13 months 20 days

My alarm woke me at my regular time of 8:50, after having gone to bed at my typical time of after 2:30. I made their food, and we fed them at the dining room table upstairs. Then we dressed them, put their warm winter coats and boots on, and put them into the strollers. We left at 9:45 and it took us 45 minutes and 2 subways to get to the swimming pool.

As always nobody had slept on the way there, and especially Emmy was so tired that he got cranky during the lesson and had to switch with his sister as he wanted to be with me. So Grandma had Tammy again for the rest of the lesson, and Daddy had Sammy. All three had a lot of fun.

It's a lot of hassle for only 30 minutes in the water. We put their clothes back on, changed ourselves, paid the way-to-expensive price, and left to go back home. Emmy fell asleep right away, and Tammy a little later, while Sammy never slept. That is also the way it usually goes.

When we got home at 12:45, I put their food in the warmer. Thursday has been fish day for a while, and today it was the first time they didn't have salmon, but European plaice, as they can now eat jars for 11 months and up, so we have some new food to try. Only Sammy can't handle the big pieces of food in those jars, and gets something else (salmon in this case).

Our friend Sonja arrived to help at 1 pm - thank God - and she helped us feed them. Again we stayed at the dining room table and used the new high chairs. We then put Sammy to bed who needed a nap bad. The other two went downstairs with Sonja, but not for long. I could hear Emmy cry; he had woken up before we got home and was still very tired, so I got him and lay down with him. However, he wasn't tired enough, so I took him back downstairs.

It's become tradition that Randy cooks omelets after swimming, and I ate my food in bed. I was extremely tired. I could still hear Emmy cry, and so I went to get him again after I was done eating. It took a little time, but he finally fell asleep on me, and ended up sleeping a long time, while I got a much-needed nap as well.

It was nearly 4 pm when we got back up and went downstairs. I discovered that Randy had not fed them their 3 pm meal; Sammy was crying, probably because he was hungry. So we fed them at 4 pm. Tammy was tired too, but it was too late for a nap, so she wanted me to hold her. Sammy wanted me to hold him too, and Emmy came as well.

As they were outside their gated area where I was, Tammy discovered the box with toys our neighbor had just given us, and Emmy soon spotted it as well. They had the greatest time taking out one toy after another, all that new stuff, and forgot all about being tired. There was even the exact same "molecule" that Sammy plays with at his physiotherapy sessions, so he was happy too (on the picture). And then there was a dancing monkey that was really hilarious (video uploaded).

By the way, Emmy is not only very fast, immediately spotting when he has a chance to go where he shouldn't, but he's also very intelligent to figure out how to make an opening where there is none. Randy had the baby bed that acts as a barrier leaned against something else, so pushing it would not open up a passage, but Emmy soon figured out that he just had to pull it to go through. So Randy took care of that.

Today he figured out the barrier to the guest room and storage room. The little baby bed was the barrier there, and he simply leaned against it and pushed it that way and was able to get through. Smart little boy!

At 5 pm I left them to go to the kitchen and get their food ready - later than usual as all their meals were later today because of our late return home. I enjoy their new plates with really good suction cups and the new high chairs; Sammy has yet to use his high chair.

Tammy was really tired and hardly ate anything. She also did not pick up food and put it into her mouth, maybe for the same reason. They're supposed to start doing that which is one reason I got these plates. Now Emmy impressed us, because he was actually picking up food and putting it into his mouth. Great job, young man!

Sammy was so very tired, he didn't drink much and fell asleep right away. Emmy and Tammy needed quite a while, even though they were tired as well. Randy was out buying groceries while I sat with them, waiting for them to fall asleep.

Now it's nearly 2 am, and time to feed them all one more time before going to bed. In just 3 weeks they'll be one year old, so it's time to start thinking of strategies to wean them off the night-time feedings.