15 months 8 days

This morning they woke up a little later, and so we moved breakfast to half an hour later, and I believe we should leave it at that, as their nap really needs to be half an hour later, so they're tired enough. So we fed them at 9:30, and twenty minutes later they were in bed for their nap. I lay down with Tammy, and she still needed 40 minutes before she finally fell asleep. Right when Emmy woke up. Randy picked him up and rocked him back to sleep. Tammy ended up sleeping an hour and 15 minutes on me, which is good. Right after she got up at 11:45, Sonja arrived already to help, and as everyone was up, everyone went downstairs, while I went back to bed.

At 12:25 Sonja and Randy fed them their lunch meal, and then they went back downstairs. Once a week Randy cooks omelets, and today was the day. He made me one and brought it to me in the bedroom. While eating, I could hear Sammy crying hard. He often needs one of us around to not cry. I ate as fast as I can, and then went downstairs to hold my Sammy baby. All three were pretty tired, and so they went to bed at 2:15 for their afternoon nap, which is their regular bed time. This time it took Tammy 25 minutes to fall asleep, while the boys go to sleep fast, and she only slept 35 minutes. Right after she fell asleep, Sammy already woke up, half an hour after lying down, and his crying woke up his brother. The boys often wake each other up, and during the night usually drink at the same time because of that. So they got up at 2:45, and Randy and Sonja fed them their afternoon meal. When Tammy woke up at 3:15, Sammy was just finishing his meal, and it was her turn to eat. Then she went downstairs to join her brothers.

I needed to run to the post office and pharmacy; usually Randy runs all the errands, but sometimes you just need to be able to speak the local language. Sammy was still crying hard, and so I decided to take him with me. That was the best solution for everyone. So I put him in the carrier again that he will be in next week, when we go to Mali, and off we went just before 4 pm.

This morning when we got up, there was snow everywhere. The first snow of this winter, and it will probably already be gone tomorrow, because of rising temperatures. On the way to the post office Sammy got to touch snow for the very first time. Unfortunately I could not see his face to see his reaction. From the post office we went to the pharmacy, and then back home. Even though he only weighs 7.5 kilos, I could really feel it after a while, with my back starting to hurt. In any case, we both had fun. When he was getting a little cranky, I started hopping a little, and that made him laugh. What a sight that must have been, me hopping down the sidewalk!

After about 45 minutes we got back home and went downstairs to join the others, while Daddy was still sterilizing baby bottles in the kitchen. Both Tammy and Emmy wanted to be with me really bad, Tammy more so than usual, and she had already spent so much time (sleeping) on me! I played with them, and caused them all to scream when I walked away at 5 to make their dinner. Thankfully Randy came to take my place. Now we have a helper, and we STILL have to stay with them! Randy made very little progress in continuing packing where I had left off last night.

At 5:30 pm we fed them dinner. Lots of bananas, no berries, less bread. Tammy and Emmy kept putting bananas into their mouths, and it was hard for me to get any other food into Emmy's mouth in between. And he again threw food onto the floor, and I had to restrain his hand, explaining to him that his hand had thrown food to the floor after I had said not to, and he needed to let his hand know not to do that. Not sure how much of that he actually understood, but they do understand more than you'd think. Today Sonja was putting the activity cube back together and said she needed the last piece, the lid. Emmy picked it up and gave it to her. And when I say "cookie" during meal time, Emmy points at the cookie box. Yo should see how his face lights up when I actually pick up the box! He likes his cookies, putting them straight into his mouth, while Tammy prefers playing with them.

By the way, the picture shows Emmy determined to get Tammy's spoon that Sonja had just picked up off the floor, and the next picture shows he succeeded.

From the dinner table they went straight to the bathtub, which they always enjoy, then they went to bed in their regular order. I again walked away right away, and at first it was all quiet, but the longer I'm away, the more Tammy starts crying. I finally returned, and after a few times of coming and going and some milk, she finally fell asleep.

Now it's going on 1, and I still have so much to do, but I'm so very tired. Just maybe I should go to bed and hope for more energy tomorrow!? 6 days until we leave for Mali....