And then there are THOSE nights..........

1:15 AM - Kali 2.10 wakes up crying and sick.

1:45 AM - Giselle 0.1 wakes up crying and is hungry.

2:00 AM - I get Mrs. Lime from Kali's room so she can feed the baby while I deal with Kali and get her medicated.

2:30 AM - Kali finally goes to sleep in our bed.

5:00 AM - Kali has to go to the bathroom and gets more medicine. I just go directly to the shower and get ready early rather than going back to bed for a few minutes.

8:30 AM - Mrs. Lime say Kali is sleeping and has a normal temperature.

Just another night as a parent. Thankfully, they are few and far between. They're both great kids. Just didn't work out real well last night.

MASH unit.........

Rough day yesterday for the family in regards to ice.

Yesterday afternoon, I was going over to a security company for a meeting. I walked down their sidewalk in front of the building only to suddenly hit a spot of ice. My right knee bent outward while my shoe eventually caught on the sidewalk causing my ankle to roll. Thankfully, I had on basketball shoes or I would have rolled my ankle really good. I still have some pain in my knee, but I was limping around badly yesterday. At least I can walk relatively normal today with minimal pain.

In addition, Papa came to dinner last night with a good-sized bloody scrape on his knuckles from a fall on the ice. Better his knuckles than his face I suppose.

Thankfully, no broken bones or torn muscles/ligaments between the two of us. We'll survive.

Where'd they go?

I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning because Giselle 0.1 was fussing in her crib. She continued to cry for a minute or so. I assumed Mrs. Lime was fast asleep and didn't hear her. I rolled over to check and found an empty spot where my wife usually is located. I went out the bedroom door and noticed that Kali 2.10's room door was open, so I knew Kali must have woke up early.

I later found out that she woke up around 3:30 AM. Mrs. Lime said she was a bit wound up that her Aunt Shell was coming to town today and couldn't stay asleep. So a rough night for Mrs. Lime, but she said everyone slept in this morning, so hopefully things are back in order.

We'll obviously have to stop telling Kali when Aunt Shell is coming to town. Too much excitement for a two year old kid to handle.

Two year old English.......

Kali 2.10 was having some issues going #2 the other day. I was in the bathroom, tasked with convincing her that everything would work out just fine.

Me: All you've got to do is push a bit and it will work.

Kali: No, it won't work!

Me: Yes, it will work just fine. You can do it.

Kali: No, I can't!

Me: Yes, you can.

Kali: Yes, I can't!

Me: Yes, you can.

Kali: Yes, I can't Daddy!

It's a different form of the language, but she gets her point across.

Santa arrived!

I had to wake up Kali 2.10 this morning. She was still sleeping around 7:30, so I got her up and took Giselle 0.1 and her down to see if there were any presents. Kali saw that there were presents when she came around the corner and happily exclaimed, "I was a good girl!!!!!"

Kali picked up a Princess Dollhouse from us and got a set of glass slippers and a dress-up dress from Santa. Giselle got a toy that hangs from her car seat handle that plays music. Kali unwrapped Giselle's present and gave it to her. She said "Merry Christmas, Giselle!!!!" when handing her the present. It was great.

We've got blowing and drifting snow outside this morning. The depth varies from 3-4 inches all the way up to 14-16 inches, so it's hard to tell how much snow we got exactly. But it makes for a great Christmas appearance and Tinkerbell 1.2 loves playing in the new snow.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

I was 'that' dad.........

Yesterday, I headed out to get one last minute gift for Kali 2.10 for Christmas. She had requested a present the last time she went with me to Sam's Club and saw it on the shelf. So I headed over to Sam's Club because I knew right where that present was in the store.

Except when I got there, there were none left. Uh oh. We have a daddy in crisis mode.

After running through three Target stores, two Wal-Marts, a Toys R Us store and a Sam's Club store, I finally found what I was looking for 2 hours later. Whew. Crisis averted and lesson learned. I'll be buying presents for the kids much sooner for future holidays.

We're braggin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mizzou finally made it a happy Christmas for the first time in a decade, beating Illinois 81-68 in the Braggin' Rights game. I almost forgot how good it feels to beat those smug Illini from across the border.

Here's some perspective. Mrs. Lime and I got married in April of 2000. Mizzou had not won the Braggin' Rights game since we've been married. Thank God that streak is over.

Motivation.........

We've been working with Kali 2.10 on her behavior. Mainly working on motivation for going to bed at night and bathroom 'performance'. The bathroom thing she's got down pretty well, except for the occasional time where she waits a bit too long and has to scramble to the bathroom to do her business.

She also has a 'Good Girl' board that allows her to be rewarded if she stays in her room all night. That has paid off in spades. Last night went extremely well in that regard.

I was on my own taking care of both girls since Mrs. Lime was back to work. While Mrs. Lime certainly has plenty to deal with during the day taking care of the kids, I have the added challenge of taking care of a 3 week old baby who likes breast feeding and isn't terribly crazy about a bottle. So I have a baby who is asking to be fed every hour and refusing to go to sleep for 5 hours straight, which is a long time for a 3 week old baby. I'm sure it was wonderful overnight, as the baby likely slept all night, but it makes it 'exciting' for me.

Long story short, it came time to put Kali to sleep. I went in her room with Giselle 0.0 and we sang the usual bedtime songs and tucked her in. After that, I left the room. Kali decided to come out of her room, saying she was 'scared'. Let's just say that I'm the parent that doesn't buy that line for a second. I took her back and agreed to sing to her one song. After that, I told her that if she came out of the room again, that she would lose her "big girl mark" for the night. That's a big deal in her eyes, since she gets a 'special something' if she fills up that board.

I closed the door and heard nothing but silence for the rest of the night. Mission accomplished. Giselle still wasn't happy with me, but it's much easier to deal with one child than two children.

Lake weekend.........

We took the family down to my parents' house for the weekend. Some of the highlights......

-A trip that normally takes 2.5 to 3 hours took 5 hours as we had to make 4 stops on the way down for various baby and kid needs.

-Plenty of presents for Kali 2.10 and Gwen 2.6. Princess scooters, Princess fishing games, and Princess shirts were part of the big haul for the girls. In case you haven't noticed yet, we've got some very girly girls.

-We celebrated another birthday for my grandpa. He got choked up when the girls sang Happy Birthday to him.

-We went to church with my parents. All was well until a young pastor took a Christmas sermon and turned it into a rant on abortion. Without question, one of the most surreal church experiences ever. It was like someone handed you a rose, said Merry Christmas, and then dumped a 55 gallon barrel of fish-heads on you. I guess the Christmas story about a savior being born didn't have enough shock value.

-The Chiefs lost, but I only watched half the game, so it was only half as painful.

-The ride home only took just over 2.5 hours, though we did get home and find that Kali's fishing game was broken in the box. Thankfully, a call to Grandma to find out the store she got it from and a nice manager at Walgreens saved the day. We went home happy with a replacement toy.

Another night of rest.........

Giselle 0.0 decided to sleep through the night again last night. She slept from 11 PM to 6 AM, which Mrs. Lime was very happy about. She's not doing it every night by any means, but even the occasional full night of sleep is very welcome. Kali 2.10 didn't sleep through the night until she was 3 months old. I'm not going to say anything about how great of a baby Giselle has been for fear of karma retribution. Let's just say we're happy with her early results.

She did blow completely through a diaper last night. Mrs Lime asked me if I wanted to change her diaper. She didn't tell me until after I agreed to do so that there was a blowout. That's what I get for not asking why she was so ready to hand off the baby.

Ariel's sisters...........

One of my friends is a choral director at a local high school where we both went to school. We all went over to the school last night to see the holiday concert.

Kali 2.10 did very well overall. It was a pretty long concert, but she watched most of the performance. She did mention during dinner that she thought she was going to see "Ariel's sisters". It was a reference to the Little Mermaid movie where the sisters are all singing at a concert at the start of the movie. After a couple of choirs, Kali leaned over and asked where Ariel's sisters were. I told them that they were coming soon. Just then, the next choir hit the stage. It was a female choir who were all wearing purple dresses. Kali leaned over to me........

Kali: Look Daddy! It's Ariel's sisters! They're wearing purple dresses!

Me: That's right! They all have legs so they can go see Prince Erik!

Kali: Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh! (giggle)

After that choir finished up, there was another choir or two in robes. Then, the next choir was a group of boys and girls in black outfits. The boys were in suits and the women were in black dresses. I got a tap on my right shoulder.

Kali: Daddy! Daddy! It's Ariel's sisters again! They went and changed dresses!

Me: Yep, they must have gone back and switched from their purple dresses to their black ones for these songs. Daddy's very impressed that you noticed that.

Kali: (giggle)

At the end of the concert, my friend invited alumni choir members to come up and sing the Hallelujah Chorus with the combined choirs. I went up and ran into my old choir director who is now working at a different school in the district. I can only imagine what Kali was saying about me while I was on the stage singing. Probably made some mention to Mrs. Lime that Daddy was singing with Ariel's sisters.

Santa's in the house..........

I recently chatted with Santa after he went to a X-mas party hosted by my sister for her daycare. Some of the more interesting parts of our discussion.

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still very popular with kids. Santa said there were at least 5 boys that wanted nothing but TMNT toys of various forms.

-Dolls are not always first on the list for little girls. Animals appear to be nearly as popular. Kitchen sets are a big thing too.

-When Santa sees a young boy named 'Henry' running around screaming, he knows that he's going to have a handful when it's Henry's turn to sit on Santa's lap.

-The kids and their reaction to Santa vary quite wildly. Some are gung-ho and ready to sit on Santa's lap and have a chat. Santa found in this group that a high-five was a great way to at least get the kids to approach him if they were scared.

-Santa had no issues with people pulling on his beard to check to see if he was a real Santa. The only issue was one mom who decided to make a big deal about asking what kind of facial cream Santa used to make him look so much younger. Santa just laughed a jolly laugh and ignored her.

-Santa knows what it's like to be a superstar. When those kids sit on his lap, their eyes show a true sense of wonderment. They know how big this moment is and they look at Santa like he's a superstar. It's great to see that kids still do have a solid role model in Santa.

-Kali 2.10 was at the party with Gwen 2.6. Mrs. Lime was not at the party initially. When Gwen went and sat on Santa's lap, she told him all about the horses she wanted. Kali was right behind her and jumped right up on Santa's lap and explained that she wanted princess slippers. However, when Mrs. Lime showed up later in the party, Kali cried and screamed when asked to sit on Santa's lap. It's an odd thing how different kids act depending on who's around.

-When a child is misbehaving at a party and Santa comes over to chastise them for their behavior, they listen far more than they ever would if any parent would have said something.

-Santa was treated to a pizza lunch after his big party. It's not easy figuring out how to handle 30+ kids and how each of them will react. But Santa said it was a great experience and that he'd do it again without question. I can certainly see how much he enjoys his job and how addictive it can be to give happiness to kids.

SNOW!!!!! SNOW!!!!!

I took Kali 2.10 outside yesterday to play in the snow. Mrs. Lime wanted no part of the bitter cold. Kali got all bundled up in her snowsuit and headed out with me. She had some issues because the snowsuit she wore had mittens with no thumbs, so she was mostly just scooping snow at me rather than throwing it at me, but she got the job done.

After tossing snow at each other, she wanted to clean off the swing set. So we cleaned off the slides, the swings, the ladder, etc. She seemed to think it was fantastic fun, so who was I to stop her.

Tinkerbell 1.2 was running around the yard while we were out there. She was going nuts.....rolling around, running in circles, sniffing the snow, etc. She apparantly thought it was a blast. She also slept very well last night.

Giselle 0.0 continues to grow. She's really starting to fill out and gain some weight. She's also staring to be awake more. Her only issue right now is that she falls asleep using Mommy rather than a pacifier. We'll have to work on that after a few weeks, but it looks like we have little choice right now. She does drink formula out of a bottle, so at least that will allow Mrs. Lime to get away from the house now and then and not be attached at all times to the baby.

Giselle 0.0 pictures.......

Time for a mini-picture blowout. Giselle chilling out in the crib..........



Hanging out with mommy........







Checking out her big sister.......

Well, you don't see that every day.........

31 degrees outside. Semi-truck overturns with a load of Pepsi products. Pepsi products flow over a major interstate, freezing on the roadway and causing icy (carbonated) road conditions. And yes, it smelled like Pepsi when you drove by it.

December 7th......

It's easy to forget that today is December 7th. Pearl Harbor Day. I'm not sure I paid nearly as much attention to the relevance of the date until I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor with my wife and her family. Once you're there, the location brings home exactly what happened, the size and scope of the attacks, and how many lives were lost. It's pretty surreal stuff.

I have a poster that was signed by all the American and Japanese servicemen that attended the 60th anniversary of the attack. It's pretty neat to see many of the names that are mentioned in the documentaries on the signed poster that I have in my home. It's an attachment to the event that someone rarely gets to have, especially with the event occurring so long ago. I'm so glad I have it.

Baby in the bedroom.......

Giselle 0.0 is staying in a small crib in our room until she gets a bit older. She's got into a pattern of sleeping 3-4 hours and then eating. Wash, rinse, repeat. Mrs. Lime has also noted that she usually starts squeaking a half hour before she's ready to eat.

Kali 2.9 is pretty interested in Giselle. She's checking on her whenever she fusses and making sure she's OK. She also wants to help out with everything. As long as she's part of things, she's good with it. We've seen the occasional small tantrum, but nothing terrible. I'm sure we'll have a good one sooner or later.

Projectile!!!!!

Yep, I caught my first one yesterday. I was burping Giselle 0.0 yesterday on my shoulder. A few pats on her back didn't seem to do the trick. So, I gave her body a bit of a wiggle to shake things up. Bad idea.

When it was all over, Giselle and I were both changing our shirts. But she did say she felt much better, so at least someone was happy with the situation.

So we've been a little busy........

Babies and family and toddlers.....oh my!

It's been pretty crazy at the Lime household of late. Giselle 0.0 got home late last week and has been adjusting to her new household. She's having some spit-up issues, but nothing that can't be dealt with. She eats well.....almost too well. We've tossed in a bottle of formula every few feedings just to give Mommy's body a break. Giselle seems to be OK with that, so it's working pretty well.

Kali 2.9 is having the usual feelings that an older sibling has. She loves giving kisses to the baby, but you can also tell when she's needing some attention or feeling left out. We kept her busy yesterday by putting up the Christmas tree. She got a big kick out of pulling out the ornaments. We had some that were damaged, so we went out and picked up some new ones to replace the old ones. We're going to put those up today, so she'll be busy again.

I got my flu/H1N1 shot yesterday, so hopefully I'll stay healthy. Kali is getting hers today. Last time she got a shot, she started a big drama claiming she couldn't move her legs. She miraculously regained use of her legs after a few minutes. We're expecting a similar drama today.

I have some pictures that I'll hopefully put up tomorrow for Giselle's 1 week birthday.