14 months 1 day

Another short night, going to bed after 3 am, what's new. Another morning having a hard time getting up, also not new. The second morning after turning our clock back, the babies actually woke up later today, about the time they were waking up before the time change. After they had eaten, we put them into their beds and I lay down myself. Again, listening to them, I finally got up and lay down with Tammy. Sammy was really unhappy, and so I put her back into bed and picked him up. Sammy is a tough cookie when it comes to trying to put him to sleep, and I did not succeed and put him back into his bed. Then I picked up Emmy and lay down with him, and he fell asleep on me and slept till 11. The other two also fell asleep at some point.

I took him downstairs to the others, put their lunch food into the warmers and lay back down, with the alarm waking me not long after to go get them and feed them their next meal.

After they were done eating, they went downstairs with Randy, and I went to the kitchen to cook, and then we adults ate. I then spent some time with them. Tammy went on the rocking horse (actually giraffe), and she's now really good at rocking it. Emmy has been really cute these last few days, saying "oh-oh" all the time, and sometimes "ah-oh", and today I filmed him, though he was repeating it after me at that time and was already very cranky, as he was getting pretty tired. Maybe I can still get a better video. While it was Emmy's third day saying it, today Tammy started saying it as well. Sammy is also talking more, and it's just the cutest thing! He especially likes talking while eating.

At 1:45 I decided I'd put them to bed, instead of keeping them up until their next meal and putting them to bed after. So up they went to their beds. I stood between Emmy's and Tammy's beds, stroking their heads with one arm in each bed (one of these days Randy needs to take a picture), and they were so tired they fell asleep. We had friends coming, so I needed the time and could not lie down with any of them, plus they need to learn to fall asleep in their beds.

Once they were all sleeping, I started preparing for our friends' arrival. And then the door bell ran at 2:30, as a friend was bringing us clothes to take to Mali. As soon as the bell rang, all three babies were up and screaming! Oh no! It had barely been 45 minutes since they had fallen asleep! I wished I had told them not to ring the bell! The damage was done. I tried to calm them down and put them back to sleep, and if we'd had the time to rock them back to sleep, it could have worked, even though Sammy was also screaming. In fact, I did lie down with Emmy, and Tammy sat down with Tammy in the rocking chair, but I had to give up with Emmy after a little while, and then our friends we had expected were already arriving.

It was great to see them again, and we gave them a tour of our new apartment, before we settled down in the living room with all the babies, while I got the cake, coffee and tea ready. All their three children then had lots of fun with our three, which comes across all the pictures and videos. And I finally got a picture of Emmy, the pacifier-gatherer, with a new record of 4 pacifiers at once. And Emmy also showed off his walking skills, walking back and forth between Daddy and our friends' son. It was so much fun to watch!

Of course they tried to go for the cake and whatever else was on the table, and I couldn't believe it when Daddy was giving them some cake again!!! No way!

At 4:30 pm I went upstairs to get their dinner ready. I was using different plates, so they could be fed downstairs, and it was great to have so many friends with us to help us feed them. Since their had been cut short so much, they were pretty tired, and therefore especially Tammy hardly ate anything. Then they came upstairs, where I was still getting everything ready for bed time, and was able to get them to eat quite a bit more. It was time to put them in the bathtub. Our friends said their good-byes, and we put them into the water. Tammy cried again as she was so very tired. I still bathed Sammy and put him to bed, and then Tammy came out and went to bed next, while Randy was getting Emmy out and ready and then brought him to me.

I was again stroking Tammy's and Emmy's heads, while Sammy just fell asleep. It was obvious how tired they were, as they fell asleep faster than usual. I sat in the chair right next to their beds, stroking their heads from there until they fell asleep. However, I kept sitting there as I was so very tired I did not want to get up. I sat there for a while until I finally got up, went to the kitchen and prepared my food. Now it's after 1 am, and I still haven't finished the newsletter that urgently needs to go out. And tomorrow I have to get up earlier than usual, as Sammy has physiotherapy in the morning.