Category Archives: Parenting

A Healthy Start With #TheNewSweet of Zevia

05/20/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Zevia has been the only soda in our home for many years. I’ve reviewed their delicious drinks in the past and explained why it being a healthy treat is not the only thing that makes it so special in our home.

Recently, Avery had her first try of #TheNewSweet that is Zevia and now we have a small family of Zevia lovers! She literally reaches for the stuff whenever it’s in sight!

So what is “#TheNewSweet” all about? Here are the details directly from the satisfyingly refreshing soda company itself:

Zevia is s naturally sweetened, zero calorie soda in 15 delicious flavors! They’ve asked me to put a fresh spin on my old routine in honor of Spring! Get in on the fun on twitter.com/zevia & instagram.com/zevialife by tagging them & #TheNewSweet. Head to the gallery to peep the party! Zevia.com/TheNewSweet

Here in Texas, Spring turns into Summer in an instant, which means it gets a little warm. And by “warm” I mean VERY HOT! With Avery running around and keeping active indoors and out, she needs to stay hydrated with plenty of water and energized with nutritious food.

Since she was born, we’ve only given her healthy food I made and she will eat steamed veggies without a fuss……usually (she’s still a toddler!). Carrots are viewed as a treat to her and I’m proud at how well she does when it comes to eating healthy.

Thanks to my wife, she still gets the unbeatable breast milk to drink as well as water. But now, after playing outside and needing a nice treat, I’ve started sharing a Zevia with her. Since Avery just started having liquids other than breast milk and water, we never had a routine to give a “fresh spin” to, instead this is the routine.

So far she’s tried their Grape and Strawberry sodas as well as their brand new Tonic Water. It’s a great way to make a healthy adult beverage or something fun for the kids. Like, for instance, mixing with another flavor like Strawberry because we all know how fun it is to mix things!

At least it is in this house. Avery has been loving this combo lately. Just a 50/50 mix and some ice and you’re good to go.

No one wants to spend too much time inside when it’s nice outside, so I prefer to keep it simple. Of course, on a rainy day, Zevia has plenty of recipes to try on their site.

And it’s not just drinks, you can bake with it for a healthy treat to eat too! I even have a recipe for Cherry Cola Protein Bread I suggest you try. Just make sure you top off everyone’s drinks before using the last can!

From Spring right into Summer, we’ll be keeping healthy and happy with #TheNewSweet of Zevia. So when Avery is giving me “the look”…

…I know it’s time for a healthy treat like Zevia to keep things cool and calm. Judging from her cheeky grin, I’d say it’s working!

Don’t forget to show how you’re enjoying #TheNewSweet of Zevia and share it on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag! Make sure to check back here soon to read my review of Zevia’s new Tonic Water and a chance to win free Zevia for yourself and your family…..if you want to share! 🙂

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.