All posts by R.C. Liley

I'm an ex-mutual fund accountant who left the cubicle world to be a stay-at-home dad to my beautiful little girl, Avery, who entered our life on 11/15/13. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, for 7 years as of 8/17/14. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the upmost importance in our family and we strive to reflect this in our daily life. I always prepare our meals at home and only go out if it's a special occasion, and even then I tend to not get much. Food should be fun and a joy to eat, not something quickly consumed from a fast food chain or scarf down before the next meeting. I have come from strictly logging high miles to train for the next marathon to keeping exercise varied and focusing more on strength. I still enjoy going for a run when I can, but nothing crazy, and I prefer hill sprints while pushing my daughter, Avery in the stroller. She loves it and I get a great workout! I want to show the world how to appreciate their body and feed it real, wholesome food while moving more throughout the day. In doing so, everyone would be healthier, happier, and we'd all live in a better place as a result. I blog mainly about my life as a stay-at-home dad and frequently include reviews, participate in campaigns, and share my thoughts on fitness and nutrition. If you ever have any questions or thoughts to share, please reach out as I'm always open to listening or helping others however possible. That is, when I have free time since Avery is and my wife are the number one priorities!

Going Reviews

Keep Her Warm and Fashionable with Bootzies: The Original Boot Tights

02/11/2016 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

To avoid any confusion, this is an old post (as you can tell by the pictures of my daughter) that I simply updated. She grew out of the Bootzies, but they were enjoyed while they fit her. Hopefully you’ll give them a try for your little one!

Woot, Summer is gone and Fall/Autumn has arrived! For most of us, this means cooler weather and pumpkin themed everything is starting to appear.

Time to put away your little girls’ t-shirts and short-sleeved onesies and break out the long sleeves, pants, and socks. If your baby is anything like Avery when you try to dress her, the thought of dressing her in more clothes is daunting.

Going Mom and I essentially play a mini version of Twister sans the color dotted mat every time we dress Avery. What’s that? But you love playing Twister? Yeah, so did I, before dressing an unruly baby with crazy-limb flailing about.

A while back, I saw pictures of other babies dressed in boot tights called Bootzies and thought they were (for lack of a better, more manly word) adorable. I wanted these for Avery and knew they’d be perfect for when the Texas heat simmered down.

I reached out to Bootzies asking if they’d be interested in sending some of their Boot Tights in trade for a review, and they graciously agreed!

The creator of Bootzies, Christina, was inspired to create these functionally fashionable boot tights for her infant daughter, Julia. She thought it would be a cute to have cowboy boots for her, but obviously knew the real thing would not be practical. After a little brainstorming, Christina came up with Bootzies. These would allow babies to comfortably scoot, crawl and walk without losing her socks or shoes. Plus, it would always look like her outfit was complete!

Immediately after receiving 3 stylish pairs of Bootzies Boot Tights, I dressed Avery to see how she liked them.

I appreciate how these are pants and socks in one which makes dressing her easier and she doesn’t have socks to pull off right away. I’d say she took to liking them rather fast. Just minutes after having them on, she looked ready to start marching…..and she doesn’t even walk yet!

And with that, I let her march/crawl around the house to get a feel for her new attire. Starting in the kitchen, we crawled around to check things out.

Let me note right now that the Bootzies provide little traction for your crawler when on a wood floor. The carpet is fine, but smooth surfaces provide a challenge when crawling since they slip around. Once they can walk, the grips on the feet will come in handy, but until then have fun watching them scoot around!

Of course, all is well when there’s a walker around to help stabilize in the standing position.

All of the movement must of made her hungry, because before I knew it, she was reaching in the freezer looking for food.

I guess she lost her appetite after only finding frozen broccoli and brussels sprouts since she quickly moved on to see what was happening out of the front window.

I later tried on another pair which I think are my favorite. Dressing her was even easier since I had a better hang of it, and still really love not messing with socks that will ultimately get pulled off within minutes.

This time we started in her room where she had to check out her mini bell wreath on the closet. Then she moved on to her giant farm animal cards and seemed quite interested.

From there, we migrated into the kitchen where she handled the slippery surface better than before.

She even moved some of the rug just to stay on the wood floor. I guess she likes a challenge!

I’m very excited and grateful to have these Bootzies to dress Avery in as the temps drop and the seasons change. Not only are these precious, they make the hassle of cold weather dressing much more bearable!

Besides being slippery on hard floors like wood or laminate, my only other minor issue with these is the grippy part of the foot will easily get turned to where it’s on top of her foot. Obviously, that makes it slippery, but I’m hoping that as she grows, this will not be a problem. Either way, these will get a lot of use this season!

Want to pick up some Bootzies for the little fashionista in your life? With sizes ranging from ages 0 all the way to 4 years old, there’s bound to be a style you’ll love for your little one. Check out their online store here and put in your order before the cold sets in.

Be sure to show Bootzies your love on Facebook and Twitter too. Send pictures of your baby in Bootzies to info@bootzies.net for a chance to have them showcased on their Facebook page and added to their online Gallery.

Have you seen Bootzies before?

Do you have a little girl you know that these would be simply precious to wear?

Full disclosure, Bootzies provided me their products free of charge, but all opinions are strictly my own.

Going Strong, Life

An HIIT Kettlebell Workout Routine to do During Nap Time

01/06/2016 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

This HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout routine is perfect for the time-strapped parent (or anyone short on time) as it provides a high-revving training stimulus in 30 minutes or less. That is, of course, assuming you push yourself out of your comfort zone. If there’s one carry-over from my years of marathon training to strength training, it’s learning to push far beyond my level of comfort to reach and/or surpass my goals.

But there are differences. With marathon training, it’s all about doing more; more miles, more time on feet, and essentially, more running! When training for strength, you focus on lifting more weight or adding more sets/reps, but doing too much creates a point of diminishing returns. Muscles need to rest and recover in order to repair themselves and grow stronger, and that means doing less might be best.

That’s an extreme Cliff Notes version as there’s definitely a lot more to strength training than just lift heavy, eat a caloric surplus (focusing on quality food sources), rest, repeat. I could blabber on and on about this topic, but I would need to have a blog devoted entirely to the subject as it is extremely vast. Plus, I have an HIIT routine for the time-strapped parent (or anyone really) I created that I want to share. Hopefully you’ll find it effective.

Once your kid goes down for a nap or you’re graced with a patient child, try this routine for a full-body blast that’ll have you full of endorphins once finished.

hiit, workout routine, fitness, — I’m waiting for you!!

6 Rounds for Time

**6 *Pull-ups or Chin-ups**

10 Burpees

15 Push-ups

10 1-arm Kettlebell Swings (each arm)**

15 V-Ups

*If you can’t do pull-ups/chin-ups, try inverted rows or dumbbell bent rows

**If you don’t have a kettlebell, use a dumbbell or anything you can old and securely swing

I was feeling this the next day and loved it! If you really push yourself, expect to take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. I added 5 minutes of biking before and after but it’s not required.

Give this routine a try and let me know how you liked it (or didn’t like it) in the comments below. This is also a great finisher after pure strength training with compounds exercises like squat, deadlift, bench, etc.; just shorten it to 3 rounds.

Parents need to keep fit too, and HIIT routines like this allow us to get a good strength and cardio workout in when there’s not a lot of time. If you can (or if nap time was a failure), have the kids join in to let them see how “fun” keeping active is, and you’ll be leading my example.

What are your current fitness goals?

Do you like HIIT routines like this or prefer standard cardio options like running or biking?

Life, Parenting

Baby’s Firsts are Fun, But What About Their Lasts?

01/02/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

You have approximately 940 weeks from when your baby is born to when they (usually) head off to college. It’s true, Google’s calculator says so…

940 might seem like a lot, but how many have you already used with your kid or kids? And as they grow older, they will be spending less time with you and more time at school and with friends. Before you know it, the weeks will become a blur and you’ll have less than 100 left to cherish. Then, you’re helping them pack to leave and saying your goodbyes.

I know this isn’t the case for every family, but for many, it is. Avery is only 9.5 months, and I get emotional just thinking of that day she leaves Going Mom and me. Although we’ve been parents for less than a year, time truly is flying by, and the little squirmy baby that easily fit in our hands, is now a bigger squirmy baby we need to firmly hold with both arms!

Lately, as I’m sitting with Avery in her dark nursery and feeding her a bottle for nap time, I have been thinking more and more of how little time we really have. Getting her to actually fall asleep while holding her has become a rare event, and I usually resort to just laying her in her crib to where she’ll move all over the place until finally giving in to sleep.

But, it doesn’t seem that long ago when she’d fall asleep on the bottle, and I could hold her on my chest and just rock with her before laying her in her crib….still sleeping. Now my wife and I both look back on those days and tell each other if we are ever so lucky to have that chance again. Kelley is able to experience this more because of that damn comforting boob, but it’s still a rare occurrence.

This quickly fading part of our parenthood makes me think how excited we get about every “first” we experience with Avery, but we don’t always consider there will be a last. Even as she’s sitting on the floor crying for no reason, there will be a last time we come over to pick her up and hold her.

Soon, crawling will be a thing of the past and we won’t have to stoop so low to pick her up. And then *gasp* she’ll grow up to where picking her up and holding her is simply unacceptable!

It’s sad to think, but there will be a last time you pick up your baby.

As this thought entered my mind, many more “lasts” soon followed. I remember my delight when I fed Avery her first bottle, but now I’m thinking of how one day, I’ll be feeding her the bottle one last time. It’s bittersweet, really, because obviously that means she’s moving on to bigger and better things with food and I can’t wait to show her the wonderful assortment of fresh produce to enjoy, but still sad to think about.

Even things like diaper changes; there will a last change of diapers before she wears big girl undies. Using a swaddle for the first and last time has already happened, and I can barely remember those days. As a new parent who still has a lot of firsts to enjoy, I know there will be many lasts to endure as well.

Eventually, I will have to stop wearing her in our baby carrier which is a huge part of our lives. Every day, I make it a point to wear her and go for a walk. Luckily, the Onya can support up to 75 pounds, but I imagine I won’t be wearing her at that point! And blowing raspberries? Sadly, this is already fading fast.

At least not every first will mean there’s a daunting last in the future. When she walk for the first time, I expect she’ll be walking for her entire life. When she gives the first real hug, I can only hope she’ll give us hugs for eternity. But there are also many firsts we have yet to encounter that will be accompanied by lasts.

One day, after we are through with bottles, we’ll give her a sippy cup for the first time, but then, we’ll get rid of it as she upgrades to bigger and better drink ware. Same for plates and bowls; the colorful cartoon-decorated items will eventually be used for the last time when she is ready for bigger things.

She will develop a deep love for that special toy and we’ll get used to seeing her bring it with her everywhere (update: that toy is Lamby as of January 2016), but there will be a last day she wants to carry it with her and it will be put up and forgotten.

This is not because I have negative view about everything, rather, it allows (or at least helps) me to enjoy every day for what it is and to not take it for granted. Because once today is over, it becomes a thing of the past and will only live as a memory. Would you prefer worrying over petty things every day and letting them disturb your thoughts, or does enjoying the life around you and shrugging off the small stuff sound better?

I choose the latter, and need to remind myself of this every day as I am what some call a “worry wart”. As I spend my time with Avery, watching her learn and grow, I want to make sure to enjoy her now, just how she is in the present. Because, while she has many firsts yet to come, she also has many lasts.

Do you have grown children that have already had many “lasts”?

Any thoughts or stories to share of your own?