Baby McKenzie is Here

Baby McKenzie was born at about 4:50pm Monday evening. He is very handsome with beautiful blue eyes and blond hair. Ben and I got to visit with him, Mommy, and Daddy for quite a while Monday evening.

All are doing well and the nurse told Brandi that she should get to go home right on time. Mommy is very excited to take her little guy home. Michael tells us that B was quite the trooper and met her goal of a natural birth. Three cheers for Momma Brandi!!

A Photo Tribute To The McKenzies Before Baby

The McKenzies Are In Labor

I just received a text message via my BlackBerry. Brandi is in labor. There will be a new McKenzie by the end of the day!!!! I just text paged Ben, at work, to let him know.

I can not wait to meet this new little man. He is going to be the funniest, most charming little man that walked the planet.

Cheers to the new little McKenzie addition!!!

Deja Vu

In 1993, during the great flood, I was ten years old. My parents had recently bought my brother and I trampoline as an Easter present. Needless to say, we were both SUPER excited and would jump on it for hours.

One especially hot day, I had been jumping for hours by myself, practicing my cheerleading jumps. Being ten I was not really that interested in "The Great Flood Of 93' “ I ran inside the house; grabbed the biggest cup in the cupboard, which just happened to be a plastic 44oz Hardees cup; filled it to the top and drank the entire thing. As I finished, a thought popped into my mind: Didn't Mom and Dad say something about not drinking the tap water?" That was as far as the thought went. I threw my cup into the sink and ran back outside.

A while later Momma had surgery and was laid up in bed with terrible stomach pains. I got in bed with her one morning and complained, "Momma my tummy feels funny." I began to do this every morning. My parents thought it was so cute; I must have had sympathy pains for my mom.

In the next few months I had "the flu" several times. I began to lose ALOT of weight. My dance teacher even pulled my mom aside and gave her the "Has your daughter been eating regularly" accusation. Of course Lori has been eating. She LOVES food. I still look back at pictures from fourth and fifth grade and am mystified at how freakishly skinny I was. I did look a little on the anorexic side.

So, after about 15 pounds, months and months of insanely intense stomach pains that kept the entire family up all night and the pediatrician’s redundant diagnosis of, "It's just the stomach flu” Momma’s friend, Denise, who is a nurse, asked if they had taken a stool sample. They had not. So the next day Momma and I marched to the Doctors office and mom demanded, "Stool sample please."

Low and behold, we had a diagnosis of giardia lamblia. An extremely uncommon type of stomach parasite. Apparently you are REALLY not supposed to drink the floodwater. So, anyway after some medication and rest I was back to normal.

Fifteen years later I am sitting in the doctors office because I had noticed blood in my stool. After many questions Dr. Venkatesan sent took a stool sample and told me to come back next week. He would be on vacation for the next few days and did not think that it was anything to be too worried about.

The next Thursday I was back. Dr. Venkatesan comes in sits down and says you have a type of stomach parasite called giar… I finished his sentence. Giardia Lamblia? You’re kidding?!? How did I get it again? The Dr. says it is really hard to tell. It is most likely from contaminated water or undercooked food but it is impossible to tell what food or water since I do not remember anything tasting weird or making me immediately sick.

Yep! That is what it was. Only I, would get a completely uncommon stomach parasite twice!

Tons Of Fun, Tuns Of Fun

We started off with at great dinner at The Half Step with the McKenzie’s. We had a blast, per usual! We met at our place at about four and headed to Fairview Heights to pick up the T-Shirts for the upcoming Race For The Cure.

After that we headed down The Great River Road for a fun filled night at the Mississippi Half Step. The food as usual was wonderful! Complements to chef Jimmy!! His strip steak is always fabulous. While we were there we ran into Jamie and Dude having dinner with their friends Dixon and Amelia.

 Jamie commented on how cute Brandi was with her pregg-O belly. I agree completely! Jamie also could not control herself from sticking her tongue out at me all through dinner. I firmly believe that she is the reason I have an extreme goofy side and have never really fully become a "grown-up"

After dinner we walked down to the corner ice cream shop but they only take cash, which neither of us couples ever really have. Who does these days, really?! So, we took our Muddy River Cheese cake from the Half step and began our walk back to the car.

Along the way I got some fabulous shots of Brandi and her very strange find. Only in Grafton, right?!

After that we headed a little further down the road to show the McKenzies our favorite look out spot, and share some delicious cheesecake.

It was well past all of our bed times when we got back to our place but we decided to play a little drunken Nintendo anyway. Who could pass on drunken 8-bit Nintendo?

The next morning Ben and I took the uncommon chance to sleep in. The phone woke us up at about 10:30 and Ben answered. I heard him say, "Heck ya! I will be right over to get them." before hanging up the phone and telling me to get ready for the Cardinals game and he would be back to pick me up in a couple hours. Luckily his dad called right back and agreed to meet him half way to cut down on the hour drive to his parent’s house.

He headed off to pick up two amazing tickets to the Cards game that day. I got all dolled up and made some sandwiches to eat on the way. We grabbed a couple $1 cokes from McDonalds and headed out.

What a great day for baseball it was nice and cool from the clouds and we only got a little wet from the sprinkles in the middle of the game. I got some awesome pictures at the game.

On the way home Brad called and invited us to dinner at our favorite pizza place with the rest of the McPherson family. How could we refuse great pizza and our adorable niece Chloe?

After that we went home and crashed on the couch for some late evening TV. What a great end to a fun, relaxing weekend!

They Let Him Do What

So, Ben started his new job Monday.

He came home Monday evening and was extremely excited to tell me all about his first day in the ER. He said that it was all he had hoped and more. They let him do all kinds of things that he had been yearning to get hands on experience with. On 9T, he never got to do anything more than stare at his patients and wipe their tooshes.

So, what did they let him do on his very first day in the ER, you ask? Take a seat this one is SHOCKING and SCARY!!!

While Ben is a fourth year nursing student and has had a lot more experience than most nursing students, there are TONS of things that he has never had training in. Included in these tasks is phlebotomy. This is something you have to take a whole course in. It is a short course but none the less something that you need practice at. Kind of like CPR.

Anyway, on his first day, the ER handed over the phlebotomy kit and sent Ben on his way. He took blood from FOUR people on his first day with NO training. He also inserted multiple Foley catheters with NO training! Isn't that a comforting thought...

Quote Of The Day

"I don't care if you lick windows, take the special bus or occasionally pee on yourself. You hang in there, Sunshine. You're friggin special!" ~ unknown~

For some reason every time I see this quote I think of my girlfriend, Kari. I guess because it describes our relationship perfectly. No matter what, we always love each other. There are never judgments made in our friendship...

I love you KO! Your the bestest!!

Husband Got A New Job

SO, Ben has been trying to get a job in the ER for more than a year. Apparently it is impossible to get a job in the ER especially if you are still a student.

He finally got a call back about a week ago and had his first interview the next day. He was a little worried because he had two interviews in the same day and he wasn't sure the first one went so well. So, the waiting began...

Today at about 10:40 he called me at work. I picked up and started my usual, "Cardiology Consultation service" greeting and I hear on the other end, "I GOT IT!!!" "Got what?!?!" I replied to the unknown voice because it was so loud and excited. "The job! I got the job!!!" he repeated.

Well color me happy!! My husband is an ER nurse tech!!!

The only down side, this means his alarm will be waking me up every morning at 4:45 am instead of our usual 5:45 am. Sleep is good.... Money is better!!