Tag Archives: travel

Life, Parenting

No One to Cheers With Except Baby

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Going Mom and I try to make it a point to cheers each other at the end of every day. There may not always be some miraculous occasion to celebrate, but it’s a great way to focus on the “good” of the day. If nothing else, we just cheers to LOVE, we always have that!

My wife was up by 3 am to get get ready and head to the airport for her business trip yesterday leaving Avery and me to fend for ourselves. It was basically the same as any other week day until the evening rolled around and it was still just a dad and his little girl missing the woman we both love most in life.

Despite missing Kelley, I kept busy and finally began the brewing process with the Belgian Saison beer kit I bought over a month ago.

Avery made sure to lend a hand in the process too. She was quite the helpful baby!

I started before she woke up in the morning at around 7 am, and didn’t finish getting it in the fermenting bucket until nap time at 3 pm. It took a little longer than I expected, but I’m sure it will all be worth it 3 weeks from now! I think Tom Petty says it best in his song “The Waiting”…..it truly is the hardest part.

On top of a successful start to beer brewing, I had my first article published on The Huffington Post! It’s a post I first published here on my blog with a little editing done and I’m thrilled to finally have it published! This has been a huge goal of mine and hopefully this is the first of many more to come!

Overall, it was a pretty good day, but when I sat down with Avery in her high chair for dinner, I had no wife to cheers to. Instead, I raised my glass to Avery who, in return, swiped several peas and a carrot on the floor and kicked up her leg.

Meh, good enough.

Hoping for a good day today and think I might even try to watch the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, but always end up putting it off. Maybe this time it will happen….or maybe not, Avery will ultimately decide I guess.

As promised, I’ll share some of my favorite pictures of the day for Going Mom (and anyone else) to enjoy. Kelley, we miss you dear, can’t wait to see you late Wednesday night!

I think I'm awake......right?
I think I’m awake……right?
Just doing a walky-walk in my jammy-jams. No biggie.
Just doing a walky-walk in my jammy-jams. No biggie.
My name is Avery, but you can call me "bubbles"
My name is Avery, but you can call me “bubbles”
Daddy says I'm a good mini brewmaster!
Daddy says I’m a good mini brewmaster!
Where is Avery?
Where is Avery?
There she is!!
There she is!!
And she's out....
And she’s out….

 

Do you have a daily routine like making a cheers or something else?

If so, do you feel at a loss when you don’t do it for the day?

Life, Parenting

Putting My Stay-At-Home Dad Skills to the Test

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Remember how I recently wrote about how my wife is leaving us? Well, she left hours before most people wake up to start their day and by the time you’re reading this, she should be in Boston.

Are you there, dear? Text me! 🙂 Oh, and pick up some Yuengling to bring back home please!!

For the next 3 days, Avery and I will be without Going Mom, but hopefully we’ll still have a great time. I’m excited and nervous about testing my true ability to go it alone, but I know many parents do wayyyy more than this on a daily basis. So what’s 3 days with just one baby?

Guess I’ll find out.

In the meantime, my 3-day plan is to focus on taking a lot of pictures and posting the good ones on here for my wife, Kelley, to enjoy. Of course, I hope that all viewers will enjoy the pics too.

If you’re a baby-loving person who enjoys pictures and not a lot of yapping, I’m positive you’ll like my next few posts. Since I plan on focusing more on my time with Avery, the posts will be less talk and more walk pictures.

Maybe just a few words about the pictures I am posting for the day, but nothing extreme. You’re welcome.

To kick things off, I’m posting several photos I’ve taken lately and simply love how they turned out. Kelley has already seen these, but they’re cute nonetheless, and don’t you try to say otherwise! Even that crazy baby selfie.

 

 

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She was determined (hence the tongue) to reach the ground, but just couldn’t quite make it.

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Everybody’s happier when their almost naked, right? Oh, and they have a blue ring and look like a boy when they’re really a girl. Oops, did I say that?
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Just in case she misses me already, here I am with my makeshift cape before she gave me a haircut the other week. Note to self: hair is attracted to the static from a plastic trash bag.
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When it’s been a rough day, there’s nothing like Mommy’s fluffy sock and an even fluffier bear to make things all better.

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Hopefully, both my wife and Avery and I are having a great start to the week and will be able to FaceTime tonight.

Check back tomorrow for pictures of our first day alone.

To those of you laughing at my measly 3 days when you do this every day, any tips/advice you care to share?

Any stories from when you used go it alone or did at least once?

Life, Parenting

Bear Fight in the Ninja Turtle Fort

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Remember Avery’s tutorial on How to Fight a Bear last month? You know, instead of sitting still for us to take her 7 month photos, she decided Teddy needed to know who was boss?

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It’s me, I’m the boss.

We thought she made her point clear, but apparently the bear didn’t learn his lesson. When word about the ninja turtle fort spread across the nursery, Teddy Bear challenged Avery to another duel on her new stomping grounds.

Being the fearless daughter of two courageous parents, Avery was quick to accept, and luckily I had the camera to catch it all on film. Is it really called film? Maybe just all on memory card? Bah, who knows?! Anyway, back to the action….

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqNPLqSvFOs&w=560&h=315]

I’d say Avery made it rather clear she’s a force to be reckoned with. I love her victory dance at the end; it’s reminiscent of the “Halo Hump/Teabag” you would do on your fallen victims during online play.

As you might’ve noticed, we still have the TMNT fort standing like I first posted about on Tuesday. In that post, it seemed Avery was not enthused by the shelled superhero mutant turtles or my crafty fort, but now she’s taken a liking to both!

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The very next day, first thing upon waking and feeding, I got her in there for some playtime and she had a blast!

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The pictures speak for themselves, huh? Now I need to find some quality TMNT toys from my childhood, the originals.

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Another dad blogger commented on Tuesday’s post and showed me part of his Ninja Turtle collection via instagram. Needless to say, I’m jealous.

Well, as you can see, I did say that! So, now I’m on the hunt to find some of the originals for myself Avery. I have no clue what I ever did with mine, and all I found in my mom’s attic were old TMNT puzzles.

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We did have fun putting them together that night, but I want the toys!

If you know of a person or place I should look, please let me know. As long as they aren’t too pricey, I might consider getting them; after my loving breadwinner of a wife approves first! I love you, Kelley! : )

Speaking of my mom/G-Ma, we’ll be going there for the 4th of July weekend, so I better start getting my food packed. I typically bring several of my own eats which includes Brussels sprouts, tuna, egg whites, a nut and seed mix, and plain Greek yogurt.

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Yep, all staples in my diet! It’s not that she doesn’t have a lot of good, healthy food, but I always hate to take other’s food (even my mom’s) I guess because I know how valuable it really is.

Do you have certain foods you like to have with you wherever you go, or can you just “wing it” with whatever’s available?