All posts by R.C. Liley

I'm an ex-mutual fund accountant who left the cubicle world to be a stay-at-home dad to my beautiful little girl, Avery, who entered our life on 11/15/13 and handsome little boy, Wes, who joined our family on 11/19/17. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, as of 8/17/07. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the utmost importance in our family and we strive to reflect this in our daily life. I always prepare our meals at home and only go out if it's a special occasion, and even then I tend to not get much. Food should be fun and a joy to eat, not something quickly consumed from a fast food chain or scarf down before the next meeting. I have come from strictly logging high miles to train for the next marathon to keeping exercise varied and focusing more on strength. I still enjoy going for a run when I can, but nothing crazy, and I prefer hill sprints while pushing my daughter, Avery in the stroller. She loves it and I get a great workout! I want to show the world how to appreciate their body and feed it real, wholesome food while moving more throughout the day. In doing so, everyone would be healthier, happier, and we'd all live in a better place as a result. I blog mainly about my life as a stay-at-home dad and frequently include reviews, participate in campaigns, and share my thoughts on fitness and nutrition. If you ever have any questions or thoughts to share, please reach out as I'm always open to listening or helping others however possible. That is, when I have free time since Avery is and my wife are the number one priorities!

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.

crib to bed, cute, kids, toddler

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.

crib to bed, sleeping, kids, toddler, cute

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.

crib to bed, selfie, funny, cute, kids, toddler

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.

swimming, kids, cute

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…

feet in cold pool, swimming, kids, water

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.

dead snake

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?

FitVine Wine Sauvignon Blanc Review

I first learned about FitVine Wine from the Ben Greenfield Fitness podcast that I subscribe to.  I’m a fan of Ben Greenfield and enjoy the vast topics on fitness and nutrition that he shares, so when he featured FitVine Wine as the wine he endorses, I had to try it for myself. Plus, as the name, it’s made by active and healthy people for active and healthy people who love a good wine.

After reaching out to FitVine about a possible review opportunity, they graciously agreed to send one of each of their wines for me to review. I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to get started trying their superior craft wines.

FitVine Wine, healthy drink, alcohol, biohack,

Let me get it out now that I am no wine connoisseur, far from, but just like food, I demand quality from anything I put in my body. Yes, even alcohol. I used to be a beer fan, but now stick to straight spirits or wine. With clear spirits like vodka and red wine being my favorites.

That said, I am a light drinker, and only have a glass or two on the weekends. It doesn’t take much for me to feel the effects of alcohol, but that’s fine with me, I like to enjoy the beverages I have, not pound them down just to get crunk. If you demand quality from your drinks, FitVine has just what you’re looking for.

Their goal was to produce a quality wine with less residual sugar, meaning lower carbohydrates and calories, higher in antioxidants, and less sulfites. With their intricate, multi-step process, they succeeded in creating wines with full flavor that’s higher in beneficial compounds like resveratrol, polyphenols, proanthocyanidins.

Here’s a paragraph from their site that explains their process.

All of our wines go through malolactic, secondary fermentation to lower pH levels to ensure the cleanest, best tasting wine. All our wines are cold stabilized and chilled to drop out impurities prior to filtration. We filter with both diatomaceous earth and micron pads. Our fermentation process is extended to 10-15 days to enhance the antioxidants and optimize the pH levels. With pH levels being at optimum levels, we do not have to add sugars, additives and or unnecessary amounts of sulfites. Many wines have sulfite levels of 50ppm (parts per million), where FitVine Wines are at 35ppm – that’s almost half the sulfites of typical wines! No GMOs here and all of our grapes are pesticide free!

That’s a lot of science! What does it all mean? We spent extra time and effort to create healthier, cleaner wines so you know what you’re putting into your body. This is the way wine is meant to be made, not with all the additives, sugars and impurities that wreck havoc on our bodies. #cleandrinking

They basically follow four ways to make a healthier and tastier wine. Here’s a handy infographic I found from Ben Greenfield’s site.

cafepoint-wine-graphic

So, their wine is much healthier, and leaves no concern about high levels of arsenic. Which is unlike many winemakers that had a class action lawsuit filed for the arsenic levels in their wine. Very concerning, by the way, so make sure you choose your wine wisely.

As I mentioned, I don’t drink often, so I’ll share my thoughts on their Sauvignon Blanc first. This was the one Going Mom and I opened over the weekend to enjoy together.

FitVine Wine, healthy drink, alcohol, biohack,

I can’t wax poetic about how the wine leaves a dry but fruity taste on the palate with the perfect balance of tannins. Did I even use these tasting notes in the right way?

But, both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this white. It was in fact dry, but not overly so. I would compare it to a good brut champagne minus the bubbles. My wife and I both prefer reds, so we were pleasantly surprised to find how much we enjoyed drinking this white.

Since it wasn’t sweet like other white wines, that helped, but it was fit perfectly with the warm Texas weather. The aroma left a fresh hint of citrus and made for an easy drink with a crisp finish. I had more wine than I usually do and never felt ill effects from alcohol. It was hard to keep from drinking more as it truly is an easy-to-drink wine that will sneak up on you. Bring this along on your next picnic or other nice weather outing for a perfect pairing to enjoy with chicken salad or a simple cheese and cracker tray.

I think we’ll try the Cabernet next, and I’ll be sure to share our thoughts soon after. In the meantime, check out FitVine for yourself and be sure to connect with them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

FitVine Wine sent me their wine free of charge in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated in any other way.

Slapped in the Face by a Virus

Have you ever been slapped in the face by a virus? I don’t recall ever having parvovirus b19 lay a finger dna strand on my face as a kid, but apparently it’s a common infection.

Earlier last week, our little girl had a few minor signs of a runny nose and unexplained crankiness which I think might be from a headache. At the end of the week, she was developing a little rash on her body and some on her cheeks.

The next day, that little rash exploded all over her body, was warm to the touch, and left our poor toddler with an extremely red and swollen face as if she had been slapped hard on both cheeks.

parvovirus b19, virus, fifth disease, slapped cheek, infection

As it turns out, this is called slapped-cheek disease aka fifth disease, which is said to be quite common in kids. Seeing my daughter covered in a bright red rash is bad enough, but her swollen hamster-like cheeks simply hurt my heart. Every time I look at the picture above, I feel that sunken feeling in my heart and stomach wishing I could make it all go away.

I’m usually the good one at maintaining composure when our child is sick, so you can only imagine how distraught my wife was all weekend. She was filled with constant concern and made sure to keep Avery happy as much as possible. Despite her ailments, Avery was her happy toddler self running around yapping about certain anatomy along with singing the intro to Little Einsteins at the top of her lungs. Kinda like this pic, but with a rash and swollen face.

virus, happy, parvovirus b19, fifth disease

She was scratching the rash, but Going Mom and was good about keeping her mind occupied with lots of reading and playing.

Avery with fifth disease virus_reading

Cousin Ashlee also spent the night and they had a blast playing together, so that helped tremendously!

All weekend long, the symptoms of the virus plagued our sweet girl. We were more concerned about the infection and mild fever than she was, but it sucked nonetheless. As I write this, we are on day 3 since the rash appeared and slapped her face, and I’m happy to say it’s slowly going away. Her swollen face is slowly returning to normal and the rash, while still all around her arms, legs, and back, has lessened.

With fifth disease, there really is no treatment other than letting it run its course. We’re doing just that and are thankful it hasn’t dampened her spirits one bit.

Have you, your kids, or someone you know ever had fifth disease?

Did you see lots of swelling in the face too?