the kids. His name is Mugsy but we mostly just call him Mugs. He is fat and needs to go on a diet, he snores and his gas can clear a room but he is also sweet and lovable and Darren and the kids are in love and he's growing on me.

Fun and then sick again grrr

We had two really fun days so far this week. Monday I called up a girl in my ward that I had met at the the zoo when I went with my neighbor. She seemed really nice and so we had exchanged numbers. She has a little boy that is two and is seriously the sweetest little guy. He is always smiling and happy. So we decided to go out to eat at Burger King so the kids could play on the play structure while us girls could talk. We stayed there a while and then took the kids to the carousel at the mall. We then walked around the mall a bit. They have a place at our mall that is a dinosaur play area that they played in for a while. After that we got some ice cream at the food court and called it a day. We had so much fun though. Emmie LOVES her little boy and I really enjoyed talking to Sharee. We will be getting together again with them sometime soon for sure!


Yesterday we hit up the zoo with my sister in law Jen and her four kids. It was such a nice day out. I actually got a little burnt on one arm and the back of my neck. Summer's finally coming I hope!!! Anyway, we took the train ride which the kids of course loved. Even Allison seemed to be totally into it. Then we just walked around looking at the animals, had some snacks and went home. The only thing I was bummed about is the kettle corn station wasn't open!!! I normally don't really think kettle corn is all that great but this zoo has the most amazing kettle corn! Emmie could have stayed at the zoo all day and was sad to go home but since we have a zoo pass we will be frequenting it a lot this summer I'm sure so I was able to reassure her we will be back soon.





















Then we wake up today to sick kids. Blah! Emmie is coughing and Allie has some major snot going on. It doesn't help that she is also having teething going on on top of a cold now. So she is clingy and tired. Emmie is feeling fine despite her cough and doesn't see why we have to stay home and can't play with anyone today. But I am quarantining this cold because I don't want to spread it and then get it back again in another week or so. So today is PJs and movies day.

Need to take pictures!!!

Ok so I have a goal to take more pictures for the next week... I have too many posts without them and know that people enjoy those more then words sometimes. I also love having pictures around but just haven't been very good at taking them lately.
Everyone is healthy and fine in our house now. Allie had us calling the doctor a couple times and had us have to go back in for strep test and almost got herself a fun trip to the hospital for IV fluids if she would have thrown up one more time but luckily she took the doctor serious and stopped throwing up and got better. She broke out in a rash all over her body for 2 days after her fever broke which was sad because she was constantly itching her face and you could just tell she felt like crap. But we are happy to report she is 100% and we have our happy baby back. I guess this virus is kind of like a cousin to chicken pox and once you get it you are immune but the problem is there are a ton of strands of it now so she could get a different one later. Emmie never got it and we are so happy about that. We were very, very careful with hand washing and not letting Emmie get too close to Allison.
New things with the girls are Allison is pulling up on everything people, the couch, the bath tub, drawers, whatever is in her path she wants to climb on it. The sad part is she is a little too eager and doesn't really have the coordination to stay up and it has made for a ton of bumps. But she gets right back up and does it again anyway. Also she has been a little slow with the solid foods and still only eats stage one foods and doesn't care to go to the next level. However, I think I finally discovered why, she wants to skip it all together. She just wants table foods and what I am eating. She doesn't have teeth so I didn't think she was really ready until I accidentally dropped something on her tray and she grabbed it and popped it in her mouth before I could even get at it. So I think I am just going to start blending the foods we are eating for dinner and just bypassing the other baby foods and see what she thinks of that. She has always loved attention but has been being a little ham lately and loving getting us to laugh at her. She is so funny and will make all sorts of sounds and movements just to get a reaction.
Emmie has been loving the warm weather and playing outside. Everyday when she wakes up she gives me new ideas of what we can do outside, the zoo, park, pool, backyard, you name it, she just wants to play. She has also gotten really good at puzzles and likes putting those together. Not the wooden easy ones, she likes the harder ones. She is also obsessed with Peter Pan and wants it in the DVD player when we are driving anywhere. She has also been telling me all about when she is going to take all of us to Neverland and we are all going to fly around and fight Captain Hook. She is so excited for Allison to get to be a big girl someday that she is trying to help her along a little faster then Allie is ready for and then I like. I have found her numerous times holding Allison in a standing position and trying to drag her along "walking" with her. She loves Allie so much and just wants to play with her but this has been a number one time-out getter lately. She has also graduated to showers instead of baths. She wants to be big just like her cousins so refuses to take baths anymore. She also got called to give her very first talk in Primary this next Sunday. I feel like my little babies are in way too much of a hurry to grow up and I'm not really liking it but it is awesome to see them grow.
I had my birthday last week and thanks family for the gifts and everyone who called. Laurie and kids... we still sing way worse then you and you might want to work on that for next year ;) Darren surprised me with a Bosch which I am so excited about! I have wanted one for a really long time. I need to go get some more flour today and want to try out a bread recipe asap. He has already made us cookies in it that were fabulous (his cookies always are but we'll say the Bosch helped)
The gym that Darren and I go to gives you a free body composition testing and personal trainer visit when you sign up so Darren and I took advantage of those last week and this week. We were both scared to see what the body comps would say (it measures bicep strength, body fat, flexibility and a couple other things) but they didn't turn out too bad so that made us feel a little bit better about ourselves. I met with the personal trainer on Monday and found out that my body is retarded. I talked to him about being a little concerned about never feeling any burn in the back of my legs or butt but always feeling stress on my quads. So we did a couple exercises that were supposed to really work those areas but I felt nothing. So had me lay down and put pressure on my muscles on the back of my legs and I thought I was going to die! I seriously almost kicked him in the face and wanted to cry. He told me that for whatever reason those muscles are tightened and not releasing and so my quads are taking on all the work of my whole leg and the backs aren't working at all. So he had me do some foam rolling and put pressure on the muscles to get them to relax and I again wanted to die. The hope is that I can get the muscles to relax and then retrain my legs to work the way they are supposed to. So yesterday and today I have been walking like a dork but hope that I can learn to do what he showed me better so I can get my leg muscles working right. Darren's personal training session is tonight so we'll see what type of things he can help him with.
That's pretty much us lately so that's all for now folks!

Coxsackievirus

On Sunday Allison started acting a little under the weather, that night she started a fever and just seemed like she wasn't feeling too well. She is normally a really happy baby so when she started to whine a lot we knew she had something more going on then just a little cold. That night she woke up a couple times just burning up and didn't really want to nurse so I thought maybe she had an ear infection. So Monday morning I called a pediatrician to get her in and the earliest time they had was 4:10pm. So all day Allie was just crying and had a fever and and was drooling really bad, it was so sad because there was nothing I could do to make her feel better. When we got to the doctor they weighed her (17lbs 6oz) and took her temperature (103.6, after tylenol) The doctor came in and told me the coxsackievirus has been running rampant with kids right now so she was going to check her hands, feet and mouth to see if it could be that, sure enough it was. Poor thing has little ulcers all over the back of her throat! We have no idea how she got it since no one we know has it. I hate when the kids are under a year and get sick, they just don't know what's going on and are just so sad. So there is no treatment for the virus you just have to stay up on fluids and give them tylenol and/or motrin and wait for it to pass. Luckily I found out once the fever is gone they aren't contagious anymore and that usually last 3-4 days. But it just takes a while for the ulcers to heal. Last night was the worst for Allie though she kept throwing up food, my milk, tylenol and the maalox the doctor told me to try to give her to coat her throat so it wouldn't hurt so bad. I hope today she will be feeling a bit better and I hope Emmie doesn't get it. So everyone with kids watch out since I guess it is going around really bad.