14 months 14 days

It was just a regular day at home today. The only new thing I have not told you is that yesterday Tammy was climbing up the whole staircase, while I had Emmy on my arm, walking up right behind her. Today Emmy was the one climbing up, and he went a little slower than his sister. Halfway up I put Tammy down as she wanted to go up herself as well, and so they both climbed up next to each other, with the girl being faster, and me right behind them. It will help for them to go up by themselves, as they are getting heavier and heavier!

Last night I went to bed around 3:30 am, and as always, it was hard getting up before 9 to make their food and feed them. We then put them all to bed. The boys can usually fall asleep by themselves, so I lie down with the girl, which I did today. However, Emmy was crying really hard today, not falling asleep, so I finally got up with Tammy and put her in her bed and picked up Emmy and lay down with him. Well, it wasn't working. The girl was crying hard now, and I switched them out again, and Randy sat down to rock Emmy. It was Sammy who woke up and started crying, forcing Randy to finally get up and respond, and today that's when all three woke up. It was only 10:45. I took Tammy and Emmy downstairs and stayed with them, while Randy changed Sammy, and then the others. Once he was done and stayed with them, I was able to go back to bed and get a little more sleep.

I woke up just after noon, and it was 12:30 before we fed them their lunch meal. I was so tired I didn't really want to cook, but I did my job anyway, while Randy was downstairs with them. Then we ate downstairs, in view of them. Then it was play time. I was trying to get a few things done on the computer, watching them, and noticing how they were getting more cranky and tired. So it was 2 pm when we put them all down for their afternoon nap, before their afternoon meal.

The boys fell asleep right away, but of course, not Tammy. I was hoping to be able to work, but I kept listening to Tammy at the same time, going back to her and stroking her head, like I do at night to get her to sleep. Then Emmy woke up after the typical half hour, and Tammy hadn't even fallen asleep yet. I asked Randy to rock him, and lay down with Tammy. It was 2:30.

And Tammy ended up sleeping a full 90 minutes, which is rare. I was getting a little antsy, being tied down like that, only being able to do whatever I can using my phone. I could hear how the boys woke up and listened to Randy feeding them both their afternoon meal. When Tammy woke up at 4 pm, I fed her her meal while holding her in my arm, then took her downstairs to the boys.

And this afternoon they did better than usual, no crankiness, they were all playing happily, with Daddy being with them, while Mommy was working. It was beautiful to watch! Sammy did some crawling around, while the others now walk all the time.

Since their last meal had been later, I added another half hour before I went upstairs to get their food ready, and we fed them at 5:30 pm. None of them ate much, and as they have their hands in the food and get everything dirty, I did not want to let them walk around while feeding them, but put them straight into the bathtub. They had fun playing, and Sammy had fun bathing, even though Emmy was pretty wild right next to him. Then they went to bed, first Sammy, then Emmy, then Tammy. Having eaten so little, they all needed milk to fall asleep, and Tammy is the one who needed a long time, as usual, and my presence to fall asleep.

Another day come and gone. Please pray for the preparations for our Mali trip.