The past few weeks have been emotionally taxing to say the least. Kyle has been working down south and coming up to see the babies as much as he can…but because life can get in the way, and he’s trying his best to take care of us, he’s had to stay down for a couple of weeks at a time. And they’re missing him. And I know he’s missing them. I just want to stop right now and say a little shout out to ALL those single mamas. Doing this parenting stuff alone for weeks on end is NOT for the faint hearted. It’s crazy! And working from home doesn’t make it any easier. Right now, because we’re having such AMAZING weather (I’m NOT complaining, I swear!) they’ve been soaking up the sun shine….A LOT..and as fabulous as that sounds, it’s taking its toll on all of us.
Our days start as such, we wake up at 530am (because that’s how they roll 😩🙈, especially with the very light mornings) I refuse to leave my bed until at least 630 so most days they’ll keep themselves occupied by playing, reading, or listening to their tunes. From 630 it’s breakfast, getting dressed, brushing teeth and hair etc. Hayden is very easy in that it takes her no time to be ready for the school bus. Jax on the other hand…needs at least an hour. Which is great, because he only goes to nursery in the afternoon. Between Hayden setting off for school and Jax at nursery I get as much of the house cleaned as I can, laundry, dishes etc and throw the odd cake in the oven. While watching the little rebel that is my son. He’s CONSTANTLY on the go. Digging holes in the garden, playing swords, and gun fights, riding his bike, CLIMBING EVERYTHING!!! And just doing as he pleases because ‘I’m 5 and a half mom! You can trust me!!!’ But it’s the fact that he never looks for cars, and climbs on top of the car roof and into the recycling bin to ‘help you get the rubbish down mum!’ Is why I’m constantly on my toes. Or when he very sneakily gets a chair to unlatch the front door and is knocking at his friends doors at the other side of Glengolly at 7am!!!!!! Which has me a tiny bit on edge. (I make sure to double lock EVERYTHING now! I’m constantly getting texts like ‘Jax is over here, just so you know’ or ‘I’m just sending him back over’ and guys majority of the time I do know where he is but that boy is SLY!!!! And by the stories my dad tells me of how he was as a kid…I see exactly where he gets it. The boy has no fear. I digress…. I try to get as much done before Jax goes to nursery. Mostly for self care kinda reasons…those 2 1/2 hours before the bus drops Hayden back at home…means pretty much the only ‘Me’ time I get in the day. And the ‘me’ time usually consists of chores, decorating cakes, ordering supplies, and just my work in general. Once Hayden gets home, we get a quick catchup on her day, I clean up (again), get her a snack and we’re off to collect her brother. Once Jax is home, dinner is made, homework is done, they play while I get the dishwasher loaded and prep for the cake decorating I’m going to do while they’re in bed….
Except in the summer time..bed time feels non existent. They’re overtired, too warm and just straight up cranky! And it’s SUCH hard work just to get them to bed, and there’s no one to back me up. And after a couple full weeks of that, the exhaustion sets in and I’m a basket case. I’m told I’m the worst parent ever, and that it would be better if I wasn’t in this world…and the list goes on. And part of me feels like they’re not wrong, I feel like I’m constantly on their case. And by the time they finally fall asleep…all I want to do is sleep too.
So back to the wedding cake. This week was one of the toughest since the split 2 months ago. I was so looking forward to this cake, and then emotions, egos, and sheer exhaustion got the best of me and I had to take a step back, and try to relax. Which meant breaking down in tears and just letting it all out. Because there was no way in hell I was going to let any of my negative, sad, exhausted energy near that cake. I know, weird…but if I’m making a cake and not in good form, it reflects in my work. And when it’s a wedding cake, I need positive, loving, healing energy going in to it. It’s just how I vibe. It’s a wedding cake for crying out loud! I’m going to let the love shine through. And I have plenty of that to go around…just not at that particular moment. So I took the time I needed. I had a glass of wine, I had a relaxing bath and a good cry, I brushed off the negativity, realigned my chakras and I went back to work.
And I enjoyed EVERY SECOND of it. And I fell in love with the cake as soon as I put the finishing touches on. I stuck her in the fridge…because buttercream….and heat. And this morning I woke up feeling rejuvenated. And then….
The cake would not fit in the car….because Buttercream! I couldn’t take the topper off because it would ruin it…and it was warm. So while I’m trying to shift the cake into the car I’m panicking. I’m having visions of the cake tumbling over and it’s HEAVY and I’m holding it at a very awkward angle. I’m yelling at Hayden ‘GET ANDY OR VIKKI QUICK!!!!!’ Hoping to god that she can hear the urgency in my voice and MOVE!!!..Andy came to the rescue by taking the Cake off me and trying to figure out the next move. Vikki came to the rescue by saying ‘leave the kids with Andy, I’ll carry the cake on my lap’. Disaster averted. Thanks to having such amazing friends, who even though suffering from an oncoming Migraine, Vikki insisted she come through with me for the hour long round trip to Ackergill Tower to help me out. (I think we got the better end of the deal though…Andy got stuck with 4 kids! 😆) So when I have days of total despair, I think..no, I’m sure..it’s the universe sending me a very clear message. ‘I got you, you’re ok, you’re blessed and you have so much to be thankful for. I am only here to help you!’ Message receive universe…message received 💕
All the flowers were made with my Swiss Meringue Buttercream. You can find the recipe here! The leaping salmon is made with 50/50 modelling chocolate and fondant and I used shards of isomalt for the water effect. The piping tips I used were the small rose tip for the violets and cherry blossoms. For the large peony rose I actually used the very large leaf tip (my large rose tip went missing!) it did the job and you always realise just how resourceful you are when your tools go amiss 🙌🏻 For the Chrysanthemums I used the little ‘c’ shaped nozzle which is a Wilton 81.
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