Our First Night Without Avery – Part 2

02/22/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

Everyone survived another “first” in our household! We enjoyed our time together away from home and G-ma handled the night like a pro. I guess she does have some experience with two grown children. If you didn’t read Part 1 of the story, here’s the link.

Kelley and I started our night by picking up Chipotle (I had the salad bowl with black beans and Kelley had the burrito bowl with barbacoa) and buying some beer and gas station nearby. Four dollars for one sub-optimal beer at Chipotle? No Thanks! We had a refreshing Amber brew from a local brewery for less than half the price per bottle. Score!

We then trekked over to the parking lot at the concert to enjoy a romantic, bean-filled, dinner under ~~candle~~ lamp light in the car. The beer was tempting us and we were ready to enjoy a celebratory cheers, but we forgot a bottle opener. Being the smart, college-educated people we are, I utilized my belt buckle and had the beer opened after a few tries.

No funny thoughts..... — No funny thoughts…..

Food and booze finished, we headed inside to see the Imagine Dragons. We arrive over an hour after everything started, so we saw the last of the cover band and waited for the Imagine Dragons’ stage to be setup. To kill time, we obviously took random pictures.

The concert itself was great. We heard all of the songs that turned us into fans and had me thinking back to our puzzle days while trying to get pregnant. Good times. We’re not crazy people and our seats were pretty high, so it was nice just to enjoy the show and listen to the music.

Meanwhile, G-ma, was having a good time playing with Avery who was being better than expected. Go Avery! My mom said after bath time she did her usual loud crying since she apparently hates when it’s over, but it wasn’t too bad.

G-ma tried to keep her up a little longer thinking her bed time was later and said she was just so tired by the time she put her down. Guess we forgot to mention her bed time was actually earlier….oops!

By the time we arrived home at the late hour of 11:30, both G-ma and Avery were asleep. G-ma was on the couch and we woke her and visited while the Olympics were on. I also gather more food to eat, but that’s a given.

Overall, we had a great time, and I think our romantic dinner in the car was really the highlight of the date. I could go for just another “date” night by going to another parking lot for dinner and beer. I’m sure this makes all the ladies jealous!

G-ma said she’s happy to do it again, so I guess I just need to find a good parking lot. Oh, and Avery has to agree too. You think she agrees?

Looks happy here! — I’d say that’s a YES!

Ever find that the little things really make a big difference when enjoyed with someone you love? Any stories to share of your own?

Parenting

Our First Night Without Avery – Part 1

02/21/2014 R.C. Liley 8 Comments

Okay, not the whole night, we just won’t be there to bathe her and put her to sleep. We hardly went out before Avery was born because we detest most restaurants and can’t stand to pay a lot for most things we can enjoy at home. I could go on, but that’s another post. Luckily, my mom, Avery’s “G-ma”, is staying the night to take over. Good luck, mom!

Since day one, Kelley and I have worked together each night to figure out how we’ll get Avery to sleep. Currently, getting her to sleep in her crib has been going pretty well and it will be weird not doing the routine tonight. Notice I said “weird”, but not hard; the freedom will be great! Of course we’ll miss our dear daughter, but mom and dad need time together too.

We are going to see the Imagine Dragons in concert at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The Imagine Dragons are a band we came to know and love while trying to get pregnant with Avery. This was a long, hard path and we are ever so grateful to have her healthy and in our lives now.

When we weren’t visiting doctors and going through tests, we’d be at home listening to Pandora Radio and putting together puzzles. This was a great bonding time for Kelley and me, and we’ll never forget it. Pandora played a lot of music that is now mainstream on the radio, including Imagine Dragons. This band won us over as fans and we are more than ecstatic to see them live!

We showed G-ma our nightly routine of bath time, coconut oil on skin, swaddling, and feeding last night since she stayed over then. We’ll probably go over it again before leaving for the concert, just to be the anal parents we are.

I’m so glad my mom is able and willing to watch Avery tonight, and hopefully we come home to quiet home. I can’t blame her if she is fearfully holding Avery close because the crib wasn’t working out though; I do this every now and then too. What is it with these babies anyway? Oh yeah, they’re babies.

Quick story I want to share….

Yesterday I went for a walk with Avery and Abby (our Golden) in the high winds but nice temperature. As we were walking along a home construction area, Abby decided she had to poop. I pulled on her leash to try and stop her, but it was too late, and the stupid collar fell off. Usually Abby is good and will stay, but she decided to run off so I had to yell at her to come back. This woke Avery from her nap and she started crying, plus when I stepped to get Abby I went right in her poop. Awesome. :/

After gathering myself, the dog (as she’ll be referred to now), wiping my shoe, and calming Avery back to her nap, we ended up having a nice hour long walk.

Sleeping in the Ergo at our turnaround point

Thanks for sticking with me if you made it this far, I just wanted to remember that awesome walk by blogging about it.

As the title says, this is part 1 of our first night out, I’ll have a follow up post (part 2, duh) to recapture how the night went for us as well as G-ma.

What was your first night out like and how old was your baby at that time?
Did you come back home or stay somewhere else for the night?
Who babysat?
Am I asking too many questions?

Going Healthy

Going Ideas and A Healthy Chocolate Protein Dip

02/20/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Something I planned on doing when I started this blog was to vary my posts across several areas of interest. I want to share healthy recipes and advice, speak on exercise, eco-friendly solutions, and even rant about what I think is wrong with this world.

My main focus is and always will be about Avery and watching her learn and grow. But, I can only write so much about feeding her a bottle, waiting for poop, and how fussy or happy she was that day.

Which, by the way, bottle feeding is better, she pooped recently, and she’s happy most of the time but gets fussy at night. How’s that for cliff notes blogging?

So, every now and then I will post about other topics under the following categories:

Going Healthy – mostly healthy recipes or other thoughts on food
Going Green – eco-friendly tips and advice
Going Strong – exercise tips, thoughts, and routines
Going Reviews – from time to time I hope I will be allowed the opportunity to try and review food products and items pertaining to parenting. I don’t expect much at first since I’m just starting out, but hope this will change in the future. It would be really great to start hosting giveaways too!

This is what I’m thinking right now, so it’s subject to change. Please share your thoughts on this as I’d like to know what others think. Is this a good idea? Need to change something?

To start things off, I have a favorite healthy dessert dip recipe I make all the time. Loaded with protein and creamy goodness, it’s good just eating right from a spoon!

Chocolate Protein Dip

Here’s what you need:

-1 can of chickpeas or white beans, drained and rinsed

-2 medium ripe bananas (the more spots the better to me!)*See note below if you don’t have bananas

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-1/8 tsp baking soda

-rounded1/8 tsp salt

-3 packets of stevia or about 2 tsp; it takes a while get the right amount since so many stevia products are different, so just adjust to taste. If you’re not into stevia, you can use 2/3 cup of brown sugar or honey, but this will detract a little of the “healthy” part.

-2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

-1/4 cup rolled oats, ground flax seeds, or chia seeds (you can omit this, it just helps to make it really thick)

*If you don’t have or like bananas, try using 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, pumpkin puree, or Greek yogurt or even a combination. I have tried all of these and still like the outcome. There’s no wrong way, just what you have on hand.

This is easy, just add everything in a blender or food processor and blend until you have a smooth, creamy consistency. Blending will create heat and the dip will firm up a little more if you let it cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Or make a double batch so you can eat one right away like I do!

Please give it a shot and let me know what you think. For the stevia, I buy it from the company Bulk Supplements on Amazon. It’s the purest I’ve found and never get a bitter aftertaste. Plus it’s priced well!

Of course I can’t post without having a picture of Avery, just in case that’s all you came here to see. A nice neighbor of ours let us borrow their Ergo carrier since I’m not too thrilled with our Baby Bjorn Original, and we took it for an hour long walk yesterday.

About 20 minutes into the windy walk and I look down and see this…

Not sure how the wind didn’t bother her, but I think the Ergo passed the test. Now, guess it’s time to search for one of my own.

Do you think it’s a good idea to incorporate these categories into the blog? I feel I have a lot of thoughts on nutrition, fitness, parenting, and people running through my brain and would love to share them with you here.