Tips for fighting off Cold and Flu by Dr. Bain

Most of you know that our pediatrician doctor Deborah Bain focuses her practice on prevention of illness. She put on a seminar on boosting your child's immune system and I wanted to share her recommendations to help keep our kids healthy during this flu season.

• Vitamin D: Boosts the immune system. Most people become deficient in Vitamin D in the winter months because we do not get the vitamin naturally by the sun. Dr. Bain recommends 800 IU's for prevention and 1600 IU's for acute illness. Vitamin D can actually be purchased in drop form that is tasteless, 2 drops is all you need each day as one drop contains 400 IU's
• Vitamin C: Another immune booster and powerful antioxidant. Dr. Bain recommends getting your vitamin C from foods rather than supplements.
• Probiotics: The good bacteria found in your intestinal tract. Probiotics help boost the immune system and fight off illness. We buy Flora Baby which is in a tasteless powder form. We put one small scoop in Berlynn and Sages milk each day.
• Limit Sugar intake: Sugar actually suppresses the immune system. It is no wonder our kids are always so sick during Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines day!

Tip on the Flu shot: You can actually recommend getting a flu shot free of mercury for your kids. Thimerosal is a preservative used in most all flu shots so they have a longer shelf life. Unfortunately, Thimerosal contains mercury. Request a "Thimerosal Free" flu shot and your doctor will order it in specifically for you.

http://www.healthykidspediatrics.com/

Clips from Disney

Berlynn's 4th Birthday Party!

My sweet little girl got a very special treat for her Birthday! We took her to Disney. She had 4 very special Friends meet us in Orlando to celebrate her birthday. Abbey and Carson came from Tampa and Luke and Nora came from West Palm Beach. The kids decorated cupcakes, opened presents and then we took them to the water park on the resort. Berlynn had such a good time. Thank you Melissa and Sarah for bringing the kids to the party, we miss you guys!!

From left to right: Abbey (4 years), Luke (6 years), Carson (20 months), Nora (4 years), Berlynn and Sage (13months)

Happy 4th Birthday Berlynn, look how much she has grown!

Here are the stats:

Berlynn had her 4 year old well check, here are the stats:

Height: 44 inches 98%
Weight: 46.5 lbs 95%

She grew 4 inches in one year!!!

A few favorites from Maddies visit....

Sages Birthday Party

My little baby is 1 already, I cant believe it. A few of her favorite words are "dog", "Mama", "Dada", "Hi" and she just started saying, "Hola". She will point to her head and her tummy when you ask her and she loves to blow kisses. She is so cute, when you pick her up from her crib she blows you a kiss. She is not one bit interested in walking but she is all over the place crawling. She is so busy.

As you can probably tell from her dress we has a minnie mouse theme. I made all of the invitations I was so proud of myself. I am usually not very creative, but these were so easy.

She had so much fun at her Birthday. We had about 20 balloons all over the floor that she loved to crawl around and chase. She loved her "Srpinkles Cupcake", what a spoiled little girl. Grandma and Grandpa Engelhardt came down as well as Jeff and Maddie. We were so excited to see Maddie, we have not seen her since she was a newborn. She is such a little cutie. Thanks Jeff for bringing her down. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures