Tag Archives: going mom

Making A Rash Decision and Duct Tape Diapering

04/21/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Guess we celebrated Avery’s recovery too soon. No more fever, but she started to develop a rash on her lower belly. It was good to see she was back to being active, but her eating was and still is not up to par.

Despite what it looks like in the picture, Avery was not scratching at or even acknowledging her spreading rash. But, Going Mom did enough worrying for the both of them and was worriedly searching Dr. Google for an answer.

Since it was the weekend and the rash didn’t seem severe enough to act immediately, I said we should just wait until Monday and reassess then. My wife, still showing signs of concern, as any loving mother would, agreed to give it time. Meanwhile, she used several forms of home remedies/treatments in hopes the rash would suddenly disappear.

Coconut oil and her homemade solution of essential oils to diffuse may or may not of helped, but her rash was hardly visible by Monday. Phew! Kelley took off from work and neither of us wanted to spend her day off going to the doctor for our poor daughter’s rash. It had already been a long, stressful week for Avery, and an impromptu visit to the doc would only add to it!

In other news, Avery started undoing her cloth diaper again. This happened a few months ago and we used packaging tape as the solution. The tape sucked and fell off easily, so we’ve upgraded to duct tape which seems to work much better.

duct tape cloth diaper — So it’s come to this…..

Or so we thought…..

Apparently you have to duct tape all around or Avery will simply just pull the tape right off. Smart girl. Now she gets duct tape full circle around her cloth diaper.

Like any toddler, she doesn’t make it easy, but handing her the roll helps keep her still long enough just to make sure everything’s secure.

Once she’s all wrapped up, she then likes to get down to rap.

Okay, not really rap, but that’s the only thing that would work for my corny dad pun/joke. So sue me! Actually,please don’t. 🙂

Besides the mystery rash and finicky eating, we had a great family weekend together. Even though Avery didn’t have a fever, I think it was best we didn’t bring her to our friend’s kids’ 2 year old birthday party since she hasn’t been 100% quite yet and we didn’t know whether the rash would spread or not. Instead, we enjoyed playtime and coffee during the day, and a lot of The Walking Dead after Avery’s bedtime.

Seriously, we are hooked for the long haul and almost to season 4 at this point. It’s bad when we set a limit of 2 episodes and end up watching 2 more. The crazy life of parents with a toddler, huh? That said, I enjoy having a good show to get into with my wife, and it’s nice to stay off of the computer and watch something good with her instead.

Really quick before I wrap things up, I went on an hour long run in my new Soft Star Shoes Dash RunAmocs with a bullhide leather sole and find these better than my Moc3’s I reviewed previously. I’ll have a full review of the Dash RunAmocs eventually, but will be running a half-marathon in them on Mother’s Day before publishing anything. Until then, I’ll keep wearing my Soft Stars and Avery will wear hers as we exercise and play together each day!

Has your kid ever had a mystery rash that didn’t seem to bother them but looked bad?

Any other kind of rash?

What do you think about taping your toddler’s diaper to keep them from undoing it?

Life, Parenting

Recovery Mode From Boob Milk Magic

04/18/2015 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

After two days of a roller coaster fever and lethargic toddler, Avery no longer has a fever and seems to be on her way to recovery. I attribute much of her recovery from her Mommy’s boob milk magic since it’s full of antibodies and nutrition that’s hard to find anywhere else.

Avery was refusing most solids, so Kelley nursed more in place of the food. Not only did this give Avery vital nutrients to fight of the sickness inside, but it acted as a the perfect way to provide soothing relief from her ailment.

If I wore a hat, I’d take it off for my wife for being so bad-ass when comes to breastfeeding and just being a great mother all around. Actually, maybe that’s why I never wear hats, because they’d always be off anyway since she’s just great all the time. Well, besides when…nevermind….. 🙂 I love you, Kelley!

We were supposed to go to a good friend’s house for their son’s 2 year birthday party, but felt it best not to bring Avery out quite yet. Despite the healing properties of nursing, Avery is still not eating well and has had a case of “the runs”. Here’s a pic I took 5 minutes after I gave her a small bite of something soft.

Yeah, she simply refuses to chew and will end up spitting whatever it is right out on the floor after it sat in her mouth for 10 minutes. Damn teething, and poor little girl!!!!!

Yesterday morning was a slow start and Avery just wanted to be held most of the time, but she eventually became mobile and started playing with her toys. She even attempted to dance a little, always a good sign!

But right as I busted out the camera to capture our daughter feeling better, she went into a slump. At least her Catch-Me-Kitty was there to help comfort her in the box.

Such a depressing photo, huh? She never lets me put the camera in her face and will just turn around or be too squirmy resulting in a blurry image, but this time she kept still with a blank stare.

Double depressing! I kept thinking I was pushing my luck with the camera in her face, but she acted as if nothing was happening. Or maybe she simply did not care.

Just as my broken heart broke further into tiny pieces, she gave a glimmer of hope with a halfsie-grin-like-thing.

I must of scared whatever excitement she was working on away because the next shot had her back in slump mode.

That was too much, so I put the camera away and just read several of her new Sandra Boynton books. It didn’t help to get her to smile, but she sat snug in my lap the entire time and will hold on to that sweet memory for life. Just as my wife has the same memory from cuddling with our sick baby in bed the night before.

I wish we had our normal toddler back and we were celebrating at a 2 year old’s birthday party today, but Avery has a little more recovering to do first. The good news is that we’re going to find another time to go down and visit with our old friends and see how grown their kids are now.

Not much happening this weekend, just a trip to Costco and getting our little girl back to normal. By normal, I mean the crazy, rampant and overzealous toddler that she is!

Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Have you nursed or witnessed nursing that helped your kid recover from illness before?

Baby Wearing, Life, Parenting

Expo Adventures with Dallas Dads and Britax

03/23/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Last Saturday, our Dallas Dads Group had the honor of working with Britax to hold a car seat safety workshop at the DFW Family Expo. I’m not sure why, but I enjoy going to expos even though I’m not a big fan of crowds. Even more so when the crowds have crazy kids running all over the place. Oops, that was us!

Avery running wild at the #dfwfamexpo2015 with @britaxus and @dallasdadsgroup! @britax #BritaxSafety #citydads

A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on Mar 21, 2015 at 11:18am PDT

We went into the event with our crazy ~~animal~~ toddler safely contained in her Boba Baby Carrier nice a snug with Going Mom. Britax was setup in a prime location at the entrance for all to see and had their car seat safety workshop sign displayed for all to see. Britax is a major supporter of our nationwide City Dads Group, and it was exciting to be part of their event! First, we rendezvoused with all of the dads and the Britax team who graciously provided lunch for our group, it was time to explore. But, I think it was right after the picture with the abominable snow-dog that Avery could no longer be confined to staring up at and pushing Mommy’s chin. With that, Kelley set Avery free into the wild, errr….expo. Avery wasted no time! Even with the two of us, Kelley and I could hardly keep track of our little girl. How do those little legs get so far so fast?! Not that I ever want anything to do with Nesquick or the like, but we were thankful for their booth having these large dice. Until, that is, she tried to run away with them. We took the dice away and returned them which obviously meant toddler meltdown. Using our brains, we tossed Avery in a nearby bounce house in hopes of cheering her up Phew, I think it worked! Silly kid had a ball dancing, clapping and even playing with other kids. Or getting pushed down by them, but she had fun and that’s what matters most! The hard part was getting her back out, and then figuring out how to calm her down again. Thankfully, the force was with us when something strange caught her attention. Storm Troops and Darth Vader?! Score! Obviously, we had to pose with the Dark Side, and Darth Vader was there too. 😉

I wasn’t there, but some of the dads and their kids gathered for a (friendly?) group photo.

Pretty cool stuff, huh? Avery was getting very obnoxious and hungry, but she wasn’t nursing with Going Mom very well because so much was going on. I gave her some organic applesauce in a squeeze pouch, yes, like I once said I’d never do, which only helped for maybe 3.23 minutes.

Then it was off on another rampant tour of the expo grounds.

No fear, this child, no fear. It was almost time for the main event, Britax’s Car Seat Safety Workshop, so we made our way back to the front to join the rest of the crowd eager to learn about #BritaxSafety. The beautiful and kind Britax ladies, Kate and Sarah, put on an excellent workshop jam-packed with useful information.

Did you know heavy jackets and other winter clothing should be removed before putting your kid in their car seat and that the chest clip on car seats should be at armpit level? Or that you should keep your child rear facing at least to 2 years old and longer if the weight limit of your car seat allows? Also, it’s better to tighten the straps until you think it’s good enough, and then pull some more since 60% of the harnesses are not tight enough.

When it comes to our kids and safety, Britax has us covered. We have their Boulevard ClickTight Car Seat, and Avery loves it. Not to mention we love all of it’s safety features and easy installation.

Britax, car seat, safety — Happy in her Britax Car Seat!

Unfortunately, Avery kept on getting more and more irritable, and Kelley had to put her back in the Boba and try her best to keep her calm.

But it wasn’t long until all was lost and Going Mom gave “the look” letting me know we were already pushing our luck.

She frantically went to the car in hopes that Avery would nurse better there, and I stayed until the workshop was over. Right after it ended, I had to bail. I know we were already pushing our luck, but I wish we could’ve stayed just a little longer since we missed out on the great group photo taken just minutes after we left.

Great group of dads and their families right there! Sorry we missed it, but at least we were able to get our photo with Kate from Britax. Thank you, Kate, for taking time to pose with us!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and despite Avery’s craziness, I’m glad she got to experience something new. Plus, she slept very good that night!

Are you part of any parenting groups?

Do you still have a kid in car seats? Do they still sit rear-facing?