A penny saved is not a penny earned...

So today we are continuing the phasing out naps. So I let Kenzi play in her room instead and told her she cannot come out except to use the bathroom. So she lets me know at one point that she needs to use the potty and she went! Yippee! She got a dum dum and a sticker. I tell her she needs to go back to her room. She does and sits on her floor to eat her dum dum. Well I hear he coughing and starting to cry so I go in her room very quickly. I ask her what is wrong and take note that she is talking so she is breathing. She had her dum dum in her hand and was gagging, drooling and coughing, and of course crying. Through her sobs she tells me her money is gone. It then dawns on me that I noticed a penny in her room when I said she needed to have quiet time. I take a quick surveillance of her room and no penny in site. I then ask the dreaded question "Did you swallow your penny?" "Yes" Well I have never run into this situation with any kid, but have heard enough stories to know that if she is crying and talking she is breathing. So I tell Kenzi I am going to call the doctor. She agrees and asks me to call the doctor. I tell her to calm down and run for the phone. Of course kicking myself that the doctors number is not in my speed dial. I talk to someone who sends me to voicemail. I press zero and say "I really need to talk to a person, my daughter swallowed a penny" Which is what I said the first time. She gets Kenzi's name and age and says they are going to talk to the doctor and to hang on. Needless to say we had to go in. Fortunately my friend Keri was able to come to our rescue and take us to the doctor. The doctor did not seem alarmed at all because Kenzi was not coughing, gagging, drooling, or wheezing. However she did want to know where the penny was. So she sent us to get an x-ray. So I tell Kenzi she is going to get a picture taken of her tummy. She seems fine by that. We go into the room with the big table and "What is that?" comes out of her mouth immediately. I put on the heavy apron and they take the picture. They had Kenzi stay on the table to make sure they got the shot they needed. While I was talking to Kenzi, the technician asked, "Are we sure that she swallowed something?" "Yes we are." "Oh yea, she did!" I then went and looked and saw clear as day a circle near her ribs. "Is it in her tummy?" "Yes it is." So guess what now... Yep, I get to go digging for up to a week! Kids are sooo fun!

Kari

P.S. They would not give me a copy of the film even after my friend explained that I have a blog and I scrapbooked!

Kenzi's hair

Here is another hairdo that I did on Kenzi. I love doing fun stuff with her hair and thought that she look so adorable with this do. I know that my mom might not agree as it is a little out there but I LOVE it! So enjoy! Kari

Back home

OK, so Citi sent me to Las Vegas for a week for some exciting meetings. Here was the view from my room, I know that there are many of you that are dying for this:






Not a lot of free time to be had, but I did manage to make it to the Hilton to see the Star Trek Experience one more time.



They are closing it down the year, not totally surprising since it cost more then it should to go, and let's face it, there has not been a show on the air in the last few years. (And yes Dave, I know they are making a movie, but that doesn't help today.)

Anyway, it was fun. I got to see a lot of stuff that would only be of interest to other Trek fans, like Worf and Dax's wedding clothes:

Or Odo's bucket:

So I got back home on Friday, and have spend the weekend primarily resting and trying to get ready for the week. We had good day on Saturday, went to Lowes and got some new lights we are going to put up in the bedroom, went to BJ's for an early dinner that was great, went to World Market and picked up a wok that I used to cook stir fry tonight and went to Kari's favorite store ever, the Container Store. But, the best thing that I did this weekend was about the kid, hence the reason for the post. So we spent time Saturday morning hanging out, Kari went off for some girls time with her friends to see Mama Mia, (glad I dodged that bullet) and we decided to play some Playstation. Now Mackenzie really likes it when we play video games, but her favorite is Guitar Hero. Not that she is really playing, but as long as she has a controller that is plugged in, she is happy. Her favorite song is Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", but she was also grooving to Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water." Anyway, this weekend I taught her how to "throw the goat" after we were done rocking. So, here is your moment of Zen, my daughter rocking out: (Notice the tongue as well, I think it completes the picture quite nicely...)

Another potty story...

I was going to post pictures of Kenzi playing guitar hero, but Carter mentioned that he was going to post it, and it will probably be a more interesting story, so I will not post it. But again I have a task telling me that today it is due to post on Kenzi's blog so here I am. Though we are still very much into potty training and going commando while we are home and we have a few pictures of her in a tshirt and her cowgirl boots. If you would like to see them let me know and I can email them to you. (I figured they were a little too risque for the world wide web, but I will be more than happy to show friends and family!) Anyway, I tend to leave her bottomless until the absolute last moment and put them on her when we are ready to walk out the door. Usually I put the underwear by the door we are exiting or on top of the diaper bag so I know to put them on. So today was no exception. Got her dressed in an adorable dress for Church and we show up and sit down. Well needless to say, we start singing the song for the sacrament and I realize that I forgot to put her underwear on her before we left. Luckily I keep and extra change of clothes in her diaper bag and that includes underwear. So we leave the chapel, duck into a room, and put panties on her and get back to our seat just in time for the prayer! I have to say, I am totally OK with her going commando at home with no one around but Carter, myself, and the dogs. However, I just think that going commando at church is just wrong! :0) Later, Kari!

Kenzi's 1st restriction...

So the saga continues with Kenzi's potty training... She is still continuing to go commando while we are at home and we talk every time we get her dressed about what to do. Well this morning she got a bath and hung out on our bed. Well while we were hanging out on our bed with the kid and both dogs, yes that is a full bed! And she proceeded to pee on Carter's pillow. She was so proud of herself and announced it. So we cleaned her up and told her that she was on restriction and not allowed to be on mommy and daddy's bed for a week! And just so you all know, we washed all of the pillows and the bedding. :0) So I will be REALLY happy when this stage is over!! Please keep her in your prayers! Later!

We get out of the house & Kenzi goes swimming!

OK, so I have wonderful friends who know the pain of being down one car and are kind enough to help get us out! So we went swimming with Keri & Sophie at Sophie's Oma and Opa's house. Thanks so much! We had a great time! And Kenzi actually went under the water with me. She would not do it until I told her that I would do it with her and she actually enjoyed it! Of course I asked if she wanted to do it again "NO, I'm good!" So enjoy! Kari

We have success...

Well today Kenzi told me that she needed to poop. "You stay here mommy." "OK, but tell me when you are done so we can make sure you are clean." And what do you know she went and it was a happy day in the Kenzi & Co household! We even had to talk to daddy and call Gramma B. at work! Maybe she will get it yet! And yes I know that you were dying to hear about my kid's poop! There you go mom! Love ya, Kari

Nagging me...

OK, So I have a task on my Outlook telling me I am way overdue for posting on Kenzi's Blog. But I have to say with only having one car that works I am tied to the house a lot more which seems to not have as much photo ops. However, living with Kenzi gives me plenty of story opportunities so I will share one with you right now...

As most of you know Kenzi is potty training and has been for a while. I was talking with my sister-in-law about a month ago and she shared with me what happened at her youngest's three year well visit. So after talking to Carter we decided we would try what her doctor recommended and see what happens. Really what do I have to lose. Nothing! So what we did was put panties on her 24/7. Even at night. And within a week she was not wetting her bed. Still having problems during the day but not wetting her bed. Well, then my mom comes for a visit and leaves way before any of us were ready for her too and Carter had his Kidney Stone procedure and Kenzi goes back to peeing and pooping in bed and her pants and even fights me on using the toilet. She seemed to do it for everyone else but me. This Thursday it will have been 5 weeks of no more diapers/pull ups. Well, I had gotten to my tolerance level on Friday when she pooped in her pants for the 2nd time that day. Carter had to clean it up! Sorry honey! I went scrapbooking with some friends on Saturday and a woman I met said that her grand daughter had the same problem and told me what she did.

So I talked with Carter again and we decided, what do we have to lose and on Monday... she ran around commando. The first time she pooped on the back of the couch because she was standing on the couch. This disturbed her terribly. We got her cleaned up and she tried to help clean it up only making a bigger mess. The second time she had to go to the bathroom she started crying and saying she need her panties. I had her sit on the potty and she went pee and poo. So I figure out that she really thinks that her panties are just as good as a diaper. And really she is OK with sitting in her own filth, but watching it hit the couch and floor are not acceptable to her. And anyway, I promise this is coming to an end, yesterday we did that same thing and she did not have any accidents on the floor. However, I got her dressed to leave the house and she poops in her underpants almost immediately. So apparently she was holding it. Well, unfortunately, I am not proud of this, I got mad. I let out a scream as I walked away from her and paced. I then exclaimed to her that mommy was upset because she did not tell mommy and daddy that she had to go potty and of course we were trying to get out the door. So when we got back last might back to being commando. Today I did not get her dressed until we walked out the front door. She did great while we were out. When we got home and I was unloading the car I came back in and told her to sit in her chair while she eats her lunch and she told me that she just went potty. From the way her shorts were bunched up, I could tell that she was telling the truth! I got so happy and gave her a big hug and told her that she did such a great job and I knew she could do it! Then she took off her shorts and panties and is going commando again! I love my little girl and while I know it is not good to get angry with her, I did take the time to explain to her why I was upset and that I still love her. In the mean time I will take this success. Let's hope there will be many more to come! Please keep us in your prayers and your fingers crossed! Kari

My ABDC favorite, becuz I know you really care!

OK, so I know not everyone watches just dancing shows during the summer and really neither do I. But I do believe that Super Cr3w is very quickly becoming my favorite group on Americas Best Dance Crew. And really that is what my husband gets when he marries a dancer. The desire to dance when the rhythm hits me and watching dance shows that makes him imagine what he would look like with his friends as a crew. Really, it is a hilarious visual! Love ya, Babe! P.S. The video would no longer load so I removed it. Kari

Some of us watch things other then dancing during the summer...

I am not really the big dancing reality show fan, but I have found myself watching "The Middleman". I am sure that is not a big surprise for most of you... They're fighting evil so you don't have to!

Let he who is without sin...

Hey kids, Carter here. So, I had an interesting week last week. About 6 months ago they found that I had a kidney stone, but it was too small to do anything about. So, they had me come back in to get an xray and see if it had gotten any bigger. Well, guess what? It was bigger. Fun times. My doctor recommended that they operate on it pretty much right now. Of course, having heard plenty of stories about people passing said stones, I was pretty quick to agree. So last week I got to go through the exciting experience of surgery to "bust up" the stones.

There were a few things about this I did not like:

• Evidently, I am not "OK" with being put to sleep in an operating room. Evidently I started to fight on the table when they had to put the tube down my throat. According to reports it took 5 people to hold me down. I scrapped the heck out of one of my teeth, and put a nice gash in my gums, which is still healing.


• For the next 2 days I felt like I had been in a fight with a crosstown bus and lost. Badly.


• I needed to collect samples of the remains of said stones, which means that all pee must be filtered. Yes, more about me then you wanted to know, but consider this a public service annoucement, DON"T GET KIDNEY STONES! or at the very least a preview of what you can expect if you have to go though this exercise.


• Passing stones, not so much fun, even if they are on the smaller side.
  

What I did like about this experience:

• Vicoden laced with Tylenol will kill just about any pain.

So, that was my excitement last week. You can read the postings on the 4th, as well as Kenzie's first haircut. I took the kid to see Wall-E on Saturday, we both really liked it. It is a very cute movie, and not what I expected. Also it looks like my car is headed for the great scrapyard in the sky, or at the very least it might cost more to fix then it is worth. So....that will be fun to deal with. Anyway, I have a very hectic week coming up at work, so probably will not hear from me over the next few days. Since this is Kenzie's blog, let's see if we can find a picture of her for the audience...OK, here is a picture of Mackenzie at a Stars game last year. Its your moment of zen....

My faves...

So I got to thinking and I want to post my favorites when I can. I have a confession to make, in my frenzy to watch pretty much anything regarding dancing, though I do have my limits, I did not watch "Your mama can't dance" - Yuck! Anyway, I also watch Americas Best Dance Crew. I watched it last season and LOVED the JabbaWockeez! Even Carter was impressed by them so much so that he thought him, Dave, Neal, John, and our friend Kyle could make a crew and go for the gold! So I am really far behind in my watching as I just watched week one last night. But my favorite dance was done by Super Cr3w. So enjoy and the quality is not good but you still get the idea. Oh and as far as So you think you can dance, I think that Mark and Chelsea are going to be there for a while as well as Katee and Joshua. Though below is one of Mark's auditions and I thought it was hilarious! Have fun! Kari

Kenzi's 1st Haircut!

So I knew this day would come and fortunately I had prepared emotionally for it. I truly believe that had we done it any earlier I would have been bawling. So we went to a Kids Cut place and had them trim her hair in the back leaving it long and then they cut real bangs. I would just cut what was covering her eyes. She looked so cute when they were done. I love the part on the side. The back looks really healthy now too. She did great. There were times where Johnny Neutron would take precedent over looking down, but she did not freak out! Yippee! So no more signs of my baby girl. Since I had not cut her hair ever, she still had baby hair on the ends. Oh well, better for her to progress than to be stunted in growth! Oh, and the car that she sat in helped too! Kari

Happy 4th!

So the night before Carter asks me if there was anything I wanted to do for the 4th. At first I did not want to tell him because I thought it was too late to ask. But then a little later, I let him in on what I wanted. Though it was too late to invite friends over we had a party in our backyard and went and saw fireworks. We actually went to the top of a parking structure with our friends Keri and Sophie (Neal was sick - We hope you feel better Neal!) and and watched the Plano fireworks and even caught the tail end of the Frisco fireworks. I appreciate my husband being so flexible and willing to make it a fun day! We also had the opportunity of meeting Dave and Liz's children that move in on Tuesday. We are so happy for Dave and Liz and it was very heartwarming to hear the children calling them mom and dad! Prayers do get answered! Later! Kari

My favorite dance!

OK So my friend put on her blog her favorite dance from So You Think You Can Dance. So I wanted to. While I agree that the one Crystal put on her blog was great I thought this one was better. I got goosebumps watching it! Watch from 2:45-4:45. Enjoy! Kari