13 months 29 days

Another short night, another tough time getting up in the morning. We fed them at 9 am, and then put them into their beds. This morning they were up a little earlier than usual, at 7 am, so that should have caused them to be more tired. After I put them down, I went back to bed myself. And while I lay in bed in the room right next to them, I hear their crying and whining, and there is a debate going on on my inside on whether to get up and get one to lie down with or not. And hearing them keeps me from falling asleep, even though I'm so tired. After quite some time, I went to get Tammy, who always has a harder time falling asleep, and she fell asleep on me. She woke up a little earlier than usual, at around 10:45 am, so she had not even slept an hour, which is short. I took her downstairs to the boys, put their food into the warmer, and lay back down.

I hit the snooze button when the alarm went off, and in the end I fell back asleep and was surprised at the time when I woke up. It was already after 12 pm. I quickly got up, mixed their food up, and went to get them to feed them. They only ate half in their chairs, so I did continue feeding them after they came out, though I hadn't wanted to do that any more.

They all went back downstairs, while I went to work in the kitchen. I also picked their clothes for church out. Randy's food was ready first, and he ate downstairs, close to the babies. Once my food was done, I went downstairs as well to eat, and Randy went upstairs. That meant I had to go in to where they were to eat, rather than eat at my desk, as they were all upset about Daddy leaving. It's challenging to eat when they're trying to get to your plate!

I stayed with them and played with them. They love it when I hold them by their arms and swing them, so that's good to do when they are cranky. However, they were getting more and more tired. None of them had slept long enough in the morning. And so I decided to put them all to bed at 2 pm, before their afternoon meal.

I was stroking Emmy's head, and that's all he needed to fall asleep after just a short while. Sammy also fell asleep right away, as he does most of the time. Tammy was a different story. I stayed for a while, stroking her head, and then walked away, as I just had so much work to do. Otherwise I would have lied down with her. She fell asleep on her own, after crying and whining for a while.

It was quite an unusual experience to be able to sit at my desk during the day and work. I wished I could do so more often. I got quite a bit done, even though there's still so much more I need to get done somehow.

The plan was to leave the house at 4 pm, and so I reluctantly stopped working at 3:30 to go upstairs and make their food-to-go. I was surprised that they were still all sleeping. Emmy tends to wake up and cry and needs help falling back asleep. The first time I gave him his pacifier back, and he fell back asleep. When he woke up again a few minutes later, I was thankful that Randy sat down with him, so he could fall back asleep on his chest. That allowed me to continue working. While I was preparing their food, Tammy woke up, and I went to get her, so that the boys could continue sleeping. I fed her the afternoon meal while holding her in my arms; it was much later for it than usual. Looking at the clock, it became clear fast that we were not gonna leave the house at 4 pm.

While I was still feeding her, Emmy woke up, and the noise woke up Sammy. I was just finishing feeding Tammy, so I fed Emmy, while Randy fed Sammy. Then we dressed them and got ready to leave. The train goes every half hour, and so we took the 4:50 train instead of the 4:20; church starts at 5 pm.

When we got off the train, the bakery there was closed. We have guests tomorrow as well as Monday (a holiday), and so I needed to buy some cake/pastries for them. We walked a little bit to a supermarket, and then walked back to take the subway to church. That cost us more time, so we got to church over half an hour late today. Thankfully our assigned seats (because of Covid) are in the back.

The babies having had a long nap meant that they were all awake and in a good mood tonight. Tammy and Emmy were walking/crawling around greeting people and making friends, while Sammy was happy with Daddy. And tonight Tammy and Emmy had new sippy cups instead of baby bottles, as they need to start the transition away from them. They are doing pretty well drinking out of them.

They were again drawn to other children, and saw a little girl again that they already know that treats them like they are dolls. There was also another little girl their age in the baby room, where I went with Tammy and Emmy to feed them their dinner. After they were done, I returned to the sanctuary with them, and then Randy went there with Sammy.

While exploring the room, they were also happy to find their friend Melanie who had come to our house a couple of times in the summer to play with them.

I was noticeable that the service was shorter, having come late, and the babies were not as tired and did not appreciate being put in the stroller after the service was over. We talked to a few people and started our journey home. All three stayed awake in the strollers, which was a first. We took a train where you have to carry the strollers a few steps up to get in; an inconvenience, but it brought us home earlier than waiting for the other one.

It was after 7 pm when we got home, way beyond their bed time, but they were awake. We went through the bed time routine and put them to bed. They all needed a little time to fall asleep, but it wasn't bad. Tammy is the one needing the most help, wanting me to stay with her and complaining when I walk away.

I don't know where the time has gone, as it's nearly 3 am, so no time for office work. Thank God that we gain an hour tonight, turning our clocks back, though it's probably not enough to really make a difference.