16 months 19 days

The little ones are over or nearly over their runny noses, while Randy and I have it bad now. At least it seems to pass quickly.

Once again the little ones woke up around 8 am, I made their breakfast, and we fed them, then I cleaned them up and dressed them and took them downstairs. Once Randy and Sammy came, I went back to bed, but I knew that I had little time this morning. And so I didn't even get to sleep for an hour before my alarm went off, alerting me that it was nearly 10 am. I had just gotten up when the doorbell rang already.

Three people came to measure Sammy and fit night leg braces and a seat for him. I got to hold him, while Randy was with the other two who were curiously watching. And especially Emmy was getting really tired, as his nap time had come, which is 10:30 am.

They had a toddler wheelchair with them that they put Sammy in to fit it adjust it to his size. I have to say that it was quite shocking to see this kid's wheelchair and knowing that my son will be using it and might be for the rest of his life. It made his condition so much more real, plus nobody had ever used the term "wheelchair" so I was not prepared to see it. Sammy was screaming at the top of his lungs when I had to sit him in the chair and they moved stuff around. They also had me pick the color of the frame as well as of the seat fabric. All very sobering. I also had to pick the frame color and fabric for the night braces. That's what they worked on next. I had to hold him, while they put a cast first on one leg and then on the other, then cut them off so they'd have a mold of his legs to make the leg braces. The guy said that these were the smallest he had ever made, as he kept being surprised at the small numbers when he measured Sammy's legs. Thankfully Sammy didn't mind that part of the process as I was holding him in my arms.

After an hour they were gone again, and it was high time for the little ones' nap. The boys fell asleep fast, but with Tammy I tried in vain again, for the longest time, and then she ended up looking at the Bible instead. No nap.

Time was short anyway, as we needed to eat lunch at noon to be able to leave at 1 pm. That's why I had made the chicken soup last night so that I only had to warm it up today. I did puree it a little bit so it was less liquid, but it still was pretty liquid and made quite a mess, but the little ones liked it.

Once they'd had their banana and yoghurt, I gave them a sink bath, as they were so dirty and then dressed them. We got ourselves ready, put their coats etc. on and put them into the strollers. As the girl hadn't slept yet, I put her on the bottom this time to sleep, while Emmy had the spot on top. And she did fall asleep after a while, until our names were called at the doctor's office and we had to wake her up. That was her only nap of the day.

We left just after 1 pm and took the two subways plus a tram to meet my Mom at the pharmacy by the pediatrician's office. We picked up their monthly preemie shot to protect them from respiratory stuff, and headed to the pediatrician's. We had just checked in and were still undressing them, when our names were already called. Randy quickly woke Tammy up and got her out of the stroller and we went inside. I hadn't even had time to finish filling out the three forms for the free flu shot.

Once inside, Randy and my Mom started undressing them, while I finished the forms. It didn't take long before the same nice young doctor from last time came. He again listened to their lungs and looked into their ears and mouth, which they resisted vehemently, followed by crying. They do not trust doctors any more, even when it doesn't hurt! And then it always does at the end. They weighed them so they knew how much to inject them with, and then they got two shots, the second part of the flu shot and the preemie shot, once in each leg. Tammy and Emmy both wanted to be with me, of course, and so we shuffled babies around. Grandma could at least distract Emmy a little bit by looking out of the window with him, and he immediately said "ba", his word for sheep.

They all cried hard when they got their shots, and we had the milk ready to give to them. Grandma also brought some snacks, but Emmy hit her hand, showing her what he thought of it. He wasn't gonna take a snack from "syringe Grandma" who he only sees when they get a shot!

At least the girl had some fun with Grandma after she had calmed down, looking at a book with a picture of a dog.

We dressed them all again, and made an appointment for a month from now, then left after all their coats were back on. We had to say good-bye to Grandma once again, and Emmy waved and said "ba ba" (bye bye).

It was bitterly cold today, mainly because of the strong wind, and so they all had their gloves on again; Tammy for the first time as she has really long sleeves. Sammy pulled his hat all the way over his face, which he likes doing.

It was after 4 pm when we got back home. They were eager to come out of the stroller, and enjoyed running around again. After being obsessed with cats and sheep in Mali, he is now obsessed with packages again, pointing at them and saying "kaka" all day long. Today another Amazon package came, and after I opened it, it was them who emptied it out. It was all for them after all. And then they didn't just carry the toys around the rest of the day, but also the empty box and the filling material. I hadn't had a chance to put the dishes into the dishwasher earlier, so I did it at that time, and the open dishwasher was also very fascinating to them (video uploaded). Finally we were ready to all go downstairs.

And that's where we all played for a while. None of them had slept in the afternoon, and their earlier nap wasn't very long either, so they were getting tired. Plus we had skipped the afternoon meal, eating snacks and drinking milk while we were out and about, and so I decided to do dinner half an hour earlier than usual which was a good decision. I went upstairs to get it all ready at 5 pm, and they came up at 5:30 to eat, and they ate well again. They enjoyed the bathtub, especially their new toys, and did not like it when we got them out. Normally the boys drink milk before falling asleep, but they were so tired they fell asleep without it. The girl needed a little bit longer, but not much.

I was pretty tired, but it was time for housework - cleaning their high chairs, the kitchen, the dishes, and then I started cutting up my salad which takes a lot of time. It's usually around 10 pm before I'm done eating and can start office work. It's been another busy day but thankfully there is nothing going on tomorrow. I just hope we get over this cold fast, as my nose is already red from using tissues all the time. And now, let's start doing office work...