Tag Archives: cold

Crib to Bed to Floor & A Cold Pool

We made the transition from crib to bed a week ago with mixed feelings about how our two and half year old girl would take to the change. It wasn’t a huge change since we have a convertible crib, so it just took a little rearranging/removal of the existing crib parts.

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Still the same organic mattress she’s had since birth, but we’ll be upgrading to a brand new full-size Naturepedic mattress in a few weeks. Stay tuned for a review of their top notch mattresses for kids. Safe sleeping material is more important than I ever knew before I read up on how vital it really is.

I made the switch right before naptime with high expectations that Avery would put on a good show through the baby monitor. Much to my surprise, she was excited to get in her big kid bed to read a story before nap time, and never even got off of her mattress after I left. I could see her thinking about it through the monitor, but in less time than she usually takes to finally fall asleep, she was out quick.

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Such a precious girl. When she’s out, she’s out! Hence the reason I was able to get such a close shot as she slept. Of course, I couldn’t stop there, this moment called for a daddy-daughter selfie, even if she didn’t know it was happening.

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The first night went quite well too. She took longer to actually fall asleep, but still kept on her bed the entire time. The next day she started to test the waters more and more and got on and off the bed before finally giving in. Every night since, she’ll wander around her room, put stuffed animals we said were too big back on her bed, and sing aloud restlessly before she sleeps.

Despite wandering all over her room, which I suspect is normal at this stage, she has taken to the freedom of her big kid bed really well. Going Mom, on the other hand is a little more reluctant for the change. Gone are the days of rocking our little baby to sleep as she sings to her, Avery now demands we read to her in her bed and refuses getting rocked. They grow so fast is a cliche saying we find ourselves repeating several times a day. As always, it’s bittersweet.

Apparently, sleeping on her mattress is bittersweet as well. A couple nights in a row, I peeked at the monitor in the middle of the night/early morning to find Avery nowhere in sight. Naturally, I go to check on our missing tot to find her on the floor. No blankets, just face down with legs curled or stretched out. The first night I quickly moved her back to her bed, but the second night, I had to capture the moment first.


Instagram was an obvious outlet to share with the world.

Hopefully she doesn’t start trying to make a break for it by opening her door. We have a door knob cover for her door, but those only last so long until those little hands figure them out. We can’t wait to get her sleeping on the bigger Naturepedic mattress, hopefully that will give her more wiggle room on the mattress and keep her from wandering all over. Hopefully….

It’s been abnormally cooler than usual for mid-May in Texas, but we made several attempts to swim in our recently opened neighborhood pool. The first time we ventured to the pool, the sun was out, but still not that warm. She insisted on wearing her floaties, but only made it so far.

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The timid look on her face says it all. I’m not going a foot further!

I plunged into the cold water in an attempt to get her to join, but no luck. We were in and out of the pool in 5 minutes.

The next trip was sunny, until we started walking down for a swim. As we walked, dark storm clouds rolled in right over us. WTF!? But being the stubborn guy that I am, we went for it anyway. Avery gave another shocked look upon first getting her feet in the still very cold water…

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But this time I held her to get all the way in and although she was super tense the entire time, we enjoyed a little splashing around together in the kid pool. Then we went over to the adult pool for a daddy-daughter swim with plenty of throwing her in the air. She had fun…..for a few minutes, but the increasing wind and dropping temps had her shivering, so we ended the swim and made our way back home hoping for warmer days ahead. Not sure if it was a sign, but we saw this poor dead snake on the walk back.

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And if it was a sign, who knows what to make of it. I sure don’t. As a reptile lover, I don’t think it’s a good one though. Poor guy…

The forecast is showing warmer temps are coming, as if there’s any doubt in Texas, so I’m sure our third attempt will yield a successful swim. Although, I don’t mind a nice cold plunge myself.

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Have you made the transition from crib to bed for your kiddo? How’s it going?

How do you feel about cold swims?

The Cutest Demon Face on Memorial Day

No waking up early for a 10k race this year on Memorial Day. Nope, after watching 3 episodes of The Walking Dead (we only have 2 more left of Season 5!!), we woke up after a good night’s sleep thanks to Avery. She totally skipped her nap the day before, so I’m sure that helped a lot!

I had a giant bowl of blueberry NuttZo oatmeal ready for Going Mom and Avery to eat and Going Mom made coffee. It’s like a clockwork every weekend and works so well for us. Except I made the bowl a little too giant and I ended up making oatmeal bread with my microwave omelette cooker.

We were heading to Nana and Papa’s for a small Memorial Day gathering but needed to get there earlier than others for Steve (aka Papa/Kelley’s Dad) to take pictures of our family of three. I brought Avery in the garage with me for a quick workout while my wife got ready. I can be drenched in sweat and just stuck my head under the shower, change into nice clothes, and be ready in 10 minutes. My wife, on the other hand…well, I’m sure most guys know how long it takes the ladies in their life to get ready, and, ladies, you can’t deny it!

Hey, that’s okay, it gives us guys something to sit around and complain about. Without most women taking a long time to get ready for anything, guys might just sit around in silence with nothing to say. So, for that, thank you, ladies. 🙂

After an intense dead lifting session, we finished getting ready and took off for the 45 minute drive to my in-laws. In classic Texas weather fashion as of late, it was cloudy all day and started to sprinkle just as we arrived. Good thing we weren’t planning on taking pics outside or anything……..NOT!

Luckily, the precip held off long enough for us to get as many pictures as Avery would allow. The pics are all on Papa’s very nice camera, but I’ll share the best ones on the blog soon. Kelley did use our camera to snap a few shots of Avery and me to help show off my Kore Essential Trakline Belt though.

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It’s seriously the only belt I own now, and really all you need. That said, the belt and the rest of my clothes were off immediately after this picture (and approval from my wife of course) so I could jump in the cold pool.

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Fast, huh? The temp dropped just in the short time it took for our photo session and with the water already in the 60’s, I was hesitant. Can you tell from my uneasy smile? Best to “rip the band-aid” in cases like this, so I sucked it up and made the jump.

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Yeah, it was cold, as referenced by my scrunchy face.

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A little over 30 minutes of constant goosebumps and I was done. Just in time for the heavy downpour of rain to start.

While I was busy with my shiver swim, everyone else was keeping warm outside of the pool. Kelley was trying to get a good shot of Avery and Nana, but Avery had her demon face in full swing all day which made it hard for a good pic.

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Good thing Kathy/Nana has plenty of patience….

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….because it was like this for several shots.

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Between the camera not focusing and Avery’s still cute but equally freaky demon face, this is the best we got.

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Two beautiful ladies and no demons = success!

Obviously, Papa knows how to keep the demon at bay by busting out the iPad and a water bottle.

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Maybe being indoors, out of the sun also helps. Oops. Then again, maybe not….

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Meh, at least it lasted a few minutes. And I think it’s safe to say she was all non-demon smiles with Aunt Lindsay too.

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The chicken we were going to have grilled ended up having to be baked since the propane decided to run out, so lunch was delayed a couple hours. Not a big deal, we all hung out and talked as Nana quickly improvised in the kitchen. The food turned out delicious and worth the wait thanks to her skills, and not a single belly remained hungry in the end.

Avery spent most of her time playing with her cousins, Ashlee and Taylor, and had so much fun she completely skipped her normal nap time. All parents know a missed nap time can go one of two ways; bad or really bad.

Lucky for us, Avery took a Cliff Notes Nap on the drive home which only made dinner time slightly bad with a little bit of the usual tired toddler fussiness. At least the demon face had disappeared for a final photo with Mommy.

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Our Memorial Day weekend flew by, just as everything does it seems, but overall it was a good time. I’m looking forward to seeing the pictures Papa took of us, and hopefully the demon was hiding for most of them!

How was your Memorial Day?

Did you get to see the sun or were stuck under clouds all day like most of us in Texas?

Ever run out of gas or charcoal for your grill and have to take things inside for your cook “out”?

#MySundayPhoto – 03.01.15

This week’s My Sunday Photo is from the “crazy” winter weather we had in Texas. I took Avery out in her bear suit as the snow continuously fell all day and she enjoyed the change of scenery. Until she face-planted several times, then she was ready to go back in. I know, us Texans just aren’t made for the snow. Give us the heat back!!!

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I have a lot of pics I could use, but this one captures her cuteness pretty good. So many came out blurry, but this one is nice and clear. Okay, sorry for breaking any rules here. but I must share one more!

Avery Uneasy in Snow

Poor girl. I could tell she wanted hold it together and stay outside longer, but the cold finally made her give.

OneDad3Girls