Category Archives: Parenting

Our Baby Caught on Video: Standing and Watching Ninja Turtles

10/04/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you might of seen the several posts I made with Avery and Ninja Turtles. Since Going Mom, who I am sad to say despises the shelled mutants, was out of a town for a few days, I took the opportunity to expose Avery to the classic cartoons I grew up with.

Oh man, I can’t explain the awesome wave of nostalgia that overwhelmed me just as the theme song started playing! I’m hooked, again, and from what I’ve seen so far, Avery might be too. Or maybe it’s just the flashy, colors emitting from the TV. Nahhhh

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8wiCd-FrLs]

Now that my wife is back home, we there hasn’t been any TMNT action to watch, but hopefully the egg has been planted in Avery and she’ll look forward to the next time we can watch an episode or two. Of course, play time and getting outside will always be stressed the most and is top priority. I love the turtles, but they won’t help keep us healthy. Unless, for some reason, our lives are suddenly threatened by Shredder and his half-wit minions Bepop and Rocksteady.

Yep, I’m a TMNT nerd, and damn proud!

Anyway, Going Mom has been sick since she came home and I’ve been trying to care for her in hopes she gets well soon. I made the first soups of the season and both were graciously consumed by my weary wife. Crossing my fingers she running at full throttle soon!

I think Avery might help by showing Mommy how she can stand on her own. After several attempts, we finally got her to stand for longer than half a second! Exciting times in our house, I know! Here’s the video, hope you enjoy and have a great Saturday.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkVOMZpnkHU]

Do you and your spouse/partner have disagreements on what to watch and/or show your kids?

How do you or did you work with your kids to get them standing and walking?

Parenting

Breast Milk Kefir and Ninja Turtles

10/01/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Day two of our time without Going Mom is complete! I know I’m a stay-at-home parent, but geez, times can be a little rough! I don’t know how you parents with multiple kids do it, but my hat goes off to you.

I’ve been making our own kefir with kefir grains I bought back in July and haven’t become slightly good at making the cultured, probiotic-rich milk. So, I had the bright idea to make kefir with Kelley’s breast milk and give try it out on Avery.

The last kefir grains I will ever put in a breast milk bottle.

I only made about 4 oz worth and tried giving Avery the bottle first thing this morning. Emphasis on “tried”, she wasn’t having it.

Not only that, but it took a while before she trusted to take any bottle from me! So, I had a pissed off and hungry, untrusting baby to tend to for the better part of the morning. Not the fun morning I had envisioned, but eventually things returned to normal when we went to the garage for a workout.

I felt bad, really bad. In retrospect, why would I give a 10.5 month old baby that’s used to sweet breast milk a full bottle of sour, albeit healthy, milk? #fail

Wasting my wife’s precious milk is something I refuse to do, so I ~~boldly~~ hesitantly (with a super scrunchy face) added a small amount of the kefir to a regular bottle in an attempt to mask the taste. The result was a success and I have been adding a little to each bottle now without protest, so I’m glad to have saved the breast milk kefir!

With that said, I do not plan on making breast milk kefir ever again! Really, breast milk is already the perfect source of nutrition for your baby, and, well, “If it ain’t broke…..” Basically, I now know to leave well-enough alone.

To the breastfeeding mothers out there (you’re awesome!), if you want your baby to have the probiotic goodness of kefir, just consume it yourself and pass on the benefits through your breast milk that way. In my opinion, culturing breast milk is unnecessary since it already has so many gut-nourishing goodness to offer, so don’t waste your time like I did.

After our kefir quarrel, Avery and I had a pretty good rest of the day and even ended it by watching a classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon from 1987 on YouTube. I’m pretty sure I owned the cassette tape to the one we watched and plan on watching more very soon! Hopefully Going Mom will allow a little TMNT action!

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A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

Well, I’m tired, here are my pics to share from today. So excited to have my wife return home today!! Too bad it’s late at night and Avery will be asleep, but at least she can see me!

Never sure of things upon first waking up.

The view at my feet for most of the day.

Excitement when I get down on the floor with her.

The result of trying to take a picture after getting down on the floor with her.

Have you ever tried (or even thought of) to make breast milk kefir?

Would you try if you could?

Life, Parenting

No One to Cheers With Except Baby

09/30/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Going Mom and I try to make it a point to cheers each other at the end of every day. There may not always be some miraculous occasion to celebrate, but it’s a great way to focus on the “good” of the day. If nothing else, we just cheers to LOVE, we always have that!

My wife was up by 3 am to get get ready and head to the airport for her business trip yesterday leaving Avery and me to fend for ourselves. It was basically the same as any other week day until the evening rolled around and it was still just a dad and his little girl missing the woman we both love most in life.

Despite missing Kelley, I kept busy and finally began the brewing process with the Belgian Saison beer kit I bought over a month ago.

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A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

Avery made sure to lend a hand in the process too. She was quite the helpful baby!

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A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

I started before she woke up in the morning at around 7 am, and didn’t finish getting it in the fermenting bucket until nap time at 3 pm. It took a little longer than I expected, but I’m sure it will all be worth it 3 weeks from now! I think Tom Petty says it best in his song “The Waiting”…..it truly is the hardest part.

On top of a successful start to beer brewing, I had my first article published on The Huffington Post! It’s a post I first published here on my blog with a little editing done and I’m thrilled to finally have it published! This has been a huge goal of mine and hopefully this is the first of many more to come!

Overall, it was a pretty good day, but when I sat down with Avery in her high chair for dinner, I had no wife to cheers to. Instead, I raised my glass to Avery who, in return, swiped several peas and a carrot on the floor and kicked up her leg.

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A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

Meh, good enough.

Hoping for a good day today and think I might even try to watch the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, but always end up putting it off. Maybe this time it will happen….or maybe not, Avery will ultimately decide I guess.

As promised, I’ll share some of my favorite pictures of the day for Going Mom (and anyone else) to enjoy. Kelley, we miss you dear, can’t wait to see you late Wednesday night!