16 months 12 days

Today the babies are 500 days old! And we have arrived back in Vienna. Randy got to sleep the most on the overnight flight, but Barbara and I slept very little. At least the babies slept well. It was 5:15 Malian time, that is 6:15 am French time, when we arrived, and so the babies had also had little sleep compared to usual. They were sleepy when they were woken up. Once again I decided to put Tammy into the baby carrier, as she always wants to be with me. The problem is that Emmy wants to be with me as well. Everyone was getting off the plane, and we were finally moving and got to the exit, I asked them whether we'd get our stroller back right there and then. Well, they talked with each other and personnel, and sent us to the front exit of the plane. They talked some more, telling us the stroller was going on to Vienna. You must me kidding me! I was holding both Tammy and Emmy, and my arm was already getting tired. They were really nice, though, and the guy went down to the plane's hold to get our stroller, even though they had made a mistake and it wasn't supposed to come up. I heard the flight attendant say that that "happened every time". When the guy came back after a while, he told us that the stroller was already gone, sent to the second plane, and it would come out with our luggage in Vienna. Oh no! I knew how much walking was ahead, and now we had no stroller (once again)! How were we gonna do it?!? We left to join a long line of mainly Africans leaving the plane. They check all the passports even when you come off the plane, when it's a plane from Africa. We had stood there for a little bit, the line not moving, my arm getting tired, when somebody came and led us to the front of the line. At least something! The guy checked all our passports, and off we went, starting our long walk to the next gate. After a while I was getting even out of breath, and my arm started to hurt bad. We had walked for quite a bit, when I had to set Emmy down (who wanted to stay on my arm), when I had a great idea. Why not put him on the carry-on and let him ride it! A genious idea! He loved it, as Barbara pushed it, and I had my purse on my arm instead. So much easier!

We walked, and walked, and walked, until we got to security. Now it was gonna be a different story than in Bamako. At least there were hardly any people, this early in the morning, and with less air traffic any way. Still, we had to get all the baby food out, and I had to take the baby carrier off. Once through, I turned around, and there was Sammy on a tray! Why in the world did he go through the machine? Thank God he didn't. Randy just sat him down so he could put his belt back on.

Next was passport control. Again, hardly a line, and it went fast. Emmy gave the officer a big smile, and he smiled back at him. On we went, more walking to do to get to our gate. I was relieved when we finally got there. We still had a good amount of time. And there were some really comfortable seats right by our gate that we sat down on. It was time to feed the babies some breakfast. I had three breakfast jars with me that I had brought from Austria, and while Randy took one baby after another to the changing room, Barbara and I fed the other two. They loved eating that jar again! And Emmy got to sit on the suitcase for it.

Then it was running around time again. Emmy again connected with some people in the area. One was close-by, and even when he was with me, he would constantly look back at this Mother and daughter, waving and smiling at them, and it made me sad when they wouldn't even look back at him. It's tiring to run after them, especially when they run in different directions. Emmy also captured an Air France lady with his big smile who stopped for him and gave him some time. And then we suddenly heard him cry loud. He wasn't far away, but he was lost, not knowing any more where we were. Randy got to him fast though, and he was happy to be reunited with us. They enjoyed more snacks and baby juice, while we were waiting to board. I left to get some tea and coffee and food, and could hear Emmy cry because I was gone from a long distance away. Right now they're really fixated on me, and sometimes even Daddy is not good enough! When I came back, it wasn't long before I noticed they were pre-boarding. So we grabbed all my stuff and went to the gate to get on as well. As Emmy was cranky and wanted to be with me, I put him in the baby carrier, and Tammy got to sit on the suitcase. However, Tammy was tired too and also wanted to be with me, and so I had to pick her up as well. And so I had both of them in my arms again, and Barbara took my purse. One thing I had done while waiting was to try to get Barbara and the third baby moved closer to us, but they couldn't do it and told me to ask the flight attendants to do it. Even having Emmy and his big smile with me did not make the lady waiver.

Before we walked on the plane, we decided Randy and Sammy would take the seat further away, as Sammy was happy as long as Daddy was with him, while the other two needed me. Barbara and I were sitting behind each other by the window. Tammy was extremely tired and cranky by then, but so was Emmy. Tammy wouldn't even let me put her on the seat so I could put all the stuff away. She was just crying. Once I had settled in, a very nice flight attendant came (a guy!) and said I could move up to the row with Barbara and have the aisle seat, with the middle seat empty between us! Praise God! And Randy got to move to the seat behind Barbara. I don't know what we would have done had that not happened! Both babies were so very tired, they needed to be with me. Tammy was frantic, throwing a fit, because she was overly tired, before she finally calmed down and fell asleep on me. Emmy was crying really hard with Barbara and had to come sit on my other leg, and he also put his head down to sleep. However, he had to sit on Barbara's lap for takeoff, that was regulation. We waited until the last minute for him to move back with Barbara, and it broke my heart to look into Emmy's pleading eyes, while he was crying so hard, just to be with his Mommy. I gave him my hand to hold, but it wasn't enough. There was nothing I could do about it. Barbara tried to distract him, but nothing was working. So he continued screaming, until we were in the air and he could come back to my seond leg, where he immediately fell asleep. And so both of them slept on me for the whole flight, which lasted 90 minutes. They were exhausted! I was still able to have something to drink, and had my head on theirs for most of the flight, just loving on my babies and happy to hold them. Until we were about to land, and Emmy had to return to Barbara's lap. I was hoping he was sleeping so well, he'd just continue sleeping on her, but no such luck. Again he cried his heart out, pleading with me to take him back. As soon as we touched the ground, I did, and he was a happy baby again. He did not fall back asleep, but ended up watching the baby on the other side of the aisle. When we walked off the plane, I was carrying both of them again. And again, we walked and walked, and my arms were tired. In fact, my arms are really sore now! As soon as we were in the building, I tried to put Emmy back on the suitcase, but he wanted to stay with me, so I had no choice but to carry him as we walked and walked. We arrived at tables with Covid forms to fill out (we had already filled one out before arriving in France, for the French authorities). I was thankful I had already downloaded it and filled it out before leaving. It was Austrian soldiers who checked the forms and asked questions. When I handed him the paper, he told me that that form was outdated. A new one had been released two weeks ago, and I had to fill out that one. Oh great! I got that form, but I could not read it! I didn't have my reading glasses, and it was printed way too small! And my pen also stopped working. At least they gave me a new one. And then I asked Randy to help me read it. Since I had to write, I had to hand him the girl, while Emmy was still in the carrier., and he tried to grab the pen and paper, as I was trying to write. The form seemed identical to the other one, and it was, except for a few lines in one place. Getting frustrated, I finally told the soldier it seemed to be the same and that I could not read it without my glasses, and he was so kind and simply copied my answers over from the first form. They were really nice. We had to sign that we're going into a 10-day quarantine that we can get out of if we test negative on the 5th day. Then they let us go.

We continued walking (my arms!) until we got to the luggage area. We were the last ones to get there, and our luggage was already going round and round. The stroller, however, was at the other end of the building where the bulk luggage comes out of. So we sat down and waited there, while Randy left to go get it. I could not hold them any longer, and gave Emmy the opportunity to move around as well. After a while, Randy returned with the stroller. It had been damaged on the way to Mali, and this time it was damaged even more. Still, it was still working, and the boys went into the stroller. Sammy wasn't too happy. Then we could finally leave there. As we walked outside, our two friends picking us up with their two vehicles were already waiting for us, and they had found each other without knowing each other. It was cold, about freezing, and we had to get all our winter coats out before leaving the building and walking to the cars. One of the guys had brought the third car seat that the girl went into. She and Emmy went into one car, and Daddy and Sammy in the other car, and off we went. It was only a 17-minute drive to our house. Both Emmy and Tammy were happy in their car seats, while Sammy was not very happy any more. Both vehicles got to our building about the same time. We unloaded everything and got it all into our apartment. The guys said their good-byes and left, and so did Barbara, who had her car parked by our house while we were gone. She was eager to get home, and had a 3-hour drive ahead. She had to stop a few times to rest as she was pretty tired, but made it home safely.

As for us, we changed their diapers, and fed them their lunch meal, as we had arrived home just before 1 pm. They were happy and had a good appetite. After lunch, we put them into their beds for a nap, and it didn't take very long before they fell asleep. While I was getting them to sleep, Randy got himself some oatmeal for lunch. As it's a holiday today, the grocery delivery is only gonna come tomorrow, so we didn't have much to eat at home. After the babies were asleep, I got something out of the freezer to eat. I was extremely tired, and as I lay in bed waiting for my food to be ready, I could barely keep my eyes open. Eating helped a little. I had only just finished eating and was looking at my phone, when Emmy woke up crying. I got up, picked him up and lay down together with him. It didn't take long before we were both asleep. Randy had had the same idea and was gonna get Emmy, and so he sat down on the chair by their beds by himself and took a nap there.

When we woke up, I was surprised to see how late it was. We had all slept a long time, and we had all sure needed it. It was actually dinner time! They had skipped their afternoon meal. I was making their dinner, while Randy changed them again. Then they went back into their high chairs to eat. They had bread with cream cheese again, like they used to have before Mali and couldn't have in Mali, as well as banana and raped apple. The soup just never got hot enough in time. I was surprised how much they enjoyed the bread, as they had lost interest in it before we left for Mali. They actually ate everything on their plate and I had to get them some more food. The bathtub was also ready, and so they went in after having eaten. All three had lots of fun in the water, including Sammy, who hadn't been that happy in the bathtub the last few nights. Randy thinks it's because our light had stopped working, and so it had been pretty dark in our bathroom in Mali. At least they all enjoyed it today. I was wondering whether they'd be tired enough to go back to bed, after that long they had only just got up from. But they were. We went through our usual routine and put them to bed with milk, and it did not take that long before they fell asleep. They had eaten and gone to bed at the very same time they always do - Malian time, so it was an hour later here, and it was 8 pm Austrian time before I could walk away.

I started working on the pictures, while Randy got something to eat. I ate later, and then continued with the pictures and the reports. At 11 pm we gave them another antibiotic dosis, having missed the afternoon one. I hated waking them up for that, as they were sleeping so well, but they just continued sleeping. Then Randy went to bed, and I continued working. Now it's after 2 am. I've already done the dishes, and just have to get breakfast ready so I just get up and do it while still half asleep. No more Barbara to make it, now I'll have to get up to feed them myself again! So another short night ahead.