Tag Archives: memories

How the #PowerofDad is Everlasting

06/05/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

My father passed away when I was only 7 years old. He and my mom were divorced and since he lived in another state, I didn’t see him very often. Even with the infrequent visits, I still have lasting memories of him that I will never forget.

I never thought much about how and/or why I was able to hold on to memories at such a young age, but now I know it’s from the #PowerofDad. The influence a father makes on his kids is powerful and stays with them through life; I’m living proof!

Now that I’m a father to one beautiful little girl, I make it a point to harness the #PowerofDad every day. By treating my daughter with respect, getting on the floor and playing with her, and teaching her how to live a healthy life by example, I know I’m shaping a positive future for Avery.

One of my favorite moments in the 6.5 months I’ve been a father is being there as she first entered this world. After her time with Mommy, I got my skin to skin time with Avery as soon as possible to better help establish our father-daughter bond.

Watching Avery being born created the deepest love I’ve felt since meeting Kelley (Going Mom) and it took the air out of my lungs! It was the best and scariest feeling I have ever encountered and I will never forget that day I became “Dad.”

Being a stay-at-home dad to our little girl makes every day with her is my favorite moment. We show her how living an active, healthy lifestyle is beneficial is so many ways and hope she’ll follow in our footsteps.

From our nightly bath time routine where she brushes her ~~teeth~~ gums….

….to watching her actually eat solids through our baby-led weaning tactics…

….to going on walks while wearing her..

..I know I’m utilizing the #PowerofDad to the best of my abilities.

Knowing just how important the #PowerofDad is, I am proud to announce that I have partnered with Oral B and a group of other outstanding dad bloggers for an awesome Father’s Day campaign! Just like words can’t describe my intense love for my daughter and wife, the same goes for trying to explain the #PowerofDad.

Luckily, Oral B put together a video that needs no words to show how powerful it can be.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3z3rbcJ7Qk&w=560&h=315]

I’ve watched this video several times, and get goosebumps every time I see the father helping his daughter pack up to leave for college. Yeah, yeah, it’s years down the road, but time is going so fast, we all need to cherish every moment we have and don’t rush things too fast!

Oral B and Life of Dad have joined forces to promote the #PowerofDad which celebrates fatherhood’s little moments and the dads that bring big smiles to their families every day.

Oral B wins my seal of approval for recognizing the important, yet overlooked role of mothers and fathers, and supporting great causes.

In their second year of this Father’s Day program, P&G Oral Care has partnered with March of Dimes, a leading organization for healthy, happy families that celebrates mothers and fathers every day. P&G Oral Care is also joining forces with members of “Football’s First Family,” New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, his father Archie and his daughter Ava – to celebrate fatherhood’s little moments.

And when you’re happy, you smile, right? In order to help keep those smiles shining bright, Oral B has introduced its newest and most technologically advanced toothbrush yet, the Oral-B 7000 BLACK. The Oral-B 7000 BLACK features Oral-B’s signature oscillating, rotating and pulsating technology and provides superior cleaning and a more personalized brushing experience compared to a regular manual toothbrush. With its sleek design and top of the line features, even the most discerning consumers will note, and benefit from, the unparalleled design and technology it offers.

Now that’s a dad brush if I’ve ever seen one! This brush has stats better than most athletes:

Oral-B’s signature oscillating, rotating and pulsating technology provides a superior tooth-by-tooth clean to remove up to two times more plaque than a regular manual toothbrush.
Features 8,800 oscillations per minute and 40,000 pulsations per minute to create shearing forces for excellent cleaning efficacy.
Six modes for a more personalized brushing experience including an extra “Tongue Cleaner Mode” along with standard Daily Clean, Deep Clean, Sensitive, Whitening, and Massage modes.
Quadrant pacing signals every 30 seconds to guide quadrant switching; at the end of two minutes a longer signal indicates when the dental professional recommended brushing time period has been reached.
SmartGuide wireless display with while-you-brush feedback to help you brush thoroughly, gently and for the dentist-recommended two minutes.
Indicator® bristles remind you to replace your brush head every 3 months, or once they’ve faded halfway.
Accelerates to top speed faster than a race car

That last bullet pretty much means you’ll get the feeling of NASCAR in your mouth! Popcorn kernels beware, Oral-B is coming for you!!

So this Father’s Day, upgrade the toothbrush for the dad in your life to the Oral-B 7000 BLACK and watch their smile become even more vibrant! Oral-B even has a $7 off coupon to help you (and dad) out.

Let me know some of your favorite #PowerofDad moments below and have an awesome Father’s Day. I’m excited to celebrate my first!!

Disclosure: I partnered with Oral-B and Life of Dad, LLC for the #PowerofDad Father’s Day promotion and was compensated for my involvement.

Life, Monthly List, Parenting

6 Memories from my 6th Month Since “Going Dad”

05/14/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

I can’t believe it’s already been a month since I published my 5 Memories since “Going Dad” post!

But here we are in the middle of May and Avery will be 6 months tomorrow, the 15th. What sounds longer; 6 months or half a year? I know they’re the same, but seriously, time flies!!

I’m sure all of you parents with toddlers, teens, and older are just laughing thinking how it only gets faster; am I right? Ugh, all the more reason to try and make the most of each moment! I really need to remind myself of this.

So, keeping consistent with my new monthly memories posts, I’ll get to it. Avery, it saddens and excites me at the same time when I think that one day we will go back and read these posts together. Your mom and I love you so much and we are happy with our little family!

Edit: Ha, I just looked at mu first memories post and pretty much said the same thing before starting the list. I could delete instead of writing this, but I think it further drives into the ground how much we love our little girl!

1. You’re getting better control of your arms and legs now, and although you still kick and flail your limbs like crazy, you’re definitely making contact with things. Sometimes, they are things that hurt mommy and me, but we know you don’t intend to hurt us, right?

You also reach for and grab things pretty well, but you’re still learning how to maintain your grasp for longer than a few seconds. Unless, of course, it’s mommy’s hair, you like to hold on to that and pull.

2. Now that you are more active, we’ve been playing before your bedtime on a blanket in the living room or the kitchen floor.

Depending on how tired you are from the day, we might get anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes of quality play.

Some of the things you enjoy most (we think) are being tickled all over in the form of “tickle bird” attacks, standing up as we hold you by your hands, and hanging upside down. We are getting close to wrestling, and I can’t wait for a little rough housing!

3. You have figured out and mastered how to blow raspberries. I remember Jonathan from Dad’s The Way I Like It mentioning how his son was doing this and I couldn’t wait to get youdoing the same. After many “teaching by example” sessions from Mommy and me, you finally started blowing your own raspberries and haven’t stopped!

4. Lately, trying to get you to take your first and usually only nap of the day, I’ll feed you a bottle and while burping you, you just look me straight in the face a flash a big smile. I can’t help but laugh and smile back, but I’m really thinking “Crap, she’s never going to sleep!”

That’s when I give up and tell you that I love you, kiss your head, and lay you in your crib just hoping for the best. Surprisingly, you have a short fussy session and you’re out! I’m not sure how long this will last, but I’ll enjoy it while it does!

5. You’ve already had your jumper for a couple months, but now you’re finally starting to jump in it. Out of no where, you’ll just bounce up and down and look at us with a big smile. Mommy and I applaud you and love seeing our happy baby so excited to jump!

Now when I bring you to the garage for my workouts, I bring your jumper out too. You’ll start jumping as I do burpees or jump rope to exercise with me and I can tell it makes you happy. I foresee you being the youngest baby who can do burpees one day!

6. Mommy and I had been working with you on sitting up by yourself but you usually would tumble to the side.

Then, just a few days ago, Mommy watched you sit up on your own while laying on the blanket! I missed that time, but have seen you sit up as we play at night and even during the day. I went to wash my hands after changing you, and when I came back, I found you sitting up and obviously very proud!

I have a feeling one of my memories at the 7 month mark might be crawling, or close to it! Kelley and I are so proud and in love with our growing daughter, and it makes me happy to be able to share our journey with all who care to follow!

Life, Monthly List, Parenting

5 Memories from my 5th Month since “Going Dad”

04/15/2014 R.C. Liley 3 Comments

As a parent, there are countless memories we want to love and cherish forever. Sometimes we forget all of the memories as they happen so fast or we get caught up in the next big “first” for baby.

Another Dad Blogger, Jonathan from Dad’s the way I like it, has been making monthly posts to capture a number of thoughts depending on his son’s current age in months. I enjoy reading all of his posts, and here is his current post on 12 thoughts from my 12th month as a parent.

Inspired by this, I am going to start writing a list of memories as if talking to Avery every month. Like Jonathan, the number of memories will be driven by my daughter’s current age in months.

Today, Avery is 5 months old, and although my list of memories could already span across the U.S., I will limit it to 5.

So, Avery, it’s exciting and scary to think of reading these with you years down the road, but here are 5 of my memories since becoming your father.

1. I remember mommy and me sitting in our living room with the lights off while you slept in your swing every night for about the first 2 months. We usually had the swing turned on and it made the most nerve-wracking “click-click-click” that drove us insane.

Mommy would nurse you to sleep and gently lay you in your swing with a tenderness only she can give. This is when I would be eating dinner and I made sure to tip toe every trip to the kitchen and my heart would stop a second if I made even the tiniest of noises.

2. I remember laying mommy’s breast milk soaked shirt in your crib to get you to sleep there at first. I would tightly wrap your arms in a swaddle in order to keep your arms from thrashing all over which kept you from sleeping.

Mommy and I eventually had to upgrade to the Woombie and keep your arms down by wrapping a long strip of t-shirt that I cut around you. We did this every night after bath time and most of your daily naps just before you were 4 months.

3. I remember sleeping in with you in the recliner on several occasions during the day and when you woke at night. Mom would usually be the first to try and calm you, but if you were still restless, I would take you to the front room and eventually get you to fall asleep with me in the recliner.

There was one time during a harsh winter storm in February where I had to wrap you in my jacket to keep you warm when our heater went out. But, we still made the most of it and went for a very cold, white walk in the snow.

4. I remember the first time I brought you in the garage to workout with me; you were just over a month. I was scared and worried you would start screaming when I was in the middle of lifting something heavy, but you were great!

I used to depend on your morning naps to get a workout in, but now you come to the garage with me every day and do fine watching me…..usually.

Sleeping while daddy works out in the garage

5. I remember mommy and I cheering you on as you rolled over for the first time. Our excitement was even captured on video to show just how proud we were! Even you were excited!

Well Avery, like I said, I could keep going forever, but it has to stop at 5 for this post. No worries though, you’ll be 6 months before any of us know it!

Going Mom and I love you so much, may you have another wonderful month of learning and growing!