Category Archives: Life

Avery’s Dip in the Pool and We’re Running a 5k

This past Sunday, when I finally broke free from trying to make my new laptop work, Going Mom and I brought Avery to the neighborhood pool. Avery has been in the pool at her Nana and Papa’s house, and one other time at the one in our neighborhood, but she cried both times. I would’ve too, the water was cold both times, but it was plenty warm on Sunday.

Kelley had ordered a cute swim diaper from Amazon and we were ready to put it to use for the first time. Of course, we were unsure of how ready Avery was though…

Turns out, she love it! Kelley hesitantly dipped her feet in the water first, and after not hearing her cry, she let her sit and splash away.

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There were several other kids and parents at the pool and Avery was intent on watching what every one of them were doing. In between splashing and jumping on daddy’s leg, that is.

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Having a canopy over the kid pool was extremely helpful since we try to avoid sunscreen if and when possible. If there’s a way to use clothing instead of sunscreen, we’ll do it! But with the canopy, we had no issues as we leisurely hung around with our daughter; probably as she peed. Yeah, yeah, you know it happens.

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Avery must’ve played pretty hard during her first extended pool adventure, because once she was dry and in the stroller, she was out pretty fast! Playing in the pool can be exhausting!

Avery Asleep After Swimming

Wow, look at those chunky legs! She’ll be great at squatting later in life, and she’ll need to in order to kick any unruly boys’ in the rear! As much as I’d like to be a menacing father where I instill fear in any ill-meaning boy, something tells me I don’t have that quality. What do you think?

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In my defense, the hat is great sun protection and I went from running right to the pool.

Speaking of running, I’ll be in another race this Saturday, June 7th, which is the day before my 30th! This time, I’ll be pushing Avery in the stroller for our first 5k race together! I’m really excited to be able to do this and hope she enjoys the ride. We run together several times a week and she hasn’t fussed at all lately, so I’m hopeful!

As always, I’ll be sure to let you know how it all goes down.

Hey, it’s the middle of the week, so hope you can push through it knowing it’s all down hill from here. Until you have to start again.

Run any races lately? Any with your kids?

If not, do you have one planned?

Why June is “Going” to be Great for this Dad!

Hey there, how’s it going?

Pretty good here, just having more problems than I expected with the new laptop I bought this past weekend. Really, why would anyone expect problems with something brand new? I messed around with the thing for most of Sunday and it put me in a bad mood. Luckily, my sweet wife was there to call me out and get me to focus on the important things; family!

I’m back at it today though, but only while Avery naps and Kelley is at work. I’ve got a lot to keep myself busy this week, and that’s in addition to raising our sweet daughter.

For one, I’m a proud ambassador for Oral-b and have joined forces with many other awesome dad bloggers to promote their new Oral B Black electric toothbrush and show what it means to have the #PowerofDad. This is going to be a great Father’s Day event!

Just looking at it makes my mouth clean!

There’s going to be a Twitter party today at 1pm EST with several prizes to give away. If you can, I’d love to see you join; just search for and use the #PowerofDad hashtag to join in on the excitement!

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That’s not all, I’m also working with Onya Baby for another Father’s Day campaign on cleaning up your neighborhood. I walk around our neighborhood with Avery every day and despise seeing so much junk from new construction sites and careless people. I want to take pride and clean up the trash around my home and hope you will join me. There will be a brand new Onya Baby Carrier giveaway as well, so keep checking back for details!

Trying our new Onya Baby NexStep made from 100% recycled material.
Trying our new Onya Baby NexStep made from 100% recycled material.

On top of this, I’ll be celebrating my 30th birthday and first Father’s Day! And the day before my 30th, I will be running a 5k with Avery in the stroller; our first official race! I’ll share the details on the race soon, but just couldn’t hold it in any longer! Yep, we have a lot going on and I can’t wait to share all of the excitement with you!

What do you have on the agenda for June?

One Way James Bond Never Used a Laser

Earlier this month, we were playing with Avery in the living room as it was nearing her bedtime, and, like most babies, she was getting fussy. But, instead of getting her ready for bed, we chose a different route….play time with a laser!

Don't move, you might scare it off!
Don’t move, you might scare it off!

Since that day, we have been able to buy ourselves a little extra time before Avery turns into a sleep deprived night demon with the special power of shrill screaming. As a bonus, our slightly overweight cat gets a nice workout chasing the blasted red dot across the floor. This, in turn, amuses Avery more than the laser alone and even makes her laugh the craziest and cutest sounding laugh we’ve heard yet.

Being the textbook first time parents we are, there’s always a video camera nearby, so we quickly captured Avery’s amusement as she watched Lou (our cat) chase the red dot. And of course I posted it on YouTube since to us, it’s worth showing the world!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO6hA4nhfB0&w=420&h=315]

I know using a laser pointer as cheap entertainment is far from a new trend, but imagine seeing something like this for the first time when you’re a baby. There’s already so many crazy things you’ve never seen, fat black cat included, that I’m convinced her high-pitched laugh is partly a result of not knowing what else to do.

Now that she’s seen it a few times, she doesn’t laugh as much as in the video, but it still keeps her engaged and most importantly, not crying. And that, my friends, is definitely one way James Bond has  never used a laser!

Do you use laser pointers as entertainment for your kids? Pets?

Any other cheap entertainment tips/stories to share?