Baker and Baby

Yesterday, on Mary's three month birthday, we got a very special visit from some of the Naperville cousins - the first, second, and removed kind.  

Somewhere in the middle of our banter, between Mary's hair, Amanda's nails, and Bob's incorrigible sense of humor, I mentioned that I had made a cake the day before. Melissa promptly asked, 'now how did you do that?' I took a second to answer. How did I do that?

Was Mary napping? No, because outside of her go-back-to-bed-for-a-couple-hours-after-she-eats 'naps' in the morning, she doesn't really nap at all. Oh yeah, she was just hanging out with me in the kitchen the whole time. In short, here's how I balanced baking and baby care.

While breastfeeding Mary in the morning, I selected a recipe to go along with the request, carrot cake, and read it very carefully, making sure I knew every twist and turn in the procedure. Once it was go time, there was no looking back.

'Okay Mary, here's your base camp. (Blanket on the kitchen floor, spit up cloth over that, Sophie teether to the right, bunny rattle to the left.) I'm going to be right here.'
'Coo.'
'Okay, first Mommy has to peel the carrots.'
'Coo.'
'Then I have to shred them in the blender.'
'Baaaaahhhhh.' 
The Cuisinart wailed and so did Mary, startled by the loud sound. I quickly picked her up and showed her what I was doing which calmed her. About midway through measuring and mixing the dry ingredients, I set her back on the floor again so I could continue with two hands. I kept talking to Mary the whole time, explaining what I was doing and why I was doing it - above all to celebrate Uncle Trent. And she remained pacified until the loud noise I was making by leveling the batter sparked a couple more cries.

When the cakes were in the oven, we went for a walk. When they were cooling and resting, I fed her and changed her. When it was time to make the icing, I once again set up her play station and encouraged her to wiggle around while I quickly beat the butter, melted the white chocolate, stirred in the confectioners sugar and started to assemble the two-layered cake. Just as I was licking the spatula and starting to do the dishes, Mary let out an 'I've had enough of this' cry. And up and out we went.

That night, Mary slept through the singing, the wind blowing out the candles for Trent, and the cake cutting.

 

But I had an extra slice for her. I figured if Mary didn't get to have a piece, she could at least have extra sweet milk before she went to bed.

Lo.

10 Tips When Baking with Baby: 

1. Baby base camp is key. I'm sure there are contraptions you can put your baby in while you are cooking, but there's not enough room in our kitchen and I'm a big fan of just letting Mary roll around.
2. Talk to your baby the whole time - tell her what you are doing and why you are doing it.
3. Hold her at times and show her what you are doing.
4. But NEVER hold your baby when knives are present or when the oven is open. (I know that's obvious, but just wanted to clear that up.)
5. When there is a clean break in a recipe - when something needs to set, cool, rest, etc. go take a walk with your baby or just do something else in another room.
6. About every two, three, maybe five minutes check on baby, shake the rattle, smile at her, let her know that Mommy is very close.
7. Basically, you should try to work in 20-30 minute increments - that seems to be the breaking point for any of Mary's activities.

8. Always err on making too much icing - that's just my baking tip in general. 

9. Shop for a recipe on Sweetopolita.com - her zesty carrot cake was a home run on Wednesday evening. 

10. While I was never a fan of 'eating for two' when I was pregnant, if cake is involved, eating for two when you're breastfeeding seems a-okay.