14 months 8 days

After a short night, I got up at 8:50 this morning to make the babies' food and feed them. I found Randy eating his breakfast in the kitchen, while the babies were downstairs and by themselves, and to my greatest surprise, nobody was crying. When I went downstairs to get thim, I found them all sitting together and looking at me, and I just had to take a picture because it was so cute!

After eating Randy dressed Sammy and left with him a few minutes later to go to his weekly physiotherapy session, while I stayed home with the other two. I put them both to bed for their morning nap and lay back down, trying to get more sleep. For over an hour, until 10:30, I heard them talk and whine and not sleep, and so I finally got up and took them downstairs. They do say they'll be going from two to one nap a day sometime now!

I tried to let them play on their own and get some office work done, and it worked for a few minutes before they made clear I had to join them in the play area. At 11:30 I took them back upstairs for lunch. Into their chairs they went, and I fed them the way I always do, with Emmy to my left and Tammy to my right.

As they hadn't slept yet, I put them back to bed after cleaning them up. It was noon, and I was able to get them both to sleep, without lying down with anybody. Emmy always wakes up after half an hour, and you can set your clock by it! I was able to make him fall back asleep by stroking his head, but only for 15 minutes. That time it didn't work and so I picked him up and took him to the kitchen with me where I had started cooking. Having just woken up, he wouldn't let me set him down at first, and it's hard to cook with one hand. It was going on 1 pm and I was getting worried, wondering why the boys weren't home yet. At 1 pm they finally arrived; Sammy was asleep at first, but it ended up being a very short, only nap up to that point. The noise of them coming home woke up the girl, who I then picked up and held, and she would not let me put her down.

Randy fed Sammy and put him to bed around 1:15; he ended up sleeping only 30 minutes. I finished cooking, and Randy and I had lunch. Well, he was having a hard time, as the little ones where right there with him, trying to get to his food. I was trying to get a few more minutes of office work done, but the little ones were getting more and more cranky. At 2:15 we fed them their afternoon meal - all three of them, as Sammy had hardly eaten anything earlier.

Half an hour later they all went back to bed. I wasn't gonna lie down with anybody, as I just had too much work to do, and went into my office downstairs, hoping they'd fall asleep. For 45 minutes I listened to them; only Sammy was asleep. Then their crying got more intense, and so I went back upstairs and lay down with Tammy, while Randy sat down with Emmy and rocked him to sleep. The girl was so very tired! And the boys too, as both Father and son fell asleep. Normally, I don't let them sleep after 4 pm, as they have such a hard time falling asleep at night otherwise, but we had only lied down with them at 3:30, and so I gave them an extra 10 minutes and got up at 4:10. Down we all went to play.

Their nap had been cut short, and they were not happy, but pretty cranky, especially Emmy, who likes to let himself fall when he's upset. I was again trying to do office work, but was holding Sammy, and then I let Tammy and Emmy out of their area, which made them happy, as they could explore an area they don't usually have access to, and so the whining stopped. They started emptying the bottom shelves (where there was not much there to start with), and then pulling clothes off the drying rack. Suddenly I heard a noise and crying. Tammy had made it fall right on top of her, her head going between the lines. She was just startled and I comforted her. And then they both studied the drying rack on the floor, trying to figure out how to put it back up.

Then they went back into their area, while I went upstairs to make their food, and Daddy stayed and played with them. It was 5:15 before we started feeding them. I had increased the quantities a little, as they'd all be eating everything every night, but not tonight! Tammy and Emmy were not motivated to eat for some reason. Tammy put her hand into her food and mashed and mixed it all up; I keep the fruit, bread and soup separate, but she wanted it all mashed together. And Emmy turned out pretty dirty as well, though he is the only one who successfully puts food into his mouth by himself. Because they were so dirty, I did not let them crawl around but put them straight into the bathtub.

Now this was the 8th day in a row that Tammy was crying as soon as I put her into the water, but tonight I succeeded in getting her back to her old self, and she soond played as happy as she used to be. Thank God! I bathed Sammy while the others were playing in the water and put him to bed. Then followed Emmy, and then Tammy.

And as feared because of their late nap, they were not going to sleep. At first I tried to stay away, but the problem is, while that works for Emmy who just falls asleep, it does not work for Tammy who needs me there. So I went and left several times. Every time I'd come Tammy would calm down, but Emmy would wake up again and get upset. Why do they have to be so different! It took such a long time before they were both finally sleeping!

Late or not, I had thought all day long about the Air France call I had to make, and this was the first time I had the chance to do it, even though I would have liked to eat. And of course it took a long time to get it all sorted out. The first time, I lost the connection, as reception in our apartment is to bed, but the second time I had the same guy helping me who helped me get the ticket in the first place. Prices had gone up since we booked, and he had to cancel Sammy's ticket, and then make a new reservation for our friend Barbara with Sammy on her lap. But now it's official that we have a helper going to Mali in December! What a relief!

I was glad to finally get to eat, and then get back to much-needed office work. And then I heard about the situation downtown Vienna and started following news coverage while working.

Now it's going on 2 am, but I've already resigned myself that my bed time is 3 am now. There's still so much to do! And please pray for our preparations for the Mali trip. Time is going by so fast, and I don't have time for anything!