16 months 18 days

The little ones have all been having runny noses recently, and today I got it too, having a sore throat and headache as well. I'm also tired, not getting enough sleep, not getting to lie down with Tammy for a nap, and this morning I took Sammy to physiotherapy, and tomorrow is another really busy day.

I now get about 5 hours of sleep every night, going to bed at 3 am and getting up at 8. The babies are still getting up late, at 8 or later, and so I get up and make their breakfast right away, rather than giving them milk first and breakfast later. I fed them, cleaned them up and dressed them and took them downstairs where I waited until Randy came with Sammy. Then I went upstairs to bed, but I did not have much time for more sleep. Just after 10 my alarm went off, and I got up to get ready to leave. I was surprised that Sammy actually fell asleep right after breakfast, as they had only just gotten up before breakfast, but I was glad, as he would not be tired at physiotherapy. I decided to put him in the carrier rather than the stroller, so that I could use escalators instead of elevators, needing to take 3 subways to get to the hospital. It saved some time, and I enjoyed carrying him.

We got there early, and I got him out of the carrier and gave him some milk. Facebook just showed me a picture of a year ago with Sammy at physiotherapy, so I guess he's been going there for a year now. As he hadn't been there in six weeks, he was a little hesitant at first. He doesn't let anyone but Mommy and Daddy hold him. So I held him, while the therapist was slowly approaching Sammy so he could get comfortable with her again. She started doing some stretching with him while he was on my lap, and then he agreed to go down on the mat for some work, but it was not possible today for her to hold him. We ended the session after 40 minutes already, as he'd had enough.

We got home at 1 pm, just as the other two finished eating. Our friend Sonja was back to help. It was great to see her again after such a long time. And the little ones were obviously also happy to see her again and warmed up to her quickly. I was amazed that even Sammy allowed her to hold him and was happy! Wow! That's rare.

But first Randy fed Sammy, while I tried to lie down with Tammy who hadn't slept yet since the morning. However, I could not get her to sleep. We also put Sammy down for a nap after lunch, but he wasn't ready to sleep yet either. So we all ended up back downstairs to play, while Randy was making omelets for the adults. The babies had eaten baby food jars again for lunch for the first time since our return.

While we were playing with them, it was obvious that they were getting tired, especially Emmy. So I took the boys upstairs and put them to bed, and they fell asleep. Then I started eating my omelet, planning to try to lie down with Tammy again after I was done. Before I was even done I could hear her cry, so I went to get her. She was VERY tired; it was about 2:30 and she had been up since 8 am. I lay down with her, but she kept crying really hard, which is not unusual, but it was worse than usual, and I could not get her to settle down. Finally she rolled onto her back and fell asleep. She ALWAYS sleeps on her belly, so it didn't even occur to me to try it that way.

I got to fall asleep for a short time too, too short, when I heard Emmy wake up. I gently slid Tammy off my arm and onto the bed to go get Emmy, when I saw Sonja come to get him. I had forgotten that we had a helper! It was about 4 pm. The Mobile Therapy Support lady had come at 3 pm to work with Sammy for a half hour, and she had to wait until 3:30 before Sammy woke up. And then Daddy forgot to give Sammy his afternoon meal. So when Emmy got up at 4 and got his food, Sammy got his as well. And unfortunately Tammy woke up when I got up, so she got fed as well. Both of them just having woken up, they both wanted to be with me, which made feeding them harder. I had to hold the girl and feed her, and then Emmy wanted me to hold him as well, so I had a baby on each leg, while Sonja fed them.

Before we could even go downstairs, the Mobile Support lady came upstairs to leave. She said it had gone well with Sammy, as Daddy was there the whole time.

Then we all went downstairs to play, and everyone had a great time. Tammy was getting tired first, as her nap had been cut short. Both her and Emmy were going through the shelf again, and this time I was right there and helped Emmy get out the other side. He actually sat down inside the shelf, and I just helped him move his legs forward so he could come out. We did that twice. And it was great to see their joy at being with Sonja, and I also enjoyed catching up with her.

At 5:30 Randy took my place, so I could go get their dinner ready. They ate at 6, with me feeding Tammy, and Sonja Emmy. At one point Tammy started crying and refusing food, and we could never figure out what she wanted. It's time to learn to talk! All Emmy talks about all day long now is packages, rather than cats and sheep when we were in Mali. We had more packages arrive today, and I guess he's just fascinated with them.

They went into the bathtub to play, and then I put them to bed. Emmy was up the longest tonight, and I'm not sure what was wrong. Maybe the runny nose? I held him for a while, and then Randy rocked him to sleep. In the meantime I was making a big pot of chicken soup for lunch tomorrow, and Randy and I had some tonight.

I ate pretty late tonight, getting all the housework out of the way first, and after eating it takes me a while to get started on office work some time, as I'm so tired. And then it gets later and later, and the work is still waiting to be done. Now it's after 1 am, and in reality, I should go to bed as I have to be up in the morning. But not having an assistant yet who can take some of that work off my shoulders, I'm the one who needs to do it, and it's just increasing day by day if I don't do it.