More Teething and The Fort Returns

Last July, I excitedly constructed a fort with the baby jail gate we setup in the living room for Avery. But not just any fort, it was a Ninja Turtle fort and I was quite proud of myself. It was a story worth sharing with the network of professionals from book blog tours to craft an exciting book about it!

I know, this is the Nickelodeon version; I work with what I have!!

I’m not fond of the Nickeldeon version, but this is the only blanket I had with my favorite teenage terrapins, so I made it work. I thought it was pretty cool, but Avery, on the hand, not so much.

DSC_1233

She eventually warmed up to it, kinda, but we ended up taking it down after about a month.

Back to current day, we just took down the entire gate setup in our living room giving Avery a wider range of freedom throughout the house. The dog, Abby, is still stuck behind gates, but even she has a little more freedom than before.

Look, Abby, more room!!
Look, Abby, more room!!

I prefer Abby to keep in one main area since sheds so much and gets a little too crazy around Avery. She’s a sweet dog, but for some reason I get annoyed by her too easily. Sorry, Abby.

With our living room back to normal, I decided to make it not normal again by tearing out the cushions and taking a shot at building a couch fort. Of course the Ninja Turtle blanket had to come back out, but my plans were quickly thwarted by our apparently hungry toddler.

DSC_0015

I don’t blame her, it was a pretty weak setup. I wouldn’t trust crawling inside either.

DSC_0023

I think Avery tried to make me feel better by pretending to enjoy putting her face into the pillow next to the fort though.

DSC_0026

Or maybe she was cursing and trying not to let me hear. After messing around with the arrangement a while, I brought part of the baby gates back in hopes of making a better fort. Once again, Avery was there to derail my hard work.

DSC_0029

Guess she’s had enough of the gates after they’ve been between her and freedom for literally her whole life. So who can blame her? Instead, she took to doing her crazy spin dance with her toy kitty after taking down the fort.

I wish I could say she gets it from her mom, but that would be a lie. Instead, I think I owe my mom, G-Ma, a huuuuggggeee apology. Sorry, mom.

The fort will make a comeback soon. Hopefully bigger and stronger than before and one she actually wants to play in. After expending so much energy in fort destruction, I was positive Avery would sleep well, but when my wife discovered an incoming tooth right before bedtime, that thought quickly went the way of my couch fort; crushed.

Sure enough, right before midnight, Avery woke up screaming. My way of dealing with this is to let it go most of the time unless she has a distinct “I pooped” scream. This sounded like that scream, but I wasn’t getting up yet. Instead, Going Mom came to the rescue to soothe our screaming child.

I came in a few minutes later when the screaming didn’t stop and found that her diaper leaked, but no poop. I changed the sheets and Kelley nursed Avery back to sleep.

The screaming returned at around 2 a.m. and this time I went to see what magic I could work. Turns out, no magic. I held her constantly squirming body and rocked in the chair as she re-enacted the Texas tornadoes we’ve had around us. Gone are the days of that little baby that fit so easily in our hands and calmly rested on our chest like this…

Avery and Daddy_Thanksgiving 2013

With the screams still going strong but I could feel her wearing out, I just laid on the nursery floor with her in hopes that she’d settle down. At first she stood up and cried some more, but finally she crawled on top of my chest and fell asleep in minutes.

It was sweet, and something I don’t want to forget, but my airways were also blocked making it hard to breathe. I passed the time by thinking of different book ideas I want to write some day before using my Turkish Get Up skills to stand and lay her in her crib.

Poor girl, she didn’t move an inch through the process and slept through the rest of the night. Hopefully this tooth pushes through and we don’t have another night like that, but only time will tell.

I want to write a series of kids’ books called “Avery Eats” where each book is centered on one food that Avery learns about while trying it out for herself. There’s more to it than that, but with the help of book blog tours and the vast network of publishers and authors, I could definitely bring it to life!

Are you good at building couch forts? Any pointers?

Have any aspirations to write a book of your own or have you already? Again, any pointers?

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.

DSC_2728

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.

DSC_2729

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.

DSC_2733

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

DSC_2734

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.

DSC_2757

Good thing Kathy/Nana has plenty of patience….

DSC_2764

….because it was like this for several shots.

DSC_2767

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

DSC_2753

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.

DSC_2779

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

DSC_2781

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.

DSC_2797

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.

DSC_0002

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”?

I Didn’t Have To Write This

Nope, not a single word or post is something I ever have to or had to do. Even when blogging for a campaign, the ultimate decision is always in my hands. Literally.

I recently signed up for and was accepted to participate in a paid campaign that I ended up turning down. I won’t go into details since I have full respect with the entities working with the brand, but if I were to take part, it would’ve taken a huge bite out of my integrity.

I politely declined the offer I selfishly signed up, apologizing for wasting time, and luckily there were no hard feelings, but I still felt bad for even putting myself out there in the first place. It was related to food, something I obviously have strong feelings about, and required me to buy some products. Anyway, nothing about it lined up with what I preach on nutrition, so I am just thankful there are no hard feelings.

But this made me think back to my original intention of even blogging in the first place. When I started, and even in my About page, I state how this blog is to detail my journey as a stay-at-home dad to Avery. I also mentioned that I’ll post on various topics related to healthy and fitness, which I have and do.

Along the way, I’ve been honored to have the opportunity for several great product reviews and become ambassador for a healthy food company, NuttZo, and awesome made-in-the USA minimal shoes, Soft Star Shotes. The products I reviewed and the companies I promote should all reflect my true beliefs, and so far they have. Now I just need to keep it that way!

There are times when I feel lost without a direction on where to go, in life and just in terms of blogging, but only because I over think everything. I stress about what I should make my hard-working wife for dinner each day even though she’s completely happy with black beans, sweet potato and steamed veggies……..and goat cheese of course. And then I get worked up on if I should use a freakin’ plate or bowl. C’mon, really, R.C.?!

Luckily, I have many friends in the blog-o-sphere that can relate and we are able to support each other as well as love from my friends and family around me. Especially my wife who is always supportive and helps keep me in check.

I’m always thinking when going on one of my several daily walks and I try to figure out just what direction to take the blog and future self. But that’s dumb. I have the most adorable little girl with me every day that I get to hang out with and raise to be a strong, healthy person who loves her Mommy and Daddy. That’s my #1 thing; period.

Blogging is and always will be a part of me, though, so it’s time to find a better way to keep true to my roots and not become a slave to what should be my solace.

I will still blog to my heart’s content on my views of health, fitness, and everything between, but want to try to keep it about the daily happenings here at home. I bring Avery to workout with me in the garage almost every day, and want to share that since each time should be cherished.

This blog is meant to be something I can look back on with my family and say “Oh yeah, I remember when we used to do that.” and smile. But no more treating this blog like a job I have to go to, that’s dumb.

There will always be a question of what I should write about, that goes with the territory, but at least I know to keep it simple and just write about life. So, to those reading, thank you, I hope you continue to enjoy the content I churn out and know that it’s my true feelings, campaign or not, all the time.

I’ll still participate in campaigns because we could all use a little extra cash and I have a dream car to save up for.

Kidding, I’ll have to win the lotto or find a high-paying job before I get another car. Since I don’t play the lotto and enjoy being and at-home dad too much, guess it will have to wait. It’s nice to look at though.

But then again, this is world’s better!

DSC_2661

Look, she’s already wanting to help me bake something! Add my beautiful wife in the picture and that’s really all I need.

DSC_0002

Again, thanks to all who read and hope you have a great week. See you soon to talk about what recently happened in the “Going” household. Hey, my butt is almost better! Cool, huh?

Do you ever get too wound up worrying over things that you should never fret about?

How do you manage stress? Or do you?