13 months 5 days

What a challenging day it was today! It started with the first nap time after feeding them at 9 am. I can only lie down with one baby at the time to help them fall asleep, and hope Randy helps the other one, as Sammy has not had any trouble falling asleep. However, Randy eats breakfast at that time, and so there's always a baby crying as nobody is there to rock it to sleep.

Today I lay down with Emmy. After he had fallen asleep, I got up with him to put him into his bed. Sometimes that works, other times it doesn't, depending on how long and deep they're sleeping. Tammy was awake but not crying, but Sammy was, which is more unusual, so I picke him up and lay down with him. I once succeeded in getting him to sleep recently. It seems that he's found out what he's been missing out on, as I have the impression he now wants to be rocked to sleep to. At first he just smiled and smiled at me, and then he fell asleep, after I held his head down. Emmy was crying and crying, and so I got up with sleeping Sammy and put him to bed. He started screaming, so I picked him up again and lay back down with him. A little while later I put him back down, and picked up Emmy. Sammy was not sleeping, neither was Tammy. I lay down with Emmy, and Tammy was crying, so I decided to try to lie down with both of them. They were both tired, but it was a challenge to get them to lie down instead of play. I finally gave up. I returned Emmy to his bed, and lay down with Tammy, who was tired. She fell asleep. I tried to put her into her bed, and picked up the crying boys, trying to lie down with both of them, which didn't work either. That was the end of the story. So everybody fell asleep, but nobody got a nap, including me. The conclusion? I'd better pick one baby and lie down with it and stay with that baby, hoping the others will fall asleep on their own or Randy can help them after having eaten. I'm not planning on repeating today's story! It was exhausting! It's just not possible to please all three at the same time.

They all ended up downstairs with Randy, while I got their lunch ready, as well as their clothes. It was a cold day. At 11:30 we started feeding them. Emmy refused to eat. Tammy didn't eat everything either, and Sammy never does. Emmy was now so exhausted, not having had a nap, that I lay down with him, even though there was not much time. He fell asleep fast, and I was able to sleep out from under him and leave him in our bed, keeping the door open so I could keep an eye on him. That way I was able to cook for us, and then I put a chair next to the bed and ate there. He woke up before I was done eating, and as he was not in my arms, he was awake for good, needing comforting. It wasn't a very long nap, but it was something.

We got them all dressed, packed them into the strollers, got ready ourselves, and left the house at 1 pm to go across town to the pediatricians. We had two subways to take, and I was hoping the elevator renovation where we change was now done after two months as projected, and thankfully it was. We still had to walk a little from the subway to the pediatrician, and the wind was cold.

My Mom met us there, which is a great help, when you have three babies. There were few people there, and we did not wait long to be called in. We had to undress them all, and they got weighed and measured. Tammy is now 73 cm (+0), Emmy 71.5 (+0.5) and Sammy 69 (+2). Tammy weighed 8.7 kilos, Emmy 8.1 and Sammy 6.7.

After they had been measured, we had to wait for the doctor. She got her stethoscope out, looked into their mouths and ears. She said Sammy needed to go to an eye doctor, as his eyes are not straight. Randy once said he got that from me!

Then it was time for the shot; the last one of one that inoculates against 6 diseases. They all cried and didn't even want any milk to comfort them. We had to dress them all again, which took some time, picked up our documents, and left again. We said good-bye to Grandma, and then we headed home again. Sammy was immediately asleep, and the others fell asleep before we got onto the first subway. Sammy did wake up in the subway, as those doors are loud, and Emmy woke up before we got home. Tammy had her head resting on the stroller bar, and I wished I had taken a picture, as it was really cute.

It was 4 pm when we got home. Today they had skipped their afternoon meal, only drinking milk. We took all their clothes off again, and they went downstairs with Randy to play, while I prepared their dinner. They were really cranky, especially Tammy, and I figured they were hungry, so that's why I started making their food early. I kept hearing her cry, but it just takes time to cut everything.

And then they were not that hungry after all. Tammy did not eat as much as usual, and neither did the boys. Emmy wanted out of the chair early, and then Tammy did too, and it's pretty hard to feed them once they're crawling around. Emmy just spat back out what I put into his mouth, but Tammy was still eating it.

And Emmy reached a milestone. Today we saw him take a step without holding on to anything twice! He took one step and then sat down. Good job, Emmy! I can't guarantee Tammy hasn't done so already, but you're the first we saw do it! Remarkable, as Tammy was standing up 3 weeks before Emmy did.

As dinner time was a little earlier, bed time also ended up a little earlier. Sammy fell asleep right away, Tammy didn't have as hard a time as usual, but Emmy was frantic. He screamed so I would pick him up, but I did not. He finally accepted it and lay down and eventually fell asleep.

I was so exhausted from less sleep and how hard this day has been, that I decided to take a bath. Only the third since we moved in two months ago. I could not even do that without a baby crying. Sammy woke back up and just cried and cried. Randy tried to help him, but nothing seemed to work. Once I got out of the bathtub, I took Sammy, held him a little and then put him down, stroking his head for a while, and he fell asleep. Finally! Time to make and eat dinner.

Now it's 11 pm, and I wonder if I ever get all that work done I'm so behind on.