Faith's Blended Diet and Other Things that Help with Her Digestion

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This page contains affiliate links and Faith's Mom may earn a commission if you use them. As an Amazon Associate, Faith's Mom earns from qualifying purchases.  Learn more.   Ever since Faith was born, she has struggled with her digestion. When she was in the NICU, she would spit up after eating even the tiniest amount of formula. Her dad and I were convinced her tummy was too small to handle large volumes of food. Sometimes when she ate, her heart rate would drop really low, which is why she needed to be in the NICU for longer. She just could not get the hang of eating and breathing at the same time!  Faith receiving food through an NG tube in the NICU.  Grandma giving Faith a bottle when she was 2 months old.  After finally bringing her home, eating continued to be an issue as she struggled with severe reflux and constipation. We tried various formulas, but she was never able to drink enough formula to gain a lot of weight. She also had trouble burping, and she...
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Exercising with Faith

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Move over Denise Austin!

About three years ago, on New Year's Day I decided 2007 was the year I was going to start exercising on a regular basis. So, like many others who had made the same resolution, I ran to Wal-Mart and bought the latest exercise DVD. It was a dance/exercise video with Denise Austin. I later purchased her Boot Camp one as well. 

I had no idea at the time I began the exercises that Faith would want to watch the DVDs for entertainment. And really, if you think about, it makes sense. Lot of repetition with lots of counting - just right for kids!

Because Faith has watched them so many times, she pretty much has them memorized. This can be sort of comical like the time she went to preschool and told her speech therapist to squeeze her buttocks. Or like when I took Faith to physical therapy, and she told Jackie she was ready to do her active isolated stretches. Her therapist was pretty impressed!

When Faith isn't in the mood to do her stretches at home, she gets motivated when I pretend to be Denise Austin. I tell her, "You're strong, you're fit, show your power!" She rolls right along with it and while doing a tough hamstring stretch, she yells, "Four seconds left - I'll look great in a bathing suit!"

There are some things she gets a little mixed up, like instead of a "downward facing dog" it's a downward facing doll" which probably makes more sense to her. For the most part though, she's yelling all of the words right along with Denise. She especially likes the "shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, squat and lift" part.

When I am actually exercising along with exercise videos, Faith, not Denise is my biggest cheerleader. "Abs are tight mommy - you're a fat burning furnace!"

Lately, Faith has been asking to watch them again - I think she's trying to tell me something!

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