15 months 7 days

Last night Tammy slept through the night for the first time in a very long time! Yeah! She used to sleep through the night, and did so for months in spring, before starting to drink again. She already had milk tonight.

Last night, some time around 2 am, I moved the shelves and baby bed that make up the barrier of the babies' play area to create some room for us to pack suitcases. It decreased the size of their area, but now we can finally pack. Tonight I laid out 7 of our 9 suitcases and started "laying the foundation". Hopefully Randy will take it from here. We sure have a lot to pack, the biggest challenge being the three high chairs. I'm just amazed at how much baby stuff we are taking, and I haven't even picked out toys and clothes yet. But we also have a lot of stuff to take to the kids in Mali, though not enough toys to hand out at the Christmas party.

I went to bed at my regular 3:30 am time last night, and got up as usual at 8:50 to make their food and feed them. I was really tired. We put them to bed for their moning nap after, at 9:20. Tammy went straight to bed with me, and she always needs time to fall asleep. Today it took her 25 minutes, but then she slept 70 minutes, which is good. When she got up just before 11, the boys were already downstairs, and she joined them.

I put their lunch into the warmer and went back to bed. I was sleeping really well and was wishing I could continue when Randy woke me up just an hour later. We fed them at 12:15, then I got our food ready. We then already put them to bed at 1 pm, so they'd get some sleep before we'd have to leave the house. At first I put Tammy to bed as well, as I had to eat and get some stuff ready, but she actually kept the boys up and it was getting later and later. Sammy needed to have a nap, and so did Emmy! At 1:35 I lay down with Tammy, though the time was short, and stayed in bed with her for 20 minutes, nearly falling asleep, but Tammy never did. Thankfully the boys fell asleep as soon as she was gone. They didn't get to sleep long, but at least the slept. Tammy never did and was extremely tired by the time she went to bed at night.

I got up with Tammy, and we dressed her, then did the same with the boys, got ourselves ready, and everything else that needed to be done, and left 15 minutes later than planned. We had a subway and a tram to take to get there.

This was the second time ever their Mobile Therapy Support play session was gonna be at their headquarters. When we got to the tram stop, it was 10 minutes to the arrival of the old tram with high steps, and 12 to the new one with no steps. We took the latter, but it was really cold having to wait so long, and we arrived 20 minutes late. 20 minutes less play time. I was carrying Sammy again, to get him used to being carried again, and he enjoyed it. Sometimes it's challenging though, as he has the iron grip, and sometimes he just reaches for everything, your mask, your hair, your phone... I could not look up directions!

They all had lots of fun, and nobody was cranky and tired, praise God. The therapist was even impressed with Sammy's disposition. He crawled and played and smiled his big smile. I was surprised that Tammy was not more interested in the swing, though she did swing for a while. I guess there were so many other things to explore. Emmy had to explore every nook and cranny of the room again, and ran around a lot. I have uploaded several videos of our time there.

At 4:30 pm we had to pack up again to leave. This time it said 16 minutes until the arrival of a tram with no steps. That was too long; the one with steps was only 2 minutes away, so we decided to do it. The steps are also really high, and I had Sammy on my chest, and then it's a tight, sharp corner to get the stroller around to get it in, but somehow we did it. When I was a child, parents had to do this all the time! It was the same challenge getting the stroller back out, and again the two of us did it, then took the subway home. Nobody slept, though some looked tired. It was 5:15 when we got home, so dinner time.

We got them out of the strollers, and got all their clothes off, and let them run around while I was getting everything ready. Randy has not finished putting all the childproving on the drawers, so they're still enjoying opening them all. Half an hour later, everything was ready, and we sat down to eat. I made less of what they don't like much, and more of what they do. Both Tammy and Emmy had already eaten a big part of their banana pieces by the time I sat down to feed them the soup. And both of them threw what they did not want on the ground, and I restrained their hands after they did, calmly explaining to them that it had done what it should not have, which made them upset, and after a short time I released them again. In any case, not very much bread got eaten.

They went straight into the bathtub, and Tammy was so tired and cranky, that she came out and went to bed before Emmy tonight. At first, they all fell asleep really fast, but after a while Tammy started crying, so she got milk and dental cream, but as she was still crying, I sat down next to her, and then she finally fell asleep.

It's 2:30 now and I'm pretty tired; I guess by the time I get to bed it will be my typical 3:30 again. A week from right now we'll be at a hotel in Paris, before flying to Mali the following morning!