Nana and Papa’s Visit and Would You Let Your Wife Cut Your Hair?

07/16/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Seriously, who needs teeth anyway? Can’t we all survive on pureed foods?

We are in full blown teething mode over here, and Avery is constantly reminding us every second…………not kidding.

Poor girl, life is hard.

This past weekend Nana and Papa came over to have dinner at our house. They hadn’t seen Avery since Mother’s Day when we brought her to their house for her 6 month photos.

I’d say she’s changed a little; crawling, “talking”, and sprouting a few teeth.

After everyone ate, Avery provided the entertainment for the evening. She could crawl anywhere (within reason) around the house, but chose to go under the table just to make it difficult to get her. No worries, though, Papa joined her to see what’s so great about her chosen location.

Not sure what is was, but the hung out down there for a while. Eventually, she climbed out and her and Papa had a little peek-a-boo time.

Where is Papa?

There he is!

She wasn’t buying it. Teething can really “take a bite” out of your sense of humor, huh?

Avery actually enjoyed most of the day, but for some reason she just wouldn’t show smiles for the camera. We really have to work for those smiles now!

After Papa had his Avery fix, Nana could hardly resist scooping Avery in her arms for kisses. I’m going to guess Avery isn’t quite ready to return kisses though…

Just a wild guess.

We moved outside to our backyard for a bit and Avery practiced standing in the grass as Kelley held her hands.

The air was stagnant and even with the sun starting to set, it was hot, so we migrated back inside. We played with Avery a little longer until Nana and Papa had to head home. It was great seeing them, and I know Avery enjoyed their company, despite her expressionless face in the pictures!

The next day, Sunday, in an effort to “cut” costs, I agreed to have Going Mom cut my hair. We bought a new hair cutting kit for just less than the price of one haircut, so after just one cut, we’d be in the green!

I normally try to wait a month before getting my hair cut, so it was getting pretty messy and growing over my ears.

Here it is from the side: before

I never fix my hair or do anything with it unless my wife asks me to, which isn’t often thankfully. When I had an office job, just the act of putting something in my hair stressed me out. Yeah, it’s a minor thing, but just what it represented pissed me off.

Anyway, after a few YouTube videos and reading the included instruction manual later, Kelley started her first time attempt to ever cut anyone’s hair. At first, I wasn’t too worried, but as she started laughing and saying “It will get better”, I had an immediate face palm reaction.

But, in the end, I’m pretty happy with the results. It’s a lot shorter than I usually have it, but definitely makes it easy to wash and there’s no way to style this now!

It’s taken some getting used to, for both of us, but I’d say it’s growing on me. Ha ha, get it?

Now I don’t have to wait a month or more before my next hair cut, and hopefully Kelley’s statement, “It will get better” holds true.

So, would you let your spouse/partner cut your hair if they never have before?

Monthly List, Parenting

8 Memories From My 8th Month Since Going Dad

07/15/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Okay, things are getting interesting around here now! Just as I was hoping, Avery started crawling only a few days into her 7th month and now she’s as mobile as a mouse!

I’ve never heard of or used that saying before, but from what I see, mice can be pretty mobile. True?

Since she’s started crawling, we seem to see less of that demon of hers because now she will simply crawl to us if we walk out of sight. It’s almost been 6th months since I’ve actually left my job and become a full time stay-at-home dad, and I have been impatiently waiting for Avery to do more.

I’d say she’s definitely doing more, and it seems only a matter of time until she’s taking her first steps. Maybe in another month?

Walker in training. — Has anyone seen my other sock?

Once she gets that down, we’ll be doing burpees together in no time!

Lets start, shall we?

1. As I already proclaimed, you’ve become an official crawler, and WOW, you can really get places now! If Mommy or Daddy set you down and there’s a cord, cat, or dog in sight, your face lights up and off you go.

Because of this, we are getting a great lower back workout from having to pick you up and set you back down elsewhere……or it’s just hurting more. We are extremely proud of how far you’ve come, Avery, and you continue to amaze us and steal our hearts every day.

2. Now that you’re mobile, I no longer have to set you in your booster seat while I’m in ~~my office~~ the kitchen. All we need is to setup a couple barriers so you don’t wonder too far, and you just hang out in the kitchen. At times, you’ll get fussy, but as long as you have a toy/wooden spoon, you’re content for a while.

Practicing how to taste test on the spoon.

One thing that scares me is that you gravitate toward our feet and I fear the day we accidentally step on your precious fingers.

I just happened to want to be in this spot, promise.

Hopefully that will never happen, but I apologize in advance if it does. This also makes me realize a major con to having leg hair since you like to practice climbing on anything! Yeah, I might have a few patches on my legs.

3. Mommy and I aren’t sure whether you like or have a personal vendetta out for your bear, but now that you can crawl, you’ve really been handing it to him. First, you “wrote” an instructional post on how to fight a bear, and then you had a rematch where your fight was caught on video.

Maybe you’ve grown tired of seeing him next to you the same time each month as we take pictures of your new monthly age. We’ll never know for sure, but the smile on your face and excitement you show when you make eye contact with your bear is priceless. Mom and I love watching you roll around and play so well!

4. Now that you’re getting better at eating those colorful veggies we put in front of you, we are making it a point to sit down as a family for dinner. I still have my different eating schedule where I eat my main meal after you go to sleep, but I have raw veggies to munch on while sitting down.

You’re also really good at “finishing” everything we give you…..until we lift you from your seat to see you were sitting on everything! This makes the steamed broccoli a blast to clean, and we have a nice trail all the way to the bathtub every night as a result. Fine with us, we’re just happy to see you at least eating some of the healthy veggies so well!

5. I had seen baby activity/busy boards on Pinterest and knew I wanted one for you. One weekend, I brought you with me to the Home Depot to get supplies and a few days later, as you slept in a while, I put it together.

I wasn’t sure how you’d like it, but I guess having door stops made it an automatic win!

6. After seeing you begin to crawl, a light turned on in my head letting me know this meant it was time to build a fort! The Ninja Turtle blanket was a must, and I only hope we can enjoy the classic TMNT movies and cartoons one day soon.

As you grow, I expect we’ll build more intricate fort structures and insist Mommy joins us immediately upon arriving home from work. Obviously, you’re never too old to play in a fort…

7. Even though you had a tiresome day at G-Ma’s on the 4th of July, we were able to keep you up to experience your first Cliff Notes version of a fireworks show. The bright lights and sounds caught your attention, but a half smile was all you had left to give by the end of the day.

The sun seemed to take forever to go down that day, and after we were able to let you see a few of the big blasts, we brought you in to take a bath and get some much needed rest.

8. And finally, after we’ve been thinking you had teeth coming in since you were 4 months, your first tooth has made an appearance!

Your top front right tooth is the most prominent, but we can see your two bottom front teeth emerging as well. That is, when you aren’t hiding them with your tongue and looking like you already had your wisdom teeth removed.

It’s exciting, but you are also very cranky. I know it must hurt though, and we are hoping for the pain to go away fast. It looks like you are too…

I don’t know if one of my memories at 9 months will be of you walking, but you can rest assured we’ll work with you every “step” of the way.

Avery, we love you so much dear and we can’t say it enough. Therefore, we’ll just keep saying it over and over…..and over. We love you and are so proud of everything you do. Even if it’s poop 4 times in a day!

Do you have any favorite memories of your growing child? I’d love to hear other’s stories if want to share.

Life, Parenting

BYOB with Jellyfish on Date Night

07/14/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Remember my Foodie Facts post on Friday? I mentioned how Going Mom and I went on a much needed date night while G-Ma watched Avery.

Our date took us to a BYOB paint class called Texas U Can Paint where you can drink and snack as an instructor leads the class in painting their own picture. Everyone has the same type of picture depending on what time and day you choose to go.

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This is one of the gifts I gave to Kelley on Mother’s Day, and it turned out to be a fun time with my lovely bride! We chose to go when a Jellyfish was the image to paint. For the BYOB part, Kelley brought red wine and I had Zevia Ginger Ale with bourbon.

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Yep, drinking from a straw. I know how to keep things classy! What I do not know, is how to pour slowly. I enjoy a good whiskey, but hardly every that much, and I still haven’t had dinner! So, I was feeling pretty “artsy” as we painted our jellyfish. Too bad that feeling didn’t transfer onto my painting….

Kelley told me we can still hang mine though. YAY! Buuuutttttt,………….only in the closet. BOO! Meh, guess it’s hard to argue; I just enjoyed the time with my love. And hey, her painting turned out pretty good.

Here’s a side by side comparison just so you can laugh at mine a little more.

Kelley’s Dad, Papa, said mine kind of looks like an octopus, and I’d have to agree. What do you think?

At one point the instructor started to explain the shape of the jellyfish head but paused and said “Oh, there are kids here.” (This was a 12 & up class). Then she just said it’s sort of like a mushroom.

With the help of bourbon, I blurted across the classroom asking her what she was going to say to describe the jellyfish head at first, and she just laughed. After a group of women caught on to my question, they started laughing and said I was bad. Turns out, that’s how I felt afterward.

A young girl who was sitting next to us looked at the woman who had brought her and said “What, I don’t get it?”

Oh man, I could feel the red flush over my face. I later apologized to the woman, but she didn’t mind and just laughed. Phew, dummy me!

Going Mom and I really enjoyed ourselves and the time spent together. It’s not often we get to be alone, so we’re learning to make the most it each time get!

We are extremely thankful to my mom, G-Ma, for coming over on a work night to watch our dear daughter. Avery wasn’t the easiest for G-Ma that night, but my mom still said she enjoyed the time with her. From watching how much she loves watching, playing, and holding Avery, I know this is true, and I love that she’s able to be there for her…..and for us!

Have you ever attended a BYOB paint class? We saw a similar place that does pottery and might have to try that next, but I see another paint class in our future too!