Hitting The Hard Stuff...

I have to admit I have been hitting the hard stuff lately... shocking I know for someone who is pregnant. To me the hard stuff of the moment is eggnog. I have a terrible sweet tooth - thank goodness I don't like chocolate but can focus mainly on the pure sugar variations of candy or else I'd weigh a ton. I eat candy year round but there are two times of year when I have special indulgences. I allow myself to have candy corn only in the month of October and then in November and December I have eggnog. I also have strict standards on what candy corn I will eat - only Brach's, no other brand and if I can at all help it I avoid the 'Harvest Mix' bag which includes the candy corn pumpkins and the ones with brown on them. I think the brown taints the whole lot. With eggnog I'm not as picky on my brand.

I actually started this post last week when I bought my first half gallon of eggnog for the season. I had already been having steamed eggnog if I went to Starbucks but having it at home was really agreeing with me. Unfortunately, I ran into an issue with drinking my beloved eggnog last week when the results from my glucose screening came back - my sugar levels were very high and so I had to go back in for a three hour glucose test last Friday which involves not eating anything for 12 hours before the test, then drinking a drink made of pure sugar and food coloring and then have your blood drawn once an hour for three hours. Nothing like that to make a pregnant lady feel great! I was very worried that I would have to watch my sugar intake for the remainder of my pregnancy and in my mind that equated to not enjoying the holidays to their fullest. Luckily my second test came back great with no elevated sugars so I'm in the clear to enjoy the holidays and their sweets! I guess when they said eat normally before coming in for the first test they probably thought I wouldn't be chugging down a glass of eggnog with lunch. I was very careful with what I ate prior to the fasting period for the second test.

Knowing my own sweet tooth as I do, I have been trying to keep McKenzie off the sweets. Luckily she doesn't know much about candy or what it looks like in stores yet so she only wants something if I'm having it. I made it almost all through October without giving her candy corn. It's sad to admit but I was hiding it from her and sneaking it sometimes when she wasn't looking. I can remember my friend Carrie telling me that she did that with her little boy Kaden and I thought that was crazy but now I understand. I also have given her a drink of eggnog and the verdict is in - she likes it! Or should I say loves from the way she held the cup up trying to get the last few drops.

Here's a couple of recent pictures of McKenzie. The first is playing video games with Daddy in the game room and the second is with Grandma Z who came over today to watch McKenzie for the morning while Aunt Kacey went on a field trip.