Hello Again, the past 3 months!

Where to start... I'll talk about my boys.

Beginning with the handsome Zach. He is a wonderful older brother. I remind him on a daily basis that Grant and Bennett worship the ground he walks on and therefore needs to be an example at all times. Pressure yes, may cause anxiety problems in the future, maybe. But as for now this extra responsibility makes him think twice before he does something. Zach is excited to go to Young Fives. I am still wondering if I want him to go to full day school... we shall see. I know that he will love it, but I will miss having my right hand man with me. Zach still loves superheroes, and could watch them on TV all day long. One day I thought I would see how long Zach could watch TV, before he got sick of it. Bad idea! The mom guilt set in and I turned off the TV. I love how happy Zach is and how much he gets a kick out of planning things. To him the planning of the event is more fun than when it actually happens. Like today Timmy made a Batmobile and Zach was thrilled with the idea, sat in the batmobile car for a minute and then moved on to another plan that he had in mind. When he talks it is the best. Because he uses his hands, tries to look over his glasses and will do all that he can to make eye contact with you, preferably by grabbing your face to make sure you are paying attention to him. Zach prefers not to color or draw, but would rather use all the tape he can find in his grasp, cut things and his favorite is finding cardboard and cutting it with a butter knife. He also loves books read to him, and can sit for a long time, maybe I should see how long... but I don't know if that would be a fun game! Tools are still his love and he could build with his daddy all day long.

Grant is a little spit fire. He believes he is the same age as Zach and wants to do everything that Zach is doing. Grant is personality plus and loves to dance. The reason why he is still a little guy is because he works off his meal right before our eyes. He is on the bench at the table eating and dancing. I think we have found our Johnson runner in Grant. Not only does he have awesome form, but he also loves to practice running with his dad. Zach could care less about it, so when we go "running" Grant and Timmy are up in front and I am pushing Zach and Bennett in the stroller. Grant loves to play games and could play them all day long with someone (which is why he doesn't play them all day long because I am not that committed!). He loves to color and do homework. He takes his work seriously and wants his art displayed on the fridge. I think it's great how different Zach and Grant are, because there isn't a lot of competition going on at this stage in the Johnson family. Of course they are only four and two, so there is still time for it.

Bennett is a little delight. Timmy says that I need to stop acting like he is my favorite son. I tell him that I don't have a favorite son, I have a favorite age, and nine months is awesome. I don't know why I have a fetish with this awesome Bennett, maybe it's because I love his name, or because he has been to Sparrow hospital more than he should, so I feel extra grateful to have him. But he can do no wrong in my eyes. Zach and Grant know that if they do anything to the Bennett, it won't be to their benefit! Bennett is the one that I still get up in the night for to feed him. The others I didn't after six months. Which is why Bennett is so luscious and huge! Bennett is just happy, probably because he gets whatever he wants, but that is besides the point... I also told Timmy that I would not have cried for two days straight after I found out I was having another boy, if I had known that he was the Bennett! Yes he is that special!!! And no he is not my favorite child:) He has two bottom teeth, is crawling, pulling himself up to things, and refuses to eat baby food. He wants what we are eating and will go to great lengths to get it. When we are sitting at the table, he looks at the baby food jar with disgust, then stares at our food and grunts. and grunts until he gets it. Our dinner is quite the deal, Grant is dancing, Bennett is grunting, and Zach is in the zone and is trying hard to finish his huge plate of food. When we tell Zach that he took to much food, he considers it a challenge to finish. Life with three boys is so much fun. I am grateful for all that they teach me! Sorry about the long post.

Lexie took these amazing pictures! Thank you for letting us visit you guys it was amazing:)

The Past 5 months!

There are many reasons why I haven't posted. Pinterest is my new favorite go to site. Other peoples blogs are awesome and I would rather read than write. Sleep is one of my favorite things to do. If I stop paying attention to one of the boys, things get dicey. And perhaps my number one reason is, that I just didn't feel like it! Not that I have been a huge blogger to begin with, I have had this blog for four years and have posted a total of 64 times, go me! Perhaps I will make it a goal to be a good blogger...I believe I have said that before!

Let's see having three boys has been a whirlwind of wildness. Right after Bennett got out of the nicu, Zach's school started, Grant crawled out of the crib and now sleeps in his toddler bed. Toddler bed means no nap, because there isn't a way to contain him! Grant also was considering potty training at that point, but I put a stop to that nonsense! Zach began wearing glasses to help his eye not go in. The van needed a major repair. We have each taken a turn getting sick. Zach and Grant have there standard Michigan runny nose all winter long. I ended up getting the flu, because I forgot to get the flu vaccination. (Note to self, very important to get the flu shot next year.) Timmy got pneumonia again, the last time he got it was right after Grant was born! Poor Timmy. I forget that having a baby is also hard on the husbands. Again a reminder, that the world does not revolve around me!

But Bennett was the one that upped us all, with his his high temperature of 105 degrees. This was a very scary time right before Christmas break, it happened over the weekend, and by 2 am I was beside myself and knew that I needed to take him to the ER. The nurse was surprised that his temperature was so high, because he was being so smiley and happy. They took several tests, put an IV in to keep him hydrated and gave him some more tylenol and a heavy dose of some amazing antibiotics. With all of this combined, they were able to bring his temperature down to 98 degrees. They sent me home and said to set up an appointment with the pediatrician. At 10:30 am Timmy took all of the boys to the Doctors office while I slept. When Timmy came home I asked where Bennett was, he replied that he was taken by ambulance to the hospital. We both started crying. I rushed to the hospital looking for my little angel, knowing that he hadn't eaten for five hours, and didn't take a bottle, plus he was with people that he didn't know. They took him up to the hospital and said that it could be a number of things, like meningitis, pneumonia, and some other diseases that I didn't know existed. At the time Bennett was 3 1/2 months and because of that they needed to keep him at the hospital.

It was like the NICU experience all over again, we were on the same floor and the NICU was just around the corner. Monday night his fever spiked again, so we needed to stay 24 hours to the time of the fever. We were able to leave the hospital on Wednesday. The doctor said that because the fever rose again after he was given the antibiotics, it was probably a virus. They didn't know what virus it was, and it didn't matter to know what kind of virus it was, because they couldn't do anything about it. Timmy being the scientist he is thought they should really try to know what kind of virus it was. I get so worried when Timmy is in the hospital with me, because he always wants to switch his major to medical, and I don't want to be in school for the rest of our married life. We will be happy if we get out of school by our tenth year anniversary!

The Pediatrician, checked him on Thursday and said that he was fine. And then Friday we packed up and left on our month long Christmas break on Saturday. Beginning in Missouri and ending in Utah where Timmy was able to go to China. The Christmas break was amazing, and Bennett was just fine. Right now he has a cough, and spitting up a lot. Before I wouldn't think twice about it, but now this child has shown me that he takes a sickness and runs with it! Let's just say that I am watching him like a hawk and not afraid to take him into the doctors office, ER or Urgent Care if need be!

These past five months I felt that I must have angered the heavens in some way because of our bad luck. But it isn't hard to find the blessings and the help that we have received along the way. Modern medicine, amazing! Great help from friends and neighbors. Mechanics, helpful. Mothers intuition is real. Amazing Timmy. Sweet boys. Wonderful family to visit and take care of us. And sweet Bennett. How I love that boy, his smiles mean so much more, I want to hold him a little longer and take in every moment with him. Bennett has taught me many things these past five months, that babies can get really sick, that we are being helped every step of the way by a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that no matter what happens we are a family forever!

Here are some pictures: