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!
If you missed the lengthy post about my amazing wife and why I missed a day of coffee yesterday, let me sum it up. I got really sick and lost all appetite, even for coffee, and Going Mom kept everything together and cared for my ailed body. I’m still not completely recovered, but an unexpected benefit from my sickness has emerged.
Something my wife has wanted for a long time, and I have finally made it happen. No, not like that, get your mind out of the gutter; it’s having dinner with her and Avery!
Daddy’s eating with us!!!
I haven’t been absent at dinner, I just would have my meal in front of me and maybe snack on a few pieces of broccoli as Kelley and Avery ate. Then, after Avery was in her crib, I’d shower and have my dinner. I don’t have a good reason for why other than it was just routine for me and to break it seemed sacrilegious.
But, I’m happy to report I have broke free from routine and started having a full meal with everyone, like a real family! I started because this sickness that still hasn’t fully left my body has left me with less of an appetite and little desire to eat much. Before, when I abstained from dinnertime eating, my meal was a gigantic salad with fermented and steamed veggies, some sort of lean protein, and avocado with vinegar. It was good and I loved it, but after many years of this, it seems I have broke free.
The real test is when I’m fully recovered, but so far, I enjoy eating as a family and then just having some healthy snacks like NuttZo and cottage cheese later on if I want. Speaking of NuttZo, I used it in the dinner I made last night and it was delicious!
Black bean, chicken, and sweet potato stew with NuttZo mixed in to give it a healthy boost of protein, fat, and wonderful nutty flavor. I was happy with the outcome, and Kelley and Avery had no problem eating it either. #Winning <—– Thank you, Charlie Sheen
There are some foods, like the fermented goodies and mushrooms that only I enjoy in our house, so I know not every meal will be identical, but eating together will become the new norm in our home, and we’ll be an even happier family as a result. Unless I make something that none of us like!
Do you have unusual eating schedules with your family or do you always eat together?
Anything happen to make you change your ways for the better? Worse?
Going Mom, aka my amazing wife, has always been ah-mazing since the day we met, and this past weekend was no different. It’s been over 2 years since I’ve been sick, let alone going a day without coffee or fitting in a “needed” workout, but Kelley took care of everything in true awesome wife/mom style.
On Friday, I started feeling a little off, and not like my ‘Going’ self. I had just knocked out 30 reps of heavy-to-me barbell squats followed by high-rep front squats for leg day, so I attributed my weary status mostly to this.
Saturday, we woke up to our almost 15 month old alarm clock named Avery, and went about our normal routine with coffee and breakfast. And of course spontaneous bursts of crying for no reason followed by cute laughs and smiles. You know, typical toddler ludicrousness.
But things still didn’t feel right with soreness across my body. My legs were sore (blamed the squats there), neck and shoulders were tense (must’ve been a bad sleep), and I felt fatigued (again with the bad sleep). But I shrugged it off as I left Kelley and Avery at home as I went grocery shopping with orders to hurry home. The weather has been awesome here in Texas with highs in the mid-70’s, and we wanted to bring Avery outside to a playground.
The sun? I’m ready!
Upon my return, I promised to watch Avery so Going Mom could take advantage of the weather for a nice run. While my wife was out running, I brought Avery to the garage for a quick weight-lifting session. I would’ve run too, but I’m still nursing that darned fractured foot! Even though my body was telling me “no”, I pushed through a quick but intense barbell session followed by a tabata-style conditioning workout.
Afterward, I was gassed, more so than usual, and only feeling worse. Kelley put Avery down for a nap and we had lunch, but I just wasn’t feeling up for eating. Actually, nothing sounded appealing which is extremely rare, and by the time Avery woke from her nap, I was only getting worse.
Being the stubborn guy that I am, I pushed through our normal afternoon walk, but little slower than usual. I had prepared my dinner for the night earlier in the day, but as dinnertime approached, I had lost all appetite and was reduced to laying on the floor as Kelley and Avery played.
At least I had prepared Kelley’s dinner beforehand too, so all she had to do was heat it up as her and Avery had dinner without me. I wanted to help, but remained lifeless on the playroom floor as Kelley fed and bathed Avery. And, of all days, Avery went and dropped a “bomb” during bath time….literally, she pooped. But Going Mom was quick to action and “handled it like a champ” as she said on Facebook. I agree, she was more than a champ for this unpleasant Avery first!
It took all I had to be there to read “Goodnight, Gorilla” before Kelley nursed Avery to sleep, and then I went straight to bed. My normal routine of staying up until 1am was not happening; that night, it was 10pm sharp. That is, until I woke up as hot as a furnace and immediate rushed to make friends (or enemies depending how you look at it) with the toilet.
Almost every hour that night, I woke up in a cold/hot sweat and ran to the bathroom with no time to spare. It sucked….big time. Somehow, Avery slept through it all even though I was plenty loud. Silver lining?
All of Sunday, I felt like was a nauseous heap of uselessness with zero appetite and no desire for coffee. What!? Yeah, that bad. All parents know coffee is black gold and a “must” for survival, so missing it is serious business.
Since I felt a little better after the previous night, I joined Kelley and Avery for a nice weather walk to the neighborhood playground to let Avery run around. She can’t play on the equipment yet, but that didn’t stop her from having fun. No shoes needed!
That amazing wife of mine ran all around after Avery as I just laid there, watching, and sometimes smiling between painful stomach churns. At one point I tried to join in and hold Avery in the tire swing, but that was painful, and something tells me Avery wasn’t too impressed.
When Kelley took over, Avery’s mood “swung” the other direction to happiness. I hated being so miserable, but it made me smile to see these two grinning together.
We made it back to the house and I tried eating a little but still wasn’t feeling it. Instead, I pureed frozen organic strawberries with coconut milk for a cool treat that we all could enjoy on the warm February day. Avery and Going Mom approved, and even I was able to keep it down.
During nap time, I tried to read as Kelley did yard work, but couldn’t concentrate with my pounding headache, so I laid down for a nap. Napping is something I truly despise and refuse to do, but this day, I made an exception. I woke to my beautiful wife who then came back with a smiling Avery. If kids’ smiles can cure sickness, Avery’s is the best panacea around!
Kelley then broke out the vacuum and went around the entire house with Avery making sure to create several obstacles along the way. As I mentioned on a previous post, I vacuum every day, but missed it considering my circumstances, so her cleaning meant a lot. She does so much going to work for us that I want to take care of the household tasks, so it gets to me when I’m not able to.
My appetite remained absent, but at least I was able to sit with my favorite girls at the dinner table this time. Thankfully, I made our daily green power smoothie earlier in the evening and that provided some kind of sustenance for my body.
After our nighttime routine, it was another early-to-bed night for this sick SAHD. There was no more vomiting, but I did have other “runny” issues. Sorry if it’s TMI, but this is my blog! 🙂 Anyway, I slept a little better and had regained some sense of a desire for food come Monday morning.
Kelley went into work late and I made coffee (yes, one day without is enough!) for the both of us. I think I attempted eating my usual diet too fast and it upset my stomach, but I was happy to be able to move around. Despite feeling tired and not totally recovered, Avery and I made use of the warm weather by going for a walk and playing in the back yard. She even busted a few moves on the porch with the music I had playing.
What does dancing and dropping something hot have in common anyway?
And, that night, I had a full meal at dinnertime!
To my wife, Kelley, you always mean the world to me, and I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate all that you do. To be so great and take over everything makes me love you even more than I though possible. Seriously, thank you, you’re a wonderful wife, mom, and best friend.
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How often do you get sick?
Are you usually caring for others or are others usually caring for you?
Yep, I vacuum, after peeing of course. What, were you expecting some inspirational or motivational task that maybe you could add to your routine?
Sorry if so, but vacuuming should be a part of any household with pets and kids scurrying across the floor. I’ll admit, I was hair-phobic long before we had Avery and would vacuum almost every day already. But now that I’m at home, I feel it my duty to prepare the floors for Avery to crawl run around without collecting gobs of cat or dog hair in the process.
Seeing a cluster of hair whisk across our wood floors sends my already elevated cortisol levels through the roof! To ease everyone’s panic (i.e. just mine) I’m quick to bust out the vacuum for that one cluster and rid the house of its evil.
And then, even if I had just vacuumed, I might as well keep going “just in case” to make sure we’re safe. That is, until the cat comes out for food or our dog wags her tail.
I’m currently averaging a full vacuum twice a day with one first thing in the morning and another mid-afternoon. I don’t “get” to vacuum as much on the weekends because my wife yells at me for being too obsessive. What? Me, OCD? Nahhhhh. Okay, Yahhhhh.
Admittedly, the second one is partly for the crumbs I dropped while cooking meals for all of us and from Avery spitting her food out. Sometimes, pretending she’s a kitty doesn’t even get her to keep the food in her mouth!
No Dad, how about YOU be the kitty this time.
Either way, one of the animals, real or pretend, create a need for me vacuum a second (sometimes even a third or fourth) time for the day. I can’t pinpoint exactly when my aversion to pet hair started since we used to have a husky named Rocky who would sit on the couch with us and I was just fine. Loved that dog……and our cat, Gus.
In Timeout
I think it began around the same time I started getting really into healthy food choices and cooking more instead of going out to eat. Handling food more often means I need to keep my hands clean and free of hair, so it only seems logical. At least to me it does.
Anyway, most mornings I start my day with a nice run of the vacuum to capture loose hair, litter, food, and whatever else lays in the path of the almighty vacuum!
I suck.
After that, Avery has a wonderfully clean floor (yeah right) to run around on as I go about doing my second (and third and fifth) thing I do every day; cook. The fourth being exercise, duh.
Ummm, dad, you missed a spot.
Do you have a daily routine/habit/OCD tendency?
How do you feel about pet hair?My mom (G-Ma) and Kelley are just fine with it, so I’m alone with this aversion around here.
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
