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 and handsome little boy, Wes, who joined our family on 11/19/17. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, as of 8/17/07. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the utmost 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!

Life, Monthly List, Parenting

18 Month Photo Session: Craziness Confirmed

05/19/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

The 18 month photo session has been the fastest one to date. It was late afternoon and we just brought Avery inside from the backyard where she was keeping busy.

She helped Going Mom with the veggie garden.

And by help, I mean rearrange the labels, or just pull them out and throw them on the ground.

Then she just roamed the yard like the little giraffe she is, falling over her own feet every now and then and getting right back up to go again.

We finally brought the ~~wild animal~~ our daughter inside where Kelley cleaned her ~~hooves~~ hands and told her it was time for her monthly photo session. I can’t tell if she liked this or not. What do you think?

Let’s just go with saying she was excited. I mean, she even helped get her bear in the chair and held him back for the best pose of the shoot.

Apparently, the bear and Avery exchanged words that didn’t quite agree with our little giraffe princess. As you can see, she was giving him a pretty hard stare-down for whatever it was he said or did.

Things only escalated from there and her bear was ejected from the chair.

The bear was replaced with a book and a bow. She’s become more interested in actually “reading” books and doesn’t try to eat them as often anymore.

Bows are a different story. Much like her refusal to wear them during her 17 month photo session, she rejected them this time too.

Fine with me, I’m not a fan of bows, but my wife is adamant about getting her to keep them on. I’m just excited about ponytails when her hair gets longer! Pony tails have always been my favorite way for girls to wear their hair, so I hope Avery is accepting when the time comes.

Until then, I guess we just put her in hats. She seemed okay with the one Kelley put on her head and even posed for the camera.

Be honest, would you say this kid looks like a girl if you didn’t know? I’m not ashamed at all since I fully support gender neutral ways, but c’mon, she’s pretty boyish here. We try to limit the amount of pink she is surrounded with, and I’d say we are doing a great job going off this pic!

I can’t believe how much our girl is growing and know there are many fun times ahead. Even better that my butt is almost fully healed and I’m close to being able to sit down without discomfort. No more reading hunched over, yay!

Are you a fan of gender neutral parenting or prefer pink for girls and blue for boys?

Any tips on ponytails you care to share for when Avery’s hair gets longer?

Going Strong, Life, Parenting

2 Celebrations and I Ran Anyway

05/18/2015 R.C. Liley 12 Comments

I know what you’re thinking. After my butt issue just a few days ago, why in the world did I run?! I’ll tell you, but first let’s talk about the two celebrations on Saturday.

This past weekend, one of our neighbors had a birthday party for their one year old girl, Seneca. Avery and Seneca are exactly 6 months apart, and I expect they’ll become good friends as they grow up together. I never got any pictures of the two together, or the birthday girl at all, but Avery had a great time with Mommy in the bounce house at the party.

Two beauties smiling bright! Avery was a little shy at first, but she warmed up quickly and even played with her peers. From the looks of it, she’s really good at sharing with one of the neighborhood boys, Connor.

“Sharing”, it’s a loosely defined term, right? But “Cuddles”, now that’s fairly straight-forward, and she’s happy to give them when Mommy or Daddy (and sometimes strangers, yikes!) asks.

We had a great time at the party and made it back home for a family walk and then nap time before heading back out again. We were meeting Kelley’s family as well as my mom and her boyfriend at a restaurant for a belated Mother’s Day celebration and it was great to see everyone.

When we meet up with family, Avery just makes her rounds being held and we get a little “freedom” for half an hour as others get their cute kid fix. It’s a win-win for everyone! We all had a good time talking with each other and Avery was very well-behaved……almost too well.

Before we knew it, we were on our way back home to get Avery to bed and wind down the night with 3 Walking Dead Season 5 episodes. Thank you, internet!

The half-marathon I talked so much about that was cancelled from severe weather last weekend (so I rowed 13.1 instead), was rescheduled for yesterday, the 17th. The venue changed twice from the original location and we had already checked out of even considering trying to go after my ER visit.

“Butt” (ha ha, get it?), I found myself having trouble sleeping and woke up earlier than usual on Sunday morning. This usually means I make my grocery shopping rounds early and be done with it, but this time, I had another perfect idea instead. Go to the race and then to the store!

True, I was specifically told not to run, and I’m still hurting a little down there, but when I pay for something it gets under my skin when I just give it up. That something would be the nice technical shirts and finisher’s medal you get, as well as a surprise Mother’s Day gift the event organizer mentioned. So I told Kelley, as she went to nurse Avery back asleep, I was leaving for the store and would be back soon.

I didn’t officially decide to drive to the race until I got in my car, then I figured why not, and thought it would be cool to bring back the Mother’s Day surprise gift for Kelley. Husband bonus points for me! I arrived right after the race started, so I gave the coordinators my spiel and they happily gave me a shirt for both my wife and I and agreed to give a Mother’s Day gift if I finished the race.

So I raced. But not the half-marathon, just the 5k, and I walked most of it, which was very muddy from the never-ending rain.

The nice thing about walking is you get to see more and take in the nice scenery. For example this really long worm along with dozens of his friends were on the entire course.

Yeah, so it wasn’t that great of scenery. I ended up running the last mile, but I was sorry for that later….stupid butt. At least it looked like I saw some action with a little mud splashed up my leg.

I didn’t wait around for my first place trophy (joke), just took a banana, which happened to be attached to several bananas…

…got my finisher’s medal….

…and Kelley’s Mother’s Day gift.

A freakin Fuel Belt. They are nice, but I was thinking something more motherly. But what could I expect from a runners club? I actually think it will be great when out all day with Avery since it has a hydration pack and some storage.

Overall great weekend and I’m happy to say my ass is hurting less! I go in for check-up (no jokes) on Tuesday, so hopefully I have more good news to report then!

Do you feel like you have to get your money’s worth at events you sign up for?

Ever walk a race before? That was a first for me and it felt weird, but not that bad.

Life, Parenting

When Do Kids Remember the Doctor’s Office?

05/16/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Getting older isn’t always all fun and games. At least, not when you have a visit to the doctor’s office on the agenda, no thanks to Mom and Dad. Our unsuspecting Avery found this out firsthand when we met Going Mom at the doctor’s for her 18 month checkup.

As I was driving, I wondered if Avery would remember the place where shots are given and have a change in her mood. I think I got my answer soon after walking in with my wife…

Yeah, she wasn’t getting the “good vibes” and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she flashed back to previous visits.

That was her 5 month vaccination trip. As you can tell, we had a grand ol’ time! She definitely remembers that platform. Before there were even shots in sight, Avery freaked as we set her down just to get measurements. 21.6 pounds and 32 inches of pure ~~terror~~ love.

What looks like a needle is just the nurse’s pen, if you were wondering. She seemed to calm down after realizing it was just a routine head circumference and length measurement that the nurse wanted and no shots…..yet. We let her roam around the room to explore as we both pulled out our phones to take pictures.

Pictures in the doctor’s office are always a must. So many emotions to capture! We even took turns holding our sweet girl having the other take pictures.

I had to tickle her for that priceless smile. Then it was time for the shot. Only one, but it may as well of been fifty; she was irate. With the pitch of an opera singer, Avery let out screams of disapproval as she was held down on the ~~soft and foamy platform~~ torture bed.

It really must feel like torture when you’re being held down against your will, huh? What kind of people are we?! Oh yeah, just the typical parents. Actually, there would be more shots if we followed the typical vaccination schedule, but since we’re not bombarding her all at once with shots, she should thank us. Maybe right after this stick….

If you can’t tell, this is the exact moment the needle entered her upper quad region. Poor thing, that opera singer would be envious if she heard the screams emanating from the tiny room in the doctor’s office. There’s nothing like the comfort of Mom to make things better though.

18 Month Check Up Crying with Mommy — At least pull my pants back up!!

Well, that and a Cookie Monster sticker from the receptionist.

Just to make sure all is well in the world again, Kelley came back to the car to nurse Avery before she had to go back to work. Nursing right after getting shots is something she has done each time, and it is the perfect way to comfort your upset child.

I love how adamant Going Mom is about making sure Avery is calm and happy; such a wonderful Mommy! And wife! Today we are off to celebrate a neighbor’s 1 year old birthday party and then a belated Mother’s Day with our families. Looking forward to a good day and hopefully more ass healing!

At what age did your kids start to recognize the doctor’s office?

Any big plans for the weekend or just keeping it low key?