17 months 1 day

This has been a REALLY long day! Sammy slept through the night without milk, so he was the first one up, half an hour earlier than usual, at 7:30. So I got up and made their breakfast, and we started feeding them. Then I cleaned them up, dressed them, and went downstairs with all three, while Randy was making and eating his breakfast. Normally I go to bed at this time. Instead I was playing with the three of them. Tammy and Emmy love climbing on top of this box, and they both know how to climb back down feet first. For some reason Tammy fell off the box, head first, so she was crying hard and I comforted her and asked Jesus to take the pain away. It didn't take long for it all to be forgotten and for her to take off to keep playing.

At 9:30 Randy came to get Sammy and left to take him to physiotherapy, so it was just me, Tammy and Emmy, and we had fun playing, while I was pretty tired. I also noticed that they were getting tired earlier, having gotten up half an hour earlier, and I finally put Emmy to bed ten minutes earlier than usual, at 10:20. They both climbed up the stairs with me walking behind them, then I put him to bed, and took Tammy back down with me. He fell asleep right away.

So then it was just Tammy and a tired Mommy. I was pretty much watching the clock, and ready to fall asleep. I could tell Tammy was getting a little tired as wel, but not enough to sleep. At 11:15 we went upstairs to the kitchen, as I had to cook lunch for everybody. I couldn't let her run around, so that she would not wake Emmy up, so I put her high chair in the kitchen and sat her in it and gave her some kitchen utensils to play with, and it worked. It didn't take long before Emmy already woke up, after only an hour of sleep. So I got him out of bed and was thankful that he let me put him on the floor. Tammy often won't let me do that right after waking up. I gave Emmy some utensils as well to play with, which he enjoyed. After a while, tired Tammy wanted out of the chair, but she would not let me put her on the floor. Every time I put her down because I needed both hands to cook, she'd start crying hard and holdin onto my dress, wanting me to pick her back up. I did whenever I could, and put her down when I needed both hands. Emmy was still happily playing. I finished cooking and got in onto their plates, and ours, put them in their chairs, and started feeding them. They were both hungry, and everything was fine. And then the boys returned; Sammy had just fallen asleep, so he stayed in the stroller at first, but soon woke up and joined us at the table. However, he'd had milk and a snack on the way, so he was not hungry. The other two pretty much finished their food and had some yoghurt and fruit as dessert.

Then Tammy went to bed for her nap and fell asleep fast, as she was so very tired, while I went downstairs with the boys, being very tired myself, barely able to stay awake, but doing my best to play with them. Both boys were getting pretty tired, though, so I took them upstairs at 1:45 and put them to bed, and then went to bed myself. The boys fell asleep fast. It's rare they all sleep at the same time. I fell asleep fast myself.

While I was sleeping, Caritas helper Christine arrived. I'm surprised I didn't hear Tammy wake up, which shows me how tired I was. I did hear Sammy, though, and got up to get him, and found Emmy awake as well. It was 3 pm, so time for the afternoon meal, and so everybody came upstairs to eat. I was feeding Tammy, while Christine was feeding Emmy. Tammy had finished her jar really fast, and then finished the watermelon we had and had some yoghurt as well.

Then we all went downstairs, while Randy left to go to the grocery store. And Christine pulled out all stops, having lots of fun with the littles ones. She ran with them in her arms, created an obstacle course for them, and all kinds of stuff. She also played with Sammy, who enjoyed it, which is rare. It was a lot of fun to watch, and I uploaded two videos. At 5 pm I left them to go get their dinner ready.

It was after 5:30, and I had just finished everything, when Randy returned. Everybody came upstairs, while he put the groceries away, and then it was dinner time. Tammy ate hardly anything tonight, and Emmy didn't eat it all either. Before we were done eating, Christine had to leave us, but she'll be back in the morning.

Then it was bathtub time, which they all enjoyed, and bedtime. Emmy fell asleep right away, Sammy started whining for milk after a while, and Tammy was restless and crying when I'd walk away. As she had hardly eaten anything, I ended up giving her a big bottle of milk that she drank, before finally falling asleep.

I've been so tired tonight, it took me a while to get productive, which is not good, as I have plenty to do. It's 2:30 now, so it's unlikely I'll be able to get anything else done tonight. Sigh.