Planting a garden...

So we finally got most of our garden planted yesterday. We had a great time. The whole family worked together, which is important and we had a good time. We planted corn, green beans, broccoli, watermelon, yellow squash, carrots and then at our house we have onions, potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, blueberries, grapes, apricots, peaches, apples, cherries and more! so excited!
Unfortunately, even with doing something as wonderful as planting a garden, it made Dylan very very sick. We ended up rushing home, and it took about 6 different medicines to get him stable. We avoided a trip to the ER!! But he is so sick. Poor baby.
Today we took it easy, didnt go to church, Dylan was still to sick. We just rested and then Keith and I spent some time with our neighbors, while the kids played quietly and that was nice. Im making dinner now, and we will have scriptures and early bedtime. Im wanting to see the mtv movie awards so i can see the new moon trailer!!!!!

First playdate of the summer... and a birthday party!

SILLY CUPCAKE GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday we had our first little playdate of the summer! My friend Debbie needed someone to watch her daughter Emmy for the day, so we got to play all day! We had so much fun! We made cupcakes ( that is the picture, lol) took chocolate chip cookies to our neighbor who just had his knee replaced, visited with them, played outside a bit, although it was muddy, watched Camp Rock, had a picnic lunch, and then they played horses and barbies all afternoon! We had a great time!

Today we have a friend from church coming over, miss sarah, and we are celebrating her birthday that was saturday. We are going to decorate a cake and get messy!! It will be fun!

After that, I am going to try and catch up on laundry and keep painting my kitchen cabinets. Whew. Oh, and at some point I have to start planning school for next school year, which we will start July 1st. Busy days!!!!!

Four day weekend

We were blessed to have a four day weekend. It was long and kind of crazy, but it was nice. We have all been sooo tired, from stress and life, so we spent alot of time resting, watching movies and cuddling. Keith got all the yardwork done yay, and we worked in the house too, but mostly we had fun. We took the kids for ice cream cones at the park, and we went for a long evening walk last night, and almost made it home before the rain came!! We just had nice family time. Now it is back to business, sort of. Keith is back to work, but the rest of us, well we are going to enjoy our official summer vacation. Today we are building a tent in Marlees room. That is her request. LOL should be fun.
Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!

Marlee's wiggly tooth, and update on my grandpa

Well, Marlee's "buck tooth on her top shelf" as she calls it, finally came out! She was getting a drink of water and accidently bumped the glass against her tooth, then she said she thought she had a nut in her mouth! Lo and behold, it was her tooth!! She looks darling!!!

Now for some sad news.... My grandpa's very valiant fight with cancer seems to be drawing to an end. Now, I still think he wins, because he is very loved and is one of the most christian men i know, so he wins by getting to be held in Jesus' arms, but we lose because we will miss him. Im thankful I know that families can be together forever, and that our Heavenly Father loves us and holds us when we need it. The radiation is not working, his blood pressure is down again, and he suffered a light heart attack last week. This morning he had another episode of almost blacking out and they just told him there was no way to get a feeding tube in him, cant open his stomach because that is where the tumor is , cant go down the nose, there is no room in his stomach. He has lost 6 lbs since last week and is just to weak to even walk. My parents are thankfully able to stay with my grandparents and help out, but we wait. Please keep him in your prayers and also keep my grandma in your prayers, they are truly "in love" and she will be very lonely. I am so thankful for our family. We are strong we will get through this, but it is very sobering and sad to lose the patriarch of this great family. Love, JL

A full weekend

We had a very full weekend. Im trying to remember everything we did! Its still early though! lol. Let's see. Saturday we took the kids to Grandma Ulrys and dylan and keith helped fix a bathroom sink and then the kids stayed and played while Keith and I ran some errands ( yup, that was a date to us.) After we got the kids we headed home and basically were kind of lazy the rest of the day! Sunday morning Dylan woke up very very sick, so we started on breathing treatments, sinus rinses, etc to get him breathing again. Yuck. I headed to Barry after we got Dylan all fixed up and comfy, to visit my grandpa and my parents. They are now living in Barry with my grandparents because grandpa cant really move well. So I visited with them, walked down the street to see my cousins LeeAnn and Noah, then headed back home. We straightened up the house then sat down as a family to have scriptures and watch Legacy. We love the movie because Keith is in it!!!! It always makes us appreciate what we have. We are so thankful for our legacy. We went to Keiths parents house and got a tub of horses, the breyer kind and set them up in Sydneys room, Went to my parents house and got two boxes of books, one chapter books, and one regular kid books, and then we set them up in the kids rooms, so it was fun to look through the books. Today so far I have done the dishes, made a lasagna, mowed the back yard, straightened the house and started laundry. Im pooped!

Joys of Childhood

As I type this, my kids are playing. Dylan is playing a video game, Sydney is cheering him on, and Marlee is playing with the snail they found outside the other day. She is fascinated. She said " this snail is slow, he is racing in his mind though!" I have a snail slowly sliming its way across my beautiful wood floors, lol, but it makes them so happy. They are all three watching him, and they are just in awe. Isnt God great? All the little things he creates? Last night as I sat outside in the evening time, trying to get a little break, I smelled honey. Like honeysuckle really strongly. Now that is one of my absolute favorites smells in the world. I looked around, because I knew my honeysuckle wasnt blooming yet, and then I saw it-- the honey locust trees are blooming in the woods behind our house, They are beautiful, they smell divine, but my son is also deathly allergic to them. So it is bittersweet. That is probably what has set him off on this latest asthma attacks, etc, but for me to be able to sit there quietly and smell them and look at their beauty, it reminded me of a question dylan asked me the other day. He asked me, why did God create wasps?? I just basically told him that everything serves a purpose. While some people may think that honey locust trees are deadly, like my mom and my son, I get joy from their beautiful scent. Im sure there is some purpose for wasps, right? I love that my kids are fascinated with nature. I have tried so hard to get them to stop, and look at the littlest things. We watch ants, worms, flowers, birds, trees, anything we can find. There are many times when we are outside and the kids will say, mom come here, look at this, and I get there and it is a rock. Some people just dont have time to look at a rock. But one of the joys of childhood is being curious about your world. So I make sure to take time to look at the rock that they found. I am reading this amazing book right now, and basically it talks about slowing down, taking time to look around you, forgiving others, letting go of things that arent worth your time, simplifying not only material things, but your spirit. I am working hard on letting go of feelings that I have held onto, and letting go of material things that i have held onto. I hope it will make me a better person in the end. I hope that it will make me a better momma, and that my kids will enjoy every joy of childhood.

ABC's of Me!!

A - Age: 28
B - Bed size: Full, nice and snuggly, lol
C - Chore you hate: Cleaning toilets
D - Dog's name: Roxie and Sam
E - Essential start your day item: Mt Dew
F - Favorite color: Purple
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'2
I - Instruments you play: Piano, Flute, Clarinet, Drums, Bells, some guitar
J - Job title: Momma
K - Kids: 2 girls, 1 boy
L - Living arrangements: Cute little house with a big yard and my hubby, dogs and my babies
M - Mom's name: Sally
N - Nicknames: umm.... used to have lots when i was younger, none really now, maybe just JJ
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: One
P - Pet Peeve: People who think they are better than others. Snobby people i guess
Q - Quotation from a movie: " I think I need my chapstick" Napoleon Dynamite, we say this when someone is being silly.
R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: 1 sister
T - Time you wake up: 6 am
U - Unique thing(s) about you: I love the smell of laundry detergant. like i will climb into my washer and smell it if i could
lV - Vegetable you dislike: I love veggies !! But I dont like cauliflower or cucumbers.
W - Ways you run late: I dont run late. lol. always early if possible.
X - X-rays you've had: foot, chest xrays for pneumonia
Y - Yummy food you make: I love making bread, i make good amish white bread
Z - Zoo Favorite: All of it! Especially the chimps. they are darling.

Sick boy

My baby boy is sick because i took him outside to play yesterday. He hasnt moved from the couch and has had breathing problems all day. He goes to the dr thursday, and we just try to keep him comfy until then. It is so hard to watch, when he is normally incredibly hyper. Some days, I just feel so sad that I cant give him the "ultimate" childhood. Playing outside all day and not getting sick, a week without a doctor appt, a week without bloodwork, x rays, etc. A day without medicine. I try so hard to be a good mommy. My heart hurts so much when my kids hurt.

I will keep this updated.

My son.

Dylan taking his spirometry test, he loves his nose clip, cool dude!

Just hanging out waiting for the dr. This is how we spend many days.

Time for bloodwork-- he asks, what color today ladies? purple top?

Then he gets to get the vial out of the box and helps. then he says thank

you. what a guy!

Tonight on Extreme Makeover Home Edition they focused on a family with two daughter who have Primary immunodeficiency, which is what my son has. It was an amazing show and I hope it gives people an idea of what we go through. I posted before on this blog about some of the things we do for dylan, http://momtothreebabies.blogspot.com/2008/10/dylan-eric-landon.html

and some pictures. I am going to post a couple more pictures today and kind of give you an idea of what we have been through in the past 8 weeks with Dylan. It will give you an idea of a typical couple of months. I am trying so hard to raise awareness of this, so many people have said to me, well, he looks fine, you are making it up, blah blah. Or they try to push me into taking him places that arent safe. I really and truly am not trying to be an overprotective mom, just a cautious one and one who follows the drs orders. Here are some pictures, then a recap of these past two months.

Dylan, the past two months:

Infected Lymph Nodes- hospital and antibiotics

Ear infection- antibiotics ( different from lymph node antibiotics)

Fungal infection on leg that developed into staph

Bacterial infection on scalp

Blood sugar elevated and had a fun er trip

Stomach flu

strep throat with fevers of over 104 and rash more antibiotics

Asthma attacks- five in four days, ended up at hospital, steroids for 7 days and albuterol every 4 hours

Now is running fevers today, not sure why

This is life. He has to play inside most days, because of the pollen and his allergies, the enteral formula that he drinks three times a day to maintain weight, he is now allergic to, so we have to find something else. We are thankful because there is an amazing pediatric immunologist in st louis who is willing to take him on as a patient, so we are off to the dr yet again, to see what can be done. He is so brave. He is my hero. I love him.

Wednesday May 6th

Grandpa Jim in his "cool hair" after his first chemo treatments.

I have been so bad about updating. Life has been very hard and crazy lately. I am babysitting to help out my inlaws, and I have had six kids under the age of 7! So hard !!!! But it is fun and I know im helping! Tomorrow I dont have any kids but my own, then friday I have all 6 again.

Today was funny, I only had Pearson, and the kids were hilarious with him. They are in love! Well, except for Syd, she had some jealousy issues today. Which is funny because yesterday when they were all here, she was fine! But she told me, " that little genius is trying to steal my mommy!!!" So cute! Pearson is not even a year old yet, but apparently he is an evil little genius who has a plot to steal her mom! LOL.

Im trying to rest up tonight, my grandpa is not doing well at all, and it is a stress and hard on our family. No one wants to see someone they love suffer, and it just makes it hard. I am thankful that I have good memories. I am sad for my kids, they are only 7,6, and 4 and they will have already lost 3 very close family members. They are so awesome though. So brave and have such strong testimonies. They are so sure of the Plan of Salvation and they know that there loved ones are safe and happy. That is a blessing to me, to be able to feel there strong spirits. They have such pure faith. Love it.

Other than that, we are just hanging out, waiting for it to dry out so we can continue planting our garden, and working on finishing up our school year and planning a new one! Im excited about it already. Had a good day today, just long and stressful, but I love my family and my home and have so many blessings. Ok, im off to bed. Its only 8 pm, but Im spent, lol.

Soo much to catch up on...

My computer has been dead for over two weeks. I am hoping and praying it is fixed now, cross your fingers and toes!
So much to catch up on..... I had my 28th birthday and the kids did some really cute things! My friends also were awesome and wished me well and sent me gifts and one even baked me a cake!!!
We have been winding down our school year. Im already excited for the next year, but will be soo ready and excited for summer. I want to make it the best summer ever. Long evenings outside, catching fireflies, being lazy in the mornings and swimming!
I will try and post pics and catch up more soon. Love everyone!