Category Archives: Parenting

16 Month Photo Session: Mad to Glad in a Second

I completely lost track of Avery’s photo session posts with the last one being her 10 month photos. But, hopefully this will get me back on track to capture her growth month by month.

Let me play catch-up and post at least one photo for each month missed.

10 Months

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11 Months

11 Months

12 Months / 1 year

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13 Months

13 Months

14 Months

14 Months

15 Months

15 Months

Yeah, so we botched her birthday and never took a pic of her in the chair with the bear. Ha, I love unconscious rhyming!

She turned 16 months on March 15, but we were a couple days late at taking the photos. As usual, it was late and she was cranky for the shoot, as you can see at the beginning. Luckily, her bear knows how to instantly cheer her up! She went from mad….

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…..to calm/kind of smirking with her bear….

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…..to full on giggle-fest 2015!

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And she even stopped and smiled for a good picture. This is very rare!

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But, just like most monthly photo sessions, the bear got the shaft.

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Annndddd off you go, bear!

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“Oops, did I do that?”

We set the bear back on the chair several times, but Avery finds a way to make kick him off every time.

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All in all, the session went better than I expected. One thing’s for sure, our girl is growing, fast, and we need to make the most of each day with her while we can. From what I hear, kids grow into unruly pre-adolescents that are embarrassed to hang out with their cool parents. What gives?!

Glad to play catch-up and get Avery’s monthly progression published for the world to see! It won’t be long until I’m posting her 17 month photos…..shhheeeesh!

BYOB with King Kong in Venice on Date Night

It’s a little known fact that King Kong happened happened to be in Venice at the same time Claude Monet was visiting. Yep, apparently as Monet was painting the famous Sunset in Venice while looking out from his room in the Hotel Brittania, the Italian Armed Forces were closing in on the giant ape.

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It was at this time, Monet was losing his eyesight from gray cataracts, so it’s hard to tell in his original painting. Maybe King Kong was on the other side of the church at the time. Who knows for sure? So there’s your history lesson for the day; you’re welcome.

Just like our last painting date, BYOB with Jellyfish on Date Night, my lovely wife and I went to Texas U Can Paint to recreate Monet’s Venice masterpiece while enjoying a few drinks. And, just like before, I chose scotch with Zevia for my drink of choice and Kelley had red wine.

We also had G-Ma watching Avery both times too. Thank you, G-Ma! It was only a couple hours, but man was it nice to be out and away with just my wife. You never realized how much you miss your spouse until you get some alone time with them.

Parenting is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but we need to make sure we make time for each other more often too. It’s vital for a healthy, happy relationship! Plus, I don’t make enough time to appreciate my beautiful wife who obviously deserves so much more than I give sometimes.

Kelley_Painting Date Night

Seriously, she make me smile…..a lot!

Our painting subject seemed simple enough, but like most artsy things go (for me at least), looks can be deceiving. Alcohol doesn’t help. We started off okay making brush strokes along with the instructor as we took sips of our drinks in between.

The sips caught up to us fast, and both of our paintings started to stray from the instructor’s as we took to filling in the city and its shadows on the river. But no worries, this is when I “remembered” King Kong was being tracked down in Venice and was actually hanging on the church across the water from Monet’s hotel room.

Poor Monet, losing his eyesight at such an exciting time is real shame. Working against the instructor’s guidance, I decided to help bring to life what Monet had missed on that beautiful evening; King Kong going face to face with a tank.

Monet with King Kong

Kelley gives it one thumb up. I’ll take it! I think my King Kong looks a little like a black Homer Simpson though, don’t you?

King Kong Close-Up

Painting aside, Kelley and I enjoyed our short time alone (with a big group of people), and both agree it needs to happen more often. Luckily, I was the winner of a gift card to come back for another paint class, so looks we need to plan another creative night together soon!

Date Night Monet Paintings

Maybe next time I’ll recreate that time Pablo Picasso was inspired by Godzilla’s destruction in one of his many cubist artworks. Not sure, but we’ll see.

It was short, but time with my wife is priceless. Thank you, G-Ma for watching our little hellion girl for our date night! And thank you, wife, for being you and all that you do to make our lifestyle work!

Do you ever go too long without spending time alone with just your loved one?

What places do you like to go together? Or is staying at home preferred?

Are you a fan of art?

The Dad Network

You Can’t Spell Catastrophe Without ‘Cat’

Yes, our cat played a small part in the weekend, but that wasn’t all. Just made for a fun title, don’t you think?

We actually had a pretty good weekend overall. On Friday, my squat day, I got to test out my new Soft Star Shoes doing one of the most intensive and best bang for your muscular buck exercises! I already train in minimal shoes, in fact, they’re called “Minimus”, as in New Balance Minimus. I’ve run marathons, sprinted, and lifted in them and have loved them, but the Soft Star Shoes give a true minimal feel.

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The less cushioning between your foot and the ground the better when it comes to leg-intensive lifting like dead lifts and squats since you need that ground feel for stability. All of the cushioning on most “athletic” shoes make it as if you’re trying to squat while standing on a pillow; not fun, or easy……….or safe!

The verdict? Soft Star delivers and excellent shoe for lifting! I loved how I felt secure and connected to the ground, and unlike my Minimus with a 4mm heel-to-toe drop, these have zero. I could feel how different the dynamics change the lift, but it was in a good way. Anyway, looking forward to my next squat day, and I’ll have a full Soft Star review soon.

Saturday started with a giant bowl of blueberry NuttZo chia oatmeal made for Kelley and Avery. In return, Kelley makes the coffee; my typical breakfast.

NuttZo Oatmeal

 

Kelley made an appointment for our her fat black cat (seriously, 17+ pounds), Lou, to get his annual shots. The cat and I have a mutual feeling of resentment, and I am no help when it comes to rounding him up in the cat carrier since he flees at the sight of me.

But, he hates the carrier and Kelley was having a difficult time chasing him around the house. For such a fatty, he can really move and squirm! Finally, I joined in at Kelley’s request (which she regretted soon after), and tried to litter-ally (ha ha) pounce on the svelte feline. I ended up with wads of cat hair on the couch, in the air, and all over me with several deep claw scratches on both arms. Fail.

Avery was following us around and watching in pure confusion at the whole ordeal, and started getting upset. Toddlers make so many things 10,000 times harder! What’s up with that?!

After getting Lou in the carrier once and having him jump right back out, Kelley and I were finally successful after pinning him in the closet and dropping him inside as I held the carrier upright.  The guy was panting hard; tongue out and loud as a dog. He was worn out, pissed, and probably hungry…….being fat and all.

Unfortunately, Kelley didn’t give him to some cat-loving person at the vet, but she did snap this pic of what looks like a cat in distress.

Lou at Vet

 

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate any animal, but for some reason, I just don’t have a great relationship with our cat and dog. I can’t pinpoint the exact reasoning, but I lack the bond. Since Avery, I’m even more anti-pet than before. That said, I still feed the animals and make sure Abby, our Golden Retriever, goes on a walk with us almost every day.

The rest of Saturday was spent doing random things inside and out, while our crazy toddler took over the house. At night, after Going Mom nursed Avery to sleep  and put her in her crib since she wouldn’t go to sleep, we finally watched The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay. Only a week after we originally planned, but we watched it nonetheless!

Stupid ending, or whatever you call it……we can’t wait until November for part 2, we want it NOW! Just like Veruca from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory wants that golden egg…

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On Sunday, Kelley needed to run to Home Depot for a few bags of sand and tools to work on our back yard garden. I stopped at a car parts store to get oil to change in both of our cars (we both have Subaru Outbacks) while we were out.

As Kelley tended to the yard, Avery and I changed the oil. Although, she wasn’t too sure what was going on, she made it clear she did not like being next to a running car as it pulled inside the garage. I’m just glad she gave me smiles most of the time!

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So that was our weekend. No frills (besides the damn cat), and pretty pleasant. Oh, and I’ll share with you a recent pun I posted on Facebook….

Kelley and I are having a date night at a BYOB Paint Class tonight and G-Ma is coming over to spend time with Avery. We did this a while back where we painted a jellyfish and had a great time.

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Kelley’s was way better (on the right). I blame the scotch. Okay, I also suck at painting. This time it’s a Monet painting of a pretty sunset on the water. I’m bringing scotch again, so if I suck, at least I have something to blame besides my lack of artistry! We’ll see if it’s still pretty after I’m done with it. Tonight, Monet might be rolling in his grave for a while!

Happy Monday!