15 months 2 days

Last night Emmy had a hard time as he could not breathe through his nose and his temperature was elevated. He'd cry from time to time, and a few times I had to hold him for a few minutes before returning him to his bed. Thankfully his body temperature was back to normal all day today, and he's breathing more easily now. I'm also thankful that nobody else has caught what he has. Praise God!

I went to bed at 3 am, and got up as usual to make their food and feed them at 9 am. Twenty minutes later they were in bed for their morning nap. It took Tammy a long time to fall asleep on me; it was just after 10 am, and she slept for 50 minutes only. None of them has been sleeping very long, and one reason is defnitely that they wake each other up.

After she had woken up at 10:55 am, I took her downstairs to the boys, and found Daddy asleep, and the boys happily playing a few feet away. I simply added the girl to the mix and went back to bed. It was once again Randy who woke me up as it was time to feed them their lunch meal.

We fed them at 12:45, and then they all went downstairs, while I cooked lunch for us adults. We both ate downstairs, and by the time we were done, it was pretty much time for their afternoon nap. At 2:15 we put them back to bed, the boys in their beds, and Tammy was lying down with me. After twenty minutes, I decided to put the girl into her bed, as Emmy had woken up and needed me, so I picked him up and lay down with him. A sick boy should have priority, right? However, the girl cannot fall asleep by herself during the day. After ten minutes, I switched again, and asked Daddy to rock Emmy to sleep, which he did. The girl also fell asleep on me after only a few minutes by then, but she didn't get to sleep long. Randy had sat down with Emmy at 2:45 pm, and at 3 Sammy started crying. He was crying and crying, and my Mother's heart was torn. It's so much easier when you only have one baby! After 15 minutes, I could not take it any longer. I let the girl slide onto the bed, and was happy that she continued sleeping. Then I picked up Sammy and comforted him, but then I made the mistake of lying back down with him. That woke up the girl, so she only had 25 minutes of sleep. And then the party started! They all love being in our bed, and the drawers and what's on them are the most intriguing to them. Especially the lamp that changes intensity when you just touch it! Watch the video I've uploaded.

I finally got Tammy off the bed and onto the floor so that we could go eat the afternoon meal. Well, she went straight to Daddy and Emmy, and so Emmy woke up as well. So all three got to eat at the same time, at 3:35 pm.

Then we all went downstairs to play. Half their shelves with toys are turned around, and about every two weeks, I turn them all around so that half the toys are gone, and two weeks later when they return, they are interesting again, like new toys. I turned them around when we got downstairs, and that kept them all pretty busy and occupied, to discover all the new toys.

By the way, they have all been talking quite a bit, and for the past few days, they've been saying "mama" intentionally, most of all Emmy, then Sammy, and Tammy the least. Today Tammy was on the rocking horse again, after I moved it out into the open, and she could really make it move. One time she actually stood up and rose her hands up, and it's captured on the video I'm uploading.

At 5 pm I went upstairs to get their dinner ready, and we fed them half an hour later. Tammy didn't even eat ONE piece of bread; all she cared for was the soup and banans, and a few pieces of berries. Emmy usually likes his bread, but not tonight. He ate ALL the bananas right away, and did eat the soup. However, he picked up one piece of bread and berries after another and threw them to the ground. I said "no" and held his hand tight after he would do it again, and he started fussing and crying. I'd let go of his hand, and he would just do it again, and I would again hold his hand tight, which would make him upset. Even though we kept repeating this, he would still continue to throw the food on the ground. I really need to finish Danny Silk's book to know what the best way to deal with this is. He talks about giving the children the freedom to choose, and has great examples in his book of how it works. It's all about acting in love and giving them freedom.

Well, tonight Emmy wasn't happy with me. All his food ended up on the floor, except the bananas. Tonight I picked up more food from the floor than every before. They all went into the bathtub, and then to bed in their typical order. I again walked away right away, and Tammy was screaming for me to come back. After a while I did, but even with me there, she was crying when I did not have my hand on her head. I gave her some milk, and dental cream, and at some point she finally fell asleep.

Then the same routine as always, cooking, eating, cleaning, chosing their food for tomorrow, office work. Randy went to bed really early tonight, as he was so tired.