My Passion

I have discovered that I have a passion again. In high school I had such enthusiasm for life and such conviction and passion. After getting married I felt like i lost a lot of that. And it scared me. I had lost so much of what ME was and i didn't necessarily know how to get it back. I didn't have time or the motivation to paint,and every time I did it was frustrating instead of therapeutic. I didn't sing anymore,didn't wear crazy make up,or unique clothes didn't play in the rain as much...I disappeared into the everyday tedious-ness of a wife. And I lived with that. I just assumed my passion was over and my life was wonderful despite not having a passion.

And then I got pregnant and i didn't feel like me at all.who was this person with insane emotions and baby weight? Getting out of bed was a challenge every morning. Working 30 hours a week until a week before kaleb was born was exhausting. I had no energy to do anything extra. When kaleb was born my life changed completely in the best way possible. But I still had no energy to do anything. Come to find out...I have ppd. And I needed a reason to live some days. I know that sounds terrible. But some mornings I had no motivation to get out of bed except the baby crying. I felt useless,boring,and talentless. The medicine for ppd helped with the energy. But I felt like Rachel was gone and replaced with this cleaning,laundry and milk machine. Here to serve one purpose and nothing else. It drove me crazy. I needed SOMETHING.

I started looking at recipes and cakes looked fun,and not as hard as I thought homemade cakes would be. I made red velvet and then angel food from scratch and it was fun. I loved it. I have tried lots of recipes for cake and frosting and fillings. All good so far. Come to find,I'm actually really good at this. Who knew? I took a decorating class, and I love that too.

Some of the cakes I have tried:
red velvet with cream cheese frosting and raspberry filling
Lemon cake with white chocolate ganache and raspberry filling and lemon buttercream frosting
Strawberry cake with almond butter cream
Red velvet with white chocolate ganache and raspberry filling and almond buttercream with fondant calla lilies

I design cakes,draw them all the time. One for kalebs birthday,one for a friend who is on bedrest with a difficult pregnancy,one for my sisters wedding. No guarantees I'll make all of them. But the idea is there. And I'm obsessed. It's therapeutic,calming,and amazingly fun. I love love love making cakes. I have a new passion for life in all aspects because of this. And i know this is gonna sound so dramatic but...baking cakes has saved my life. I realized that on my way to work yesterday. And I know it's weird,but thats me. W-E-I-R-D. And I'm a baker obsessed.

Breakfast With Kaleb

Kaleb has decided baby food is disgusting.
He refuses to eat it.
So we are now feeding him real food

Only one glitch with his idea...

He doesn't have any teeth yet.
Needless to say, this has made mealtime quite the adventure.
This was his breakfast this morning.

He starts with the cheerios in a bowl.
And then shakes the bowl cause he likes the sound it makes

Dumps the cheerios allllll over the floor

Crushes them with the bowl

then puts some of them back into the bowl.

then he eats them

cute eh?
I think so.
pay no mind to the messy room...
a double ear infection and the flu..plus a stubborn tooth that wont come in for kaleb
have sorta ruined any progress this week.

Holidays In Pictures

Since i never remember to when the holiday actually happens..here are few.


On December 13th
Ever since i can remember
we have celebrated St. Lucia
Its a Swedish Holiday

Basically we all dress up in white
And the boys wear these pointy white hats
we didnt realize we looked vaguely like the KKK
Until one year a neighbor knocked on our door...
and we answered the door..all in white robe thingys..
and pointy hats.
This is Kalebs first St. Lucia.

Whats this grandad?

I'm not so sure about this...

I hate it! get it off!!!
Then there was Christmas Eve.

he loves Auntie Jenny

The many faces of Kaleb

Sleepy baby...
Didnt even make it to look at lights.