My baby turned 2 yesterday! I can honestly say I think this year went faster then year one. Time is going by so fast for both my boys and I desperately miss their baby days but am in LOVE with the little boys they are growing to be. We lovingly call Bowen our Beastie Baby or the Bo-Barian because of his fearless and adventurous personality. While Sawyer thinks things through and has a level of caution Bowie throws caution to the wind and does everything full throttle with a smirk on his face. Bowie also has an incredible sense of humor, he loves to snuggle, and is incredibly inquisitive. He needs to know how things work.
When I was pregnant with Bowen I was deathly sick for the first 16 weeks and could barely eat bread without getting sick. Naturally, my mom thought I was having a girl since she was sick with my sisters and I and I wasn't sick at all with Sawyer, I had a feeling I was having another boy though and wasn't surprised when I was right. Bowen's due date was February 23rd and I was determined to have a VBAC and mentally heal from my unplanned c-section with Sawyer. Unfortunately, Long Island doesn't have great VBAC rates and many providers aren't VBAC supportive. Luckily, I had my mom who VBACed both my sisters after me, and my aunts to help support and guide me through the process. Since there was no medical reason to schedule a c-section, and I had gotten Bowie to flip from breach at 37 weeks thanks to a few visits to a chiropractor, my Dr agreed to induce me at 41 weeks if I didn't go into labor naturally.
The day of my induction, there was a massive Nor'easter. It was cold, rainy, windy and just an awful day. Once induced the Nurses and Dan were my #1 supporters and did everything they could to get me my VBAC. When the Anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural the lights went out due to the storm and it took a few seconds for them to kick back on. Things progressed quickly and I was able to start pushing around 9:00pm. Dan was AMAZING and drew on his football past to coach and yell and support me through the labor. At 10:17pm our little boy screamed his way into the world. Once Bowen and I were settled into our room I sent Dan home to sleep a little and get Sawyer from my parents' in the morning so we could be a family for the first time together.
Flash forward two years, a lot of growth, a lot of love, a lot of fun, and NOT a lot of sleep and my sweet boy turned 2 yesterday. The day couldn't be more different then March 2nd, 2018. It was a cool, sunny, spring like day, so once Dan was home from work we took the boys for a bike ride to a local playground and had some family fun. My family came over for dinner for some pizza and cake and we had a small little celebration.
I decided to make Bowie and number cake and wanted to decorate it with LEGOs which is his favorite toy. Bowie loves chocolate so I made a basic chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and decorated it with M&M's and homemade Fondant LEGO pieces.
To make the Fondant I melted down marshmallow and added powdered sugar and kneaded it until it came together as a firm, not too sticky, ball.
To make the number, I used Pinterest for inspiration and how to. I used one 8x8 round cake pan and one 9x13 rectangular pan. Once baked and cooled, I used a cup to cut a hole out of the middle of the round cake, cut a 1/4 piece of the circle off and then I used the rectangular cake to make the 2's tail and any additional shaping.
Chocolate Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable canola oil
¼ cup of melted butter
2Â large eggs
2Â teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup hot water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine dry ingredients including sugar into mixer and mix until combined
Add milk, oil, butter, and eggs and mix.
Add hot but not boiling water and mix
Add vanilla and mix
Split batter into two parchment lined and greased cake pans.
Bake for 25-30 mins or until skewer comes out clean. If using larger and shallower pans baking time will vary.
Remove cakes from oven and cool completely
Buttercream:
3 cups (6 sticks) of unsalted butter at room temperature
6 cups powdered sugar sifted
Pinch of salt
Heavy cream added one Tbs at a time
Vanilla to taste about 1-1 1/2 Tbs
Cream butter and add powdered sugar one cup at a time and add pinch of salt and mix.
Add Milk and vanilla slowly so not to water down the icing and mix until nice a fluffy consistency. If not using immediately put in a container and refrigerate for 1 week or freeze for up to 2 months.