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My Top Choice For Feeding Baby - Sun Harvest

11/24/2020

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When my first child, who is now four, was born - I had lofty visions of making all of my own baby food from scratch. Hand picking organic fruit from my garden that I would cook and puree and store myself, you know, along with all of the sleep I would be getting and time for pruning a garden. 

Ah, first time mom Mandi was so cute.

​Fast forward four years and another baby later, and I know a few things about motherhood. I also know you don't have to sacrifice quality when it's done for you if you know where to look.

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Lucky for us busy moms, Smart & Final has launched their own Sun Harvest baby food brand this month that is organic, clean, GMO-free and made simply from fruits and vegetables. That's it!

Available in an array of delicious flavors and only $0.99 per ounce serving, the packaging is also BPA-free, which you know is a huge must for us and most mamas. ​

You can choose from Mixed Vegetables, Pear, Apple Mango, Pear & Banana, Carrot, Apple, Banana and Strawberry and Sweet Potato, giving your little one a diverse selection of fruits and vegetables to please their budding palate. Which you know I am a huge fan of. Diversity in a child's diet, from a very early age, helps them to like an array of vegetables and fruits as they grow. 
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For store locations and information on Sun Harvest, as well as other products offered at Smart & Final, you can visit their website here. 
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TTC: Hope in the Waiting

10/2/2018

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I empathized with other women who carried the shared burden of perpetual family planning. A time when our homes, hearts, and arms are ready to parent when our bodies just aren't getting the message.

My latest magazine publication is now live in Moms Beyond Magazine on my personal journey with trying to conceive and what TTC can mean for those in the waiting.
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Read The Full Post on MomsBeyond.com

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5 Myths of Extended Breastfeeding

8/16/2018

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One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my almost two years of motherhood is to never say never.
Before marriage, my anxiety told me I’d never want to carry or birth children. After marrying the man of my dreams I said I’d love to carry a child but that I’d never birth a child without drugs. Then once I was carrying my precious little man, after years of infertility, I did everything in my power to bring him into the world naturally, and I succeeded in my goal. After bringing him home, listening to outside advice, I uttered the words that I would never nurse past a year because of the judgment against moms that did. That was until I learned about all of the health and emotional benefits that come in the second year of life from a healthy nursing relationship. It was these large moments in my life, as well as many little instances peppered in between, that taught me to get my proverbial foot out of my own mouth and stop saying “I’ll never…”

Read the full story here on West Valley Moms Blog

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Gifted - Am Essay On The Importance of Teaching Value

8/13/2018

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Mamas, let’s talk about OUR gifts.
I’m not talking about our gifts by way of our talents.
I’m not talking about our knack to be able to DIY a palette into a bedroom set or our ability to meal plan like a champ.
I’m not talking about our gifts in the marketplace, or what we offer when it comes to our careers.
I’m talking about physical gifts. The material things we give. In particular, I’m speaking of the gifts that we give to our children. 
Rewind to Spring when I was celebrating my baby’s first Easter. Now, as a Christian, Easter to me is of course first and foremost about Jesus and His sacrifice and His resurrection.
In celebration of this occasion, I put together a humble little box for my son. One that simply contained a baby Bible, a storybook for bedtime and a stuffed bunny...

Read the full post here on West Valley Moms

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All The Things I Never Knew I Wanted

5/17/2018

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Photography by Amy Termini Photography
One of lifes greatest treasures is being given a blessing we didn't even know to ask for. 
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A blessing that God knew our hearts needed long before we ever existed on this vast Earth. 

My darling son Grey is  one of those very good things. 

Growing up in a family of girls, I wasn't exposed to brothers, male cousins nor did i have very many male friends. It was tea parties, princess dresses and spa days all around. When my sister and I would play house, our kids were always little girls, I nannied for little girls and as I grew older, I guess I just expected I'd also raise little Mini Mandi's. 
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When Doug and I spoke about children while we were dating we both expressed that we'd love to raise a daughter together. (He also comes from a family of 5 sisters, he is the only boy) and it just felt natural to both of us to assume that's what we'd be best at. 

In truth I was scared to raise the sex I wasn't familiar with. I hate bugs. Neither Doug nor I watch any sport. I'm delicate and dainty. A girls girl. How would I raise a boy into a man that this world needs?

And then, God gave us a son. And from the moment they placed that little boy on my chest I knew. I just knew. He was meant for us. He would change our world for the better. He would stretch us. And grow us. Inspire us and move us to love so big and so wide, that any preconceptions of what we thought we "needed" flew right out the window. 
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And with that great, wide, deep love came the peace from our Lord that I cannot raise a boy into a Godly man alone. Only God can help me do that. Only can God can equip me for a role that heavy.

And it is He that placed a Godly, strong, kind, gentle, manly man in our home as husband and father. It is through Doug that Grey will learn what it means to be a good man. A good husband. A good brother. A good father. All the things that I've never been and can never be and therefor can never model. But Doug can. And I count myself blessed to have him as my partner, raising this little boy by my side.

I, as his mother, can show him how to nurture, care for his home, work hard, follow dreams and teach him lessons, big and small, day in and day out, all while modeling Christ to the best of my ability right here in these four walls. That's what I can do. By the help of our great God in heaven, that's what I can do. 
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As my fears started to fade away, carried into the distance by the ever present peace of God, room was made to dream of what I could share with our son. I've waited years to play cars with a little one. And now I get to do that every day. I'm learning about superheroes and Star Wars and bugs and dinosaurs. I do chores wearing super hero masks and get the tightest, squeeziest hugs from a little boy who loves me more than life. 

And my breath catches, and I wonder, goodness how could I have EVER lived without this? Without you? YOU are our family Grey. My little boy. Our perfect little puzzle piece. Thank you for loving us unconditionally. We will spend our whole lives loving you the same way. 
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Waiting On The Stork...

12/21/2017

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This is a sponsored conversation from Mums the Word Network and The Stork OTC. All opinions are my own.
The holidays are a mix of magic and remembrance for us. 

Magic, now that our miracle baby is here with us. Remembrance of what the holidays were to us for the years leading up to him joining our family. I remember the past holidays full of "when will you grow your family?", seeing the joy of other families with little ones and the added "babies look good on you two. It's time." Each comment crushing my soul a little more. We'd been married four years, and everyone in the world (or so it seemed) wanted to see us with children. 

The thing that most didn't know at the time was that we WERE trying. And we too wanted to see us with children. We had been trying. For three years we tried, both with and without medical intervention, to grow our family. 

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Christmas at the Pimental's

​The Christmas season of 2015 brought much joy when we found out we were expecting, however, just three short weeks later we'd learn that the baby was not viable and we experienced a great loss a week before Christmas. In those moments I was grateful to be surrounded with family, holiday obligations and business, but my heart ached for the "almost". 

A year later, almost exactly to the day, we found out we were expecting Grey and I literally fell to my knees in gratefulness and pure joy. We had changed our protocol with our doctors and something worked to bring us our sweet boy. 
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Our Grey - one week old

Fast forward to this year and we are celebrating our second Christmas with our sweet little guy and we are now looking to the future and what we ultimately want our family to look like. 

We know there is a realistic chance that we could, again, struggle and are open to options that may help us conceive faster in natural, non-invasive ways that don't cost the large pricetag that IVF and other methods bring along. 

Which is why I'm thankful for discreet over the counter options like Stork OTC. Found at Target in the family planning aisle, Stork OTC is a product that aids in helping couples with certain issues conceive faster, naturally. It’s cervical cap insemination technique helps deliver sperm as close to the cervical opening as possible, increasing the chances of fertilization by up to 20%. 

Just $59.99 at most retailers, (I got mine at Target, because I practically live there this time of year), it's a small price to pay for a higher chance of us growing our family. To me, I can't put a price on that. 

You can also find it online at www.StorkOTC.com. 

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What Grey Ate - 11 Months

7/27/2017

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This month has brought on  A LOT of new tastes to little man's palette and many more opportunities for him to sample foods outside of the house. This has made going out, and bringing him along on our date nights, much more fun and easy. 

Not having to bring so much external food from home makes it easier to be spontaneous and I'm thankful he is eating so many fruits, vegetables, healthy oils and meats now because we can order something for him at almost any restaurant I can eat at. 

He's moved to having lunches and dinners that are unique to what we are having, so moving forward you will see separate breakfast, lunch and dinner sections for even more meal ideas. 

We also introduced, GLUTEN. (insert shocked gasps here), for many reasons, that I will talk about in next months post, but you will see some bread included in the meals below. 
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​*Note that these are the meals he's served from breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also gets two-three snacks a day. Snacks include apple slices, pear slices, organic teething cookies, organic puffs and vegetable based baby food purees

breakfasts


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My sweetheart chowing down on waffles and fruit
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Oat Flour Belgian Waffle (GF), Blubes and Blueberry Oatmeal 
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Hardboiled Egg Yolks, GF Blueberry Muffin and Strawberries
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Puffys, Raspberry Banana Oatmeal and Bananas
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Organic Egg Yolks, Watermelon and Avocado
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Organic Egg Yolks, Blubes + Chicken Apple Sausage
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Banana Bread, Strawberries and Egg Yolk

lunches


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Turkey and Primal Avocado Oil Mayo on Organic Udi's Kids Wheat Bread (I cut it into tiny cubes),  Blubes and Peas. 
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Turkey lunch meat, Peas, Peaches and Jelly on a Cassava Coconut Tortilla
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Roasted Chicken, Pears and Avocado
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Turkey Lunch Meat, Avocado and Leftover Campfire Hashbrowns
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Leftover GF/Vegan Pizza, Blubes and Broccoli 
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Sweet Potato, Turkey Lunch Meat, Olives and Avo
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Puffys, Ground Turkey, Avocado and Strawberries
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Chicken Apple Sausage, Baked Potato, Blubes and Avocado
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Turkey Lunch Meat, Avocado, Freeze Dried Berries

dinners


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Chipotle cilantro lime rice, avocado and black olives
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GF Pasta in veggie puree sauce, peas and freeze dried apples
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GF Chicken Nuggets, Green Beans and Pear
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Turkey Burger (that I shredded), bread, peas and carrots
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GF Pasta with veggie puree as sauce, blueberries and avocado
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Shredded chicken, avocado, potato and freeze dried apple cinnamon apples as "dessert"
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Coconut Aminos "Teriyaki" Chicken, White Rice and Broccoli
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Spanish Rice, Ground Turkey, Avo and Bread for Taco Tuesday
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Gnocchi in Sweet Potato Puree and Green Beans
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Sweet Potato cut into shapes, peas, carrots and his "smoothie" because Mr. Charming and I got Jamba Juice. 
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Leftover rice from Chipotle, Shredded Chicken and Peaches
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What Grey Ate - 10 Months

6/25/2017

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As we dive deeper into Baby Led Weaning, I thought it would be fun to share the meals that little man enjoys. He's got SUCH an appetite and it's no surprise he's our child, since he's a foodie through and through. We stick to organic, healthy choices for him, and as of yet he's still dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free and pretty much Top 8 Free. We are going slow with introductions and now that he's almost 1, we will be introducing more and more for variety and nutrition. 

I've posted some photos of the meals I put together for him, and I plan to share along the way, leading up to toddler meals. These are the meals he's currently enjoying at 10 months of age. 

I would love your ideas too! If you have some great infant or toddler food or meal ideas, feel free to share. Any recipes of a specific dish I make for him, I will link to the recipe here on NoshandNurture.com! 

*Note that these are the meals he's served from breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also gets two-three snacks a day. Snacks include apple slices, pear slices, organic teething cookies, organic puffs and vegetable based baby food purees. 

breakfasts


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Pancakes
Before we started having more egg-based breakfasts, I experimented with baking with eggs. He loved my oat flour pancakes with a little fruit spread. (I let him try one with a little pure maple syrup, one of the only times he's had sugar)
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Banana Bread and Oatmeal Puree
Another puree "yogurt" (this one is raspberry, GF oats and banana) so that he could practice spoon skills. I also baked a batch of my Banana Bread, so he got a square of it which I broke into small cubes for him to pick up with his fingers and chew easily.
 
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Eggs & Fruit
Blueberries are his FAVORITE right now. He would eat a whole clamshell if I let him. So organic blueberries (I halve them before serving), organic pears and hardboiled egg yolks are an easy go to this summer. I use hardboiled eggs, because I found he likes the consistency of hard boiled yolks over scrambled. 

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Fruit Purees and Puffys
Since we are holding off on dairy, I use baby fruit purees as his "yogurt". This was an organic strawberry banana mix that he enjoyed with some Happy Baby Organic Puffs. (I choose those because they have the least amount of ingredients, they are organic and they don't contain folic acid. More on that another time.) 
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Egg Yolk, Pear & Puffs
Most mornings he enjoys 1-3 items and now that we do egg and beans, I like to try to give him protein at 2 out of his 3 meals to keep his tummy full without overwhelming his still delicate digestive system. This was organic hard boiled egg yolk, organic pear and puffs. 

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Scrambled Eggs and Breakfast Potato
My husband and I had scrambled eggs and hashbrowns with ketchup, and I try to model most of his meals after ours so we share a "family meal". Grey's breakfast was scrambled egg yolks (we have not introduced whites yet as they are more allergenic) and a smashed plain baked potato with carrot puree as his "ketchup". 

lunches + dinners


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Taco Night
​We did "Taco Tuesday" and I wanted Grey to be able to join in. So for him he got plain ground turkey, a half of an avocado and I made him a black bean quesadilla with smashed black beans and a Coconut + Cassava tortilla. 
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Protein + Fats
Avocado is this little mans jam. I paired it with black beans and scrambled egg yolk for a protein pack lunch of leftovers.
 
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Meat + Potatoes
​I pick up organic rotisserie chickens often as they are SO easy to share and always a soft, baby-friendly texture. I shredded 1/4 of a chicken and served it with cubed sweet potato. We had the same thing and I love showing him that we eat as a family!
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The Perfect Mix
I love when I can give him a carb, protein, fat and fruit. I rarely give fruit with meat due to all the research that it's hard on the gut, but occasionally when we need a big lunch for a play or swim date I pile on all the food. haha. This mix was organic jasmine rice, avocado, pear and organic chicken breast shredded. 
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Sandwich Alternative
Since we have not introduced any type of bread yet, (still researching) for lunches, I have been sharing my turkey lunch meat with Greyson and he loooooooves it. I only give him organic, nitrate free by True Story Foods or Applegate but its a definite go to when I want him to get a full belly. I pair it with avocado and applesauce for a traditional kids lunch. 
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On The Go
When we're on the go, I pack up easy to feed finger foods. We were going to look at our new house, so I packed up some banana bread and avocado for carbs + healthy fat to keep him full until dinner. 

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Veggies Upon Veggies
Black Beans, Peas and Carrots make a nutritious lunch and he loves being able to pick up all the items. 
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The Randoms
Some days are just RANDOM leftovers from the meal prep before things go bad, haha. Black beans, turkey and pears. 
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Baked Potato Night
Mr. Charming and I were doing stuffed baked potatoes, so for Grey he got a baked potato and steamed broccoli and carrot puree to add another veggie and give him potato a "sauce" if it was to dry. 
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Pasta Night
One of my favorite dishes for him, because he looooved it. Rice pasta cooked real soft tossed with peas, organic turkey and some leftover sweet potato. A little carb heavy, but I've noticed this kid can EAT and dinner he takes in most of his calories. 

when we're out


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The beauty of eating clean, whole foods, is that Grey can usually eat some of what I order. 

When traveling in Long Beach, we stayed at the Westin and for breakfast I ordered scrambled eggs, gluten free toast and avocado. 

I shared my avocado with Grey, ordered him a side of bananas and brought a puree pouch of baby food to round out his meal. 

Mama + baby were satisfied. Done and done! 

Keep an eye out for What Grey Ate, every month on Nosh and Nurture! And as always I'd love to hear your feedback and what you're feeding your littles.

I also share a lot of our mealtimes, and more, on my Instagram Stories, so if you're over there, follow along! Find me @noshandnurture. 

Baby Led Weaning - 10 Month Old - Nosh and Nurture
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Grey's First Easter

4/16/2017

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Today I packed up Grey's Easter outfit in his baby memory box after church and my breath caught in my throat. 

I glanced in and there they were.

The outfit we brought him home in, his first Halloween costume (Donald Duck), his Thanksgiving onesie, his Black Friday attire (haha), his Christmas outfit and jammies, his Valentine's Day outfit, his dedication/blessing suit and as I placed his Easter outfit atop it all, I smiled. And then I teared up. Because it's going so, so fast. My baby has experienced all the major holidays already! My baby will soon be my baby no more and his next milestone will be his BIRTHDAY. 
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Easter was so beautifully special. For the past five years, Mr. Charming and I have attended the sunrise service at our church and really did plan to make it this year. But the babes stayed up until nine and at the 5am alarm, we couldn't bring ourselves to wake him. So we planned to attend the 10:30 service. 

We got to church a little early, because the grounds are BEAUTIFUL and made for the perfect location to shoot his Easter photos and give him his Easter basket. It was a gorgeous sunny day and lightly breezy. His basket was simple, a bible book, a bunny book and a cuddly bunny. We talked all day about Jesus and God's love. 

As we finished photos we went in to get a seat and were turned away because it was FULL! (YAY CHURCH!) Which we didn't mind because we love to see our church growing and thriving and we came prepared with lunch for all three of us.  We would just hang out until the noon service.
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We sat at a table outside and enjoyed a healthy lunch while Greyson ate and watched the big kids play. After we ate we played some corn hole (our church is so fun, haha) and let baby crawl around for a while. We got our seats for the noon service and Greyson made it halfway through before he was over it. 

I took him to the Mom's Lounge and nursed him and rocked him and held him as he napped while Mr. Charming stayed in service. What was SO nice was there was a screen playing it all for me to see while he napped so I didn't miss the message. 

This year our churches focus what on the importance of the Resurrection. That you can't believe in Jesus' teachings if you don't believe in his Resurrection. That its pointless to do so, because the Resurrection is what its all about and what ultimately saved us all.  
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After nap and service we took flowers to my husbands mom and she gave Grey some more Easter goodies and snuggles and we relaxed at home the rest of the evening. 

It was so perfect and special and I loved spending SO much of the day at church. I'm hoping to do that a few more times before the weather becomes too much to bear to be outside here. 

I hope you all had a beautiful Easter with your family and friends and that the message resonated with you and your soul. Refreshing you as ours did mine. 

Celebrate always! For He is Risen! 
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Happy Six Months Grey!

2/5/2017

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Today our precious little bubs turned 6 months old.

Half a year old. We are halfway to his first birthday and I am feeling alllllll the mama feels today. 

As hard as the early baby days were, and sometimes still are (we will sleep good someday again right?) I am starting to see just how lightning fast all of this goes and with each new milestone I see him moving further away from being my tiny baby and more of him growing into my little boy. 

Today was a beautiful day to celebrate him, as Sundays are our favorite around here. We get daddy cuddles in the morning. Slow, delicious breakfasts, THIS breakfast was on repeat all weekend and we spent the late morning in the sunshine playing with toys. We also decided to implement a family tradition of celebrating his half-birthday.
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And although he can't yet enjoy these delicious cupcakes (he seemed to love on his carrots today though) I hope he appreciates the traditions that we are creating with him. I remember growing up, being three, four, five years old and loving when I could say I was a half a year older! Always in a rush to grow up when we're young... so I thought it'd be fun to make it a fun day where we could bake cupcakes, maybe pick a special toy and have family time just celebrating him and his life. Every step of the way.

If you want to snag my recipe for my white cake mix that is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and soy-free you can click here. It's SCRUMPTIOUS. For the frosting I used Miss Jones organic vanilla frosting and dye-free sprinkles by Indian Tree. 

This month has really been a favorite with him so far. His little personality is bursting out and he makes me smile bigger and love harder than I ever thought imaginable. He's weighing in at just over 18 lbs and his chubby cheeks and chunky thighs are EVERYTHING. He is loving and cuddly and ADORES his daddy. I know they will be best pals.

He laughs and it's the best sound this side of heaven and he smiles and talks with his eyes. A trait that made me fall in love with his daddy. His sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes goes to show we really couldn't have guessed how he'd turn out (we thought it'd be dark features all the way from daddy) and listening to him "read" his little books is probably the cutest thing ever. My little smarty. 
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We love every new milestone, month and experience with our sweet little Grey. 

Do you have a favorite tradition you've implemented with your littles?
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Nosh & Nurture was born of this journey I am on to better the health of myself, my family and those around me.  What started as a simple compilation of recipes has grown to a all-around lifestyle journal with ways to incorporate organic products into your home, pantry and beauty cabinet.  I also include stories on pregnancy, new motherhood, travel, Proverbs 31 marriage, and spiritual health, as I am a Christian who couldn't do any of this without my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. For more of my story you can click here. 

All recipes are gluten-free and dairy-free with a lot of soy-free, grain-free, sugar-free options. 

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