Going Dad’s Top Ten Pinterest Picks (6): Baby Proof Your Home!

05/24/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

You had to of known this one was coming, right? At this point, I’d expect to make these posts related to what we’re currently experiencing/learning with Avery.

Right now, she can sit up without even trying. Seriously, she’ll wake in the middle of the night and all of the sudden, she’s upright…..and crying.

She eventually tumbles over and will (usually) fall back asleep.

Now the next big milestone is crawling and/or walking, and we need to get our house prepared! Of course there’s always something we’ll miss and won’t find out until she finds it for us, but thankfully Pinterest is here to offer a helping hand.

By the way Avery is able to move around just by rolling and scooting, it’s only a matter of time before she’s getting into anything within reach. If you have a baby that’s about to be or already is becoming more mobile, I hope these top ten picks help get you prepared.

1. 10+ Tips for childproofing. Practical tips and advice we all should read up on!

2. Pict-o-graphs are fun and a great way to have important info all on one giant page. Great for printing! Now I just need a printer…..

3. DIY baby gate? Yes please, the store-bought ones are pricey!!

4. We don’t have stairs in our home, but I’m sure many of you do and would like to NOT put holes anywhere. So, here you go!

5. Pool noodles to the rescue! It may not be the prettiest way to baby proof, but you might as well get used to the fact that having a baby isn’t always pretty! We’re slowly catching on…..

6. I shouldn’t have to explain the reasoning here; babies in trash = no good. I didn’t even think of the trash until seeing this Pin!

7. Well looky here, the pool noodles make another safety appearance. Again, is it pretty? No. But will it save your kid from busting their lip or worse? I sure hope so!

8. Room by room tips on baby proofing. Just skip to the rooms you need and see if there’s any new ideas.

9. Okay, last pool noodle Pin. Only because I have one left before ten. you could really surround your home in pool noodles! Hmmm, wonder if Going Mom would approve?

10. Just in case we missed something from the above pins, hopefully this will complete your list of to-do’s!

So, are you ready to baby proof your home? Have you already proofed thinking you were all set and found something else?

Let me know where you are in the process and please, share any tips you might have to offer!

You might be interested in my other Top Ten Pinterest Picks for helpful ideas and even a good laugh:

Challenge, Going Strong

Going Strong Challenge Update: I Found my First Race, Have You?

05/23/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

Hey there, how’s it going?

Doing well here and happy to have my trusty partner in parenting, Going Mom, home since she took off today. Avery is having her 6 month checkup and a couple more vaccinations. Remember her 5 month shots?

Yeah, oh joy…..

I’ll let you know how everything goes, but now I just want to talk about the Going Strong Challenge I posted several days ago; run a 5k with your kids.

So, have you found a race yet? Not trying to be pushy, just thought I’d check in. I know I don’t have thousands of readers or anything, but if just one of you accepts and finishes the challenge, I’d be satisfied.

Really, just getting out and being active with your kids is the main message here. I still need to pick a race to run or walk (run if in stroller, walk if I’m wearing her) with Avery, but I am signed up and ready to run my last 10k before I’m 30!

The race is called the Unforgotten Heroes Memorial Day Run and is a 5k or 10k. This is the 1st annual run and will be held at the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Memorial Day. That’s Monday, May 26th, if you needed to know.

If you’re in the area, come join the fun and support a great cause! Are you already running on Memorial Day? What race do you have lined up?

Most of my “training” has been with Avery in the B.O.B. and our Golden, Abby, on a leash. Needless to say, I’m not expecting to PR by any means, just to run my best and enjoy the last race of my twenties. Eeeesh!

Since this run will be solo with Kelley and Avery there to support me, I still need to step up to my own challenge and run a 5k with Avery. There are plenty of races this summer so don’t worry, it won’t be long before I find one.

Hope you’re having a great Friday and getting ready for a fun and relaxing Memorial Day weekend!

Are you or aren’t you running a race this weekend?

If yes, is it with your kid(s) or solo like me?

Any special Memorial Day plans?

Life, Parenting

Do Babies Yo-Yo Diet? Or Maybe It’s the Highchair.

05/22/2014 R.C. Liley 7 Comments

I’m convinced Avery, and probably a lot of other babies are all aware of yo-yo dieting! Maybe babies were the ones that actually started the whole fad diet! Most likely (and realistically) not, but maybe…

As defined by Dictionary.com:

yo-yo dieting

noun

a repeated cycle of weight loss followed by weight gain.

How often do you and others around you make a comment about baby’s chubby legs, Michelin Man arms, or fat cheeks? I know Going Mom and I are guilty of saying something like this about Avery every day. To us, it’s cute, but to them, weeeelllllll maybe they are really concerned about their figure.

In being so concerned about their “chubby” figure, I think that’s why babies refuse the bottle, real food put in front of them, and sometimes even the boob. One day they will be eating like champs, but the next day you’re lucky just to get them to eat anything! Uh oh, did you mention something about their giant cheeks some time in between?

Okay, again, this sounds pretty farfetched, but doesn’t it feel that way sometimes?

Avery has days where she’ll happily and easily accept the bottle from me and we’re all good. Then, other days, she’ll start out fine for like a minute, and then push out with her tongue and turn her head side to side. I eventually get the message and reluctantly give up.

Oh sure, she's interested in THAT bottle! — Oh sure, she’s interested in THAT bottle!

Just the other week she was tearing through herbottles to where everything Going Mom left for us in the fridge was gone. I was feeling pretty proud of myself and I was even happy to get up early in the morning when she was crying for food.

Kelley is an awesome mom and gets up in the wee hours to feed Avery even though she has to go to work. On occasion, I will go to feed Avery a bottle instead so Kelley can get a little more rest, and it can be a hassle. Trying to feed a squirmy baby with a bottle in the dark is hard, but when they refuse the thing, it’s down right impossible!

So, that was last week and we had gotten used to thinking she’s going to be eating more from here on out. Rookie parents here, checking in! Avery is now back on her bottle boycott and we fight to the last ounce just like times before.

All of this fluctuation in eating is apparently a normal baby thing, but I’m holding out and saying there’s a .000328% chance that babies know about and practice yo-yo dieting.

Which brings me to my other speculation about babies and eating; introducing solids. We recently started to introduce Avery to solid foods through baby-led weaning with zero success so far. The first day we blamed it on her being too tired and fussy, but the second try she was awake and was happy. Then we put her in the highchair.

If you look close enough, I think you can see two horns starting to poke out of her forehead.

We’ve tried a few times since then all with no luck. Being the college-educated parents that we are, we knew it couldn’t be the food that’s making her mad, so it must be the highchair. Deductive reasoning at its finest!

With our revelation, we tried offering food with her in the best baby seat in the house hoping for better results. I even showed her how fun and exciting a green bean can be!

She wasn’t buying it. I mean, c’mon, doesn’t it look exciting? No? So maybe she just doesn’t like green; I’ll try a pretty carrot!

Crap, we’re running out of things to blame it on other than that she’s a baby and doing anything new takes time…….and A LOT of patience!

Although we really don’t like the highchair we have, I guess we’ll stop making up reasons why Avery isn’t immediately taking to new food. So we’ll have patience and keep on trying, and as some of you have commented, maybe I’ll give in and offer something sweeter. 🙂

But seriously, we are thinking about returning our Chicco Polly highchair to get something else. The tray is just annoying at how it slides off, and on and the crotch strap under the tray catches Avery’s feet when we try to slide it on.

What kind of highchair do/did you use? Please let us know what worked for you as maybe it will at least help Avery figure out this new way of eating!

This post is part of the Love All Dads Link-up where other awesome dads link their favorite posts from the week. Check out all of the fun other posts by clicking on the button below:

yo-yo dieting

An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.