The circle of (my) life...........

Seems like I'm busy doing a whole lot of nothing right now. When taking care of the baby, as soon as I finish feeding, burping, cleaning up spit-up and changing the diaper, the whole process starts all over. The main battle is figuring out what's needed when the baby starts fussing and the best way to rectify the situation in a big hurry. I think I'm getting better, but it's still a work in progress.

I got the baby to sleep around 10:30 last night and she didn't wake up until around 3:30 AM, so I think I did pretty well there. Mrs. Lime went to bed early, so she was able to get some good sleep, though I did have to shoo her off at one point when she woke up and tried to help rather than letting me take care of things and getting the sleep she needed. Motherly instinct, I suppose.

My Mizzou Tigers lost a tough game last night. Mizzou didn't shoot really well and the other team was hitting everything. That usually ends badly for the team that's not shooting well. With that said, they still won 6 more games than last year and are definitely improving. Hopefully they get a chance to play in the postseason this year as well. My mood was further hindered by the fact that my surrogate team, Maryland, also lost in the first round of their tournament. Bad basketball day for me.

Today's the last day of my first week back since having the baby. I stayed up late to take care of the baby twice this week and still feel pretty good, so that's probably a success. I hear it gets better as you go along except for the nights when the kid is sick.

Right now, Kali 0.1 thinks farting while Daddy is holding her is a very funny experience. I expect she'll think that's funny for quite awhile. Hopefully Al Gore doesn't blame my daughter for global warming anytime soon.

Kali 0.1 meets her future friends........

We live near a family that has three young girls ranging from 8 to 2 years of age. I'm sure at some point that Kali 0.1 will be good friends with them as she'll see them on a regular basis. I noticed all the kids were out playing and I mentioned to their mom that we had just had the baby recently. She knew that we were expecting and was excited to get to see the baby.

Mrs. Lime and I headed walked over with Kali to see the girls. Casanova followed us over and was just as excited to see the girls as they were to see him. They all got to see Kali as well and she was wide awake, checking them all out. Per the usual, she received lots of compliments that she was a very cute baby.

Wonderful weather we're having right now in KC. The high temperature the last couple of days has been around 70 degrees. I even rode home yesterday from work with the top down. Really nice to have good weather this early in March. Mrs. Lime's ready for the cold weather to go away.

Kali destroys a diaper........

I changed Kali 0.1 diaper at some point during the night. I went back downstairs and settled back into the couch to enjoy the evening. After a few minutes, Kali started making 'diaper noises'. Nothing to be concerned about......or so I thought.

15 minutes after I changed the diaper, I went back up to check her diaper. I've never seen a mess like I saw then. She had filled the entire diaper, front and back, in 15 minutes. Guess she was saving up until Dad had her. I think there may be some sort of 'poopy' conspiracy. Mrs. Lime keeps complaining that she never gets a poopy diaper. I have plenty of poopy diapers. My guess is that Kali and Mrs. Lime have some sort of unspoken agreement. Leave the poopy diapers to Lime and they'll get along fine. I don't agree with this arrangement, but I'm not sure I have much say in the matter.

Back to the basketball court.......

Got to go out and play some basketball last night. It was nice to get out and play for the first time in quite a while. I had it a bit rough as I'm out of shape and they were playing full-court. But I was surprised to find that my shot was still there. I made some bad plays due to fatigue, but I scored quite a bit and made a few good defensive plays as well. Defense was not emphasized in this league, so I figured it was a good thing that I even made as many hustle plays as I did.

Running pretty much non-stop for over 1 1/2 hours was a bit rough, but I did pretty well. The first 20 minutes or so were the worst. I was sucking air pretty badly early on, but I actually felt stronger as I played. It may have been that the guys around me were getting tired and slowing down more than me, but either way, it felt good to be pretty strong at the end of the session despite being out of shape.

Hopefully it won't be nearly as long until the next time I get to play.

More baby stuff.....

Kali 0.1 did not show her worth as a MU fan today. There's a chant at the games where one side of the stadium chants M-I-Z and the other side replies Z-O-U. I decided to try it with Kali. I looked at her and said 'M-I-Z'. She replied almost immediately with a very loud gaseous emission from her back end. Daddy and Kali still need to work on that cheer evidently.

Kali also lost her first gun battle. Because Mrs. Lime was working this morning, I fed Kali some formula so Mrs. Lime could work without interruption. That meant that Mrs. Lime had lots of milk stored up because she hadn't fed Kali in a few hours. Kali began to nurse and I told Mrs. Lime that I was going to go up and shower. I hadn't made it more than to the top of the stairs when Mrs. Lime started yelling for help. Evidently, Kali began to nurse and then detached for some reason. With the large store of milk still there, she continued to spray milk after Kali detached, resulting in a face-full of milk for Kali. I came down to find Kali's whole face wet with milk. Mrs. Lime said it was even more amusing in person.

We had grandparents and friends come by to visit today. They all came by to see Kali and, of course, she slept through most of the visit. But people seem to even like seeing her when she's asleep, so it's not too big of a deal. She doesn't have to do too much to get lots of attention.

The breast milk diaries.......

Kali 0.1 woke up around 8:30 pm as she usually does, ready to eat before falling to sleep for the night. I took her up to change her diaper. It felt like a lead weight when I took it off. She obviously had wet that diaper a few times over while she was sleeping. I told her a few jokes while she was on the changing table. She laughed a couple of times, so obviously my jokes are pretty good.

Took Kali back down to Mrs. Lime. She fed for over 30 minutes. Great news for us because when she feeds a lot right before bedtime, we usually only have one wake up call during the night. Mrs. Lime wanted me to change the diaper again, so I headed back up for another diaper change.

We headed back up to the changing table. Took off the original diaper and just as I grabbed a new diaper, I heard the sound of something coming out of the wrong end of a baby. I quickly put the diaper underneath her. I looked up and she was smiling at me, obviously amused by my hurried motions. Thankfully, I got that diaper under there, because she proceeded to drop a huge mess on the diaper, wearing a smile the entire time.

After disposing of the dirty diaper that wasn't even worn, I put a new diaper back on and headed back downstairs. Mrs. Lime was eating some food, so I entertained Kali in the meanwhile. She wasn't laughing at my jokes as I talked with her, though she had a look of concentration on her face. I quickly found out that it wasn't a look of concentration, but rather worry. She suddenly squinted and proceeded to deposit an ounce or two of breast milk on her outfit and my clothes as well.

So we headed up for another visit to the changing table. Diaper had to be swapped out again as it caught part of the spit-up. I tossed Kali's clothes as well as my shirt into the dirty clothes hamper and got out a new outfit for her. With everything back in order, we headed back downstairs.

After having spit-up some of her late night dinner, she suddenly began to make sucking noises and stick out her tongue. That's the calling card that she's hungry. After losing some of her dinner, she was ready for a refill before heading to sleep. There was only one problem. After shedding my spit-up covered shirt during the latest diaper change, my child was suddenly getting some grand ideas. She was looking at my chest and was ready to breast-feed on Dad! I quickly handed Kali off to Mrs. Lime and informed Kali that she would be quite disappointed with my milk output. She happily headed over to Mom and fell asleep after refilling.

Motherhood and the pitfalls........

A mom is stuck in a really tough spot. She loves her baby more than anything. Unfortunately, it's also a pain to be a mom in the early part of the baby's life.

The baby sees Mom as one thing for the most part...........a food dispenser. The baby fusses and fusses until it sees Mom and then it's excited because it knows what's coming. A mom could easily feel somewhat used by the fact that the baby has a somewhat parasitic relationship with its mother.

When all that feeding is done, what usually happens is that the baby is then handed off to Dad or a visitor to play with the baby who is now full and happy. Mom is left to put her nursing bra back on and watch someone else enjoy the fruits of her labor. Mom feels a bit left out because she doesn't always get the chance to enjoy free time with the baby while other do. They say how happy the baby is and how well-behaved the baby is because they get to see the baby right after a feeding. Meanwhile, Mom is left thinking that she'd love to be a part of that.

In the end, it's still a great experience. Baby will flash that smile or look at you that makes all the work worthwhile. I've tried to give more Mom/Baby time to Mrs. Lime so she doesn't feel left out. We're both extremely excited about the new baby. She's already nearly 3 weeks old and growing right before our eyes. It's fun to be a part of it. I only write this blog to warn future dads that breast feeding is not the only quality time that a mom needs. Be sure to let your wife have just as much quality time with the baby as you do. She'll appreciate it.

Kali 0.1 is official!!!!!!

We received an envelope in the mail today from the federal government. Kali now has a social security number! How wonderful to know that she now has a part in a program that will likely be bankrupt and not help her retirement in any way by the time she reaches retirement age.

The grind continues.......

Not a whole lot more to talk about other than babysitting duties right now. It hasn't been too bad thus far. We've had a couple of nights where she was up more than usual over the past two weeks, but for the most part, she's let us get some sleep every night. She slept from 9:00 PM to 12:30 AM and 1:30 AM until 5:45 AM last night, so Mrs. Lime got some sleep.

Mrs. Lime claims that breastfeeding is the best diet ever. Kali 0.1 is also doing well switching between breastfeeding and bottle feeding. She did have a projectile spit-up last night that I think caught Mrs. Lime a bit off-guard. She called me in as a clean-up crew.

Casanova is very protective of the baby. He comes running every time the baby starts crying to make sure everything is OK. He's interested in the baby to some extent, but generally just sits down next to Kali 0.1 until she quiets down. Kali likes to watch him, though I doubt she's sure exactly what he is yet.

We're getting meals delivered to our home all week as a gift from Blondie. Should be nice to have a little less work outside of normal baby duties. I also ordered 1,400 diapers and 4,000 baby wipes in bulk off the Internet as it's cheaper to do it that way. They gave me free shipping as well, so I don't have to bother heading out to get it either. That should keep us in diapers for a few months at least.

Kali 0.1 meets other Great Grandma.........

Kali got to meet her great grandma as well. Only 94 years separate these two young ladies........



Me: I don't know how you managed to have 5 kids after going through our first pregnancy and birth.

G'ma: I had all of the kids naturally and there were no pain medications to get me through the labor. How big was Kali at birth?

Me: 7 1/2 pounds.

G'ma: That was a nice weight.

Me: How big were your kids at birth.

G'ma: I don't remember how much they weighed at birth. One thing I definitely remember is that my first child had a VERY large head.


I guess if I had given birth to a child with a large head without any pain medication, I'd probably remember it 60-some years later as well.

A century apart........

One of these young ladies was born in 1904. The other one was born in 2007.



Great Great Grandma repeatedly said the following things:

-Such a sweet little girl.

-Come over here and look at my grandchild.

-So beautiful.

-Does she always behave this well?

-Stop trying to wake her up! Let her sleep!

-Her sweater is absolutely beautiful.

-Be sure to bring her back so I can see how she's grown.

-Such wonderful hair.

Who does she look like?

Here's a pretty good close-up. Time to start figuring out who she looks like. Early results appear to show that she's stuck with Daddy's blue eyes and dimpled chin.

Swaying to the music.......

This is Kali 0.1 checking out the zebra on her new swing......



And this is what happens when the swaying motion and the lullaby music work their magic......



Evidently Brahms' Lullaby still works after all these years.

Rudy's father......

My friend Rudy had his father pass away earlier this week. They had the funeral yesterday. They let people come up and say something if they wanted to do so. People did exactly that and gave a wide range of memories about his father. One man had lost his son and was befriended by Rudy's dad who helped him through it. Some of his co-workers talked about how hard he worked and how good it was to work with him. Rudy talked for awhile and did his dad proud. I won't try to recount it for fear that I won't do it justice, but he did a great job. I know how hard it was to speak about a family member at their funeral. It's probably twice as tough when it's your father.

I remember a couple of things about his dad that pop out. They have 5 kids, all who turned out well, which is an achievement all its own. After going through the birth of one baby, I have a greater respect for parents who have 5 children and raise them. That's a lot of work.

Their family always had a pizza night once a week. All of the kids would be there and their parents would always buy pizza. The kids could invite friends as well if they wanted. I've never seen anything like it. I went to the pizza night a couple times. There were usually just as many pizzas as there were people in attendance. Yet, by the time it was all said and done, there was rarely much pizza left over. I don't know how Rudy's father managed to feed his family the other 6 days of the week, but he obviously did. Big kudos to him.

Rudy's father had also been coming to the poker games here and there over the past couple of years. I walked up to Rudy's mother at the funeral yesterday and she looked at me smiling.

Rudy's mom: I guess you won't be taking his money at the poker game anymore.

Me: (gave her a hug): He was a really terrible poker player.

Rudy's mom: I know. He'd be the first one to say so.

I liked Rudy's dad for that reason. Most are hesitant to come over and play in the poker game at first. They're afraid to be embarrassed for not playing well. While there are certainly some good players in our monthly game, it's mainly done just for fun. The other exceptional thing about poker is that you can play a hand badly, get lucky, and still win. It's a beautiful thing when it happens and it's even better if you're the one doing it.

Rudy's dad was not afraid to play any hand and wasn't afraid to bluff his way to a win. Better yet, when he did bluff someone out of a hand, he'd calmly rake in the chips and wouldn't do anything to indicate that he didn't have a good hand. A good poker player wins. A better poker player does that while showing respect for his opponent. Rudy's dad always did that.

Also, most players fold their hands at the end if they were bluffing and know they didn't win. Not Rudy's dad. If he was bluffing and someone called his bluff, he'd proudly turn over that he had nothing more than queen high like he expected that to be the winning hand. There was a few times, including once against Rudy, where I saw him flip over ace high and take the pot. The rest of us would laugh as his opponent threw a fit. He'd just smile and take in the chips. Funny stuff.

Moral of this story, which I'm sure Rudy's dad would agree with, is that there's no shame in trying something and then failing. The shame is when people never even try something. It's all part of the learning experience.

There's got to be some sort of record at risk.......

Kali 0.1 continues to amaze as she lets Mrs. Lime sleep more and more. Mrs. Lime slept over 10 hours last night with only one feeding in between. Even when Kali isn't asleep, she just wiggles around in the crib and makes some squeaking noises here and there. I fear she may have inherited my tendency of talking in her sleep as she babbles a lot while she's asleep, but I've always said that if you're able to talk things out at night with yourself, you are able to save the waking hours for more important things.

I laid down and played with Kali's only toy with her last night. It's called Peek-a-Boo Elmo. It's just a toy that hangs over the baby and has lots of lights and music flashing everywhere. In the middle, there's Elmo going back and forth to the music. At random moments, Elmo goes into hiding and crouches down to hide. He then pops out and says, "Peek-a-boo, baby!!!!". Kali is interested in it and watches it. When Elmo pops out, it makes a noise. Right now, it surprises her every time. Her arms and legs shoot out in all directions but then quickly retract back and she goes back to watching the lights and listening to the music. It won't be long before she starts saying Peek-a-boo after hearing Elmo say it enough times.

First early growth indicator for Kali 0.1......

We went to the physician today for Kali's first check-up. Everyone in the office was excited to see such a young baby and said she was a cutie.

We did a weigh-in on the baby to check her weight. We were told that a baby is supposed to grow back to their original birth weight in 14 days. Kali decided that she'd pull off that feat.......in 3 DAYS. Mrs. Lime was worried that she wasn't feeding the baby just right. All indications are that Mrs. Lime is doing just fine. That baby is growing like a weed!

Lots of new stuff today........

New things for Kali 0.1 today.

1) She lost her belly button today. OK, so she didn't really 'lose' it. Rather, she had the remnants of her umbilical cord fall off today. It was starting to get black and a bit icky. Cleaned everything up and she now has a perfectly good belly button. Even without my parental bias, I think it's safe to say that it's an above-average belly button.

2) Finally got her to latch on to a pacifier. Obviously helps to calm down a baby this young. She got up a few times last night. Anything to assist in keeping her happy is always a good thing.

3) Casanova is a big fan of Johnson's baby lotion fragrance. I had sat down the blanket on the couch to wrap up Kali. Before I was even able to set her down to start wrapping her up, Nova was rubbing his head on the baby blankets. I had rubbed down Kali with some lotion after her last diaper change. Evidently, the fragrance had rubbed off on the blankets. He loves to rub around on anything that he thinks smells good.

4) Kali and I are now watching our first Mizzou Tigers basketball game together. I'm enjoying the game. Kali is enjoying a pacifier and a nap. I suppose I should count my blessings. She's happy and I'm happy. That should be good enough.

No major diaper disasters today. A day with out diaper disasters is always a good day.

Cleanup on Aisle 9!!!!!!!

Ah, the joys of parenting. I headed in for a diaper change on Kali 0.1. She had made several noises indicative of problems followed by a few grunts. I opened the diaper to find the damage. It's quite amazing the mess a 7 pound baby can put out in a brief period of time. As I pulled one diaper away from the baby and began to put a new diaper in place, she decided not to wait on the diaper and sent #1 flowing all over the place. Yikes!

A full change-out was needed of blanket, clothes and diapers. We finally got everything straightened out and everything was back in place. You never feel too upset about the situation when she flashes you a look like this......



She sleeps really well right now. She's getting sleepy in this photo......



Nova really likes the baby a lot. Whenever Kali 0.1 is down at a level that Nova can reach her, he goes over and sniffs her and then sits right next to whoever is holding her. He's very curious about the baby. He loves to watch her when she's in the crib......

More Kali 0.1 pictures........

Prelude to the baby........

6:45 PM

Leaving home heading to the hospital.

7:30 PM

Arrived at hospital and got checked in. Contractions about 4-5 minutes apart.

8:40 PM

My wife's hero arrives in the form of a doctor to administer her epidural.

8:50 PM

I learn that a baby's heartbeat is supposed to jump around while in the womb before birth. Our baby's heartbeat is jumping between 120 and 140 beats per minute. The baby keeps a high heart rate for most of its first year before it levels out.

9:10 PM

Dilated to 5 cm. Nurse said it's usually about 1 cm per hour, so we've probably got around 5 hours to go. She said that 'the hard work is pretty much done at this point'.

10:00 PM

6 cm dilation. Says we might have a baby in 2-3 hours. Doctor said that everything looks great. Always good to hear you doctor say that.

10:50 PM

No increase in dilation. Baby's heartbeat is plenty strong and fast, so no issues there.

11:30 PM

Up to a 9. Baby coming in 1 to 1 1/2 hours according to the doctor.

11:45 PM

Mrs. Lime was just introduced to the button that allows her to give herself extra pain medicine. She can only hit it once every 10 minutes. I think she's pushed it twice in 12 minutes already.

12:00 AM

Grandparents are intently staring at the monitoring equipment. We're getting play-by-play of the heartbeat and contractions.

"Oh, that was a good contraction!"
"142......145......144.....140......quick heartbeat!"
"Lots of contractions now!"

12:15 AM

Watching 'American Pie' on TV. Funny show.

12:30 AM

More pain pump button pushes for Mrs. Lime. Mrs. Lime's mother is telling silly stories about her childhood. Grandparents are suggesting that all birthday parties will have Valentine's themed or red-colored birthday parties.

12:35 AM

Grandparents are now looking around the room for a plunger. They're wondering if they can just pull out the baby all on their own.

12:40 AM

Mrs. Lime is asked for the 47th time if she's comfortable. Other than the fact that she's in labor, she reports that she is comfortable.

12:45 AM

Both grandmas report that they puked their guts out for 9 straight months when pregnant. Mrs. Lime reports quite the opposite.

1:20 AM

Kalika Isabelle is born. 7 lbs., 4.9 oz. 19 inches long.

1:21 AM

Lime manages to cut the cord without fainting.

1:45 AM

Grandparents come in to see the new baby. Mrs. Lime's father, who is least likely to show emotion, is the one that ends up showing the most emotion. That's usually the way those things work.

2:30 AM

Dinner time! Mrs. Lime's a pro right off the bat. Baby jumped right on and started her first feeding.

3:10 AM

Lime heads home to post the good news and catch a few hours of sleep.


Tomorrow begins the rest of my life........

It's a girl!!!!!

Kalika Isabelle

7 pounds, 4.9 oz., 19 inches long.

Born on February 11th around 1:20 AM......

Getting closer......

Contractions for Mrs. Lime coming about every 6 minutes or so. The time to go to the hospital is when the contractions come every 5 minutes for an hour, so we're getting relatively close. Probably be heading out in the next couple of hours assuming the contractions continue to escalate.

Getting some contractions......

Mrs. Lime started to have some contractions early this morning. She's had them going for most of the day now. Not sure that anything will be occuring very soon, but at least we have signs that something is actually happening. Probably will have a baby on Sunday or Monday. I'll update here if anything happens.

Some early signs of life........

Mrs. Lime had a doctor's appointment today. Slight dilation now. Doctor told her it would be sometime this weekend or maybe as late as Monday. So we'll just keep waiting in the meanwhile. At least there's finally something happening. I think Mrs. Lime has decided that 9 months is long enough to tote a baby around.

No problems reported.........

This occurred in a meeting I went to today at work. You honestly can't make this kind of stuff up.........


Project Manager: Bill, what's the status on the Hurricane Relief system?

Bill: Well, it's going pretty well. It just went into production at midnight this morning and we've had no complaints or bugs reported thus far.

Project Manager: No complaints or bugs???? That's great! Sounds like the testing team did a good job catching any bugs in the system.

Bill: Actually, I'm not so sure. Since we installed 8 hours ago, not a single person has signed into the system.

Project Manager: No one?

Bill: Nope. I'm guessing that everyone left town after the hurricanes and didn't bother to come back. Hopefully someone hung around or this system's not going to be of much use.

Today's the big due date!!!!!

Unfortunately, it appears that the main participant didn't get the memo. She's more than content to remain in Mrs. Lime's belly for a few more days. These are the last few days that this girl won't be running my life, so I might as well enjoy them I suppose.

My friend and I were talking about the possibility of her showing up on Saturday, February 10th. That's the day that KU comes to Columbia to face MU. We were daydreaming about the thought of MU beating KU and my child coming on the same day. If that happened, this child would never be able to live down the stories about how the mighty Tigers laid a beating on their arch rivals the day she was born.

Basketball and babies. That's pretty good summary of the main things happening in my life.

A whole lot of nothing........

Waiting for a baby to show up is a situation that just seems to drag on. You're ready for things to get started. You can't really plan anything because of the unpredictible nature of the birth. You're just there waiting for something to happen. Thankfully, we have plenty of TV shows and DVD's that we need to catch up on to keep us busy in the meanwhile.

Something happening????

Took Mrs. Lime out and we picked up a couple of pieces of furniture. Good to get her out and walking around with the due date only 3 days away. I'd been looking for some things to fit in the house in some empty spots we had in our bedroom and dining room. It's always nice to make the new house feel a little more like a home.

When we got home, Mrs. Lime noted that something odd had happened while she was in the bathroom (I'll spare you the details). Mrs. Lime was a bit worried about what had happened and so she brought out the Pregnancy for Dummies book. Her worries were removed as it appears that what happened is usually a signal that labor will begin in 2-3 days. That would actually mean the labor would start on the due date (guess those doctors actually do know what they're doing). No guarantees, but maybe we'll finally get started actually being parents relatively soon. We're still newbies at this, so take it with a grain of salt.

Full price.........

I ran down to the cafeteria in the building to get a drink. I got in line and there was a guy in front of me who had some eggs, biscuits, and bacon. He had the money counted out in his hand with what looked to be exact change, so he probably gets the same thing a lot.

Cashier: Total is $2.79.

Guy: But I usually pay $3.11.

Cashier: The biscuits are on sale today.

Guy: Oh, I see. OK.

He handed the money over and went on his way. Now I can understand people that have routines. I'm certainly one of those people. I have a lot of things that I do the same way regardless of situation or location simply because that's how I've always done that. But I have never walked up to a cash register and corrected a cashier when they asked for less money that I expected to pay. I guess this guy would have had some sort of guilty conscience that I wouldn't have had a problem with if it were me. Good for him, I suppose. He'll probably get some good karma payout down the road that I'll miss out on.

Baby vs. breathing.......

It's a battle right now between Mrs. Lime and the baby inside her. The baby is pretty sure she wants to keep growing, which requires more room. Mrs. Lime is pretty sure she wants oxygen, which requires her to breathe deeply. Unfortunately, one can't exist without the other. So, the baby wiggles around trying to get more room for her growing body. Mrs. Lime counters with some deep breaths with the baby pushing up on her diaphragm.

At this point, I'd give the early nod to the baby. She is unrelenting and doesn't care how much space she takes up. Mrs. Lime just tries her best to get in a good breath here and there and hopes to get that baby moving out of there as quickly as possible.