What's more painful: labour or cake decorating? (also, Kaylin turns 3!)

Our sweet girl turned 3 this past weekend. I can hardly believe it. I look back at pictures of her when she was 3 months old, 9 months old...she doesn't seem like the same person. But then sometimes I watch her as she sleeps and it feels like she was only born yesterday and I could still pick her up and cradle her like a tiny newborn. Sighh, how time flies.

And speaking of time, how much time do you think it would take to make a Dora the Explorer birthday cake? Well, I'll tell you in a minute. Let me start by saying that my first mistake was asking a 2 year old what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. Of course Kaylin wanted a Dora cake. Who am I to stand in the way of a Dora fan and her celebratory baked goods?

To be sure, I asked her again several times over the past few weeks and her answer was always "A Dora cake!" OK, I thought, sounds like fun. The week before her birthday, I rented the Dora pan, baked the cake and bought a few more containers of cake decorator's food colouring to ensure Dora's t-shirt and backpack were accurately depicted. (I wouldn't want to disappoint Kaylin with an inaccurate icing-rendering of her favourite cartoon character!) All I had to do was decorate the cake the night before the party. Easy.

Easy, unless you are suddenly stricken with your 5th sinus infection of your 7-month pregnancy that same day. Sick or not, there was no turning back. Dora couldn't arrive at the party naked. She had to be iced. Fighting back a throbbing sinus headache and blowing my nose every 15 minutes (and then washing my hands thoroughly each time, I promise!) I started mixing the many colours required to make Dora around 9:30pm. To make a long story short, I did not finish that cake until 1:30am. (It's mixing all the colours that took the longest. Why doesn't Dora match her clothes better instead of wearing yellow socks and red shorts? Incidentally, a woman in line at the Bulk Barn told me it took her 2 hours to decorate her Dora cake. Liar!!) I don't think I sat down that entire time and had to hobble up to bed that night.

As I lay in bed, trying to will my back muscles to stop spasming, I wondered to myself, what's more painful--delivering a baby without any pain medication, as I had done 3 years earlier, or spending 4 solid hours decorating a Dora cake when you're already sick, tired, and carrying an extra 35 pounds around?

I'm still not sure. But I do know that seeing Kaylin's face after each experience--after I delivered her and after she saw her Dora cake for the first time--made both nightmares dreams come true!!

Happy birthday Kaylin, my beautiful three year old!