Rebecca
Candy Window 2004
This morning I was thinking about the candy window we did back in 2004. I was looking at the pictures and I thought I would share them with you since we didn’t have the blog back in 2004.
ZCMI in Salt Lake used to have window displays during Christmas that were made entirely out of candy. When ZCMI discontinued it Provo City took over and had the candy windows in the windows of businesses in downtown Provo. We participated for a couple of years. This was our entry. It was a lot of work. You might notice the picture of me and Rebecca on the fireplace and on the bookshelf.
Every surface that you see had to be made from something edible. The pictures of us were coated with sugar. The walls were frosting and gum sticks. The floor was dyed coconut. The fireplace was rock candy. The bookshelf was rolled out Tootsie Rolls. The door was pretzels. The tree was sour straws. The man was mostly fondant. The popcorn strand was nerds so we had to buy a large quantity of nerds to sort out the white ones. You can imagine where many of the rest went.
I can’t remember what award we won for the window but it was featured on TV and on promotional posters. The theme for this year was “O Christmas Tree.” We called our window “O Blasted Christmas Tree.”
Maybe tomorrow I’ll do a post about other candy windows.
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Itchy Feet
Where was I? Oh yes. My itchy feet.
Several weeks ago, my feet started to itch. I didn’t really notice it much. However, the itch got progressively worse to the point where I would have to kick off my shoes every few hours to give my feet a good scratching.
I had no idea what was causing this sudden itch. I decided to turn to the trusty Internet. I supposed I had athlete’s foot, but there was no rash on my foot at all. After reading up on athlete’s foot and looking at pictures, I decided that couldn’t be the problem.
Then Dallas suggested I look up “itchy feet during pregnancy.” Itchy feet during pregnancy? Seriously? Who’s ever heard of such a thing? I know pregnancy can do weird things to your body, but a localized itch on my feet? I was doubtful.
I dutifully Googled and before long, I found myself reading on www.itchymoms.com. Turns out there is a condition in pregnancy that causes itching on your feet. Have you ever heard of this? It’s called Obstetric Cholestasis. I read in disbelief about this condition. Usually the only thing women notice is itching. However, Obstetric Cholestasis “carries an increased risk of premature labor, fetal and maternal hemorrhaging, fetal distress, and most importantly, stillbirth.”
Holy moly.
I was sure I had this. What other explanation was there? From what I understand, pregnancy taxes a woman’s liver and causes it not to function as efficiently. Consequently, bile acids can build up in her blood. I think this is what causes itching. The big problem with this is that the mother’s blood has too much bile acid in it which is then transferred to the baby. The baby’s immature system cannot handle filtering out the bile acids and this causes fetal distress.
Yikes!
I went to the doctor for a checkup and told them about my itchy feet. The doctor ordered a blood test to check my bile acid levels.
The results came back – NORMAL.
That was a relief, but my feet still itched! I asked the doctor about that. He responded that some women just get itchy during pregnancy as a result of hormones going crazy.
Remember this post? I guess my skin is just extra prone to itching.
The itch is so annoying. When you’re pregnant, it’s understandable that you will wake up in the night because you’re uncomfortable. It’s expected that you’ll wake up because you have to go to the bathroom. It’s ridiculous to wake up because your feet itch, yet night after night, that’s the scenario.
I know, I know. There are worse things I could be dealing with. I could be barfing my guts out and have to be hooked to IVs around the clock. I could be bed-ridden. My baby could have something wrong with him. I’m glad that none of these are the case.
But.
Feet that constantly itch?
It’s so irritating.
And, to make this situation worse, the itch is spreading.
Has anyone else out there had this happen to them?
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Zzzzzzz Part II
Benjamin Franklin, George Vernon Hudson, and William Willett.
These three men were the first to suggest and petition the idea of Daylight Saving. They couldn’t have known, but their actions have nearly been the death of me.
I usually don’t make a big deal out of the time changes with myself or with my kids. We just act as if the new time were the old time and live our lives accordingly. No problem.
No problem, that is, until a few weeks ago. Just as I was entering the blessed second trimester of pregnancy and my tiredness was getting under control, Daylight Saving time hit.
This past time change has been HORRIBLE. Before the time change I had two angels who went to bed around 7:30 p.m. and woke up around 8:00 a.m. I realize I was spoiled with my little girls sleeping in so late, but I was ever so grateful for it. Some people can get by with five or six hours of sleep. Others need the standard eight. I’m more of a ten-hour-a-night gal (even when I’m not pregnant).
Then came November 7th. We dutifully set our clocks back an hour and went to bed. Of course our girls didn’t sleep in until 8:00 because the old 8:00 was now 7:00. However, they didn’t wake up at 7:00. No. They woke up at 6:00. Ugh. Dallas and I peeled ourselves out of bed and started our very long Sunday morning.
I wanted to scream at church every time someone mentioned how they loved the extra hour of sleep they got that morning and didn’t I love it, too? No. There was no extra hour of sleep. There was an extra two hours of entertaining children.
And it’s been that way ever since. The girls have not adjusted their wake-up time. No matter how early or how late I put them to bed, they are awake before the sun is even thinking of rising. I might be able to understand if they were waking up a mere hour earlier than they used to, but it’s more like two hours earlier! We’ve started our mornings in the five o’clock hour so many times this past month that I have lost track.
It didn’t help that in the middle of all this time-changing nonsense Caroline discovered how to turn on the bedroom light. The only place in the girls’ room for the crib is right next to the light switch. Caroline has been blissfully unaware of the power that could be hers…until lately.
Not only would the girls wake up super early in the morning, but Caroline would turn on the light in the middle of the night and wake Brooke up, who in turn would yell at Caroline and wake everyone else up.
Dallas and I got smart. We taped the light switch down. Ha! Now she couldn’t access the switch.
That lasted a few days. Caroline quickly learned how to pick the tape off and continue aggravating all of the would-be sleepers in the house.
Dallas and I got smart again. Dallas constructed a barrier so her little hands couldn’t access the switch.
That didn’t work at all. Her little hands could still access the switch.
Dallas and I got smart. We taped the sides of our new contraption so her little hands couldn’t access the switch.
Her little hands could still access the switch.
Dallas and I got desperate. We scoured the Internet for a light switch cover. Surely something had to exist; we aren’t the only ones in the world with this problem, right?!
Dallas hit the jackpot. He found a light switch cover that locks the switch in the on or off position. It was love at first sight. We bought it as fast as we could.
It’s been the best $5.50 we’ve spent all month.
FINALLY, a device that little hands don’t know how to work. At least, not this week.
Finally we were able to settle into our beds to sleep without worrying about the chaos two little hands could cause.
Finally a device that would help me and Dallas get a full night’s sleep again.
…And then my feet started to itch. But that’s a story for another day.
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Zzzzzzzz
I think I have mentioned that this pregnancy is different from my other two pregnancies. One difference is the degree of tiredness I have felt.
When I was pregnant with Brooke and Caroline, I didn’t get it. People would ask me if I was extra tired. I didn’t know how to answer that. Isn’t everyone pretty much always tired? “Yeah, sure,” I’d tell people, “I’m tired.”
Now I know how to answer that. NO. I was NOT tired when I was pregnant with Brooke and Caroline. This pregnancy has opened my eyes (eyes that wish so desperately to be closed) as to the extent of tiredness a person can feel.
There were days when I would lie on the couch wondering how I would ever be able to sit up again. No amount of sleep would cure my fatigue. It felt as though every single ounce of energy had been sucked out of my body (and subsequently placed into the bodies of my children).
I remember one day the top of my head itched. I looked at my hand and didn’t know how I would find the energy to lift it three feet to scratch my head.
That’s the kind of tired I was dealing with.
The second trimester of pregnancy has softened that symptom. As long as I go to bed at a pretty reasonable hour I’m okay the next day, but wo unto me if I don’t get enough sleep.
And the past few weeks I haven’t gotten enough sleep.
Stay tuned for the blog post all about why I now hate Benjamin Franklin. I’d write it now…but I’m too tired.