That was at 10am.

I did not calculate Standard Infant Time, which roughly translates into tripling the amount of time it will take you to do everything. Also, I decided to double the recipe without taking into consideration the size of my Kitchen Aid. My Kitchen Aid is Queen of All She Surveys (no, really, I keep a tiara on her when she is not in use) but her bowl is not up to doubling that particular recipe. (When doubled, said recipe includes 8 eggs, 6.5 cups of flour, and 5.5 cups of sugar, plus everything else.) I had to haul out the hand mixer to make sure everything was combined properly.

This, mind you, took longer because first Adam would wake up. Then I would have to feed him. Then he'd fall asleep while feeding, so I would tiptoe in and put him in the bouncer seat, then he would wake up and immediately let the entire world know that he needed a diaper change, which meant I would have to change him, wash my hands, possibly feed him some more, and then start the cycle anew.

This is punctuated by phone calls from my mother (with her dubious "I never tried baking with babies that small", well, Ma, that's because frankly they're so tender they stand up to a little light sautee better) (HAH! I kill me. No one tell any parenting comms that I joked about eating babies OMG that is SO NOT AP!) and KC. KC's last phone call was to tell me the title of the new Harry Potter book. When I started to prattle on about the flamewars this is sure to cause, he interrupted me to say, "Look, I gotta go, I have shit to do", well, fine, but you called me, pally-o. Do not call a woman whose only company communicates nonverbally if you want a short conversation.

Long story short, she says too late, the bread was ready to put in the oven at about 1:15. Three hours after I started.

I have cakes to make, too. This will have to wait until I have a couple extra sets of hands, I suppose. The only one that really has top get done by tomorrow is the one I promised one of the moms at Leah's school; she's helped out a lot by walking Leah to school with her kids a couple times a week and I'd like to do something for her. The other ones can wait till tomorrow or Saturday to bake; one is for us for Christmas Day and one is for our favorite neighbors, who get our mail and watch Leah on short notice and are just in general the kind of neighbors you want to have nearby.

But I have Christmas shopping to finish tonight, so it will have to wait.

I managed to get a lot done online, but my stepmom is a tough one, and stocking stuffers are the sort of thing you really have to get at the store. Toothbrushes, batteries, candy...of course, by now it is sort of traditional to for us to buy those on Christmas Eve. We are never going to be the people who have everything done before Thanksgiving, and I am sort of okay with that. KC is beyond okay with that; he thrives on the pressure and actually likes battling the mall the final week. He enjoys the challenge and is not happy unless he is being annoyed by clueless shoppers.

He is deeply weird. But he does an excellent job wrapping presents, so I can't really complain.

OK. The bread should be just about done, and I need to find a place to let it cool where the dog will not get to it, plus it is almost time to go pick up Leah and we have to come back and start dinner so we can be ready to face the mall.

If that kid brother of hers doesn't have other ideas, that is.