17 months 11 days

Today we woke up a few minutes later than usual; I think Randy and I were just so tired we were fast asleep so that it took us longer to hear them. We got up, and I had already started feeding them when Caritas helper Christine arrived with a trainee. I gave her some instructions for lunch, got everything ready, including the kids' clothes, and went back to bed. What a blessing to have her! Just a few more weeks though.

After they were done eating, they all got dressed and went together to the playground. That included also Randy and Sammy, which was great. And by what I heard, they had a lot fun, all three of them. Tammy is the couragous one, pushing the limits, while Emmy is the cautious and fearful one. Tammy was in the swing a long time, and they both rocked on this thing together, making it move for the first time.

When they returned, the boys went to bed for their nap, while the girl stayed up and played. After a while Christine started cooking lunch, and the trainee stayed with Tammy. At noon they fed them. All the while I was blessed to be able to stay in bed and sleep, not having to cook or feed them, though I do wake up every time there's someone upstairs. I actually slept longer than ever, and ended up jumping out of bed, when I thought I had heard the doorbell, which was a false alarm. Sometimes Randy doesn't hear it downstairs, so I'm very aware that I need to hear it, when I'm upstairs. We don't want to miss any deliveries.

In any case, I was up, and so I started cooking my own lunch. Before I was done, Randy was bringing the boys upstairs to put them to bed. It was about 2 pm. We've been aiming to feed them at 2:15 or 2:30 and put them to bed afterwards, as they often would not sleep before then, and that is what happened today as well. The boys were both talking, and then Tammy woke up. She had slept over 90 minutes, which was good. In any case, with all three being awake, we sat down for the afternoon meal. It was about 2:15, and so Christine and the trainee helped, as they were leaving at 2:30. That allowed me to finish cooking, and then I sat down with them and ate my own meal. After they left, I finished feeding Tammy and Emmy. Then the boys went to bed, and this time they slept right away, for one hour, before I woke them at 4 pm.

So Tammy and I had a whole hour together downstairs, just the two of us, and it was an intense hour, as she kept me busy. She'd bring books to me to read to me, and she was especially interested in one book that she made me read to her over and over again. We also had some fun, with me chasing her, but she also fell one time. They love climbing up and down the couch, but sometimes they fall, especially when they're tired.

At 4 pm we both went upstairs to get the boys, and brought them back downstairs. Randy was sterilizing baby bottles, which takes time, but we had great fun without him, and he joined us after a while. He was the one who got out the xylophones, and all three ended up playing them and enjoying them. The uploaded videos testify to that.

Sammy does not like lying on his belly right now, and has been complaining for the past few days, whenever I put him down. He immediately crawls to me, and wants to be picked up. He needs to sit on his knees and learn to stay seated that way, so that's what I do, when he's with me, but he still loses his balance.

Emmy always needs some time to wake up. He just lay on my chest for a while, before he got going, but he was pretty cranky pretty much the whole time, needing me to cheer him up by swinging him around. The girl was also rather tired. At 5 pm I left them to get dinner ready.

Well, Randy and the three of them came up just minutes after me, long before I was done. That made it harder for me to make their food, as Tammy always wants me to hold her, when she's tired. I did some cutting with her on my arm, but put her down, whenever she'd let me, and thankfully she did end up running around and playing with her brother. They do open lots of drawers and pull out stuff, and Randy was busy going after them. At 5:30 we sat down to eat, and they did pretty well eating at the table. I took the leftovers with us to the bathtub, where they finished them. So did Sammy.

I put them all to bed, and walked away right away, rather than sitting down to help the girl. Surprisingly, it worked for the second day in a row, though the girl did cry for a while. That allowed me to get my food ready earlier, and therefore finish eating earlier and get to work earlier. Let's hope it continues!