Vitamin D

I went to the chiropractor a couple weeks ago and picked up an article about how Vitamin D can combat colds and the flu. Before giving any extra Vitamin D, I made sure to do some extra research on Vitamin D and how it is good for the immune system. Let me just say that I was very impressed with what I found. Here's one site and an article from the site to start with:

Dr. Joseph Mercola
Vitamin D and the Flu

In my opinion Dr. Mercola is a great researcher, plus he's an O.D. which means when he sees patients he's treating the "whole person" not just the problem (I've thought about finding an O.D. for our family). I read some of the articles about Vitamin D and was shocked to hear that Vitamin D deficiency is one cause of a ton of health issues-Cancer, Hypertension, Pre-eclampsia, Diabetes, Colds, Flu, and on the site you can check out all sorts of other diseases. And for all of you pregnant women out there check out this article I read about Vitamin D and pregnancy. When I was pregnant I had high blood pressure and had pre-term labor 5 1/2 weeks early. Now I know how I can prevent those issues during my next pregnancy.

Vitamin D and Pregnancy

I never realized how important Vitamin D is, and if you've ever checked me out then you know that I'm a pretty pale person. So, being that it's Cold and Flu season I decided it was best to up our dosage. According to the site you need 35 IU's of Vitamin D per pound of body weight in order for it to even be effective, so why is the AAP recommending only 4o0 IU for children? Who knows!? Bubby now takes a daily dose of 1,000 IU and Hubby and I take 5,000 IU. And if we find that we do get sick then we can up our IU dosage for a day or two to help combat our illness. This is an experiment I am willing to try for the winter (along with proper hand washing and staying away from others who are sickly). Being that we are no longer in the day care center like we were last winter will probably help a lot, but since I clean houses and touch all sorts of germs every day it's good that we protect ourselves so I don't bring anything home and expose my family to anything.

Also, now that Bubby is a year old we tried introducing him to whole milk (also for some extra Vitamin D) but after giving him some Whole Milk with his formula this past week he has drank significantly less milk. I'm guessing this is why he's super fussy and refusing to drink anything that's not water or formula. I think that he either doesn't like Whole Milk or it is giving him a tummy ache. So we are going to stick with the formula and also try giving him Almond Milk instead. I've been wanting to make my own Almond Milk for a while now! *On top of all the milk issues we've been having a hard time breaking the bottle. He will sit and drink 6oz. of formula from a bottle but barely touch a sippy cup full of the same formula! Luckily we don't really have to wean him completely until he's 15 months so I've got some time to figure things out.

I've also just started using Norwex in our home (and I just joined the Norwex team as a Sales Consultant!) which will help to actually pick up the germs and put them down the drain where they belong!! I love how Norwex can kill 99.94% of germs without using any chemicals, which means no more residues in our home!!!

Puff Puffs and Cake Cakes

Bubby is 10 months old now...I can't believe in only 2 short months he will be one year old! My little boy is growing up!! I have really seen his personality come out over the past few weeks. He loves to laugh, especially if you make faces at him, sing to him, or dance with him. His absolute favorite song is "Ba Ba Black Sheep" and I think it's because when we sing "Ba Ba" it sounds like Bubba (also his nickname). Sometimes I'll sing the entire song just saying "Ba Ba" and he loves it! He still crawls on his belly, but can pull himself up to stand really well and sometimes takes a few steps if you are holding his hands or if he's holding himself up on the furniture. He just learned how to play "So Big" this week and it's now a highchair tradition to play that game. His sleeping habits still need some improving despite our efforts to sleep train him, but I am very pleased that he took two naps today, one of them being 2 1/2 hours long!

And lastly, he is totally over eating baby food. I keep some on hand as a back up in case I can't find anything else to make him, or if he's really grumpy and I can't get food made fast enough for him. So he's been eating lots of table food.

Some of Bubby's Favorites:
-mandarin oranges
-peaches
-pears
-bananas
-melons (there is a great Organic Tropical Fruit Mix we like with all sorts of melons!)
-applesauce
-Baby yogurts
-sweet potatoes
-mashed or sliced potatoes
-sweet peas
-lima beans (he LOVES lime beans and will eat as many as he can get! But they do make for some stinky diapers!)
-corn
-carrots
-turkey breast
-turkey hot dogs
-spaghetti with hamburger and tomato sauce (I mixed in some green beans too because its the only way he'll eat them)
-pasta with melted cheese and butter
-bread/toast with butter (great for teething!)
-buckwheat pancakes (aka Cake Cakes)
-baby puffs (aka Puff Puffs)

One thing you should know is that Hubby and I try our best to eat All Natural and Organic food and we prefer fresh foods. However, since we are now creating a strict budget for our groceries I am having to resort to some canned and not always organic foods. I have found a few brands of canned fruits and vegetables that seem alright, like Del Monte vegetables or Dole fruits. I am still trying to find a way to give him some decent protein without having to cook up some meat on the spot because 1. meat is expensive, 2. we don't like to have lots of leftovers, 3. I don't always have much time to cook for him. I am learning to cook items in advance and save them in tupperware in the refrigerator so I can easily pop them in the microwave for him.

Puff Puffs are a pretty typical snack for him. At Wheatsfield Cooperative Grocery store they have organic puffs that I get for him. Feeding him puffs was probably how he developed his pincer grasp! And Cake Cakes are an occasional breakfast treat (served warm with melted butter). Hubby grew up eating Buckwheat Pancakes so we are going to start eating those more often. I make them with Almond Milk which makes them a little easier on my digestive system.