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15 Memories From My 15th Month Since Going Dad

Another month and numerous memories has come and gone with our growing toddler. Here are 15 to celebrate the number of months she’s been making us smile.

Avery, you give us more than we could ever count, but here are 15 memories that stand out….

1. You finding out just how fun it is when you wave a string around a cat. Even fat ones like ours will chase a string around, and you were cracking up at fatty Lou.

2. For most of the month, during nap time and nighttime, you fought sleep with a burning passion. Instead of calming succumbing to your tired state, you’d kick your legs wildly and talk to yourself for up to 45 minutes before giving in. Or it was because you pooped, and then we of course came in to clean you. Remember that when we’re old!!

3. I entered you in a local baby photo contest put on by Metroplex Baby and Kids and you won! Thanks to all of our friends, family, and followers for supporting you and your infinite cuteness!

Avery-Photo-Contest-Metroplex-Baby

4. This past month I announced that am a proud Nuttzo Ambassador for 2015, and couldn’t of made it without you. As a result, there’s been plenty of NuttZo powered meals around here with many more to come. I think it’s safe to say you don’t mind one bit though.

5. I mentioned just last month that your jumper days were numbered. Shortly thereafter, we said goodbye to your jumper and I made a nice space for you to roam around in the garage. Now I can work out and so can you! And you still enjoy my weight belt just like when you were in your jumper.

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6. Speaking of working out, we got you your own kettlebell and you’ve been a rockstar at doing swings, squats, and even dancing! You get the biggest smile on your face when you pick it up, and it makes me beam with happiness!

toddler, kids, parenting, funny, humor

7. Apparently, your confidence level has sky-rocketed since you’ve been swinging your kettlebell because now you act as a personal trainer for Mommy and Me. We’ve worked out inside several times and you make sure to push us by climbing all over as we grind out HIIT-style workouts.

push-ups, workout, fitness, parenting

8. The February weather has been brutal to the North, but here in Texas, we’ve been graced with a lot of beautiful, sunny weather. We made full use of the outdoors and took you to the playground and right in our back yard many times. We’ve confirmed you love the outside, and we’ve also confirmed you HATE going inside.

playing, parenting, toddler

9. Papa had his 60th birthday celebration at a nice restaurant and many friends and family were there. You wore everyone out just running around the entire restaurant and received a lot of praise on your cuteness. You have your Mommy to thank for that! I think you can also thank her for your crude hand gestures at the restaurant too!

Steve's 60th

10. Speaking of Mommy, you also take after her love of goat cheese. You can outright reject a plain carrot, but top it with goat cheese and you can’t eat it fast enough!

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One night we even made mini goat cheese sandwiches with my homemade bread that you easily devoured.

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11. On the topic of eating, you surprised me when I offered my raw fermented veggies and you loved them. So much so, you cried after I stopped giving more. Between Mommy with her goat cheese and Daddy with my fermented foods, you make your parents super proud!

12. You have become quite the chatterbox all day, and even when you should be sleeping! No full on real words yet, but every day now, you point up, usually at lights, and make a slushy noise with your mouth as if saying something. Mommy and me just nod and say yes, those are lights. Sorry if that’s not what you’re really saying, but at least we acknowledge you.

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13. Mommy started asking “where is Avery” when you were rubbing your face one day, and now you do it to play hide and seek. Every time we say a key word like “boo”, “where are you”, “hide”, and others, you cover your eyes as if you’re tired to play along. Sometimes you keep them on there really long and it’s hard to tell if you actually are tired or still playing. Either way, you’re cute!

14. Yes, cute even when you do something like throw up. Your first real food puke happened in the middle of the night when G-Ma was staying over after watching you for Mommy and Daddy’s date night.  You ate really good for G-Ma, a little too good,  and it all came back up. We could hear the noise the first time you did it in your crib, and after cleaning everything up, I heard it the second time when you did it all over Mommy while nursing. Despite the sickness, you gave us plenty of cute, flashy smiles right after expelling your food. We could resist but to smile back at you.

15. And for the final memory this month, it’s another bodily function first. The night I became ill and was lying on the playroom floor, you decided to squeeze out a stinker as Mommy was giving you a bath. She said it scared you and definitely surprised her, but she handled it smoothly and cleaned things up quickly.

Avery, you’re growing up fast, too fast, and we enjoy watching your see and do so much every day. You’re constantly learning and hopefully that trend continues for a very long time! We love you, happy 15 months, dear!

I’d say, if there were a major theme for the month, resisting sleep and confusing Going Mom and I would be it. Seriously, the “terrible twos” really do start at 1!  But of course, we wouldn’t change it for the world!

Do you have any favorite memories from your kids for the month? Please share as I’d love to hear!

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I Survived the 1st Year As a Stay-At-Home Dad!

More importantly, we/us/our family has survived a year having me as a stay-at-home dad. Nerves were high for all of us a year ago as my wife was returning to work from her maternity leave, and I was leaving work to stay home with our daughter, Avery.

It was obvious how unsure I was looking back at my first post from my first day at home. The world revolved around nap time and I heavily depended on Kelley’s breast milk soaked shirt laying in Avery’s crib to provide comfort and help with keeping her asleep.

babies, nap time, sleeping, parenting

Poor wife, I wouldn’t dare let her have that thing back for quite a while! On the second day, my confidence-o-meter was still in the negatives, as well as many subsequent days after.

If you checked out the links I provided from my first and second days as an at-home dad, you might notice a common theme that’s present with most parents, especially new ones; a difference in parenting styles. Yep, it’s a big one, and doesn’t matter if one is staying home or both are working, parents tend to disagree on one thing or another a miliion, and that’s just how it is.

Kelley and I still have our own ways of dealing with Avery and we’ll sometimes argue over how the other is handling a situation. Damn wife, she’s usually right (at least I admit it…..eventually), but sometimes I get the 1-up. Not often, but sure does feel good when I do! Parents, don’t you agree?

Fighting Arguments Quarrels Misunderstandings aside, Kelley and I make a great team and have learned a lot along the way. Is anyone ever done learning when so much is changing every day? In parenting and relationships, I vote NO! But that’s part of the fun, right? 🙂

In my year as a stay-at-home dad, I’ve made many mistakes and figure I’ll make many more. But from the ones I have made, I have learned and grew stronger as a result. For instance, babywearing, something we fully support and love in our home, took me a bit before realizing I was doing it wrong at first. I was wearing Avery all over with legs dangling and front facing.

Too cool for school...or anything.
Too cool for school…or anything.

As I shared on my post about Why I Wear My Baby, there are many studies showing the problems with a baby’s development when worn like this, especially the dangling legs!

And there are plenty more (I’m picturing my wife nodding her head as she reads this) mistakes that I’ll share in a separate post soon. Hopefully other parents, whether at-home or at-work, will learn from my mistakes and avoid making them their selves.

Today I want to call attention to making it an entire year with our arrangement and to express my deep, deep appreciation to my lovely wife, Kelley, for working so hard for our family. Some times are extremely hard with work, keeping up with breastfeeding, and dealing with an unruly husband (me!) and she is great at keeping everything together.

Kelley, I can’t thank you enough, and just want to say I love our life together and having such a crazy, yet sweet, daughter to raise with you.

Are you currently or can you remember being a parent to a baby/toddler?

What are some ways that you and your significant other pushed through the tunnel of stressful times to emerge from the other end, happy and sane? Okay, maybe a little crazy. 😉

14 Memories From My 14th Month Since Going Dad

The memories keep coming almost daily now that Avery’s walking and is interested in everything! Seriously, how do you parents with multiple kids do it? Just our one is plenty to keep me busy during the day. Staying at home is definitely a full time job life with loads of overtime!

But no complaints here, I get plenty of pay in the form of….

mommy, daughter, parenting, family

….well, not the tongue sticking outing part, but just loads of love from Going Mom and our sweet (also crazy!) daughter.

I love them both, so dearly, and our current life is working so well! It’s been almost a full year since I left work to become a stay-at-home dad, and I never imagined how fulfilling this life would be. It’s wonderful and I know it will only get better.

That said, it also means I’ll be plenty more busy as Avery is no longer just an idle baby giving me quiet time during the day. Nope, she’s with me most of the day and we’re constantly doing something. Playing, eating, not sleeping, screaming, exercising, etc. Just part of the life, huh?

And now, on with the memories!!

1. Avery, you have become quite the chatter-box lately and “Dada” makes up most of your words. You may not know exactly what you’re saying, but you do know who Dada/Daddy is at this point.

2. Just recently, you started saying “Mama” too, and it’s usually accompanied by whining. I don’t think Mommy is too excited about that part, but it’s still great that you’re saying both Mama and Dada now.

3. It’s been really cold (for Texas), and working out in the garage is becoming increasingly difficult. You won’t accept being in your jumper much longer, but if I give you my weight lifting belt, it keeps you busy for a while.

weight lifting, workout, strength, baby, parenting

4. Speaking of garage workouts, you’ve taken to attempting kettlebell training and it’s only a matter of time when you’re working out with me in the garage.

kettlebell, strength training, baby, workout

5. I’ve been having fun and keeping busy with making different meals for you and so far you’ve been doing great at eating them. But, some of the more savory items take some work to get you to eat. So as long as we play like you are a kitty eating kitty food, it seems to work….so far. You even make a cute squeak as your way of meowing.

baby food, feeding, parenting
Being a good kitty.

6. What’s more, after eating something and not spitting it out (i.e. being a good kitty), we all clap for your good behavior, even you.

7. Of course, even if you like the food, it’s still fun to play kitty. You even come running for my NuttZo Pumpkin Protein Pancakes.

8. Now that you’re more aware of your surroundings than ever, you let Mommy and me know if you aren’t happy with us taking an extended walk. When doing our normal neighborhood loop, we sometimes take a longer way, and immediately after we turn, you start screaming. I guess you don’t like sitting in a stroller in the cold any longer than you have to. Can’t blame you, but hopefully your bear suit keeps you warm and this crying won’t last too long.

9. Surroundings aren’t the only thing you’re more aware of. Your diaper has become a perfect thing to unsnap whenever possible. This is a downfall of the snaps on cloth diapers, but you also tear at the velcro kind, so it’s a lose-lose situation for us. To combat your diaper removing ways, we have resorted to putting packaging tape across the front. So far, this works. For how long? No one knows….

10. Since you are eating a lot more now, and because it’s just good practice, we started brushing your teeth. You don’t seem to mind the all natural blueberry toothpaste and brushing, but you also clamp down on the toothbrush making the “brushing” part extremely difficult. Either way, you are doing better than we expected!

11. You seem to enjoy dancing when and wherever possible, and I’ll admit you’re already better than I will ever be.

dancing, baby, babies, funny, parenting

12. It’s getting easier to tell when you’ve gone poop. For one thing, they smell a lot worse, but almost every time it gets quiet and you go to your chair, a poop is sure to follow.

poop, baby, diapers, potty training

13. Bath time used to entail both Mommy and me, but for a while now, just Mommy will bathe you as I clean up after dinner. I could (and should) put off the clean-up, but I get to worked up to have it done ASAP. Regardless, Mommy seems to enjoy her time with you in the bath. How can you not enjoy time with such a cute kid?!

bath time, baby, funny, cute

14. You’re finally giving us hugs! Multiple times a day, you will come up and hug my leg as I’m cooking or washing dishes, and you’ll give hugs when we ask you to as well! It’s the best feeling having you come to us with your arms open!

Kissing is the next thing to work on. Sometimes she gives them, sometimes not, and sometimes she opens her mouth to eat our face when we go in for a kiss. Hopefully by 15 months she’ll be accepting of kisses. Things keep getting more and more fun and interesting around here!