The Good Stuff

Despite all of the craziness with Carter this past weekend, we did have a couple better moments.  Friday was Craig's birthday, and I managed (possibly for the first time ever) to do a homemade cake for him.  We can't exactly run out and get cupcakes at Wegmans anymore, so I took the opportunity to test out Wegmans' gluten-free cake mix.  It was a relatively short, dense cake, but it wasn't too bad.  I will probably do another test run before Carter's birthday (even though he can't eat the gluten-free cake, I will make one so Jacob and Craig's brother can eat comfortably) to try what a random former pastry chef told us when we were in Florida--add an additional egg and beat it for an extra minute.  Still, it was fine.  My decorating left a little to be desired, though.  I should not write on cakes, it is confirmed.  I just need to do star tip letters and all is right with the world.  End of story.  I just did a little piping along the bottom and topped the cake with round ball sprinkles.  Simple but festive.  Here's Jacob trying to help blow out the last candle...

See, the writing ruins it!  Someday maybe I'll learn how to write neatly!

On Sunday we had Jacob's Christmas program at church.  When I was a kid, we spent a good chunk of our Sunday School time in December, as well as a couple Saturday mornings (I think--I know it was at least one), practicing for our Christmas Eve program.  It always seemed like a lot of work.  Our current church's program seems a little more haphazard.  It's usually in early December, and this year it was at the same time as church instead of on a Sunday afternoon.  It was also in the gym instead of the church itself.  Considering they couldn't really fit everyone in, I'm thinking they may not do that again.  Anyway...Jacob had been there for a couple weeks prior and we did go to the Saturday practice, but that didn't seem like enough time to learn what he needed.  Still, they do have a director who prompts them on hand motions and all that, but I was still understandably unsure how things would go.  Everything with Jacob is a bit of a crap shoot, but lately he's fancied himself a bit of a performer so we figured this could be right up his alley.  Sure enough, he did awesome.  I mean, I'm not going to say he knew every word, but he faked it really great when he didn't!  He did a good job standing up front for the whole hour, too.

Here's a picture of him doing the motions for one of the songs.  Sorry about the quality, it was odd lighting and I was zoomed way in.  Also please excuse his hair.  It would not behave and he has since gone in for a haircut...

 

And here is a video of him singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain".  He was really into it, and I loved every minute.  We don't see that kind of enthusiasm often, so when we do, I will take it!

 

The other big thing from last week was that Carter is getting no less than three more teeth.  He's got three on the bottom (the symmetrical fourth is still being stubborn), but suddenly three have busted through on the top.  In the picture below you can see the three bottoms, and if you click on the picture to see the zoomed version, you'll see at least two of the three popping through on top!

 

I'm very sentimental about these first few batches of teeth.  When the first couple come in, I miss the full-on gummy smile that I've loved from the beginning.  I love the two bottom teeth phase, though...it is my absolute favorite!  It just symbolizes that great time when your baby is smiling and active, but before they start formulating plans of their own to take over the house!  There's a joyful simplicity about that period, and when the top teeth come in, it's the beginning of the end.  They're old enough to start having opinions (but not old enough to express them in a coherent, clear manner--ugh!), and it changes their whole look from tiny baby to emerging big kid.  Still, part of me is excited to see his big boy smile, because it does start us down the road of knowing what he'll look like as a big kid!

 

Otherwise, we're just hanging in there.  I'm totally freaking out about Christmas being two weeks away.  Hopefully I'll have a whole post on that one of these days.  Carter is still pretty iffy.  He got a fever on Monday but it went away in the evening, only to come back (very low) yesterday morning.  He was fine by evening, but in the meantime he's gotten a nasty cold with a cough.  He's not quite as happy as usual, but it's hard to pinpoint the cause.  All of this is making me hope that all of this has been just a weird virus and not the intolerance thing like I feared.  There have been a couple other babies in his room at daycare with oddball illnesses--random puking, etc.--so that's making me hope that's what it is.  I also had a minor stomach issue last week and Craig hasn't been feeling great in the past day or so, either, so maybe this is just some weird illness that wreaks some havoc with the digestive system for a bit and then goes away.  I'm hoping to slowly start to reintroduce the questionable foods to him soon, but it's hard to judge when even his cough is contributing to the vomiting.  I just wish he wasn't so skinny already, because this whole not eating much thing isn't helping him put on the weight he needs.  And once all of this is over I will have the added task of figuring out what else to feed him to help him bulk up.  At least those new teeth should help that task a bit!

 

So at least parts of the weekend were good, and I hope you enjoyed the proof!