11 months 5 days

What a long day! I've decided to dream-fed the boys at midnight and reduce the amount of milk slowly every night until they don't need to be fed any more at night. I also decided not to react to Emmy when he wakes up 2 hours after the last feeding at 3 or so in the morning. Sammy sleeps right next to him, but his crying does not wake him up. And last night I closed the door to the living room where Tammy is sleeping, so he would not wake his sister up. I can still hear Tammy if she starts crying.

Last night I fed Emmy just before 1 am when he started crying, and Sammy at 1:30 am when I went to bed. At 3 Emmy started crying. Instead of jumping up to get his milk and feed him so he's quiet and won't wake anybody up, I stayed where I was, listening to him. I'm always amazed how Randy can sleep when they cry; I can't. I was looking in Emmy's direction and in the dark I could see him stand up, sit down, lie down, stand up, etc., while crying in my direction, asking for milk. I just lay there watching and waiting. There was no sleeping for me while this was going on. After a while, he finally stopped and went back to sleep. Victory! But for me, it was another short night as Randy left the house at 7 am and I was alone with the babies for 90 minutes and had to take care of them. I was extremely tired all day, and still am.

My Mom showed up at 8:30 am to help for a few hours, which was highly unusual and very much appreciated. However, I still had to make milk and change diapers while she was playing with them. She hadn't been here in a while (she goes baby-swimming with us every Friday instead), and the little ones enjoyed having Grandma around, and so did she. She actually saw Tammy wave at her, but I missed it, and she would not do it again when I had the camera on.

They always take a nap in the morning, and both Tammy and Emmy often need help falling asleep. I lay down with Emmy and got up once he was sleeping, and then sat down with Tammy and helped her fall asleep. Suddenly all three were sleeping which is rare, and it gave me a chance to catch up with my Mom.

At 11:30 Caritas helper Christine arrived for her second and last half-day of helping us. She knows the babies well and loves them, as she took care of them for several months while we had the organization's help. All the babies were out again, which Tammy and Emmy love. They were crawling everywhere! And they told me that Tammy had taken a few steps, holding on to the couch!

My Mom left and we fed all three and then ate ourselves before leaving the house to go to the new apartment together. When we got there, the IKEA workers were just finishing the kitchen. It looked great, although there were some issues. I had actually talked to them on the phone before leaving the house and was told we needed a plumber for the dishwasher. Miraculously I found a plumber who came only 2 hours after I called him, and he took care of the issue. Amazing! We also still need to get frames for a plug and light switch. And IKEA has to come back as a part was missing, and to put the front panel on the dishwasher. They warned me that it could take a long time before they could come back for that. But what do you think? Doesn't it look great?

After the workers and plumber had left, I still wanted the get the upstairs area stuff put in the right places before going home. So Randy and I worked to move the shelves and dining room table and Randy had put a baby bed together that Tammy will sleepin at first. Now I have some shelves to put stuff in when we move in the day after tomorrow!

Christine was downstairs with the babies the whole time, and I spent some time with them as well. Not long after arriving we fed them. Then they played hard, and Sammy got tired first and took a nap in the new baby bed. The other two got tired as well and I helped Tammy fall asleep, while Christine helped Emmy fall asleep. By then Sammy was up again. A while later the other two woke back up, and they were all really cranky. It was hot, and we finally realized they needed some milk, as it was also getting later. Christine also had to say her final good-byes. Then we loaded them up into the strollers, and they finally quieted down. It was 5:30 pm before we left, and there was so much more we could have done, but I was happy with what we had accomplished.

It took us nearly an hour to go home. Tammy was in a great mood and was high-fiving Daddy in the subway. Back home we went through the routine of feeding, changing and putting them to bed. The boys fell asleep right away, but not the girl. I had to put her flat and stroke her head a few times, but in the end she lay down and fell asleep by herself. We're making progress!

After Randy and I were done with dinner, we started working. He's been packing up baby food since, as I have already set aside the food needed for the time we have left here, as we have friends coming tomorrow and those boxes can be transported to the new apartment by car. Unfortunately I have to get up early once again tomorrow - we have baby swimming two more times - and it's gonna be a very busy day. Thank you for praying!