Tag Archives: birthday

12 Memories From My 12th Month Since Going Dad….She’s 1 Year Old!!!!

Well, it’s here, our little girl is now a 1 year old! The world has come full circle around the sun since Going Mom gave birth to Avery as I stood by her side and helped the nurses took pictures while getting in the way at the hospital.

Thumbs up for a job well done by my wonderful wife!
Thumbs up for a job well done by my wonderful wife!

Seriously, how has it already been a year?! A lot has happened between now and then, but some of it all seems like a blur. And this is just the first year!

Today we’re having a small birthday party at our house and hopefully all goes well. After attending one of our neighborhood friend’s party for their 1 year old girl, we now know NOT to give a cake with a lit candle. Who would’ve thought they would grab right at that flickering light? Ha, sorry, neighbors, you know who you are. 🙂

Over the last month alone, we had many memorable moments; here’s 12 of them.

1. I’ve been adding to our cardboard box collection in the house which makes for exciting playtime for the whole family!

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2. I successfully brewed my first batch of beer as a dad. You weren’t too thrilled about the beer, but I could tell you were eyeing all of those bottles.

3. Mommy’s work had a family trick-or-treating event, but it interfered with your regular nap time. To ensure you got your rest before we went, I just made nap time a little earlier. You had other plans…..

4. Dressing you up as a pumpkin for your first Halloween costume was far from original, but damn, you were are always cute!

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5. Taking you around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating on Halloween didn’t last long, but Mommy, G-Ma, and I had a great time sharing another first.

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6. Mommy and I have been sticking our tongue out at you since you were only a few months old, but finally, you started firing back with your own tongue!

7. Mommy took off work and we went to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens to see the festive fall decorations and take a lot of pictures with you. I know, so rare, right? It was pretty warm that day and you became fussy early, but we still snapped some great shots together.

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8. Sleeping on our living room floor with you on my chest and Mommy beside us after a long night of painful teething. It was sad to see you in pain, but ended up being a moment I will always remember.

9. Your poop schedule suddenly had you booked all day for many days in a row. This was a shock since we used to see nothing at all some days. This coincided with your teething, obviously, as it is one of the signs of a teething baby. Yep, confirmed!

10. I have been kissing you goodnight on the cheek for a while now, but this month you started trying to kiss back. It’s more like you stare at me with your teeth exposed, but it’s cute, sweet, and making progress in showing affection!

11. After preparing a warm breakfast of pumpkin teff for Mommy, she let you have some and you ate quite a bit. This was confirmed that night when “the world’s smallest grain” reappeared in your diaper!

12. Your “walking” status keeps getting closer and closer, and now you’re scaling the cabinets in the kitchen or anything else for that matter. This includes going around me by holding on to my legs if I’m in the way.

We are so grateful to have Avery in our lives and look forward to many, many more wonderful years to come. But first thing’s first, lets work on that walking……

I hope to have a great report with lots of pictures from the party some time next week, but for now, I’m off to celebrate our daughter’s 1st birthday with my wife!

The Bear is Back, But Where is Our Baby?

It’s been 9 long super fast months since experienced really cold weather here in Texas, and it’s rearing its ugly head once again. I like the heat, if you can’t tell, so I’m less than thrilled to say goodbye to by garage sweat sessions. Now I’ll be huddled next to our space heater trying to keep warm with Avery before a garage workout!

When the cold came in a couple days ago, Avery’s bear suit came out. I shared a post about our experience with the bear suit last February and March, and Going Mom and I couldn’t get over how freakin’ cute she was in the thing!

Free Bear Hugs!!
Free Bear Hugs!!

The floppy, over-sized arms and legs were just un-bearable and all you wanted to do was hug and squeeze (gently) her all day!

But now, it was a bit more difficult trying to get Avery in the same bear suit. Aside from being sized 3 – 6 months (oops!), her activity level has increased approximately 500% over the course of 9 months. Guess it’s similar to development in the womb!

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So, it “fit”, but I’m pretty sure her mobility was compromised a bit. Just so you know, I only kept it on her for the duration of our cold walk, and then it came right off once back inside. That said, she didn’t complain one bit while we walked, and she actually seemed quite content chewing on her paws.

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Although she still didn’t seem all that thrilled to be in the tight-fitting bear skin….

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Sorry, dear, but it’s much better than your lips turning blue. Like the did later that day. Double oops!

We just placed an order on Amazon for a new bear suit from the same brand, just bigger size and can’t wait for it to get here. Judging from the pic above, I’m thinking Avery is anxious for its arrival too.

Since it’s her birthday in 2 days, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on the past months and thought it would be neat to do a side-by-side collage of Avery in the bear suit back in February to 9 months later in Novembear (just getting my corny dad jokes warmed up!).

Avery Bear_Feb to November_2014

Kelley is off today and tomorrow to get things ready for Avery’s birthday party and hopefully Avery will take her first steps while Mommy’s home too. We’ve been saying she’s going to walk soon for the past 3 months, but hey, you never know!

Have you ever tried cramming your kid in clothes that just won’t fit anymore?

What do you think about the cold? Love or hate?

Last Week’s Workouts and “The Bear” Complex with Baby

This is the week! The week our baby turns 1 year old! On Saturday, the 15th, we’re having a small birthday party at our home and then we’re leaving her with G-Ma as we head to a friend’s wedding. Is that wrong of us? Nahhhh.

Last week’s workouts were a repeat of the previous week, just adding weight to most exercises in classic progressive overload fashion. I would normally continue in this pattern for the week ahead, but might need to improvise as we prepare for the big day.

Here’s what I have for last week….

Note: All workouts are in a fasted state. I have a homemade pre-workout mix of beta-alanine, bcaa’s, creatine, and pure caffeine powder and then I’m ready to go within 20 – 30 minutes!

Monday – 11/03

– Back Squat: 4 x 8 x 220lbs

– Straight Leg Dead Lift: 4 x 8 x 210lbs

– Dumbbell Lunges: 3 x 11/side x 45lb/side

Superset w/ Glute-Ham Raise: 3 x 12

– Double Kettlebell Swings: 3 x 31 x 25lb/arm

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups

Tuesday – 11/04

– Bench Press: 4 x 8 x 165lbs

Superset w/ Strict Chin-ups: 4 x 7

– Dumbbell Hang Clean & Press: 4 x 11 x 30lb/arm

– 1-arm Dumbbell Rows: 3 x 13 x 45lb

Superset w/ Bodyweight Dips: 3 x 13

– Man-maker Push-ups w/ 30lb Dumbbells: 3 x 11

– Dumbbell Twisting Bicep Curls: 3 x 12 x 20lb

Superset w/ Standing Triceps Dumbbell Kickback: 3 x 10 x 20lb

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups

Wednesday – 11/05

– 4 Tabata Rounds: 1. Bike, 2. Burpees, 3. 15lb Ball Slam, 4. Bike

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups + run/walk 2.3 miles

Thursday – 11/06

– Front Squat: 4 x 8 x 175lbs

– Dead Lift: 3 x 8 x 235lbs

– Clean: 5 x 5 x 125lbs

– 31 Bulgarian Split Squats w/ 20lb Dumbbells/arm and 31 Push-ups

– Walk/Run with Avery and Abby (our Golden

Friday – 11/06

– Overhead Press: 4 x 8 x 110lbs

– Barbell Bent Row: 4 x 8 x 135lbs

Superset w/ Dumbbell Incline Press: 4 x 11 x 45lb/arm

– Dumbbell Hang Clean & Press: 5 x 6 x 45lb/arm

– 4 Rounds: Close-grip Bench – 10 x 135lbs, Wide-grip Pull ups x 6, Kettlebell Windmill w/ 25lb/side x 10/side, Bike ~30 seconds

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups

Saturday – 11/08

– Walk 3+ miles with Kelley while wearing Avery on my back. She had a good nap….

Avery Sleeping in Onya on Daddy's Back

– Quick conditioning workout of countdown/up:

->31, 25, 20….10, 5: Double 25lb Kettlebell Swings

->5, 10, 15…..25, 31: Push-ups

– 31 1-leg squats, burpees, and bodyweight squats

Sunday – 11/09

– Work on rearranging garage to make room for Avery’s play pen gate setup.

– 30 minute cardio/strength routine of 30s on and 30s off with different exercises

– 31 1-leg squats and Push-ups

I need to get Avery’s gate setup since she’s close to walking and I don’t expect she’ll have patience to sit in her jumper once this milestone is achieved.

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Hmm, or maybe she’s already lost her patience. What do you think?

When she starts making these faces, it’s either nap time, a poopy diaper, or just plain bored. For the last one, when not finished working out or never having a chance to star, I have a solution…..combine playtime with your workout!

To me, barbell work is king when it comes to strength training, but as parents and really all time-strapped people know, we don’t always have time for or access to a barbell. And if you did, just what, with maybe 10 minutes of time to yourself, would you do anyway?

The answer is a complex where you complete multiple exercise back to back without stopping to rest. A classic example of this is called “The Bear” Complex where you perform a power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, and push press without setting the bar down to make 1 rep. It’s an awesome workout that, when done for 5 rounds of 7 reps at a challenging weight, is a quick, effective routine.

But when there’s no barbell or time to use one, grab the nearest baby/kid/toddler/teenager (preferably your own), and make them the barbell. Here’s a video I put together to show you how.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb9EU4eyKlg&w=420&h=315]

Avery enjoys the moves and hopefully your kids will too. You get to bond with your child through “playtime” while fitting in a full body exercise to boot. Not bad! Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Now it’s time to prepare for a fast approaching birthday; Going Mom has off Thursday and Friday to make sure things are setup right since I’m not the best in that area. Have a great week!

Do you have any favorite workouts you’d like to share?

Any tips on how to manage a first birthday party? We have the beer, what else is needed? 🙂