How the #PowerofDad is Everlasting

06/05/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

My father passed away when I was only 7 years old. He and my mom were divorced and since he lived in another state, I didn’t see him very often. Even with the infrequent visits, I still have lasting memories of him that I will never forget.

I never thought much about how and/or why I was able to hold on to memories at such a young age, but now I know it’s from the #PowerofDad. The influence a father makes on his kids is powerful and stays with them through life; I’m living proof!

Now that I’m a father to one beautiful little girl, I make it a point to harness the #PowerofDad every day. By treating my daughter with respect, getting on the floor and playing with her, and teaching her how to live a healthy life by example, I know I’m shaping a positive future for Avery.

One of my favorite moments in the 6.5 months I’ve been a father is being there as she first entered this world. After her time with Mommy, I got my skin to skin time with Avery as soon as possible to better help establish our father-daughter bond.

Watching Avery being born created the deepest love I’ve felt since meeting Kelley (Going Mom) and it took the air out of my lungs! It was the best and scariest feeling I have ever encountered and I will never forget that day I became “Dad.”

Being a stay-at-home dad to our little girl makes every day with her is my favorite moment. We show her how living an active, healthy lifestyle is beneficial is so many ways and hope she’ll follow in our footsteps.

From our nightly bath time routine where she brushes her ~~teeth~~ gums….

….to watching her actually eat solids through our baby-led weaning tactics…

….to going on walks while wearing her..

..I know I’m utilizing the #PowerofDad to the best of my abilities.

Knowing just how important the #PowerofDad is, I am proud to announce that I have partnered with Oral B and a group of other outstanding dad bloggers for an awesome Father’s Day campaign! Just like words can’t describe my intense love for my daughter and wife, the same goes for trying to explain the #PowerofDad.

Luckily, Oral B put together a video that needs no words to show how powerful it can be.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3z3rbcJ7Qk&w=560&h=315]

I’ve watched this video several times, and get goosebumps every time I see the father helping his daughter pack up to leave for college. Yeah, yeah, it’s years down the road, but time is going so fast, we all need to cherish every moment we have and don’t rush things too fast!

Oral B and Life of Dad have joined forces to promote the #PowerofDad which celebrates fatherhood’s little moments and the dads that bring big smiles to their families every day.

Oral B wins my seal of approval for recognizing the important, yet overlooked role of mothers and fathers, and supporting great causes.

In their second year of this Father’s Day program, P&G Oral Care has partnered with March of Dimes, a leading organization for healthy, happy families that celebrates mothers and fathers every day. P&G Oral Care is also joining forces with members of “Football’s First Family,” New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, his father Archie and his daughter Ava – to celebrate fatherhood’s little moments.

And when you’re happy, you smile, right? In order to help keep those smiles shining bright, Oral B has introduced its newest and most technologically advanced toothbrush yet, the Oral-B 7000 BLACK. The Oral-B 7000 BLACK features Oral-B’s signature oscillating, rotating and pulsating technology and provides superior cleaning and a more personalized brushing experience compared to a regular manual toothbrush. With its sleek design and top of the line features, even the most discerning consumers will note, and benefit from, the unparalleled design and technology it offers.

Now that’s a dad brush if I’ve ever seen one! This brush has stats better than most athletes:

Oral-B’s signature oscillating, rotating and pulsating technology provides a superior tooth-by-tooth clean to remove up to two times more plaque than a regular manual toothbrush.
Features 8,800 oscillations per minute and 40,000 pulsations per minute to create shearing forces for excellent cleaning efficacy.
Six modes for a more personalized brushing experience including an extra “Tongue Cleaner Mode” along with standard Daily Clean, Deep Clean, Sensitive, Whitening, and Massage modes.
Quadrant pacing signals every 30 seconds to guide quadrant switching; at the end of two minutes a longer signal indicates when the dental professional recommended brushing time period has been reached.
SmartGuide wireless display with while-you-brush feedback to help you brush thoroughly, gently and for the dentist-recommended two minutes.
Indicator® bristles remind you to replace your brush head every 3 months, or once they’ve faded halfway.
Accelerates to top speed faster than a race car

That last bullet pretty much means you’ll get the feeling of NASCAR in your mouth! Popcorn kernels beware, Oral-B is coming for you!!

So this Father’s Day, upgrade the toothbrush for the dad in your life to the Oral-B 7000 BLACK and watch their smile become even more vibrant! Oral-B even has a $7 off coupon to help you (and dad) out.

Let me know some of your favorite #PowerofDad moments below and have an awesome Father’s Day. I’m excited to celebrate my first!!

Disclosure: I partnered with Oral-B and Life of Dad, LLC for the #PowerofDad Father’s Day promotion and was compensated for my involvement.

Life, Parenting

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

06/04/2014 R.C. Liley 3 Comments

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.

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.

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.

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!

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?

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?

Life, Parenting

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

06/03/2014 R.C. Liley 3 Comments

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!

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.

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?