17 months 13 days

It was 4 am again before I made it to bed, but at least the little ones woke up at their regular time of 8 am. We fed them, and then they went downstairs with Randy, while I went back to bed. It always takes me a little while to fall asleep, but then I sleep really well, and it's very hard to get back up. Sometimes I wake up, when Randy puts the boys down for a nap at 10:30 (if they cry), and sometimes they wake up crying before me, and wake me up. Today it was my alarm that woke me up, I think. I took the boys downstairs, once they were awake, and got to work getting everybody's lunch ready. Everyone came up, and we fed them at noon. Then I put the girl to bed, and Randy went downstairs with the boys, while I cleaned up and got everything ready for us to leave later. That included making their dinner and putting it into little containers to take with us. Randy brought the boys up early to put them to bed, and Sammy fell asleep, but while Emmy was quiet for a few minutes, I don't think he ever slept. I finally got him out of bed, so that the other two could continue sleeping, and fed him his afternoon meal. Then I went downstairs with him to play. Sammy woke up next, and Randy fed him. Then the girl woke up, having slept about 2 hours, and Emmy and I both went upstairs again. I picked her up and fed her as well.

We never went back downstairs, but started dressing them and getting ready to leave. It all takes time. We all wore our Malian clothes today. We left at 4 pm, and got to the train station rather early, so we had to wait a while. It was raining and cold. Thankfully that was the only time it rained while we were out today. Last time we were outside, Tammy must have thrown her hat out, as she does, pulling it out frequently. I had really liked that hat, but I found another one today that she wore instead, and I picked it up several times and put it back on her head.

We got to church just before the service started at 5 pm. Because of the lockdowns, we hadn't been in a church service in Vienna in three months. And I believe that's why the little ones were a little overwhelmed at first, walking into the sanctuary with so many people, plus the loud music. I was holding Tammy and Emmy both in my arms, as they were crying, when I'd put them down. But it didn't take long before they started running around and going up to every person and smile at them, as they always do, especially Emmy. I got their food out and was putting it into their mouths, while going after them. After a while, I thought we'd go upstairs and check out what was going on in the toddler room. They were excited to go up the stairs. There were a few children in the toddler room, but we went straight to the slide, and they couldn't get enough of it. Tammy was going down all by herself, while Emmy was still holding my hand. They kept wanting to go back up, and it was hard to get them to go one after another, rather than at the same time. Then another baby came and sat right by the slide, and first Tammy, and then Emmy started interacting with her - until she started crying. Not every kid is as social as ours, and I guess not used to other children.

After some time of playing I decided to take them back to the sanctuary, as there was no livefeed of the service and nothing else going on. We rejoined Randy and Sammy and then stayed around there. Tammy and Emmy continued walking around, interacting with people, and finding other babies to make friends with. They had a lot of fun. At the end, the music was playing again, and people were dancing, and a lady close to us who's been to our house once, started dancing with our little dancer Emmy. However, I think he was a little overwhelmed by all that was going on, and by then, they were also all tired.

The service ended, and we talked to a few people, before going to the foyer to put their coats back on and leave to go home. That is quite a job and takes some time. It was cold outside. We walked to the tram stop, took the tram, and then had to take the train that you have the carry the strollers into, conquering a few steps. We arrived home just after 7:30 pm, with all the babies awake. We changed them and put them to bed, giving them all a bottle of milk. Tammy started crying again, when I walked away, and I had to come back, finding her standing up crying for me. I sat down and stayed a while, before I could finally leave.

The eating and office work, as usual, and now it's 3 am and I hope to head to bed soon.