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!

How Our Daughter Saves Us Water

Avery has been sleeping pretty well in her crib at night lately and it’s throwing us through a loop. Despite not hearing cries at 4 a.m., Kelley has a hard time sleeping around this time since she’s waiting for “that” moment. I sleep pretty hard, but find myself waking with the expectation of having to go bring our swaddled princess to our room to feed. But, these moments have been slowly diminishing.

I fear getting too comfortable with this since the teething stage is just around the corner and who knows what that will bring. Until then, we’ll just try and make the most of it. Keyword, “try.”

Living the life of scared parents, when Avery is sleeping, we basically have adult quiet time, or at least try to. I suck at being quiet in the kitchen, and the animals suck at being quiet…..ever.

Amongst the things we do differently during quiet time is not flush the toilet. Have to pee? Sure, go right ahead, but please don’t flush, I’ll get it later. Yep, no lies, I even told my mom (G-ma) this as she stayed over for two nights. I keep thinking of her heading to the restroom and asking, “Can I flush in your bathroom?” Nope, sorry mom. I even denied her a shower and brushing her teeth at one point while the mini demon was dormant our daughter slept.

No Peeing Allowed
No Peeing Allowed

Too extreme? Maybe, but I don’t want to take any chances. Plus, as the title states, all of this not flushing is sure to save us some water. Avery’s helping us be eco-friendly and doesn’t even know it!

At night, not flushing isn’t too bad, but in the morning, I’m going (I am “Going” Dad, by the way) almost every 30 minutes. Not exaggerating, the several cups of coffee on top of multiple cups of green and black tea that I go through definitely keep the water works flowing. I’m a coffee lover and will drink the black stuff from our French Press like water. By the time her morning nap is over, our toilet is beaming with a vibrant yellow; unless I forgot my vitamins.

Maybe if you couldn’t hear everything through our house, I wouldn’t be so worried, but I even hold my breath as the pee splashes in the water. Too much info? Well, just speaking truth.

As a side note, G-ma confessed that she flushed several times while we were on our date night without Avery waking. So, maybe I am being a little paranoid, but I’ll stick to saving water, thank you.

Moving on, our little family of three had a nice day today. Not much happened, but I was able to get all of Going Mom’s lunches cooked for work while she cleaned a lot around the house. I’m just happy Kelley doesn’t ask for anything too fancy for her lunches. This week she’ll have brown rice with broccoli three times; two with wild salmon, and the other with chicken sausage. Then the other two meals will be something I make a lot of, quinoa with black beans and tomatoes. Such a quick, one-pot meal that’s healthy and doesn’t cost a lot. Wins all around!

We tried to enjoy a family run together in the outstanding weather we had, but Avery was not having the stroller today. When it’s just her and me, I’ll run with her at a good speed and she seems content, but we had to keep it easy as Kelley is working back up to it, and we were just too slow. So, that wasn’t the most fun 3 miles of screaming…..

I took Avery out and wore her in the Baby Bjorn for our walk with the dog and she stayed quiet, so I figure she was better. As always, we’ll miss mommy as she heads to work tomorrow, but at least Avery and I have each other to keep company until her return home in the evening.

Mommy and Avery
Mommy and Avery

Do you do anything different while your child sleeps to avoid a potential waking?

Will your kid only ride in a stroller if you’re walking or running?

Our First Night Without Avery – Part 2

Everyone survived another “first” in our household! We enjoyed our time together away from home and G-ma handled the night like a pro. I guess she does have some experience with two grown children. If you didn’t read Part 1 of the story, here’s the link.

Ready for the night!
Ready for the night!

Kelley and I started our night by picking up Chipotle (I had the salad bowl with black beans and Kelley had the burrito bowl with barbacoa) and buying some beer and gas station nearby. Four dollars for one sub-optimal beer at Chipotle? No Thanks! We had a refreshing Amber brew from a local brewery for less than half the price per bottle. Score!

Still classy b/c we used napkins.
Still classy b/c we used napkins.

We then trekked over to the parking lot at the concert to enjoy a romantic, bean-filled, dinner under candle lamp light in the car.  The beer was tempting us and we were ready to enjoy a celebratory cheers, but we forgot a bottle opener. Being the smart, college-educated people we are, I utilized my belt buckle and had the beer opened after a few tries.

No funny thoughts.....
No funny thoughts…..

Food and booze finished, we headed inside to see the Imagine Dragons. We arrive over an hour after everything started, so we saw the last of the cover band and waited for the Imagine Dragons’ stage to be setup. To kill time, we obviously took random pictures.

My prized lip curl. G-ma can do it too!
My prized lip curl. G-ma can do it too!

The concert itself was great. We heard all of the songs that turned us into fans and had me thinking back to our puzzle days while trying to get pregnant. Good times. We’re not crazy people and our seats were pretty high, so it was nice just to enjoy the show and listen to the music.

Meanwhile, G-ma, was having a good time playing with Avery who was being better than expected. Go Avery! My mom said after bath time she did her usual loud crying since she apparently hates when it’s over, but it wasn’t too bad.

G-ma tried to keep her up a little longer thinking her bed time was later and said she was just so tired by the time she put her down. Guess we forgot to mention her bed time was actually earlier….oops!

By the time we arrived home at the late hour of 11:30, both G-ma and Avery were asleep. G-ma was on the couch and we woke her and visited while the Olympics were on. I also gather more food to eat, but that’s a given.

Overall, we had a great time, and I think our romantic dinner in the car was really the highlight of the date. I could go for just another “date” night by going to another parking lot for dinner and beer. I’m sure this makes all the ladies jealous!

G-ma said she’s happy to do it again, so I guess I just need to find a good parking lot. Oh, and Avery has to agree too. You think she agrees?

Looks happy here!
I’d say that’s a YES!

Ever find that the little things really make a big difference when enjoyed with someone you love? Any stories to share of your own?

Our First Night Without Avery – Part 1

Okay, not the whole night, we just won’t be there to bathe her and put her to sleep. We hardly went out before Avery was born because we detest most restaurants and can’t stand to pay a lot for most things we can enjoy at home. I could go on, but that’s another post. Luckily, my mom, Avery’s “G-ma”, is staying the night to take over. Good luck, mom!

Happy to be with G-ma!
Happy to be with G-ma!

Since day one, Kelley and I have worked together each night to figure out how we’ll get Avery to sleep. Currently, getting her to sleep in her crib has been going pretty well and it will be weird not doing the routine tonight. Notice I said “weird”, but not hard; the freedom will be great! Of course we’ll miss our dear daughter, but mom and dad need time together too.

We are going to see the Imagine Dragons in concert at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Imagine Dragons are a band we came to know and love while trying to get pregnant with Avery. This was a long, hard path and we are ever so grateful to have her healthy and in our lives now.

When we weren’t visiting doctors and going through tests, we’d be at home listening to Pandora Radio and putting together puzzles. This was a great bonding time for Kelley and me, and we’ll never forget it. Pandora played a lot of music that is now mainstream on the radio, including Imagine Dragons. This band won us over as fans and we are more than ecstatic to see them live!

We showed G-ma our nightly routine of bath time, coconut oil on skin, swaddling, and feeding last night since she stayed over then. We’ll probably go over it again before leaving for the concert, just to be the anal parents we are.

Holding Avery at around 5 weeks
Holding Avery at around 5 weeks

I’m so glad my mom is able and willing to watch Avery tonight, and hopefully we come home to quiet home. I can’t blame her if she is fearfully holding Avery close because the crib wasn’t working out though; I do this every now and then too. What is it with these babies anyway? Oh yeah, they’re babies.

Quick story I want to share….

Yesterday I went for a walk with Avery and Abby (our Golden) in the high winds but nice temperature. As we were walking along a home construction area, Abby decided she had to poop. I pulled on her leash to try and stop her, but it was too late, and the stupid collar fell off. Usually Abby is good and will stay, but she decided to run off so I had to yell at her to come back. This woke Avery from her nap and she started crying, plus when I stepped to get Abby I went right in her poop. Awesome. :/

After gathering myself, the dog (as she’ll be referred to now), wiping my shoe, and calming Avery back to her nap, we ended up having a nice hour long walk.

Sleeping in the Ergo at our turnaround point
Sleeping in the Ergo at our turnaround point

Thanks for sticking with me if you made it this far, I just wanted to remember that awesome walk by blogging about it.

As the title says, this is part 1 of our first night out, I’ll have a follow up post (part 2, duh) to recapture how the night went for us as well as G-ma.

What was your first night out like and how old was your baby at that time?
Did you come back home or stay somewhere else for the night?
Who babysat?
Am I asking too many questions?