Tag Archives: life

Life, Parenting

Working on Walking and Her First Encounter with Santa Claus

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My blogging goals have been falling somewhat short lately in that I’m not capturing the happenings of our daily life as much as I used to. Instead, I have a Word document filled with several pages of blog post ideas I keep thinking I’ll write. You see, I’ve been trying too hard to write some deep, insightful post on things like “Why Dads Should Encourage Breastfeeding” or something related to being an at-home parent instead of just writing about our life.

I still type my ideas on the Word doc as they pop into my head, but until the time arises, I’ll stick to what I intended to do when creating this blog. Sharing the story of my at-home dad life with a beautiful working mom/wife, Kelley (a.k.a Going Mom) and our precious daughter, Avery. In addition, I’ll frequently write reviews on parent-related products and healthy food as well as my thoughts on the fitness and nutrition world.

I feel I have a lot to share when it comes to food and exercise, and hope anyone reading is able to benefit from what I have to say. Please, if you ever have any questions or thoughts of your own, feel free to share and I’ll respond as best as possible.

Now that we have that out of the way, lets talk walking. No, Avery’s not a full-blown walking yet, but she sure is close! First, I commend her for never giving up as you might’ve seen on Instagram….

But just a couple days later and she has shown improvement….

It’s been a lot of up and down (literally) since then, and although she still doesn’t have walking mastered (does anyone?), she’s getting better each day. Sometimes she gets really confident and even tries to bust out a few dance moves.

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She also thinks she owns the place now and has been doing some rearranging of the furniture.

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I guess having a stool beside the oven and refrigerator could prove useful. Maybe she’s just lashing out at my decision not to put a shirt on her. Sorry, Avery.

This past weekend was fun seeing her take a few steps, fall, and get up to try again without thinking twice, and I’m glad Going Mom and I got to experience it together. Another thing we got to experience together was Avery’s first visit to see Santa Claus, and we even received a pleasant surprise from our growing girl.

She freakin smiled! Of all the facial expressions we were prepared to see once we handed her over to the strange guy with a giant white beard and a red suit, smiling was not one of them! All it took was the photographer, one of Santa’s not-so-little elves, to ring a bell and wham, she smiles!

We were shocked! It made standing in line for over an hour in the cold as we passed our squirmy, increasingly heavy, daughter back and forth all worthwhile. It even rained on us a little. But, $20 for one 5×7 photo of our smiling baby on a stranger’s lap made our day complete. Sounds weird, huh, that something like that would make parents happy?

No matter, we’re told next year is when she’ll probably cry once she understand more of what’s going on. Looking forward to it! Sense my sarcasm.

How long once your little one starting taking steps until they got it mostly down and began terrorizing the house and any pets you have (or had)?

Any good visits to Santa stories you’d like to share?

Monthly List, Parenting

11 Memories from my 11th Month Since Going Dad

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Wow, this time last year I was still a working man with a pregnant wife and the both of us very anxious to meet our baby still in the womb! Now we’re one month away from a full year!

Becoming a parent is essentially the same as a jumping in a time machine set on high speed for the future. In retrospect, the moment Avery was born, Kelley and I virtually hopped into Doc’s DeLorean from “Back to the Future” after it was fully fueled with high quality trash.

It’s been great watching our little girl grow and become so mobile, but she still has yet to take her first steps. Something I was so sure would happen this past month, but she’s still a little timid about doing it on her own. But it’s coming, I just know it!

Here we are at 11 months and the memories keep piling up. But to stick with tradition, I’m only listing 11 for you, Avery, and I just like all previous monthly memory posts, I hope you enjoy reading these with your Mom and Dad (that’s me) some day. Keep on growing, dear, just not so damn fast!

1. I brought you to KidMania where, as you might guess, is a place for kids to play and use their energy. There was a 3 and under section where you obviously were confined, but still had a great time! You definitely seemed a bit puzzled in the new environment at first though.

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2. Mommy and I bought you a swing after seeing how much you enjoyed it at a neighbor’s house. It was great seeing the giant smile on your face as we took turns pushing you. Swinging = Happy Avery!

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3.      Aaaannnnddd not swinging = upset Avery!

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4. We forged through the ridiculous Dallas traffic to go to a nice park, Klyde Warren Park, which had an unexpected splash pad you couldn’t use. Luckily, there was a dry area you seemed to enjoy just as well.

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5. You were in your play area with teddy keeping you company as I ran around the house, and you seemed to wear yourself out since the next thing I knew, you were asleep. Poor teddy..

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6. Mommy had to leave us for 3 days on a business trip and we really missed having her with us. But, I finally started the brewing process for a Belgian Saison that, at the time I’m writing this, still has a few weeks of fermentation left before it’s ready. I couldn’t of done it without your help though.

7. Also, while Mommy was away, I took a shot at making cultured breast milk using the kefir grains we have to make homemade kefir. End result? You absolutely hated it and didn’t trust me to give you a bottle for a while after. I then got smart and mixed a little cultured milk in a bottle of regular milk to which you didn’t mind. Phew, can’t waste Mommy’s milk!

The last kefir grains I will ever put in a breast milk bottle.
The last kefir grains I will ever put in a breast milk bottle.

8. And of course, while Mommy was away, we had full reign of the TV and obviously we had none other than the classic 1980’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on most of the time.

9. We have been working to get you to walk on your own for the past 2 months and you still have not taken a step without assistance. But, you’ve done everything else up to that point, including standing unassisted.

So still no walking at 11 months…..how about before you’re 1 year old? Seems promising..

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10. Mommy and I have also been trying to get you to say “Mama” or “Dada” to no avail; all you say is “Uh oh” along with cute (and not so cute) baby coos and screams. We can’t tell which one you’ll say first, and at this point, I’d be happy to hear you say either word….or maybe take a neutral stance and say “Poop”. Right now, I can only tell you pooped when you start hanging on my legs when we’re in the kitchen.

The view at my feet for most of the day.
The view at my feet for most of the day.

11. Your mobility keeps getting better every day and it’s really fun seeing you smile when I drop on the ground to play with you. I can only imagine the fun we’ll have when you finally start to walk. Only time knows when, dear….

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I can’t believe my next post will be for her 1 year mark! 12 memories should be easy to come by, and I’m really hoping that walking is one of them. Going Mom has been hard at work planning her 1 year party while all I am in charge with is making the food. A healthy (obviously) cake for Avery to smash as well as snacks and sweets (healthy again) for our guests.

How much planning did you do or plan on doing for your kids’ 1st birthday?

Any tips on things not to do? One of our friends put their daughter’s cake in front of her with a lit candle and she grabbed at it right away. She found out very fast that fire hurts! So, I don’t think we’ll give Avery a lit candle for her 1st.

Life, Parenting

How My Daughter is Saving My Life

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She is 3 months shy of being 1 year old, and my daughter is already a hero. Although she may not be aware of how and why she’s saving daddy’s life, she is doing it nonetheless.

Over the years, I have found ways to become increasingly stressed about everything. Always having something to do, thinking ahead and worrying about what’s to come, getting mad at minute details, etc. Guilty with a capital “G”!

Going Mom has given the best support a husband could ever ask for over the years, and she’s what kept me from going berserk! Now I have her and Avery as a trusty sidekick.

Stress Fighters/Life Savers!
Stress Fighters/Life Savers!

I recently wrote about our long journey to having Avery and how a big part of our problems was a result of what stress had done to me physically. It sucked, I was miserable, and so was everyone around me. I never considered that stressing so much could be such a powerful and dangerous force, but now I know stress is a proven killer.

This is beyond scary! Something that many of us consider to be purely mental, can actually lead to our demise. Armed with this “stressful” knowledge, I am working on making changes to remove myself from the dangerous mindset. Becoming a stay-at-home dad is one major change and I wrote several times on how that has helped reduce my stress tremendously.

Make no mistake, I still have a ways to go before I stop stressing over things, just ask my wife! A little stress is natural and even good for us, but I still worry too much about washing dishes, food, exercise, always having a plan, and never living in the moment. I once lived in a carefree world, and now I’m striving to go back there.

With the help of my beautiful wife and daughter, I’m slowly (read, slowly) lowering stress levels and re-learning how to live “in the moment.” Since most of my time is now spent with Avery, she has been helping me in many ways; all unknown to her. Yes, babies are hard work and create plenty of stress themselves, but that’s a different kind of stress, not one that can kill!

One way Avery helps is by simply being so adorable. Every time I look at her or at the thousands (literally) of pictures of her, my heart fills with joy and I feel instant happiness set in. How can you not be happy with that smile?

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I’m adamant about exercise, and thanks to our awesome baby, she’s happy to join along in her jumper. There’s nothing like finishing a set of very taxing squats and turning around to see this girl so excited about life.

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But, probably the biggest factor in Avery saving my life by reducing stress is with play. She still has a ways to go before she can really start to play, but she’s active enough for a little rolling around and tickle time! Avery “plays” a major role by keeping me in check throughout the day.

When I’m standing over the sink washing dishes and she’s crawling all over the floor around me, I make it a point to stop and get down to crawl with her. The instant I’m on the ground and I see her smiling back at me, all of my worries disappear.

Daughter vs Dishes....hmm, easy choice!!
Daughter vs Dishes….hmm, easy choice!!

As she grows, Avery’s playfulness will grow with her, and I will be right there to play along in the dirt, swing in a swing, jump on a trampoline and pick her up when she falls. All while caring less about the materialistic things and more about emotions and family.

Of course, I still make it a point to clean those dishes and do other chores, but the fact is, I’m having less of a “must do it now” mentality and learning to enjoy things more often.

I know my mom and wife are thinking “What!?” because I admittedly still get worked up over small things. Again, I have a long way to go, but it’s a start, and I feel that as Avery grows and becomes even more playful, the bad stress will diminish. The stress that replaces it will be more of a beautiful “I have a child and I’m raising her” kind of stress, and I’m happy to take it on!

Do you feel yourself getting over-stressed? Any ways of coping with it?

Has your child helped or hurt your stress levels? I know, I know, kids are stressing, but you know what I mean!