13 months 9 days

Tonight it's already 2 am as I start writing, as there were so many pictures to go through, edit and upload.

This morning Randy changed the layout of the living room. He moved the cabinets that closed their play area in to the windows, so that the whole living room is now their play area. The reason he came up with that is that it's been impossible to keep them away from the blinds. Now they can't get to them. And I think it's really nice, more open, and the kids don't feel locked in any more. He's using the baby bed as a gate to the office area.

The babies love their new house and tunnel, and it was so much fun watching them play in it, and making the house turn over. Even Sammy has crawled into it.

Today we made a major change, and I believe it worked out really well. We went from two naps a day to just one, as it had been hard to get them to sleep. So after feeding them at 9 am this morning, they continued playing, while I went back to bed.

At 11:30 I got up to feed them their lunch meal. We went upstairs to the dining room, as nap time was right after the meal. You could tell that they were tired, and it worked so much better. I could actually put them all into their beds and they fell asleep there, instead of having to lie down with them, which would be hard to do now, as I have to cook for Randy and me after they have eaten.

Emmy is the lightest sleeper (though he is the only one tonight who has not made a sound and has not had milk yet), and when he woke up after half an hour and no parent was there, he was up. There was no more going back to sleep, though he was still tired. He went downstairs with Randy, while I continued cooking our lunch. Tammy woke up after 90 minutes, and Sammy slept the longest, for an hour and 45 minutes. It was nice to have that first half hour of all of them sleeping, and the other two were rested after their long nap. Though Tammy got pretty whiny in the afternoon and hard to make happy.

They had their next meal at 2:30, and we fed them downstairs again, as they continued playing afterwards. They walked with the cart, walked with Daddy, crawled into the house, and pulled stuff off the shelf. They had such a great time, it was a joy to be on the floor with them. And Mommy adjusted a little bit the new layout Daddy had created.

At 4 pm we had to leave to go to church. Emmy was really tired by then, having only had that half hour of sleep, but though his eyes were heavy, he never fell asleep in the stroller. The other two were wide awake.

We got to church before the service started. Now we have to wear masks for the whole service, which is such a challenge with the babies. I switched to a fleece mask, as the face shield wasn't working at all.

When the service started, we went to the baby room to feed them their dinner. I had to go after them as usual. There were some great new toys, including a slide that they all went down on and enjoyed. We returned to the sanctuary just before worship was over; it was hard to keep the ear protectors on their ears. They love pulling them off.

Emmy and Tammy were on the move again. They were especially interested in other children. Emmy kept going to the man sitting in front of us. Their friend Anna was there too and she spent some time with them.

They were all getting pretty tired as the service went on. We ended up being quite a bit out in the foyer instead of in the sanctuary. Tammy would not let me sit down with her. I had to stand or walk for her to be happy, and she would not put her head down on my chest to sleep. We finally decided to leave just before the service ended, even though that meant not being able to talk to anybody. They were upset when we put them into the stroller, but not for long. Emmy fell asleep first, then Tammy, but Sammy never slept.

We had to wait a while for the tram, but then we were lucky when the train came right away. Even though it was the train with the high steps that we have to lift the strollers over, but the locals are always offering to help. We only spend a few minutes on that train, as the next stop is already where we live.

Once home (it was before 8 pm), I first put Sammy to bed, then had to wake up Emmy to change him and put him to bed, and then Tammy. They never enjoy being woken up like that, and then having to get changed, but it didn't take them very long before they were asleep again in their beds.

We then made our meals and ate, and now it's high time for me to go to bed, as it's already later than usual.