14 months

Last night we turned our clocks back an hour, gaining an additional hour. I have to say, I can't tell I had an additional hour, and it totally messed up the kids' internal clock and schedule. As for me, I just worked the additional hour, but still don't know where all the time went, considering how much I got done. I went to bed after 3 am, which was 4 am the day before.

Of course the kids woke up an hour earlier, at 6:30 am, which was 7:30 the day before. I myself was glad to have an additional hour until my alarm went off, even though I was as tired as always.

We fed them at 9 am, and I could tell they were more tired. For them the meal was an hour late, and they had already been up an hour longer. I put them all into their beds, but was surprised to find that they didn't just fall asleep. I lay in my bed, trying to get some sleep, listening to them, until I finally got up and picked up Emmy and lay down with him. He fell asleep, but Tammy was in such distress (she always has a hard time falling asleep) that I got up, put Emmy down (and he thankfully continued sleeping), and picked up Tammy to lie down with her. Sammy usually sleeps right away, but not today. He was crying, which is so unusual. I was wondering what to do, and finally got up to put Tammy down and pick up Sammy. Tammy was not happy. Sammy was, but he would not fall asleep. He's not used to sleeping on us. So I finally gave up and took him and Tammy and then Emmy downstairs, and lay back down all by myself.

My second alarm woke me for their lunch meal, that we fed them at 11:30 today, which was late for their body clocks. As Sammy had not slept yet, he went to bed and fell asleep right away. The other two were tired to, so we tried, but they were not ready to sleep yet and went back downstairs, where they stayed with Randy, while I got to work in the kitchen. We then both ate downstairs, near them.

The maximum number of steps we have now counted that Emmy has walked without falling is 18. Tammy hardly ever walks all by herself at all. And it's so funny how Emmy is always gathering pacifiers. Sometimes he has one in his mouth and one in each hand as well.

They were getting pretty tired as time went on, and at 2 pm I decided to put them to bed before their afternoon meal. Unfortunately they complained so loudly that it woke Sammy up who'd had a really good, long nap. So all three went downstairs again, until 2:30, when we fed them their afternoon meal. Now it was REALLY nap time for Tammy and Emmy who went to bed. It only took a few strokes for Emmy to fall asleep, and even Tammy didn't take long, as tired as she was. That was good, as I had plenty to do before our guests' arrival. Sammy had slept long, but was woken up, and I thought we could give it a try. To my greatest surprise he did fall back asleep as well. And so all three were sleeping at the same time, and in their beds, which is so very rare during the day!

I got to work as our neighbors were gonna come over for the first time at 3:30 pm. I put all the toys away onto the shelves; I now turn around all the shelves every Friday, so that only half the shelves are accessible to them, and therefore half the toys, so that they don't get old and boring by always being accessible. I also put the table cloth on, plates, cake etc.

It was after 3:30 when they knocked on our door. Emmy had woken up and so he was sleeping on Randy's chest in the rocking chair. Our neighbors were as curious about what we had done to the apartment as we had been to see theirs. They have two boys, a 2 and 4-year-old, who were also curious. As the entrance is upstairs, we started our tour there. Emmy woke up from all the commotion, and then Tammy, and finally Sammy. We were holding three sleepy kids while giving them the tour. We ended up in the living room downstairs, where their boys were excited about all the toys, especially the house and tunnel. We were talking about the kids and the house. We found out that a single lady had been in the apartment before us, living upstairs and having a Pilates studio downstairs. She moved out when she retired.

Time went by so fast. Once our kids had woken up all the way, they became more sociable, especially Emmy. Sammy was rather cranky. It was already dinner time for his internal clock, but everything was an hour later today. That's why I had to pry myself away after 4:30 to go get their food ready. Everybody else stayed downstairs. Once the food was ready, they said their good-byes and left, and we started feeding them. They were pretty tired, and both Tammy and Emmy ate little. I finally gave up and put them into the bathtub. Tammy was even too tired for that and was just screaming, while Emmy was enjoying it. I couldn't get her out yet, as Randy was still feeding Sammy and I couldn't leave Emmy alone in the bathtub. Randy finally stopped feeding Sammy and came, and I bathed Sammy and got him out, while Randy got Tammy out. It's quite some work and takes a while, but in the end they were all in bed. Surprisingly, none of them fell asleep quickly, not even Sammy. In the end, I had to give them all some milk, as none of them had eaten much.

Now it's after midnight, and I have high hopes to still be productive tonight. The dishwasher is running, just the high chairs still need to be cleaned. The monthly thank you letter is written, just the German translation still needs to be done (any volunteers?). And the biggest job, writing a new newsletter, which is way overdue. Obviously, it's more work than can be done tonight.