Tag Archives: city dads group

Expo Adventures with Dallas Dads and Britax

03/23/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Last Saturday, our Dallas Dads Group had the honor of working with Britax to hold a car seat safety workshop at the DFW Family Expo. I’m not sure why, but I enjoy going to expos even though I’m not a big fan of crowds. Even more so when the crowds have crazy kids running all over the place. Oops, that was us!

Avery running wild at the #dfwfamexpo2015 with @britaxus and @dallasdadsgroup! @britax #BritaxSafety #citydads

A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on Mar 21, 2015 at 11:18am PDT

We went into the event with our crazy ~~animal~~ toddler safely contained in her Boba Baby Carrier nice a snug with Going Mom. Britax was setup in a prime location at the entrance for all to see and had their car seat safety workshop sign displayed for all to see. Britax is a major supporter of our nationwide City Dads Group, and it was exciting to be part of their event! First, we rendezvoused with all of the dads and the Britax team who graciously provided lunch for our group, it was time to explore. But, I think it was right after the picture with the abominable snow-dog that Avery could no longer be confined to staring up at and pushing Mommy’s chin. With that, Kelley set Avery free into the wild, errr….expo. Avery wasted no time! Even with the two of us, Kelley and I could hardly keep track of our little girl. How do those little legs get so far so fast?! Not that I ever want anything to do with Nesquick or the like, but we were thankful for their booth having these large dice. Until, that is, she tried to run away with them. We took the dice away and returned them which obviously meant toddler meltdown. Using our brains, we tossed Avery in a nearby bounce house in hopes of cheering her up Phew, I think it worked! Silly kid had a ball dancing, clapping and even playing with other kids. Or getting pushed down by them, but she had fun and that’s what matters most! The hard part was getting her back out, and then figuring out how to calm her down again. Thankfully, the force was with us when something strange caught her attention. Storm Troops and Darth Vader?! Score! Obviously, we had to pose with the Dark Side, and Darth Vader was there too. 😉

I wasn’t there, but some of the dads and their kids gathered for a (friendly?) group photo.

Pretty cool stuff, huh? Avery was getting very obnoxious and hungry, but she wasn’t nursing with Going Mom very well because so much was going on. I gave her some organic applesauce in a squeeze pouch, yes, like I once said I’d never do, which only helped for maybe 3.23 minutes.

Then it was off on another rampant tour of the expo grounds.

No fear, this child, no fear. It was almost time for the main event, Britax’s Car Seat Safety Workshop, so we made our way back to the front to join the rest of the crowd eager to learn about #BritaxSafety. The beautiful and kind Britax ladies, Kate and Sarah, put on an excellent workshop jam-packed with useful information.

Did you know heavy jackets and other winter clothing should be removed before putting your kid in their car seat and that the chest clip on car seats should be at armpit level? Or that you should keep your child rear facing at least to 2 years old and longer if the weight limit of your car seat allows? Also, it’s better to tighten the straps until you think it’s good enough, and then pull some more since 60% of the harnesses are not tight enough.

When it comes to our kids and safety, Britax has us covered. We have their Boulevard ClickTight Car Seat, and Avery loves it. Not to mention we love all of it’s safety features and easy installation.

Britax, car seat, safety — Happy in her Britax Car Seat!

Unfortunately, Avery kept on getting more and more irritable, and Kelley had to put her back in the Boba and try her best to keep her calm.

But it wasn’t long until all was lost and Going Mom gave “the look” letting me know we were already pushing our luck.

She frantically went to the car in hopes that Avery would nurse better there, and I stayed until the workshop was over. Right after it ended, I had to bail. I know we were already pushing our luck, but I wish we could’ve stayed just a little longer since we missed out on the great group photo taken just minutes after we left.

Great group of dads and their families right there! Sorry we missed it, but at least we were able to get our photo with Kate from Britax. Thank you, Kate, for taking time to pose with us!

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A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and despite Avery’s craziness, I’m glad she got to experience something new. Plus, she slept very good that night!

Are you part of any parenting groups?

Do you still have a kid in car seats? Do they still sit rear-facing?

Life, Parenting

Friends and Strangers at the Bounce House

03/05/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Have you ever been to a bounce house? Think of those giant inflatables that fill the backyards of homes for a kids’ birthday party, only it’s all indoors and filled with 10+ giant inflatables! In other words, a kids’ (and most adults’) wonderland!

As part of our Dallas Dads Group, I scheduled a Meetup at a local bounce house called Jump For Fun (fitting name I’d say) for us dads to gather and have fun with our kids. We had 4 dads attend, including me, and we each had one kid. It was hard to sit and talk with the other guys since I had to keep my eyes on Avery. She was all over the place!

Okay, so not first, but she started moving after warming up to her surroundings.

Until I put her inside one of the inflatables……

Yeah, that was her first and last time in that one. Not sure what made her so upset, but I blame her current teething issue as the main culprit. Once back out on the floor though, her mood changed back to happy status.

But we obviously didn’t go to a bounce house to run around the floor, so grabbed Avery and we went through several of the fun-filled obstacles together. She was confused at times, but I could tell she enjoyed it overall. But man, it was difficult trying to traverse some of the slippery inflatable steps with Avery in one arm! Regardless, we did it plenty of times, and even took on Batman!

He was all talk. One of our neighborhood dads and friends, Jason, was there with his daughter, Zoey, and we took turns taking our girls down a giant slide.

Avery, with her cutting teeth, had her hand in her mouth most of the time we were there. Nothing a little tickling can’t do to fix the hand-in-mouth issue.

Jason and Zoey were able to go up and down several times in the time it took us to go once.

Zoey is older and she was having a blast running all over the place. Notice, no hands in mouth for her since she has all her teeth!

While wondering around, Avery made a new, older, friend who seemed to like picking her up.

Seemed sweet and innocent enough, until she dropped her like a hot potato!

I guess they made up though, and the girl was more careful afterward.

I don’t know if it was the trauma of being dropped, her cutting teeth, or just because she’s a sweetheart, but Avery went up to a lady sitting on a bench, took the magazine sitting next to her, and held it up as if asking her to read it. The kind mom of two boys, Katie, kindly held Avery in her lap and read a little. Avery seemed to enjoy.

Everyone had a great time and we’re hoping to make the place a regular meetup for our Dallas Dads Group soon. Maybe next time Avery won’t be in the middle of teething and actually smile for a picture.

Eh, it wasn’t crying, so I’ll consider it a win in my book. Whatever book that is, I don’t know. I’m happy with the group of dads that met up and hope to be able to talk with them more next time. Which, thanks to our awesome group, we’ll have the chance plenty of times in the near and distant future!

Avery had a very nice nap after we made it home. Think we need to do this a lot more!

If you have been to a bounce house or one of the backyard parties with an inflatable, how do you like them?

Do you join in on the jumping or just watch?

Baby Wearing, Parenting

It’s International Babywearing Week! How Will You Participate?

10/06/2014 R.C. Liley 3 Comments

Hey all, it’s Monday! Oh, sorry, I mean…..it’s Munnnnday….

Yeah, it’s not the most inspiring or motivating day of the week, but it does mean it’s International Babywearing Week! If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that babywearing is near and dear to my heart and something I support 110%!

I’ve been wearing Avery since she was 2 weeks old and still going strong today. I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon either. Which is perfect since that means Avery and I can celebrate International Babywearing Week (IBW, for short) in 2015 too!

It's true, I've been in here for as long as I can remember! — It’s true, I’ve been in here for as long as I can remember!

Babywearing International Inc. (a non-profit organization) and TheBabywearer.com are the organizations behind IBW. Here’s an explanation from Babywearing International’s website about IBW:

International Babywearing Week is a focused opportunity to celebrate, promote and advocate the many benefits of babywearing. International Babywearing Week is also an occasion to focus media attention on this beautiful and beneficial practice. Nonprofit babywearing groups around the world are participating in International Babywearing Week by registering as Official Celebrating Organizations. These organizations will be hosting many exciting and educational events throughout the week, including presenting local awards and sharing information about babywearing with their communities. At the International level, Babywearing International and TheBabywearer.com will jointly present International Babywearing Week Awards, recognizing excellence in babywearing advocacy and education. There will also be a coordinated media outreach campaign to raise awareness about babywearing among the general public.

Since I already wear Avery on a daily basis, I will have no problem celebrating this week just like every other week. But, besides my babywearing ways, I hope to get others interested and active in wearing their baby as well.

Us dads have a lot of catching up to do bonding-wise since moms are 9 months ahead of us and have something we’ll never be able to replace. I think that’s wonderful and don’t want to take it away, ever, but I do want to ensure my daughter and I have a strong, everlasting bond. By wearing her as much as possible, I feel this helps to achieve my goal quite well.

This week, I would like to share several babywearing resources I find helpful on my blog and across my social media pages. If you have something you’d like to share, please do so without hesitation.

Also, this Thursday, October 9th, our newly formed Dallas Dads Group that I wrote about in past posts will be hosting an event for IBW sponsored by Britax. We’ll be a part of 12 other City Dads Groups celebrating on Thursday and will make sure to make a scene across social media.

If you’d like to follow along with our group, use these resources:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

@britaxus

Hashtags:

#citydads
#INTLBabywearingWeek

Make sure to keep an eye out on my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages (links on the side of this page) for babywearing resources I plan on sharing throughout this week and please share them with others if you can!

Do you currently wear your baby or are you planning on it if you are expecting?

Have you before?