Tag Archives: g-ma

Toddler Growth Progression: G-Ma for Scale

10/12/2015 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

We spent the night at my mom’s (G-Ma’s) house this past weekend since we were long overdue for a visit with our crazy toddler. She comes and stays the night at our house almost once a week, but during a weekday so we don’t get a lot of time together.

Avery was a handful, as usual, but she was also sweet and kept us all entertained. The drive isn’t that far to the home where I grew up, but the trip always seems to have us scrambling to get thing done when we get back home.

Then again, here I am writing a blog post, so I guess I’m being a tad contradictory….or I’m up too late. I’ll let you guess which one.

I considered not posting, but after going back to see our previous visits to G-Ma’s house, I felt like sharing pictures to capture Avery’s growth thus far using G-Ma for scale.

2 days after birth

Here they are when Avery was around 5 weeks old.

Here’s February 20th, 2014

The next month, March 2014, Avery shows off her lip curling action.

Avery showing her Liley lip curl with G-ma

And another chubby Avery with G-Ma in March 2014

Hanging with Avery while I run a Labor Day 10k

Cheering Daddy on at a Labor Day 10k! 05/26/14

Going Mom and G-Ma together with Avery on the Fourth of July in 2014

Same day on the Fourth, but me with my beautiful mother and her grand kid (g-kid?)

Holding Avery at Papa’s 60th birthday party this past January

At a Fourth of July 5k this year

This weekend, Avery gave G-Ma a thunderous bear hug where she roars and then hugs….obviously, and I happened to catch the act.

It’s bittersweet, seeing how much your kids grow in such a short amount of time, but so wonderful too. I could divulge about our quick trip to G-Ma’s, but seriously, it’s late and I should sleep.

I will say that my wonderful wife laid down to sleep with our wild child and never made it out that night. There was some screaming, but overall, Avery did better than past visits, and gives us hope for the next time we head down there.

Hope you had a great weekend. Anything fun to share?

Life, Monthly List, Parenting

21 Memories From My 21st Month Since ‘Going Dad’

08/25/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

Yes, I know, this monthly memories post is 10 days past her 21st month since womb departure, but we’ve been a busy family! Mainly, our first family vacation to Colorado along with the obvious blog posts I had to write to share it with anyone that happens by my little space of the internet. I got that ideology/saying from a good blogger friend over at Skipah’s Realm. Thanks, Gary!

And things haven’t slowed down since we’ve returned. Avery is learning and doing more each day, which means we’re learning and doing more as well. Plus, Going Mom is away for work all week! This is the first time she’s been away from us for so long, and it’s truly a test for all of us.

Sure, I’m a stay-at-home parent, but I depend on my wife’s reinforcements and loving company. I told her I missed her before she even left, and it’s the truth. Hopefully she’s able to make the best of her time in a peaceful (I hope) hotel room without a demanding toddler demanding every second of her attention. But, the silver lining is this should definitely help us appreciate each other more.

I almost decided to just skip this month since I planned on stopping after the 2 year (24 month) mark, but my Type-A OCD personality wouldn’t allow it. So, here I am, satisfying my brain and knocking out 21 memories. Not that it’s hard to find them, but in order to get through them, I’m making each new thing she says a memory on its own. Not that you care probably, but I prefer to explain myself for….errr, myself, and Avery when she’s older and reading this ancient post on her Samsung Galaxy S20.

Avery, this past month you have experienced and transformed so much. You continue to amaze Mommy and me each day, and these 21 memories hardly begin to capture it all, but it’s a start.

You’ve started saying “It’s okay.” which you learned from Mommy and Daddy as we say it after you fall or drop something on accident.
Obviously, the big memory this month is that you flew on an airplane for the first time!
And you also flew for the second time on our way back from vacation. You were far from well behaved, but now we know not to schedule a flight for your bedtime if we can avoid it.

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Another phrase you’ve picked up on is “It’s good”. You say it after I give you our daily green smoothie, unless I really sucked at making it that day, and when eating various food.
For a while, we resorted to reading books to you during dinner or simply reciting the text from memory. It distracted you enough to get a few bites.
Now we just give you a book to read, and besides having to switch books every so often, this works fairly well.
Any parent to a toddler knows you always need a backup plan for eating though, and we keep roasted seaweed on hand when books just won’t cut it. I’m just glad you think of seaweed as a treat!
Birds had built a nest in the entryway to our front door and had several baby birds. Every night, you and Mommy would turn on the light to tell the birds goodnight, before bath time. Sadly, one baby after another fell out of the nest which required us to move it to a safer place.

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Your climbing skills have gotten better, but sometimes you get a little too confident, resulting in us having to say “It’s okay”……..a lot. Most of the time the little fall is nothing, but there are times that set you off in a downward spiral to fussville. Yes, it’s a place, and it sucks!
What started with you instinctively knowing to get Mommy’s workout shoes, carried over to getting my Soft Star Shoes I use to workout in too. Such a smart kid!

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Your affinity for my weightlifting belt started a long time ago, but now you’ve figured out how to loop it around yourself. Often times, you’ll walk around with the belt holding it around you for the entire workout session. Those days, I just make do without the belt since the one time I tried. you let me know that was a BAD choice!
Uncle Paul, Aunt Tammy, and your Great Grandma (G-Ma’s Mom) came down to visit to celebrate G-Ma’s 60th birthday and we had a blast with them on several occasions. I mean, how many toddlers get to go to a brewery? Okay, maybe a lot, but still….
You’ve added a few new foods to your repertoire of eats. One being raw onion. We figure you just love crunchy things.
Trips to the pool happen fairly often, and I had fun turning your flipping skills into a slo-mo video. Your giggles are still adorable a 2x slower than normal.

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I used to take you for a walk in the stroller right after naptime, but that would mean you had to sit still which is not an option anymore. As evidenced by your inclination to run wild around the house, and of course do butt busters.

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As I mentioned, your climbing skills are getting better every day which means you can climb up most things at the bounce house by yourself now. You might’ve been motivated to climb on your own since I seemed to do a poor job at helping you….
We all know you’re a big fan of NuttZo and banana, and now you’re even able to use a fork to feed it to yourself. Only a few times ended with the food on the floor before making it to your mouth.
While in Colorado on vacation, you got to hang out a lot with Nana, Papa, and Cousin Ashlee as they agreed to play with you so Mommy and I could ~~get away~~ enjoy time together. Lots of reading and playground time for all!
When reading or playground time wasn’t happening, you’d make full use of the stairs at Nana and Papa’s. So much up and down was enough work for anyone trying to keep watch over you, I’m sure this helped you sleep at night, as well as Ashlee.
This was the month of diaper blowouts for us! You graced us with back to back to back poosplosions that had us begging for mercy. Or maybe just hoping they’d stop. *Crossing fingers* So far, we’ve been safe again.
But, as you’ve shown us before, you are always full of evil surprises. Kinda like when you flipped the bird in this daddy-daughter selfie on Mommy’s phone.

There you have it, 21 memories in the ~~book~~ blog and more being created daily. I’m off to spend another day of fun with my daughter, but don’t worry, 22 months is already fast approaching. Ugh….

Food, Life, Parenting

Birthday Brunch at Brewed

08/04/2015 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

My little brother, Uncle Preston, and I took our Mom, G-Ma, out for a birthday brunch at Brewed last weekend. She’s been celebrating the big 6-0 for a couple weeks now, starting when my Aunt Tammy, Uncle Paul, and Grandma came down from PA.

But there’s nothing like a little quality time with her two grown boys to top off her birthday fun, right? Preston and I planned to meet at Brewed with him bringing mom there and me meeting them without her knowing. I contacted the place earlier and their GM, Chris, kindly responded saying they’d help make our little outing special.

I arrived before mom and Preston, and although there was a long wait, they had a room cut off from all the noise just for us.

This place is small but extremely popular. And for good reason, the serve top notch local fare and, as the name implies, delicious brews in form of both coffee and beer. Being brunch, I could’ve gone either route, but as I’ve stated before, I choose coffee over beer any day. I went with a cold brew that they have kegged from a place in Oregon and it did not disappoint!

The equivalent of 3 cups of coffee and served in a Belgian style beer glass made me a happy diner! I also had to pee a lot. I never thought of coffee being in a keg, but definitely need to look into this for a home setup!

When my mom and Preston arrived, I waved them down and we were immediately waited on by a kind waitress. She even took pictures of us on both of our phones.

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Mom tasted some of my coffee and ordered some for herself. Preston thought about it, hesitated, and then just went with water despite my advice to “just get some!” Plus, he had to go into work right after, so coffee would only help increase his productivity. Well, and bathroom trips.

Our food came without delay and we all enjoyed what we ordered. As usual, I made special requests including not cooking the omelette in oil and giving me raw veggies instead of toast. It took them a while since I guess not many people ask for this, but all was right in the end and not once did the waitstaff act annoyed at my requests.

Excellent service and willingness to accommodate my special requests (usually just to do less than normal) are all I need to place a restaurant on my favorites list. As of now, that’s a short list, but Brewed is one of them!

After our meals, they surprised us by offering some of their espresso ice cream. My mom and I quickly declined the ice cream but said espresso would be wonderful. After our waitress left, Preston said he actually wanted the ice cream. Oops, sorry, bud, I spoke for all of us! But, he did get to try espresso for the first time in his life and……he wasn’t a big fan. It’s an acquired taste for sure, and I’m glad he at least finished it.

The staff at Brewed had something special for my mom, though…..

How cool is that? A cappuccino with a little cream artwork! We all had a sip and Preston definitely liked that much better. Maybe we’ll have birthday brunch at Brewed for your 24th, Preston. 😉

We sat around a talked a while as I downed a couple coffee refills and then they had to get on their way so Uncle P could go to work. I’m extremely grateful to everyone at Brewed for their great service and quality food. They even comped my mom’s meal and coffee for her birthday! Thanks, Brewed!!!

Spending time with just my mom and brother is rare, and hopefully we’ll find a time to do it again soon. I love our little family, and it’s always fun to reminisce back to when we all lived under the same roof. I love you, Mom and Preston!

Feeling good about our dining service and fortunate they took good care of us, I figured I’d try and continue the good vibes in the area. Kelley was making spaghetti that night and she has a special sauce she makes. It’s rich with flavor with a vibrant red that screams “Eat me!” Seriously, I heard it myself!

Part of what makes the sauce so tasty is her use of lots and lots of garlic, and I needed to bring some home. Not wanting to go to the store, I ventured to another local eatery called Spiral Diner. It’s a unique diner that serves all organic vegan food that even meat lovers enjoy, me included. I popped in, said I don’t need to be seated, but asked if they had any garlic I could buy.

The hostess kindly slipped away to the kitchen and came back with 8 cloves! I asked how much and she said not to worry about it. Score, the good vibes were swarming that day!

I proudly returned home where my wife used all of the cloves for this excellent sauce that quickly found its way to all of our bellies a couple hours later.

Fresh basil from our garden really made it pop! Yum!

We’re getting ready to take Avery on her first flight ever this weekend when we go to Colorado to see Nana and Papa. I’m getting more nervous about how the flight will go every day, so any pointers are well-received. Don’t expect a lot of posts for a while as we try and figure out what all to pack. Too bad the house is not an option…..

How do you feel about Brunch? Better than breakfast and/or lunch, or not a fan?

Do you have a special meal you or your significant other makes?

Flying with babies/toddlers/kids…….is it ever easy?