14 months 7 days

 Last night was really tough. Tammy woke up and would not go back to sleep without me stroking her head; it was 3:30 am or so. She would scream so hard, that twice I took her to bed with me, and then took her back to her bed, only for her to scream again. Milk, dental cream, nothing helped. It was after 4 am, and I was so tired and helpless. I finally just had to let her scream, as I realized I would not get much sleep if she stayed in bed with me. It was hard, and really shortened my already short night.

I really did not want to get up to make their breakfast at 8:50, but I did. We fed them and put them to bed. I just wanted to get some sleep, but it didn't take long before I got up to get Tammy and lay down with her. The boys were both crying or talking, for quite some time, and I wasn't sure they ever slept, but Randy said they did. Tammy only slept 45 minutes on me, from 10 to 10:45, which was really not enough. I took her downstairs to the boys and lay back down.

I turned off my alarm for 11:26, hoping Randy would just feed them one after another, as I had gotten up for breakfast, and knew if he didn't, he'd wake me up, but he didn't do either. I woke up at 12:45 to find their food still in the warmer where I had put it, and Randy with all three babies (picture), surprisingly no one crying for food even though it was over an hour later than usual. We took them upstairs and fed them, and then back down where Randy stayed with them while I cooked our food.

We ate downstairs, and then played. Since lunch had been later, the next meal would be too, and as they were getting tired and their normal nap time was approaching, we put them to bed at 2:30, before their next meal. I did not have the time to lie down with them, as I had to get everything ready for us to leave at 4 pm. Emmy was so tired he fell asleep right away, and so did Sammy. Tammy was tired too, and I stayed for a while, stroking her head, until she was asleep too. Praise God! I was able to walk away and start making their dinner to take with us and pick their clothes to wear to church.

Of course I wasn't done, when Emmy woke up at his typical 30 minute mark. I was trying to get him to fall back asleep by stroking his head, which works sometimes, but a few minutes later he was crying again, and thankfully Randy was able to sit down with him and let him fall asleep again on his chest. Tammy was the one who woke up crying after an hour, around 3:30, and so everybody got up to eat their afternoon meal. And then we went into high gear to try to leave on time at 4 pm. Randy was changing and dressing them, while I got the strollers, coats, shoes, the food, milk and myself ready. It's unbelievable how much it takes to get them all out of the house! No wonder we don't go outside for walks with them. When we left - 20 minutes late - I realized they had not left the house since church last weekend (except for Sammy going to physiotherapy).

We had left too late to catch the 4:20 pm train, and instead of waiting 30 minutes, we took the subway, which takes a little longer but is faster then waiting. We took two subways and a tram and then walked in the rain to get to church. Surprisingly we weren't as late as I thought we would be but arrived just as the service started.

We got them out of the strollers, put their head covers on, and let them roam around free, which they love. Emmy and Tammy walk around greeting EVERYBODY, which is so much fun to watch, and now that they can walk more, it's even more fun, and I can stay back and watch rather than lending a hand for them to walk holding on to. They kept taking their head covers off (the music was REALLY loud), and I kept putting them back on, over and over again, and thankfully they gave up at some point. Then they were heading to the stage. There are four steps up to the stage, and both of them started climbing up. Again and again I would stop them and put them back down, and again, I had to do it over and over again as they were determined. And then they spotted the trash cans and went off to inspect them.

We returned to our seats, and I got their food out which we fed them right there. Sammy refused being fed by Daddy; he wants to put his own hands into the food, so he ended up only drinking milk. Thankfully Emmy and Tammy stayed in the area, and they ate it all, including some of Sammy's food. It was still pretty challenging, as they were moving constantly.

Then they spotted their friend Anna and had some fun with her. It was hilarious when Emmy crawled under the stroller and sat up straight under it! They also continued walking up to people. Emmy was getting tired and cranky, but not the others. Anna ended up taking him and going to the back with him until the end of the service. I held Sammy for a little bit to get some quality time with him, and we had lots of fun, with him pulling my mask off several times.

And then the service was over, and we put them back into the strollers. Just before we left the building, we put their coats on and zipped them up, and off we went, back into the rain. None of them slept on the way home, taking the train this time around. We got home around 7:45 pm, got them out of the strollers and let them roam around free, while getting them ready for bed, one after another. As expected, they fell asleep pretty fast, as it was late for them.

Then I had to make a very joyous phone call. We have found someone to fly to Mali with us in December! YEAH! A friend who has already come to stay with us in our new apartment twice! So we talked on the phone. Even though I was at the other end of the apartment, downstairs, I heard Emmy starting to cry. I had to hang up and went upstairs to try to put him back to sleep. I gave him milk, dental cream, stroked his head, and it seemed he was asleep again. I went back downstairs to continue my phone call, and heard him starting to cry again. This time Randy was able to help him fall back asleep.

In the meantime, it was so late and I was hungry, and I was finally able to eat. And then I had over a 100 pictures from today to go through, pick and edit, which took so long, that it is 2:30 am now. And there's so much more I had wanted to get done tonight! It's not gonna happen.

Tomorrow I'll be calling Air France to book our friend onto the seat that right now Sammy is occupying on his own; please pray it works out without any issues. I'm overjoyed and relieved that she is flying with us, so now it just all has to work out!