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!

The Best Baby Seat in the House that We Almost Returned

As rookie parents, we bought and/or registered for a lot of unnecessary baby items, or we bought too many of something. Like changing pads for example, yeah they get poop on them, but I don’t think we’ll go through 12 before washing them!

If you’re a parent, you know what I’m talking about, we all have those certain items still in their box collecting dust. Or maybe you simply returned it like we’ve done after “seeing the light” at the end of the nursery tunnel. To avoid losing track of what you’re doing with each item, separate the things to return from the things to keep like anything from Nuna, Premium Car Seats, Pushchairs, and Baby Gear AU so you don’t get rid of something on accident.

Like us, for example, we almost messed up and returned one of the items we now use daily; our Mamas & Papas infant positioner. We tried having Avery sit in it about 2 months ago and she was not a fan!

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We tried maybe only a few times after that with no success, so we gave up. Kelley and I both agreed it was one of the useless items we had and were going to return the seat. Glad we kept that box!

Please, just return this thing.
Please, just return this thing.

Avery’s seat of choice up until recently has been the chair for her swing. We would lug it around and have her sit/lay in it wherever we were and she stayed mostly content.

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Of course she’s a baby, and like all babies I know, she still had her moments…

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But it’s what worked best and that’s what we stuck with. Then we bought a jumper and although it took a while for her to warm up to it, she eventually caught on.

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She started turning full circle to play at each station and kept herself busy while I kept busy.

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But time would pass and she would become aggravated, hungry, or in need of attention and she’d make sure everyone knew! And of course, she would simply be unimpressed with the crazy contraption at times.

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After struggling to keep her happy, Kelley decided to put the Mamas & Papas (M&P) chair on the island one day and try it out. At first, it seemed like another failed attempt….

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Then Avery surprised us and acted as if she were, dare I say, happy!

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Ahhh, she likes to be the center of attention! Silly rookie parents that we are had her off to the side all the time. Sorry, Avery, now we know!

Now Avery will sit in her chair on the island while Kelley eats or just hangs out and she keeps much happier. I try putting her in the jumper some times, but it doesn’t last long, and forget about the swing chair. She starts out in a normal position like so…

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…and a minute later she’s found a way to reposition into this….

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Maybe just to get a better look at her feet?

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Regardless, the M&P chair trumps all other seating arrangements in our house, so it stays! Plus, it’s not as bulky as the swing or jumper, so it can be transported with ease. We even take it to G-ma’s when we visit.

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When I workout in the garage, now the M&P chair goes with. I would always count on the swing to keep her happy, but that’s long gone.

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Or if I workout with a video inside, she’s center stage.

Shhh, I'm learning how to work my core!
Shhh, I’m learning how to work my core!

Well, you get the point, the chair goes anywhere we need a place to let Avery sit and be happy. The key is to try and keep it at a higher level so she’s not struggling to look up at us.

I’m forever grateful that we procrastinated on returning this chair, as it is now a major necessity in keeping our sanity…..kinda. If you’re thinking about returning something you haven’t used or your kid didn’t like, why not try one more time to be sure? You might be glad you did!

Do you have a Mamas and Papas or Bumbo chair like this? Good or bad for you?

What items did you return after realizing they were pointless?

Beers with my Brother and Avery with Her Mother

Hey, hey!

Friday has arrived and even as an at-home parent, I’m still excited for the weekend! With no travel plans, it means our little family trio can enjoy time together!

If the title scared you a little by making you think Going Mom and I are in a situation where we are sharing Avery, don’t worry, I just like to make rhymes. Really, I just went out to meet my little brother (Uncle Preston) for a couple of good beers while Kelley was home alone with Avery.

I made sure she was okay with this before making plans, and of course she was happy to set me free…..for a few hours at least. It helps that she’s going to be hanging out a with a group of other girls tonight and I will be the one home alone with Avery.

This could be scary having just me at home with our daughter……Oh wait, not much of a difference from every other day!

We both need our time out and thankfully we understand and work with each other on this. Great communication is key to a great relationship! Write it down, remember this, and never forget! I sometimes do forget and it gets me into trouble…..oops.

Preston and I went to a bar called The Flying Saucer which holds over 200 beers at one time. I’ve been a member, “beer knurd”, for 6 or 7 years now and once you reach 200 different beers, you get a saucer with your name and whatever quote you want on their wall.

After Wednesday night, I now have 53 beers. Yeah, I won’t have that saucer for a while, but I’m okay with that. I do love the occasional drink, but I hardly actually drink. When I do, I might split a good beer with Kelley or sip on bourbon, but that’s it.

Having not had dinner yet, I was feeling pretty good after two draft beers on Wednesday night, and then Preston and I shared a Belgium beer flight. I am confident in saying that Belgium and trappist style beers are my favorite!

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Every Wednesday night, The Flying Saucer has a special brewery night where you can get the beer and the keep the glass. I used to do this every Wednesday when I worked late and have a nice collection. I even asked about the prior week’s glass and our nice waitress gave it to us. That glass was a “420” glass from Stone Brewing Co, and although I’m not into that kind of thing, it was still cool.

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Here’s the 420 glass..

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I hardly ever go out, and when I do, I will not eat at the places we go. I’m a picky person who has to know exactly how my food is prepared, so I tend to do it myself. That said, I can enjoy a few beers as long as it isn’t too expensive, and I had a great time just hanging with my brother.

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We don’t get to see each other enough, so we were able to just talk about everything in our lives. For me, that’s Avery, but he had a lot of fun stories to share. Hopefully we’ll plan another outing in the near future and maybe I’ll make it to 55 beers!

It’s Preston’s 22nd birthday on May 1st, and I tried to get a free beer from the waitress; only problem was that I already paid. Dummy! Yeah, I don’t think things through sometimes, just ask my wife.

Oh well, like I said, it was a great time, and we were even treated to this as we were leaving….

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The van had a handicap sticker, but hopefully this isn’t a seeing drive dog!

Meanwhile, Kelley had a pleasant evening with Avery and even took her for a short walk in the Onya Outback. Everything was peaceful with Avery sound asleep when I arrived home. I can only hope for the same when Kelley comes home tonight!

Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Ever enjoy the simple things like just have a beer or two with friends or family? I feel I don’t do this enough!

Baby Steps to Baby’s First Steps

So she hasn’t even started to crawl yet, but it’s never too early to start working on “the walk”. Right? Right.

Avery is great at getting her legs up under her, but she’s still not sure what to do with her arms. So when she’s on her stomach, she’s usually like this….

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But she’s figuring things out every day, so it’s only a matter of time. I’m not sure if we should be scared or excited. Both? I guess being a parent pretty much means you’re always scared and excited, huh?

It’s evident that Avery wants to be like Mommy and Daddy and stand on her own legs like us. Every time we stand her on her feet, she cracks a big smile and sometimes lets out a high-pitched bird sound. Not sure what it is, but it’s cute and usually means she’s happy.

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On most nights now, our routine will include Avery doing what we call “the cat walk” on our kitchen island to keep her happy. Since naps are becoming scarce, Avery isn’t always the happiest of campers in the evening, but she really gets focused while on her feet.

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Apparently, I do too! Depending how tired she is, Avery will either let her feet hang as I hold her…

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….or she’ll put on a show and strike a pose as she “walks” back and forth across the island.

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I know she has a while before she actually walks, but this fun for Going Mom and me to see our daughter enjoying herself and it’s great exercise! Sometimes exercise can be tiring though, so we’ll let Avery take a break and sit at the island.

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I guess she’s not too thrilled about sitting on Mommy and Daddy’s head yet. At what age does that happen? Right now she seems unsure of what’s going on. Probably because she is unsure of what’s going on….hmmmm.

Confused on Dad:

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Confused on Mom:

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Hey at least we both look cool! No?

Oh well, I wanted to make sure and note how Avery is showing signs of mobility other than rolling and hope to post on her next “first”.

When did your baby first start to crawl? Walk?

Know anyone whose baby skipped crawling and went right to walking?