Firsts

There are many firsts a baby has. There are the happy firsts (smile, first laugh, first tooth, first steps) and the sad firsts (mostly illness). Today we had a sad first...an allergic reaction. To what we have no idea. It doesn't seem to be a food allergy as he hasn't had anything new in the last few days. Except animal crackers, but those that have anything that he hasn't had in something else. No new detergents, soaps, etc. either.

The doctor is thinking environmental, but more like indoor environmental than outdoor as he hasn't been exposed to anything new outside. Well inside either for that matter. It all started with playtime with daddy. Hmm...hopefully it's not an allergy to playtime with daddy! I am thinking something in the rug perhaps, unless daddy brought something home with him from work.

Luckily the hives that RC has are not itchy. That would really make him miserable. Instead there are just quite a few. On his face, arms, torso, back, and legs. Hopefully the medicine the doctor prescribed will kick in fast. Hopefully we will find what triggered the reaction, though we may never know. For now, my poor boy looks uncomfortable. I am so thankful though that he is not so he doesn't have to suffer through it.

My Polished Patriotic Party Cake...

was a smash! (A friend gave me the title for today's post!) I got this idea from i am baker's blog. Amanda came up with this simple Rose Cake and has now made it even better! For those that have thought about cake decorating...this is the first cake you should ever make or at the very least decorate the outside of the cake using Amanda's rose technique. This is where I started with cake decorating and it was super easy to make. Even when I decided to recreate the vertical layers i am baker did on the original rose cake. Here is a picture of my first Rose Cake. I had made this cake for the first baby shower cake I ever made.

Rose design in butter cream icing

Vertical Pink and Chocolate Stripes.

This weekend we celebrated Memorial Day early by having friends over for a cookout. I of course had to make a cake for the occasion. Lately I haven't had a reason to bake!!! *Note to self...start working my way through the Cake Boss' cookbook again and send in with Travis to work!!!

Amanda at i am baker, came up with a patriotic twist to her rose cake. I just had to try it this weekend! So after checking out how she made her's, I got to work! Because I wanted a white cake base, I decided to go with boxed mixes as I haven't found a white cake recipe I like yet! I picked up 3 boxes of vanilla cake mix. Using 9" round pans I made one red, white, and blue layer. To have proper height for each layer I ended up having to use an entire box of mix for each layer.

Also remember when coloring that gel coloring works best. A tip for the red layer: be sure to start with a pink base then add 'NO TASTE red'. This will give you a good red color but not having it tasting nasty! I did add a little of 'red red' and 'Christmas red' to mine, but not much! For the blue I used 'sky blue' and a fair amount of it. I think it would have looked better with royal blue, but I didn't have any! Another note about icing colors...when working with darker colors such as red and blue, if possible make the icing the day before and color it. Darker icing will enhance in color over night. I unfortunately ran out of time the night before and therefore had to settle with what I got day of. It still looked fabulous though!

Now...drum roll please.......

TA DA....

I started with these....

To make this...

and decorate it like this!

One of my favorite views!

and finally how the inside of the cake looks!

This cake was fun to make and tasted awesome. In fact...I was told it was one of my best yet! I think it was the vanilla cake mix that did the trick! This is a fun way to celebrate the holidays!

Mommy Talk Tuesday (Letter to Your Child)

Dear RC,

I'm not the best with writing, but here goes. When you were born you surprised Mommy and Daddy by coming into this world almost 3 weeks early. That didn't matter. You were and are still strong willed. The moment the doctors laid you on the table in the operating room (Mommy had to have a c-section), you tried to crawl away and do your own thing! You still are that way today. You are very independent, but then there are times that you just don't want to let go of Mommy. You love balls, your Little People play sets, and pushing your truck...or anything really!

Mommy and Daddy welcomed you to our world

One month old. Aunt Jenny took this picture.

When you first began to talk you said "Dada." We were in Germany at the time and just welcoming Daddy back from his business trip. Other words that followed were "Baba" for bottle, "Mom Mom" (which I was so happy to hear you say, but then turned out that was your way to ask for food! Occasionally though you do get out just a plain old Mom which is for me!), "Go go go," "baby," and two days ago "ball!' I love listening to you "talk" to the cat. Every time you see him you start jabbering in a high pitched squeal as you are trying to mimic when the cat meow's.

You love sharing apples with Daddy!

You LOVE the baked beans at Jeb's Diner.

You love to move around, but you have yet to really walk. You will occasionally take a couple of steps, but you are still uneasy on your feet when you let go. You can crawl like a speed demon though! When you escape the blockade from the living room, you can disappear to another room in seconds!

Happy 1 Year Birthday RC! You loved the icing Mommy made for your cake...the cake not so much; however the second cake Mommy made while we were in Missouri, you devoured that one!

You loved the Medieval Times show we went to in D.C. You were 13 months here and waved your flag, jumped, and made noise all night long for the Black & White Knight!

You love to explore things. You watch EVERYTHING to see how it works! You are one smart little man and you are barely over a year old! Mommy can't wait to see you grow into smart, handsome, kind, outgoing man...but please, don't grow too fast! It already seems like if I blink, you will be off to college and leaving us! Stay my baby boy for a while longer.

Mommy loves you RC!

Out for a hike at the local park!

What would you do?

I'm a SAHM of an almost 14 month old. Our days are filled with play time, snacks, mealtime, diaper changes, chasing down the escapee, play groups, grocery shopping, and if I am lucky...household chores! It seems my hubby thinks I should be able to clean the whole apartment and have it perfect everyday. For all those other SAHM's are you able to get everything clean and perfect? Does your hubby ever get mad that things are messy or dishes aren't done every day? Is it just me that can't find the time to keep up with a 14 month old and do all the chores? How do you deal with times that your hubby watches the kids and he leaves toys, books, a food covered tray and other dishes, etc. out but gets on to you for the same thing? I'm trying to figure out how to even respond to my hubby's issues he brought up today when he doesn't bother to clean up when he is on childcare duty for just a couple of hours! So suggestions?

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