Tag Archives: race

Avery’s Dip in the Pool and We’re Running a 5k

06/04/2014 R.C. Liley 3 Comments

This past Sunday, when I finally broke free from trying to make my new laptop work, Going Mom and I brought Avery to the neighborhood pool. Avery has been in the pool at her Nana and Papa’s house, and one other time at the one in our neighborhood, but she cried both times. I would’ve too, the water was cold both times, but it was plenty warm on Sunday.

Kelley had ordered a cute swim diaper from Amazon and we were ready to put it to use for the first time. Of course, we were unsure of how ready Avery was though…

Turns out, she love it! Kelley hesitantly dipped her feet in the water first, and after not hearing her cry, she let her sit and splash away.

There were several other kids and parents at the pool and Avery was intent on watching what every one of them were doing. In between splashing and jumping on daddy’s leg, that is.

Having a canopy over the kid pool was extremely helpful since we try to avoid sunscreen if and when possible. If there’s a way to use clothing instead of sunscreen, we’ll do it! But with the canopy, we had no issues as we leisurely hung around with our daughter; probably as she peed. Yeah, yeah, you know it happens.

Avery must’ve played pretty hard during her first extended pool adventure, because once she was dry and in the stroller, she was out pretty fast! Playing in the pool can be exhausting!

Wow, look at those chunky legs! She’ll be great at squatting later in life, and she’ll need to in order to kick any unruly boys’ in the rear! As much as I’d like to be a menacing father where I instill fear in any ill-meaning boy, something tells me I don’t have that quality. What do you think?

In my defense, the hat is great sun protection and I went from running right to the pool.

Speaking of running, I’ll be in another race this Saturday, June 7th, which is the day before my 30th! This time, I’ll be pushing Avery in the stroller for our first 5k race together! I’m really excited to be able to do this and hope she enjoys the ride. We run together several times a week and she hasn’t fussed at all lately, so I’m hopeful!

As always, I’ll be sure to let you know how it all goes down.

Hey, it’s the middle of the week, so hope you can push through it knowing it’s all down hill from here. ~~Until you have to start again.~~

Run any races lately? Any with your kids?

If not, do you have one planned?

Life, Parenting

1st and 2nd Place and Our Daughter Feeds Her Face

05/27/2014 R.C. Liley 12 Comments

Rhyming, it just comes naturally as a parent, don’t you think?

So, um, wow, the weekend is gone! Going Mom had four days off and now they’re all gone; what happened?! I guess that’s what happens when you’re having fun….

On that note, Kelley, G-Ma, Avery, and I had a fun and exciting Memorial Day. The day started not bright (because the sun wasn’t up) and early as we had to get ready to head to my last 10k race in my twenties. Kelley actually had to wake Avery up for a change, but she didn’t protest about it at all! I would’ve lost that bet.

It was a cloud-covered morning with a light rain at the race, and it didn’t let up until after everyone finished running. I, for one, happen to love running in the rain as long as it’s not cold, so the conditions were perfect to me. We arrived a little early, so I just hung out with my beautiful support crew for a while.

Luckily, my concern about using the bathroom before the start was never an issue and I was “relieved”! I don’t know, do you think I was just a little too excited about this?

Maybe I was, but it’s better than being really bummed, true?

The race started with both the 5k and 10k runners at the same time, and then we split about 2.5 miles out. I had a great pace to start with and was able maintain it through the finish. I really had not clue how I would do since I only had a few solo runs and the rest have been with Avery in the stroller and our dog, Abby.

I didn’t say it out loud, but my goal was to finish in under 40 minutes, and I just barely made it with a time of 39:59.7! Holy crap, it’s hard to get any closer than that! With an average pace of 6:26/mile, I surprised myself and am very happy with my time. My wonderful and supporting wife, mother, and daughter were at the finish to cheer me on which helped give me that extra push.

I was maxed out at that point! A big thanks to my wife for snapping this action shot! My time put me 1st in my age group, 25 to 29, and 2nd overall. It wasn’t a huge race, but I’m still proud and feel good about it being my last solo race before getting bumped to the 30 to 34 bracket.

Even though I was gassed, I knew I had to get my daily dose of 30 burpees in while I was still warmed up, so I found a spot on the sidewalk and went to work. Thanks again to Kelley for capturing the moment.

Then, probably against her will since I was still sweaty, I posed for a picture with my beautiful mom.

It took forever for all of the awards to be announce, but finally they got to the 10k runners and announced my name. I brought Avery with me and she was given the medal for placing.

She deserves it for being such and awesome baby the whole day! Love our little girl!

Speaking of awesome, our little girl is catching on to eating solids more and more each day. I just posted about her first actual consumption and how I had to “help” by holding the food to her mouth, but now she’s using her own hands!

This was on Sunday before G-Ma arrived to witness what I thought would take forever! But, without my assistance this time, she brought both broccoli and carrot to her mouth and actually ate a little of both!

And, as we all know, along with the consumption of solids, comes the ejection of poop! Avery blessed us twice with the confirmation of her new food groups and needless to say, I installed our diaper sprayer posthaste. Now I finally get to put our Spray Pal through its first test! I’ll let you know how it goes soon!

Since G-Ma missed out on Avery eating on Sunday, we decided to try another BLW moment after we arrived home from the race. I’d say she’s definitely getting the hang of it now; look at that firm grasp on the broccoli and her delicate bite into the floret. Attagirl!!

Good things happening around here! It’s sad when a great weekend has to end, but I know there will be many more great times ahead! Times like spraying a poopy diaper for the first time……or something like that. :/

Okay, I’ll leave it at that for today. Hope everyone enjoyed an extra day off and made sure to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Have a great day!

Any plans for a race of your own yet? Do you even care?

I’m still being stubborn and don’t want anything too sweet, but any suggestions on what to try feeding Avery next?

Life

The True Meaning of Memorial Day and BLW Progress

05/26/2014 R.C. Liley 7 Comments

Me·mo·ri·al Day

noun

noun: Memorial Day

a day on which those who died in active military service are remembered, traditionally observed on May 30 but now officially observed on the last Monday in May.

Hi there and happy Memorial Day!

I wanted to share the definition of Memorial Day to make sure we all take a moment of silence to remember those who died while serving our country. So please, before you fire up the grill and open a cold beer, pay your respects to these men and women.

Also, Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veteran’s Day which celebrates all of our country’s veterans. Although I have never served, many of my friends and family (including my mom and dad), have, and I am thankful for everything they have done. I’m also thankful for those currently serving and always will be!

I’m writing this a day before since I’m running my last 10k today and will be up before sunrise. The 10k is in honor of our nation’s heroes who died serving and I’m dragging Avery, Going Mom, and G-Ma with me!

Running races used to be pretty common a few years ago, but this will be the first in over a year now! Yes, I’m a little nervous, not for the race, but more on if I’ll be able to go #2 beforehand. Gross? Sorry, this is a parenting blog and poop is mentioned a lot!

If you’ve ever been in a race or any event requiring activity, you know how vital using the restroom before the start is to your performance, so hopefully you understand my concern. In the numerous races I’ve run over the years, this is still one of my biggest issues. Pretty crappy (ha ha), huh?

While we’re on the subject, guess who made progress in our baby-led weaning endeavor.

Yep, Avery took her first real bites of food this past Saturday! She had a little carrot and part of a green bean. But I must confess, I didn’t follow the rules as I held the veggies for her as she bit into them. She also held them, but they ended up in her lap.

After taking a bite from the carrot, she experienced her first gag reflex kicking in and was over it in seconds. It wasn’t fun to watch, but she handled it well. It was obvious gagging didn’t phase her as she was reaching for more a minute a later.

Or maybe she was just raising her hand because she had a question; hmmmm.

Despite her gagging, we weren’t 100% positive that she really had a lot of either veggie since she had a lot of spots on her onesie. But, what she left in her diaper the next day removed any doubt; little specks of carrot all over!

Guess I need to connect that diaper sprayer now. I’ve been putting it off since it seemed like she wouldn’t eat anything, but now we know she will and it doesn’t take much!

G-Ma is coming over to spend the night so she can ride with us to the race, so hopefully Avery will show off her new found eating skills. Of course, she also knows how to pet the cat thanks to Going Mom, so maybe she’ll just do that instead.

It’s getting late and I better get some rest, so until next time, enjoy your Memorial Day! And please remember the reason we are able to enjoy this day with our friends and family. I’ll let you know how the race (and bathroom situation) goes!

Are you doing anything special today?

Do you have a certain way of remembering those who died in service?