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!

Parenting

Humming in Harmony

02/26/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

Do you have a certain way of putting your baby to sleep? Maybe a song, using a deep hum, or a soft “shhhh” sound?

humming, baby, babies, parenting, Sleep=Good — Sleep = Good

I normally sing random, made up songs using her name and a lot of rhyming. Sometimes the words I use to make the rhyme aren’t even real, but it works! Kelley sings as well, but she uses real lullabies; I should look into that. Nah, I love making things up on the fly. I just wish I could write some down, I’d make……….ummmm….probably $10 at the most.

Kelley and I also use humming as a sleep tool. The humming usually comes second after our singing did most of the work and Avery is mostly asleep. But, what if we are mostly asleep and trying to get Avery to go back to sleep?

It just so happens this dilemma occurred last night. For bedtime, Kelley will feed Avery one last time and lay her down to sleep in her crib right after her bath. Lately, Avery has been sleeping pretty long in her crib and when she wakes up hungry, I will get her and bring her to our bed so Kelley can feed her. Once she’s had enough, Avery usually will just go back to sleep with us in bed until Kelley gets up for work. Keyword, usually.

Last night, Avery woke up earlier than she has been and I brought her in to feed like normal. After she finished, though, she just laid squirming around with eyes wide open. Not too fussy (yet), just moving and awake. Us, on the other, ready for more sleep!

This happened once before, several weeks back, and Kelley and I both started humming in bed trying to get Avery to go back to sleep. We were both using our deep voice hum, but since we were half asleep, we were trailing off at the end. After 5 minutes of the both of us humming in harmony (we’d make a great barbershop ~~quartet~~ duo), we both just started laughing out loud. Ahh, just 3 months into it and parenthood is already making us crazy. Or maybe we already were crazy…..meh.

Anyway, that first time, Avery did go back to sleep, but last night she wasn’t having our hum. Kelley tried holding her to no avail, and after several other attempts, I ended up on the recliner with Avery in the front room. Mommy needs her rest for work!

From there, Avery just squirmed for about 20 minutes and fell asleep. Then she woke up and screamed and thrashed for a good 5 minutes; then back to sleep. This happened one more time and finally it was time to get up. Yay.

I love holding our little girl and have learned to just appreciate the screaming while holding her (she has great lungs!!!), but man is she getting strong. Soon her kicking might hurt daddy in certain ways that are worse than others; gotta figure that one out.

Let me leave you with the reward of a good night’s sleep…..

I'm smiling because I pooped. — I’m smiling because I pooped.

Do you or your spouse ever have to take your baby to another room?

Any tips on how to handle these situations differently, or do we just need to deal with it?

Going Reviews

Going Review: The Art of Cure Amber Teething Necklace

02/25/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Before we had Avery in our lives, I had never heard of amber necklaces or their benefits to ease a teething baby’s pain. But, while researching baby related products as I do almost daily now, I found The Art of Cure Amber Teething Necklaces.

I then noticed a friend who had one for her daughter and also saw several babies wearing them while grocery shopping. Being my curious self, I would ask the parents how they liked them and they were all happy and their babies seemed content too. With praises from all of the parents I spoke with, I wanted to make sure our Avery had a necklace for that looming terror we all fear; Teething!

Here is an explanation of Baltic Amber Teething Necklaces from The Art of Cure Website:

What is an authentic BALTIC AMBER TEETHING NECKLACE? The Art of Cure Brand AND Trademark is dedicated to providing the highest quality for Teething Babies. Baltic amber necklaces are made for wearing (not chewing) when a baby is teething to reduce inflammation in the body. The warmth from the skin releases the active ingredient in the Baltic amber, succinic acid. Recent scientific research has proved that succinic acid has a very positive influence on the human body. It improves immunity and the balance of acids when absorbed into the bloodstream; it stimulates the thyroid glands to help reduce drooling when used for teething and soothes red inflamed cheeks. Amber’s anti-inflammatory and therapeutic properties are recognized by allopathic medicine as a natural analgesic, which will help to relieve teething pain and calm a baby without resorting to drugs. The skin’s warmth releases healing oils from the amber, a resin, which is absorbed into the bloodstream. Parent supervision is recommended at all times. They are 12-12.5 in. Packaging is custom from The Art of Cure™ and comes with a Keepsake pouch. The Art of Cure™ Baltic Amber is guaranteed to be of the highest quality and made to the best standards. Authenticity documents like a certificate of authenticity, testing and safety documents available upon request.

After a quick e-mail to Jennie from The Art of Cure, she happily agreed to send one for my Avery’s review. I spoke with Jennie on the phone and she was very kind and it was easy to tell how passionate she is about her product. I love businesses that actually have passion and care about what they are offering.

Today we received our Amber Necklace in the mail and I hurriedly opened the package to put it on Avery. Of course, Avery is not teething yet and I know each baby starts at a different time, but it looked beautiful on her. Taking pictures of a squirmy baby without assistance was challenging, so pardon the blur.

She had it in her mouth with my help, but lacks the ability to put thing in her mouth yet, so it didn’t last long. The time she figures out those arms with hands at the end are hers and she can do as she pleases with them, I am sure the necklace will find its way to her mouth. Right now, she just puts her fist in her mouth; so cute.

Update: Just want to make it clear that the necklace is not for chewing. The benefits come from the healing properties of the amber.

Since we are unsure of when the teething process will begin for our little pig / pterodactyl, I will be sure to give my full review of the Amber Necklace once it comes. Until then, I will give updates along the way and answer any questions the best I can.

Check out The Art of Cure for yourself and get one for your baby. There are many colors to choose from and are available on Amazon. As you can see in my picture at the top, each necklace comes with a certificate of authenticity, so you can rest assured you’re getting the real thing.

Have you heard of amber teething necklaces before?
Do you or have you used them?

Going Strong

Going Strong: Burpees, Babies, and Learning to Count

02/24/2014 R.C. Liley 16 Comments

Babies and Barbells; both perfect for fitness!

I’m a guy who feels the need to do some sort of exercise on a daily basis. If I don’t do something active, I feel lazy and stressed. A little obsessive, yes, but it’s the truth. I know rest has a very important role in fitness, and this is my weak link.

I used to just run, a lot, and have finished several marathons as a result. This was very satisfying and very hard to train, and took a lot of time. I don’t run so much anymore, but do so on occasion. Now my training is more geared towards strength.

Although I am reluctant to stop running after training so hard and long to get to where I was, I didn’t like not having strength. Now I can squat, bench, dead lift, overhead press, and run! But, Now that we have Avery, my structured exercise routines have gone by the wayside and I just hope that I’ll be able to do something close to what I would normally do.

Not one to accept just doing nothing, I try my hardest to muster motivation to get in a work out during Avery’s usually longer morning nap. Sometimes, that doesn’t always work out (ha ha, see what I did there?), and I have to go with Plan B; exercise with Avery!

I started by doing calf-raises while standing and feeding Avery a bottle. I’d tell her what I’m doing and count to 100. Perfect, I thought, teaching my baby to count and getting in some sort of activity. This led to me holding her and doing lunges all around the house while counting out loud. I’d even lunge to our closet, gather dirty clothes, and lunge to the washer to start a load. Teaching, washing, and exercise; that’s basically killing three birds with one stone!

Here’s a video a put together of doing lunges and a great full body move I call Baby Thrusters. It’s just doing thrusters (squat down holding a weight and thrust up with the weight overhead) while holding your baby as the “weight”.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP-3H62N8cw&w=420&h=315]

As I mentioned in the video, babies are perfect for increasing strength as they have built in progressive overload by constantly growing (i.e. gaining weight).

When she’s in a good mood, I’ll put Avery down and do burpees while counting out loud to her. Check out my video of her watching in bewilderment wondering what the hell daddy is doing.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYdYG8PN5Qo?rel=0&w=420&h=315]

Since the day we returned from the hospital with Avery, I have been doing 30 burpees every day. Some days I have zero energy or motivation, but I knock them out, all at once. In the closet, our garage, in the middle of our walk, the kitchen, wherever; just gotta get them done.

Give it a shot, commit to a set number and make yourself do that many burpees (or any other exercise) every day. So, when the day is over, you can say that at least you did something. Sadly, that’s more than many people can say.

A few more months, and this won't be easy! — A few more months, and this won’t be easy!

The main thing I’m trying to stress is, although becoming and being a parent is tough all on its own, you can still find a way to keep fit with a little creativity. Even better, telling your little ones what you are doing and counting sets/reps out loud will help them develop their constantly growing brains. Plus, parents leading by example is a sure way to help your kids grow to appreciate being active just like their parents.

Do you have any special ways of keeping active with your child?

If you have any questions on other exercises or fitness in general, please message me and I’d be happy to help however I can.

This post is part of the #FitFamilyFriday link up. Make sure to go there and check out other fitness inspired posts by other great parents!