16 months 25 days

When I went to bed at 3 am, neither boy had asked for milk yet, and I decided to go to bed and take a chance. Recently Sammy had slept through the night once. Well, it seems that it was a mistake, because it messed up Randy's sleep, as they woke up some time during his time slot after 4 am, and all three of them needed milk then. The girl kept crying, and so I took her to bed with me, but she was not gonna sleep, so I ended up taking her back to bed. In the end all three went back to sleep, and woke up later at their normal time.

It was somewhere around 8:30, and I got up to make their food. Emmy refused to eat ANY of the cereal with milk, and Tammy didn't eat much of it, so I had to get the fruit, bread and snacks out. Then I cleaned them up, dressed them, and Randy took them downstairs with his breakfast, while I went back to bed.

Since we were eating yesterday's leftovers for lunch, I was able to sleep longer than ususal, not having to cook. I still had a very hard time getting up, as I was so very tired. It took a little longer than anticipated to get the food ready, so it was already 12:15 when we sat down to eat - lentil soup. And more fruit and yoghurt as dessert. Sonja had arrived at noon, so she was feeding Emmy, while I was feeding Tammy.

After lunch, Randy left with Sammy to go to his weekly physiotherapy session. He did really well, impressing the therapist, but did not last a whole hour. They returned at 3:30 pm. As he had not had a nap, Randy put him to bed after having eaten some food, but that ended up backfiring, that I let him sleep so late, as he had a very hard time falling asleep tonight. He'd had plenty of milk, but kept crying, being wide awake. In the end Randy held him until he fell asleep.

After lunch, Sonja took Emmy downstairs, while I put Tammy into her bed for her only nap of the day. I believe this was the fourth day it worked; she cried a little but soon fell asleep, and then slept for two hours. While she was falling asleep, I cleaned up the kitchen, and then went downstairs. I was so elated to have some time working on the computer! I'd so like to finish the newsletter today, but it looks unlikely. I started working, while Emmy was playing with Sonja, but he was getting tired, and he wanted to be with me, so it was getting hard to work. And he found a way to break out of their play area, our little ingenious guy. So I played with him, and put him on the swing, which he enjoyed greatly. Yesterday I had put him to bed early, and he never slept, so today I dragged it out until 2 pm, which was possible thanks to him being outside their play area. Then I took him upstairs and put him to bed. At first, it was all quiet, and I was hopeful that he had fallen asleep.

I went back to work, and after a few minutes I called Paul, a call that was way overdue. We talked business for a while, and as we did, I could hear Emmy starting to talk. I don't know whether he never fell asleep, and if my talking on the phone kept him from falling asleep. Even after I hung up, he kept talking, while I kept working. At 3 pm I went upstairs to get him, as it was time for the next meal, and I found Tammy sitting in bed, listening to her brother talk. So we fed them both. Right after Tammy wakes up, she refuses to sit in her chair, so I held her in my arm. They ate their jars fast, and I had to get some more fruit out to feed them.

We were just finishing up, when Randy and Sammy returned. The four of us went downstairs and started playing, while Randy stayed upstairs, even after putting Sammy to bed. I got the motorbike back out, and Sonja started pushing Tammy in circles, to her greatest delight, while Emmy sat down on the rocking horse. That went on for quite some time, but Emmy broke out of the play area again, trying to get to me, while I was trying to get more office work done. So everybody ended up outside, right by my desk. They enjoyed exploring this area they don't usually spend time in. They were reaching for stuff on the higher up shelves, and Emmy enjoyed opening and closing the door of one shelf. They also both got onto the swing again.

After a while I got the baby crayons out, and they started putting them into their mouths, but while I had not been able to get them to draw by themselves in the past, when I tried, today they actually did draw all by themselves. So I have their first ever drawing that I uploaded with the pictures.

I finally went upstairs - even though they were both protesting - to get Sammy, as I did not want him to sleep any longer, and I brought him down. There were only a few minutes left before I had to go upstairs to start getting their dinner ready, so Randy came downstairs to take my place. Tammy was pretty tired and lay down on Daddy's chest, while Emmy was crying as I walked away and Sonja was trying to calm him down.

At 5:30 they all came upstairs to eat. Tammy was so tired, she started crying halfway through her meal, as she wanted me to get her out of the chair, which I didn't do. After the boys were done eating, I put Emmy into the bathtub and then got Tammy, and in my arm she ate some more bread and fruit, which I knew she would. Even in the bathtub, she was so tired tonight, that she didn't play, but clung to me, while I was kneeling next to it. So they didn't stay in there long; Randy got Sammy out, and I got her out. Right now her skin is very red and even broken open in her diaper area, so it hurts her to clean her.

I put Sammy to bed with a prayer, and then Tammy, who is usually last, while Sonja brought Emmy to me, as the girl didn't want me to leave. Sammy was already whining, and Tammy hadn't eaten much, so Randy made three bottles of milk. However, by the time it came, Emmy was already asleep, so only the other two drank their milk. It didn't take Tammy long to fall asleep.

As for the rest of the evening, eating, house work, office work as usual. And now it's nearly 2 am, and it's unlikely I can finish the newsletter tonight. It's longer than usual, telling about our Christmas activities.