6 Reasons I Love the Morning

02/03/2014 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Morning used to be a dreaded thing; something that meant the drive to work where I’ll sit at a computer for several hours was soon approaching. I know many still do this, my wife included, and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, just something that really got under my skin. I’m pretty sure a lot of my past bad blood results were from the stress I felt about my past job.

Now, I am happy to wake up and see my beautiful wife (despite what she says, she’s always beautiful!), my wonderful daughter, and be able to provide for them. Most days I am now able to prepare a warm, healthy breakfast for Kelley while simultaneously feeding Avery a bottle.

Avery and I see Kelley off and then it’s almost time for the first nap of the day. It was a long road for Kelley and me to get to where we are with our dear daughter, and we have never been so happy. I feel our relationship has grown even stronger and it gets better everyday. Okay, sometimes there’s regression during the night, but it blows over pretty fast.

So, I’m a much happier person for more than just 5 reasons, but here they are…..

Seeing Avery give her “Squirmy Smiles”. Almost every morning, when I put her on the changing table she’ll flash smiles while wriggling her arms and legs all over. It’s cute and it wins my heart every time.
Being up with my wife and making something that she enjoys for breakfast. I love making loved ones happy with things I make. I usually don’t think I make anything very tasty since I’m so keen on making it healthy first, but she likes it and I’m happy to provide.
Knowing there is no office to drag myself to and sit inside. My home is my office now, and my co-worker (errrr, boss?) is Avery. The chats are infrequent, but still worlds better than the pointless banter people say when crossing paths at work. Really, what’s with the need to say something when walking past someone? It’s okay to just smile and walk by.
Exercising. I used to not do this until late in the afternoon when I got home from work. It sucked; energy was almost non-existent and the time felt limited. Now I can to sing our sweet daughter to sleep for her nap, and then fit in a workout in our garage. Exercise is something I need to be healthy (obviously) and have peace of mind. Having it done before Kelley gets home means more family time and I love it!
Knowing that each day Avery is learning and growing stronger. Kelley and I are both so happy that Avery does not have to go to a daycare. I know there is no other option for some parents out there, and we are truly grateful. Being able to raise our daughter in these first years will pay major dividends. I just can’t wait until we can play!!!
Coffee. I’m a huge coffee fan; black is fine with me, but some skim milk is acceptable. I’m a fan of tea too, and enjoy all varieties; green, black, red, white, etc. Getting to make it at home means less spending and ultimately, more satisfaction. I love the French Press!

Okay, number 6 is pretty weak compared to the others, but I do like my coffee. Kelley mentioned how I already seemed to be a happier person since starting my “job” as a stay-at-home dad, and I couldn’t agree more.

I hope this is the start of something great and only continues to improve and make us stronger.

Crib update. Avery made her second night in the crib again and Kelley only had to go in to calm her once! She woke just before 2 a.m. and I brought her to Kelley for feeding. Once done, I took her back, soothed her, and laid her in her crib again. Success! She stayed asleep until 5 rolled around and she was ready for more feeding.

I hope we aren’t celebrating too early, but we are happy with how she’s been so far. Here’s to a good round 3 tonight!!

If you’re a stay-at-home parent, do you feel different from your past life in the workforce? Better, same, or worse?

Parenting

The Crib: Our First Night

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

Super Bowl, what Super Bowl? We’ll be too busy watching a baby monitor for round two tonight.

Kelley and I were glued to the thing all day after laying Avery down for a nap in the crib yesterday. Daytime naps aren’t always easy (nothing is with sleeping), but at night, getting Avery to sleep is like selling a minx coat to animal rights’ activists*; not happening. I blame it on having something to do with the Moon’s gravitational pull affecting only children up to a certain age. Hey, who can ACTUALLY prove me wrong?

Regardless, getting Avery to sleep and keeping her asleep is a difficult task that neither one of us have mastered. Does anyone really master this? If you have, please come over for a good meal and a warm home.

After our nightly routine of bath time and Kelley giving the ol’sleepy boob treatment, she laid Avery in her crib and we hoped for the best. 10 minutes later, that hope went out the window and Kelley was back in to soothe her. After 3 more rounds of this, she finally seemed to quiet down and accept the crib!

Of course that would be too easy; she was back at it just squirming in her swaddle within 30 minutes. Damn. Hands flailing about as if swaddles could actually keep this night demon at bay and legs pumping up and down; she was not happy.

Kelley and I agreed that since she was not crying out loud, that we’ll go to bed and see how it plays out. In bed, we watched and listened and finally fell asleep as Avery seemed to subside in her wiggly ways.

2:30 a.m. – Kelley wakes me to go and get her since she was crying and probably need to feed. Thank you, boobs, for providing such wonderful food for our baby!! Okay, thank you, Kelley, too. : )

And that marked the end of the first night in the crib. Avery slept with us the rest of the night, and on me for several hours. My own living, squirmy, and fussy blanket!

So, that Super Bowl thing happening today….might be replaced with us watching the baby monitor as we try for round 2 as I said earlier. Maybe we’ll catch the end of it, but if Avery stays in her crib for even longer, it’s a win for us!

Any tricks we should know about on how to keep a squirmy baby from breaking free and waking herself up with crazy arms and razors (fingernails) attached? We ordered a Woombie that we are anxiously awaiting and hopefully that will keep the hands from breaking loose. Kelley didn’t think my rubber band idea was good…..

* I’m not against animal rights’ activists, just made for a good example.

Food

Simply7 Lentil Chip Crusted Baked Fish in a Snap

02/02/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Kelley and I were at Costco and happened upon this giant bag of Simply7 Lentil Chips about 2 weeks ago. We both said they sounded good, and after I scrutinized the ingredients, they seemed fairly decent. Non-GMO is a big one I look for too. After going back and forth, I repeatedly asked Kelley if she would help me eat the bag if we got this plus-sized potato sack of lentil chips. “Yes, I’ll help.”, she replied. Ha….

Fast forward to now and after her “helping” by eating about 10 of the eleventy million chips, I was almost through the bag. Since I was tired of throwing them on my salads, eating them with carrots (pretty good, by the way), dipping in Greek yogurt, and just straight up snacking on them, I figured I’d use the rest in a recipe.

Thus, the crusted baked fish idea came about. We had a giant pack (yes, from Costco) of wild Dover Sole that I needed to cook, so why not add some crushed chips?

All you need is an almost empty gigantic bag of lentil chips, white fish of choice (chicken would be good too), and an oven.

First off, you need to crush the chips. Being a parent, I made use of stroller and swing, as you can see. Hand crushing would work too, but it’s not as fun.

Once they are crushed, toss in about 5 Dover Sole filets (these are thin, so adjust accordingly with what you have), fold the bag, and shake to coat. The chips don’t stay on very well, probably needed to use egg wash, but there’s no time when working against a sleeping baby clock!

After they are coated, lay on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 15 – 20 minutes. The house will smell pretty fishy, that’s a good indicator they’re almost done.

Remove from oven, let cool, then serve with a side of steamed veggies like broccoli or Brussels, and maybe quinoa or a sweet potato. For an extra kick, I like topping the fish with some salsa, so feel free to do the same.