16 months 28 days

Last night I needed to finish my German newsletter, so it was already 4 am, when I went to bed, and then Tammy was crying, having a hard time, probably because she has molars coming out on all four sides, so it wasn't until 5 am or so that I fell asleep. Three hours later the babies woke up, ready to eat breakfast.

I made their breakfast, while Randy was giving them fresh diapers. At 8:30 Caritas helper Christine arrived, just in time to feed them. I made sure they had everything they needed and went back to bed. However, I could hear everything and couldn't fall asleep. Only after they had gone downstairs, I was just about to fall asleep, when Randy dropped Sammy on me, so he could get his breakfast ready and take it downstairs with Sammy. So I had fun with Sammy instead of sleeping. After Randy picked him up again, I could finally fall asleep. At 10:30 Randy put the boys to bed for a nap, so I woke back up again, but fell back asleep, until getting up at noon for their lunch. Christine had done the cooking, and everything was ready to sit down to eat. They had salmon with mixed vegetables and potatoes, and we also ate our fish at the same time. I was feeding Emmy today, and Christine Tammy. Christine has a lot of fun with them, especially with our comedian Emmy, and Emmy looked more at her than me during the meal, always giving her a big smile and having fun with her.

After lunch, the boys went downstairs to play, while Tammy went to bed for her only nap of the day. She's now getting quiet fast already, having slept by herself for a week or so, but today, there was too much noise and activity, so she started crying. I came to her side and stroked her head, and she fell asleep really fast. And she surprised me by sleeping OVER two hours, and a really deep sleep, not being bothered by her brothers' crying.

I finished cleaning up the kitchen, and putting away the grocery delivery, and somehow by the time I was done and wanted to go downstairs, it was already 2 pm and bed time for the boys, who were coming upstairs. However, both boys were talking in bed, and I'm not sure if either one of them ever slept. As for me, I decided to go downstairs to work, even though I was tired enough to take a nap. At 2:30 Christine left us, and when 3 pm came around, we got the talking boys back out of bed for their afternoon meal.

We had just sat down and started feeding them, when Tammy also woke up. She's really cranky after waking up, and for the longest time she was throwing a fit, whether I sat or stood, held her or put her down, while I was still feeding Emmy at the same time. FINALLY she calmed down and I was able to feed her while standing up and holding her in my arm. Some other fruit had been delivered, and I let her explore all those new fruits on the counter while feeding her. By that time Emmy was done eating. Then she threw down the small watermelon, and it split. Tammy absolutely LOVED watermelon in Mali, and she did today too, eating bite after bite. Now Emmy had always refused watermelon in Mali, but today he suddenly ate it.

After they were done, cleaned up and dressed, we went back downstairs to play. And all three were in a great mood and had fun. Emmy surprised me by fitting into the dump truck; he likes sitting in any tight space. He also tried to break out again and moved the heavy box Randy had put there so the barrier could not be moved.

I put Sammy on the car again, and he enjoyed me pushing him back and forth. I also blew up three balloons that they enjoyed playing with for a while. Randy joined us as well and fell asleep for a while, and it was as if the little ones were wondering why their Daddy was sleeping.

One of the most fun games we play now is that I look at them and slowly move towards them as if to catch them, and they start laughing really hard and running away from me. It's the cutest thing!

At 5 pm I left them to get dinner ready, which takes me half an hour, and we started feeding them just after 5:30. As some new fruit had been delivered, there was more fruit diversity on their plate tonight. To the daily blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, bananas and apples, I added plum and watermelon, and they enjoyed them as well. And instead of their daily soup, we had some vegetables left over from lunch, and especially Emmy couldn't get enough of them (peas, corn, carrots with potato puree). Tonight they ate EVERYTHING on their plates while still in their chairs.

Then we went into the bathtub to play. After a while Tammy was getting pretty wild, playing hard, and I decided it was time to get them out one by one. They went to bed in their regular order, each one of them getting some milk. The boys talked for a while and then fell asleep, but Tammy was pretty restless. I gave her some dental cream for her teeth, and had to come back to sit by her bed for a while, before she fell asleep.

I got all the dishes taken care of, the kitchen and high chairs and dining room cleaned, got some food myself, and started doing office work. With the English and German newsletter sent out, I still have to finish the French version.