14 months 4 days

3 am has become my regular bedtime; it was a little later, so again only 5 hours of sleep until I had to get up to make their food. At 9 am we sat down to feed them, and we had just started, when Grandma arrived. Normally we go swimming on Thursdays, but not this week because school kids are on fall vacation. So Grandma came to visit us instead, which was great fun, especially as she hadn't been here in a long time, since the swim class started. She helped us to finish feeding them, and then we put Sammy to bed, and took the other two downstairs. They have not been sleeping this early recently, that's why. At first I lay down, but I heard Emmy cry, and Randy was eating breakfast, so I got back up and joined them downstairs. And that's how I got all those great pictures and videos. I'm not sure who had more fun, Grandma, or the little ones. It sure was fun to watch them!

I knew they'd be getting tired after a while, and when Randy came down at 10:15, I took Emmy and lay down with him. He was tired and fell asleep and slept for 90 minutes. He actually woke up when Randy and Grandma came in, because she had to leave. It was lunch time anyway, and time to eat.

So we were on our own again when we fed them. Since Tammy didn't seem tired yet, we took them all downstairs and Randy stayed with them, while I went to work cooking. I was just finishing, when our friend Sonja arrived to help, and she joined us eating lunch. I still had to do the French translation of the newsletter, but I didn't get far. One of them always needed to be with me, usually Sammy or Emmy. I finally gave up and joined them, and got the wood blocks (Jenga) out Randy had just bought cheap. First we built a tower, but they were more interesting in chewing the blocks than destroying the tower. Then I set them up like dominoes, so I could make the first one fall, which causes all the others to fall, but that wasn't that interesting either.

As they were getting more and more cranky, we finally decided to feed them a few minutes early. Then we put them all to bed. Sammy slept, and Tammy was so exhausted, she fell asleep really quickly. Emmy was awake for a while, though tired, and I asked Randy to rock him, so I could work. However, it wasn't working, so I finally lay down with him and he fell asleep; it was about 3 pm. I just can't work during the day. Emmy woke up just 45 minutes later, and we went downstairs to join the others. As they were still pretty cranky, I left early again to go make their dinner.

And so it was before 5 pm when we sat down to feed them. Tammy and Emmy ate everything on their plate. Tammy used to not eat when she was hungry, but now she does, and instead, she screams when I put her into the bathtub. This was the 5th day in a row that she did. What happened to the girl that loved playing in the water?!?

Emmy enjoyed the water as much as always, and was the last one to get out. I put Sammy to bed first, then Tammy, and then Emmy. Tammy was so tired, she was the first one to sleep. Sammy had already fallen asleep, but Emmy woke him back up. Emmy had slept the longest in the afternoon, and it showed; he just wouldn't fall asleep, even after I gave him milk. I even had to give Sammy milk after he was woken up. FINALLY, after 90 minutes or so, Emmy fell asleep, and I was able to take care of my dinner. It was 7 pm.

And now to hoping I can get the French translation of the newsletter done tonight.