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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Snapshots of Today + Things We Use & Like

Yesterday was all about cleaning for me so today we had some fun in the sun...


Packed up my to-go smoothie for Ava's playdate today in the park: 
[big handful of kale, about 5 broccoli florets (the top part), handful of: mixed banana, strawberry, blueberry, mango + add water and chia seeds = blend.] yum. 

I love the Lifefactory glass bottles which are BPA free unlike many plastic products.  They also make adorable bottles for babies too! I bought mine at Whole Foods. 
Ava already had her Born Free glass bottles that worked well for us- love those too! BuyBuyBaby carries them. 

Back to today....
We met up with our friend Sophia and her mama at the park in Coral Ridge. Ava spent more time on her feet walking around which is nice since you'd think she'd want to give her knees a break from crawling! 

Ava clapping for Sophia going down the slide! 
They wanted to slide at the same time. These two are too cute together. 

Came home and had some lunch. Ava had left overs from our dinner last night. 
[chicken cutlets dipped in egg then covered in Panko - pan fried in coconut oil - topped with a mango&cilantro purée that I blended together in the small food processor-  with a side of green beans and asperagus] and water of course. 
Our good eater :-)

I've gotten a couple questions about the powdered probiotics that Ava's been taking since she was a newborn... We like the brand Jarro Dophilus (they make adult probiotic capsules too). They are in the refrigerated section of the "Whole Body" area in Whole Foods. Once I learned about gut health and how it controls a person's overall health and immune system... it was a no brainer. 

(Ava has been sick once in her 15 months of life so far - and bounced back the following day. And trust me, I am not a germaphobe! I let her play and get messy but the probiotics are amping up her immune system full throttle.) 

It is also nice to hear that I'm not the only one that does this - far from it actually... 
All of my "healthy mom friends" (and rest of the natural, holistic health world too) take them and also give their kids probiotics as well. 
I remember when I first asked our pediatrician about them he asked me, "Well what's wrong with your daughter'a gut flora now?"
I responded, "Nothing that we know of...I'd like to keep it that way!"

He basically told me that there is nothing wrong with giving them to her, if anything they are just making her super healthy - more than she already is. 

Music to my ears. 

Haha
(Less expensive and easier to prevent illness, disorders, etc. the healthy way in my opinion)

Anyways, after lunch and an afternoon nap for Ava, we headed outside for a jog to go and visit my mom. Gotta soak up that natural vitamin D for that bone health! ;)

Later on this week, we will be getting to visit with Grandma Ann (Mark's maternal grandmother from North Dakota) 
We can't wait to show her how much Ava is walking now! I know Mark is excited to see her as well. :) I am looking forward to having a sunset, family picnic on the beach as well as taking the whole family to the Riverfront Jazz brunch that's already coming up! A lot of family fun up ahead. 

Hope you all are having a nice day! 

XO
Christina 


18 comments:

  1. I love those bottles! I've never tried a green smoothie, though. My tastebuds are not nearly adventurous enough for that, haha. Ps- the fact that you guys can wear shorts is making me so jealous! It is still freezing here!

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    1. You should totally try a green smoothie! C'mon! Try: handful of spinach, banana, half a lemon's juice, some berries, add water and blend! Please! and tell me how it turns out... having you try it is my mission, Sara!!! ;)

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  2. That is so sweet of your daughter, clapping for her friend!

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    1. Haha..yes, she is quite the clapper :) It was a cute day with those two.

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  3. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and following! I am following back! I love those water bottles - so cute! Happy Wednesday!

    agirlandhersparkles.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Becky!
      Happy you like them :) I love my teal one and my mom has a dark red one. Love the glass rather than the plastic chemicals.

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  4. Hi Christina,
    Thanks for finding my blog and for becoming a new follower of it! After reading some of your posts, its crazy how similar we are! I'm a health nut too and our kids take probiotics and we use almond flour to dip our chicken in and bake and call it chicken strips! We have lived overseas for nearly 5 years (but are Texans at heart) so have had to adapt to the foods we can get here... so eating healthy has its challenges but we manage it!

    Have a great week!
    Liz
    www.randallandliz.blogspot.com

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    1. haha That's awesome, Liz! I always love meeting a "like minded mama" :) Happy to have you (especially)!!!
      xx
      I still need to try almond and coconut flour!

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  5. Your daughter is super cute!! I'm a little jealous of her sandals. I'm still wearing snow boots!! It's freezing up here in Mass.

    Best, Mree

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  6. I love those water bottles too! They are super cute! I'm going to have to check into the probiotics for our daughter. Never thought to give her any but if they really help boost her immune system I'm all for it!
    xoxo

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    1. If you start researching probiotics, you will think to yourself "why doesn't my doctor talk about these?!!?" Good Dr. Mercola and gut health or the GAPS diet with Dr. Mercola... you will learn about the importance of gut health (and very importantly with children!!!)

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    2. Funny you should mention GAPS. My girlfriend's daughter has Kabuki Syndrome and she has her on the GAPS diet. It's a lot of work, but totally worth it for her.

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    3. I'm sure... It is amazing what I have learned when it comes to gut health. I haven't posted this yet, but I just found out today that I will be starting a integrative health program to become a certified health coach (thanks to a gift from my mom!) Anyways, once I learned about how our gut health directly influences our overall health (everything from cancer to eczema) I have totally become thirsty for more knowledge on holistic health to the point that I finally figured out my passion and will be making a career out of it - all because of learning about gut health! haha. Feeding your body the way it should be seems like a no brainer but when we have things in our foods (processed, animals being fed bad things/pumped with antibiotics) that is literally KILLING our beneficial bacteria in our gut - then all of a sudden we don't realize that the food we are eating is not just making us gain weight (that's just the SURFACE of problems) but killing us slowly and is the foundation of all kinds of disease - large or small.

      -sorry for that essay haha - I will wrap it up here. :) Thanks for coming by, Tiffany!!

      xx

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  7. First of all, little Ava is just sooo beautiful! What a cutie!
    Those Lifefactory bottles are so pretty! I considered buying them for storing breast milk, but I think I might go with freezer-friendly mason jars because I felt the cost was pretty high for Lifefactory. Are they pretty durable, though? They look like they'd be great for when you're on-the-go.
    I also like your focus on probiotics in this post - does Ava take any other vitamin or DHA supplements?
    I'm so glad you found my blog because I love connecting with healthy mamas!! :)
    xo kristen genevieve

    sunnywithachanceoflemons.blogspot.com

    sunny bloglovin

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    1. Hi Kristen! Thanks for coming by!! I'm so sorry for my late response. I don't know how I missed this one. Anyways.... yes, I love my bottle but Ava only uses her BornFree bottles now for her morning and evening milk bottle. As far as the probiotics go, I love that I learned about gut health when I did so that I can always have Ava's happy little gut healthy. She is not taking anything else besides her probiotics - do you recommend that I look at anything else??? I am always open and excited to learn something new.
      xx
      Christina

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  8. I gotta get me one of those water bottles!!

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    1. Aren't they pretty!? I love my teal one :) Hope you like it ( I suggest getting the large one - mine is a medium sized one and I swear I get a couple of big gulps and then I am refilling haha - the large is worth it in the long run :) Thanks for coming by, Kristin!
      xx

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XO