15 months 9 days

What Emmy had a week ago, Sammy now has. This was the second day he was sneezing a lot, and tonight he has elevated temperature, a runny nose which makes it hard to breathe, and he's coughing (which Emmy didn't do) and every hour or so he wakes up and needs some comforting. Please pray for his quick restoration. Getting a flu shot today is probably not helping him either.

Last night I went to bed early, at 1:30, but simply could not sleep. It was after 4 am before I finally fell asleep. I kept thinking about all the things I had to do, messages I had to write, and as the list got longer in my mind, and sleep would not come, I finally picked up my phone and started doing those things I had on my list. At least I got some stuff done from bed. But I was sure tired in the morning.

Today we fed them at 9:20 instead of 9, so they lie down for their nap later, but it was still earlier than what I'd like to do, as we had to leave right after lunch today. We put them to bed at 9:40, and Emmy was awake for at least half an hour. In fact, Randy told me later that he wasn't sure how little of at all the boys slept. Tammy needed a full hour to fall asleep on me, but then she slept for 80 minutes, until noon, which was unexpected, as I had stuff to get done before leaving, and now I had only one hour left.

I took her downstairs, then picked their clothes out, got their food ready, and everybody came upstairs to eat. We fed them, then dressed them, got ourselves ready, their milk, put them into the strollers, we were rushing to leave on time. We left later, but still did pretty good on time.

This time Sammy was in the stroller. Nobody slept on the way there, though the boys were tired. We had to take two subways and a tram, and then met my Mom at the pharmacy to pick up their monthly shot for preemies to protect them from respiratory sicknesses. Then we went to the pediatrician's so they could get that shot, plus the flu shot that the city is offering for free this year because of Corona. We went into the waiting room, and Tammy and Emmy had fun right away. Together they pushed the table out the door and if Grandma had not stopped them, they would have gone on. There was also another baby who kept trying to put Emmy's pacifier that he had clipped to his shirt into his mouth and was upset when his Mom would not let him. I think it actually might have been in his mouth at some point.

Tammy climbed up on the couch with my help (she has now done that once by herself at home), but then climbed on higher to get to the Christmas train, and she did that all by herself.

Then we were called in, and we went to the typical routine of undressing them so they could get weighed and measured, which they do every single time. As always they started fussing and crying and trying to get away during it all. The doctor also listened to their lungs and looked into their ears and mouth, while we had to hold them tight against their will.

Then they got the shots ready; one in each thigh. They were screaming and screaming. Poor Tammy had moved so that the doctor had to go in twice to finish the shot, so she got stung three times. But they did calm down relatively fast, faster than last time. Then we dressed them again, and that was it.

We got an appointment for two days after our return in January for the second flu shot and the monthly respiratory shot. However, the Austrian government decided that people coming back at that time need to go into quarantine, if it's not a business trip. So the big question is if they agree with us that this is a business trip. So we'll see if we can keep the appointment. Mobile Therapy Support has already postponed Sammy's first session until after we'd be out of quarantine.

We said goodbye to Grandma and started our long journey home. Time had gone by fast; we had spent nearly 2 hours there. Sammy was falling asleep before we even left there, and Emmy also slept for a while on the way home. We got home around 4:30, and I took them downstairs while Randy got something to eat. We didn't have time to cook or eat lunch.

A box of baby snacks and liquid milk for the trip had arrived, and Emmy and Tammy were checking it all out closely. Then we all had fun playing together. Emmy loves playing peek-a-boo. He got a hold of my shirt lying around and would put it over his face, and I'd say "Where's Emmy?" and then he'd laugh out loud when I'd find him after he put the shirt down (video uploaded). Tammy doesn't play this game yet.

At 5 pm Randy switched with me, and I went to get their dinner ready, which we fed them at 5:30 pm. Again, both of them threw their food on the floor on purpose, even after I was saying "no", knowing they were doing what they were not supposed to. So their hands got restrained as they had not received the message that they shouldn't do that. At one point I was trying to hold both of Emmy's hands with my left hand, and one of Tammy's with my right hand, but their hands were slippery from the bananas, so it was a little tough. When they were done, I left them in their chairs and cleaned up the floor with them watching, instead of letting them out. Only after I was done did I take them out and put them into the bathtub. At least I don't have to do it in the dark with my phone flashlight because they sleep right by there. Once they're older, they can clean it up themselves. 😄

They enjoyed the bathtub as always, and came out in their typical order to go to bed. I walked away right away, and was surprised by Tammy who fell asleep without fussing. I knew she was tired. However, she wakes up a little while later, and then only falls back asleep if I'm sitting right next to her bed, so I do, as she otherwise gets more and more worked up. And of course tonight it's been challenging with Sammy, who is hurting.

Cooking, eating, office work, and tonight Randy continued packing where I had left off. Three suitcases are already done, and I'm wondering how we're gonna get it all in. You'd think that 6 big ones and 3 little ones are enough, but they're not! 5 days to departure!