14 months 6 days

At 2:30 I was slowly heading to bed, after emptying the dish washer and cleaning their high chairs. As always it was hard getting up, making their food, and then feeding them at 9 am. I always have a hard time keeping my eyes open. Then we put them to bed, and once again it was a crazy time of constantly switching babies. I started with Tammy, then switched with Emmy, then back to Tammy, then back to Emmy, then back to Tammy, then back to Emmy, then nobody, and Emmy again who ended up sleeping on me until noon, as by the time he fell asleep on me, it was already late. It's so annoying when it goes like this and nobody gets they sleep they need, including me!

After we got up at noon, we fed them their lunch meal which I had put in there before I lay down with Emmy the last time, at 10:45. Then we took them downstairs, where Randy stayed with them while I was cooking our meal.

One of the two churches we attend have a WhatsApp group of Moms and those willing to help families, and when you need help, you can ask whether anyone can do so. I asked whether anyone could come today, and two ladies responded that they would come one after another. And so we had to new visitors today to help with the little ones.

I was still cooking and just finishing our meal at 1:15 pm, when Joanna arrived. So we were all downstairs, and she was with the babies while we were eating. She was even able to hold Sammy and get him to stop crying. And she had lots of fun with the others too. I was trying to participate in the conversation, as well as work on the French translation on the newsletter at the same time, which was a little challenging. We noticed how Tammy was walking around a lot more today.

At 2:15 pm we went upstairs to feed them, and Joanna fed Emmy. They've been eating more, usually finishing all their food. Then it was nap time, and it was really hard again. Joanna left, and a few minutes later Bethany from church arrived. She rang the bell, but thankfully nobody was sleeping and could be woken up. Twice Tammy fell asleep on me, and twice I tried to put her into her bed to pick up Emmy, but both times she would not continue sleeping, but just cried. That was a fail. When I lay down with her the third time, I could not get her to fall asleep any more. Randy had already given up on the boys and taken them downstairs with Bethany, and Tammy and I then joined them.

None of them got to sleep in the afternoon, and it didn't take long before especially Emmy got really cranky because he was so tired (you can see that in the last picture). Randy and I were getting to know Bethany, talking about Mali, and again it was hard to try to translate at the same time as having a conversation. At the same time we were trying to keep cranky babies happy. Emmy loves being upside down and swinging with me holding his arms, so doing that gets him to stop whining.

I went upstairs a few minutes earlier than usual and got their food ready as fast as possible. Then the three of us fed them, with Bethany feeding Emmy. We had to take him out, and then also Tammy, and put the food into their mouths while they were walking and crawling around. Then we put them in the bathtub, and once again Tammy was screaming and wanting out; she's been doing that for a week now. Then they went to bed one after another. Being so very tired, they fell asleep fast tonight, which was an advantage I guess, and I was able to walk away before 6 pm, which is rare. It allowed me to cook and eat earlier, and get started on office work earlier. The French translation has been sent, and now I'm on to the next thing on my to-do-list. And the night is still young. Emmy cried, even after getting some milk, but after I put the dental cream on, he fell back asleep. They must all be getting ready for tooth number 5.