What I won’t be sticking to is how I’ve been blogging in the past. While I don’t have much to hide, I’ll be sharing less of our day-to-day personal life happenings and focusing more on sharing thoughts on food/products/services/etc. that was use. I know I mentioned most of this before, but wanted to reiterate it here.
From little things like healthy snacks for kids and adults to big items like mattresses (yes, really, stay tuned!), I want to share our thoughts here in hopes that you’ll find them useful. Some reviews will be by my own doing on items we paid for ourselves, and some will be provided to me at a discount or for free. No matter how we received the item, you can trust that I will give you our true thoughts.
Yes, I said our, Avery is picking up her communication skills fast and is improving her ability to actually explain her thoughts to us, so why not have her help with reviews? And since we’re a close, loving family, Going Mom will obviously have her opinion heard on here too. This, along with other health-related topics like quick exercise routines and recipes are all in the Going Dad future.
Don’t worry, if you came here just for the cute pics of Avery, I’ll still have some on the blog, and there’s always plenty on my Facebook and Instagram pages. Okay, here’s one just because. She looks very unsure of the camera here….
Currently her favorite pajamas.
I might as well add that, if you’re in the market, whether a tech newbie or hosting pro, Bluehost has what you need and helps make things easy and affordable. So, if you want to check them out, I would appreciate you clicking the banner below. Whether you sign up or not, it helps me earn a few cents and maybe even dollars, and it’s no difference to you!
Posts will be shorter for small item reviews, but still contain useful information (I hope) to help you decide on if it’s worth it to you or not. I am looking forward to giving this new approach a try, and can’t wait to get started!
Hope you’re having a great start to the New Year! Let me know your thoughts on this new approach and what you’d like to see for reviews, workouts, or recipes and I’ll do my best to provide.
This HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout routine is perfect for the time-strapped parent (or anyone short on time) as it provides a high-revving training stimulus in 30 minutes or less. That is, of course, assuming you push yourself out of your comfort zone. If there’s one carry-over from my years of marathon training to strength training, it’s learning to push far beyond my level of comfort to reach and/or surpass my goals.
But there are differences. With marathon training, it’s all about doing more; more miles, more time on feet, and essentially, more running! When training for strength, you focus on lifting more weight or adding more sets/reps,but doing too much creates a point of diminishing returns. Muscles need to rest and recover in order to repair themselves and grow stronger, and that means doing less might be best.
That’s an extreme Cliff Notes version as there’s definitely a lot more to strength training than just lift heavy, eat a caloric surplus (focusing on quality food sources), rest, repeat. I could blabber on and on about this topic, but I would need to have a blog devoted entirely to the subject as it is extremely vast. Plus, I have an HIIT routine for the time-strapped parent (or anyone really) I created that I want to share. Hopefully you’ll find it effective.
Once your kid goes down for a nap or you’re graced with a patient child, try this routine for a full-body blast that’ll have you full of endorphins once finished.
I’m waiting for you!!
6 Rounds for Time
6 *Pull-ups or Chin-ups
10 Burpees
15 Push-ups
10 1-arm **Kettlebell Swings (each arm)
15 V-Ups
*If you can’t do pull-ups/chin-ups, try inverted rows or dumbbell bent rows
**If you don’t have a kettlebell, use a dumbbell or anything you can old and securely swing
I was feeling this the next day and loved it! If you really push yourself, expect to take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. I added 5 minutes of biking before and after but it’s not required.
Give this routine a try and let me know how you liked it (or didn’t like it) in the comments below. This is also a great finisher after pure strength training with compounds exercises like squat, deadlift, bench, etc.; just shorten it to 3 rounds.
Parents need to keep fit too, and HIIT routines like this allow us to get a good strength and cardio workout in when there’s not a lot of time. If you can (or if nap time was a failure), have the kids join in to let them see how “fun” keeping active is, and you’ll be leading my example.
What are your current fitness goals?
Do you like HIIT routines like this or prefer standard cardio options like running or biking?
You have approximately 940 weeks from when your baby is born to when they (usually) head off to college. It’s true, Google’s calculator says so…
940 might seem like a lot, but how many have you already used with your kid or kids? And as they grow older, they will be spending less time with you and more time at school and with friends. Before you know it, the weeks will become a blur and you’ll have less than 100 left to cherish. Then, you’re helping them pack to leave and saying your goodbyes.
I know this isn’t the case for every family, but for many, it is. Avery is only 9.5 months, and I get emotional just thinking of that day she leaves Going Mom and me. Although we’ve been parents for less than a year, time truly is flying by, and the little squirmy baby that easily fit in our hands, is now a bigger squirmy baby we need to firmly hold with both arms!
Skin to skin with dad!
Lately, as I’m sitting with Avery in her dark nursery and feeding her a bottle for nap time, I have been thinking more and more of how little time we really have. Getting her to actually fall asleep while holding her has become a rare event, and I usually resort to just laying her in her crib to where she’ll move all over the place until finally giving in to sleep.
But, it doesn’t seem that long ago when she’d fall asleep on the bottle, and I could hold her on my chest and just rock with her before laying her in her crib….still sleeping. Now my wife and I both look back on those days and tell each other if we are ever so lucky to have that chance again. Kelley is able to experience this more because of that damn comforting boob, but it’s still a rare occurrence.
This quickly fading part of our parenthood makes me think how excited we get about every “first” we experience with Avery, but we don’t always consider there will be a last. Even as she’s sitting on the floor crying for no reason, there will be a last time we come over to pick her up and hold her.
Soon, crawling will be a thing of the past and we won’t have to stoop so low to pick her up. And then *gasp* she’ll grow up to where picking her up and holding her is simply unacceptable!
It’s sad to think, but there will be a last time you pick up your baby.
As this thought entered my mind, many more “lasts” soon followed. I remember my delight when I fed Avery her first bottle, but now I’m thinking of how one day, I’ll be feeding her the bottle one last time. It’s bittersweet, really, because obviously that means she’s moving on to bigger and better things with food and I can’t wait to show her the wonderful assortment of fresh produce to enjoy, but still sad to think about.
Even things like diaper changes; there will a last change of diapers before she wears big girl undies. Using a swaddle for the first and last time has already happened, and I can barely remember those days. As a new parent who still has a lot of firsts to enjoy, I know there will be many lasts to endure as well.
Eventually, I will have to stop wearing her in our baby carrier which is a huge part of our lives. Every day, I make it a point to wear her and go for a walk. Luckily, the Onya can support up to 75 pounds, but I imagine I won’t be wearing her at that point! And blowing raspberries? Sadly, this is already fading fast.
Raspberries for dinner.
At least not every first will mean there’s a daunting last in the future. When she walk for the first time, I expect she’ll be walking for her entire life. When she gives the first real hug, I can only hope she’ll give us hugs for eternity. But there are also many firsts we have yet to encounter that will be accompanied by lasts.
One day, after we are through with bottles, we’ll give her a sippy cup for the first time, but then, we’ll get rid of it as she upgrades to bigger and better drink ware. Same for plates and bowls; the colorful cartoon-decorated items will eventually be used for the last time when she is ready for bigger things.
She will develop a deep love for that special toy and we’ll get used to seeing her bring it with her everywhere (update: that toy is Lamby as of January 2016), but there will be a last day she wants to carry it with her and it will be put up and forgotten.
Huggy Lamby
This is not because I have negative view about everything, rather, it allows (or at least helps) me to enjoy every day for what it is and to not take it for granted. Because once today is over, it becomes a thing of the past and will only live as a memory. Would you prefer worrying over petty things every day and letting them disturb your thoughts, or does enjoying the life around you and shrugging off the small stuff sound better?
I choose the latter, and need to remind myself of this every day as I am what some call a “worry wart”. As I spend my time with Avery, watching her learn and grow, I want to make sure to enjoy her now, just how she is in the present. Because, while she has many firsts yet to come, she also has many lasts.
Do you have grown children that have already had many “lasts”?
Any thoughts or stories to share of your own?
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
