Three Cakes and a Baby

I am going to get straight down to business because we have important stuff to get through.

First off: my birthday.
and my reward for 35 years is called the Heaven and Hell Cake
I spotted this recipe about nine months ago and Mary agreed to give it a try. This monster is constructed in the following manner (and I have described it top down so the text matches the photo)

Chocolate ganache
Angel food cake
Peanut butter mousse
Devils food cake
Peanut butter mousse
Angel food cake
Peanut butter mousse
Devils food cake

The recipe can be found on Saveur.com and if you attempt to make it, drop me an e-mail and we can discuss some tips. The peanut butter mousse is very rich and you only need to make half of what the recipe calls for. It was delicious.

And this is proof that we don't beat our children. Mary brought the kids to the cooking store and asked them to pick something out for me. They both know I love wooden spoons and went straight to the spoon section. I tell you that any child who has ever been paddled with a wooden spoon would not voluntarily give his or her parent further means of corporal punishment as a birthday gift.

Next up. Cora's Birthday.
She wanted a bird cake and I went with a toucan because it suited my decorating method of choice; m&m and chocolate frosting.
Cora loves being silly and she is very grateful for anything to do with chocolate or butter. 'Beauty and the Beast' is her absolute favorite movie. I actually think it is the best of the lot when it comes to horrible animated films which try to teach little girls to obey stereotypes. She loves wearing dresses, but is equally happy running around in her underwear in the mud.

We have a wonderful daughter with diverse interests; and judging from the amount of rocks we find in her pockets, she has a great future as a geologist.

And cake number 3:
This is my attempt at a Tyrannosaurus. The piping looks a little rough because I was finishing it as the guests were piling through the door. It looks more intimidating in person.

Cole requested a velociraptor cake and my sketches were all very long and thin which would have been difficult to sculpt and frost, so I suggested a stegosaurus with chocolate plates on the back.

joe: I am not happy with the velociraptor design. It is too long and thin. How about a stegosaurus.
Cole: I want a meat eating dinosaur.
joe: But this makes more sense, because a tyrannosaurus would actually eat a stegosaurus. It makes a better metaphor.
Cole: We are just negotiating at this point, show me a flying dinosaur or a Tyrannosaurus. You must be able to do that.

and thus begins my son's career as a corporate negotiator. I had no idea he had such skills.

back to the party.
It was a dinosaur theme and Mary went all out. She even made these very cool plaster of paris dinosaur eggs and filled them with candy and toys as a parting gift for the kids.


And finally, the baby:

Ultrasounds have never meant much to me because I can't tell if this is the skull of our child, or recycled video of sonar from a whaling ship. I will say that after three kids, I can finally follow along with the sonographer and make the appropriate 'ooooh' and 'aaaah' sounds when they tell me I am looking at an arm or spine.

For my money, the most primal and adrenaline inducing moment which makes it sink in that we are going to have another child is hearing the heart beat. The simple 'whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh' of a baby's heart is unmistakable and creates an instant emotional connection. For validation, you need to look no further than Patrick Swayze trying to explain rhythm and connection to Ferris Beuller's sister in 'Dirty Dancing'.

The ultrasound place we went to also had 3-D ultrasound and the photos from that are an odd combination of cute and creepy.

This is a great shot of the left arm but the little face is a bit distorted and seems to be frowning.

This is my favorite shot because I can see the shape of the head and the ear. The lumpy thing in front of the face is supposed to be the fist.

These were taken almost a month ago so the baby is much further along and the cuteness of the ears has no doubt increased. If you have any further technical questions, you will need to direct them to Mary. She keeps track of how many weeks along the fetus is and how big the baby is at this moment. I think she told me last night the baby is now 22 centimetres long (nine inches for the god-fearing among you). All you need to know is that December 21 is go time. We plan on getting this puppy out before Christmas and before the glorious heat and humidity of a Queensland summer is at its peak.

Boy or Girl? We have no idea. I like to be surprised but Mary wanted to find out. The sonographer spent 45 minutes with us concluded it was going to be a girl. I then bid my wife goodbye and headed back to work. A short while later a doctor came into the room to confirm a few things and told my wife that he thinks it is going to be a boy. Mary swears she saw boy bits on the computer screen but she has spent a grand total of 3 hours in front of an ultrasound screen and I am not confident in her ability to make that call. We still have no idea. I tend to believe a trained technician and my wife believes the doctor.

Cole is excited to have a little Brother and Cora can't wait for her little sister to arrive. We are not having twins, so one of them is not going to get his/her wish.

I have babbled on long enough. I will save the name debate for another blog post.