Highs and Lows
It started off with little Isabelle going on a "nursing strike" (yes, that is the term doctors use for babies refusing to breastfeed!) which was way more emotional than I ever thought possible. It was as if she turned to look at me and said, "mommy, I hate you." So odd, I know, but I felt rejected and so sad that she preferred the bottle over what nature has intended and I spent a whole day in tears! She has been having issues with reflux, so feedings have been difficult for the past 4 weeks, but on Monday when it seemed like every effort to feed her turned into an hour long battle, I decided I couldn't handle it (nor had the time) and just resorted to the bottle. So now the pump and I have a very close relationship!
Then, a major high. I had the pleasure of meeting the famous actress, Angie Harmon!!! She came to my home to discuss ordering a birthday cake for her six-year-old daughter! Yes, that's right, a celebrity drove up into my modest little neighborhood, knocked on our little old ranch house door and came in to meet ME!!! She is absolutely gorgeous and couldn't have been nicer. What a thrill!
Then reality set in and I had to focus on my orders for the weekend. My first cake of the weekend was a Chapel Hill themed groom's cake for Will Kenney with a "collage" of all of the special landmarks at Carolina. I couldn't have been happier to make this cake for a family friend (I always love to honor my alma mater!), but on Friday when I pulled it out of the fridge and started to apply all of the little designs that I had spent hours working on, my cake slowly turned into a wet mess.You'd think I would know this after over 7 years of making cakes, but once brought to room temperature, the condensation that is produced on a cake iced in American buttercream can cause all of my handpainted designs to bleed and smudge and just become a big mess. All of those hours of hard work were being ruined by moisture before my very eyes . To top it off, I had 2 other large wedding cake orders to work on, but I knew that I could not let this cake leave the bakement until I was happy with it. I wanted it to be the highlight of the evening!!! I wiped away my tears (hopefully hormones are partly to play for all of these emotions!) and got to work, doing my best to fix "the mess". When it was picked up, I felt pretty good about the final product. Then sweet Wendy called me on Sunday to tell me what a hit it was. That meant so much. Here it is:
Friday was a typical long and exhausting day. But I got to bed at a decent hour (midnight!), only to see Brian in bed, wide awake and white faced. He had been suffering from a terrible headache all evening and said he was now feeling nauseous. Turns out he got some stomach bug (or a burger at Big Daddy's the day before had something to do with it!?) and was sick all night. Between feeding Isabelle and listening to him dry heave all night, I laid awake in fear that I (and Isabelle) were next. I was just imagining us having to pull over on our way delivering wedding cakes so that I could puke on the side of the road. Thank goodness Isabelle and I were spared and Brian started feeling better by morning time.
After a week of crazy cake making and very little sleep I finally finished all of the cakes on Saturday. Brian, Isabelle, and I all delivered the wedding cakes together. We first brought this cake adorned with my gumpaste orchids to the Club at Longview in Weddington:
I thought I had enough car trouble after the episode at The Westin the weekend before. But on our way to Van Landingham Estate, with this chocolate ganache iced cake for Katie Johnson and Rob Heroy, my car's power steering just stopped working. Thank God Brian was at the wheel and he handled it calmly...I wasn't sure we should drive any further when it was apparent the car would not make turns easily. But, we had a wedding cake in the car that needed to be cut in just a few hours!!!
Somehow we made it the rest of the way (oh so carefully) and got the cake to its destination. Phew. Then we dared to make the journey home and discovered that some belt in the car was torn to shreds. Oh well, the cakes were safely delivered...that's really all that matters!
This is what you get after making 550 servings of cake. A big ole' bucket of cake scraps!
When we got home at the end of the day I was completely wiped out and ready to keel over. Yet it wasn't over yet. Sunday was another work day with 3 cake tastings and a day of cleaning the bakement (you wouldn't believe what a mess I can make!). But over the weekend I got one of the highest highs possible. I got Isabelle to laugh out loud for the very first time, and it was about the sweetest little sound I've ever heard! I couldn't get enough!
And this is Isabelle now, just over 3 months old! What a cutie!
She's even sitting up with her boppy (well, for about 20 seconds, or just enough time to take this picture!). What a big girl! Now, let's just sleep through the night and Momma will be even prouder!
Comments
Post a Comment