Tonight it's 1:30, and I'm very tired. Last night I went to bed earlier for good reason, but then I couldn't fall asleep for a long time. We got up a little earlier today, as the kids were all up. We fed them, cleaned and dressed them, and it took a while before all the kids were downstairs with Randy and I could go back to bed. My alarm was set for 11 am, but it was silent again. Thankfully I woke up anyway a few minutes later. I put their food into the warmer and lay back down. At 11:30 Sonja arrived. Sammy was still sleeping. I got up, got dressed nicely, and got their food ready - leftover chicken with baby jar food sidedish (couscous with vegetables). Then everybody came upstairs, as Sammy had woken up, and I needed to leave. They all sat down in their chairs, and I gave them their plates of food. When I left to go downstairs, Emmy looked at me and started crying. I had to come up one more time, and he was still crying, and cried for a while. I didn't think he'd eat anything, but thankfully, he did calm down at one point and started eating.
It was a few minutes before noon, when I sat down at the computer. Every year for many years I've been going to Austria's biggest missions conference in Wels, speaking there, and having a table to present the ministry there. This year they did all the workshops on Zoom, and I was invited to do one. At first it didn't look like it was going to happen, as I told them I could only do it in the afternoon or evening. When they proposed noon as the latest time, I realized it was actually a really good time. Sonja and Randy were feeding the kids, and then putting Emmy and Tammy to bed, and Sonja played with Sammy until the meeting was over and they could come downstairs. This was the first time I taught on Zoom, and the first time I taught since the babies were born, so I really enjoyed it! I realized how much I'd been missing it. I was told it was recorded, so I'll put up a link when it's available. (It's in German.)
I was rejuvenated, but tired. Randy was making omelets for us, and I lay down in bed to eat, but unfortunately there was no time for a nap. I had to clean up, and I had to make their food to take to church with us. For a while I was debating whether we should stay home, considering how tired I was, but as much as the little ones love church, I didn't want to keep them from going. So I powered on. Emmy woke up after only an hour or so - way too early. I sat down with him, hoping to rock him back to sleep. He put his head on me for a little while - just long enough for Tammy to lay back down and fall back asleep, thank God. But Emmy was done sleeping, so I took him downstairs to Sonja. The girl ended up sleeping until 2:30, and everyone came upstairs to eat the afternoon meal. I put the boys to bed, but Emmy did not want to sleep, so I got him back out. At least Sammy slept.
Time was short to get everything done so we could leave at 4 pm, but we made it. We caught our 4:20 train, and then took the subway to church, where we arrived before the service started. The little ones were excited right away, and enjoyed all the people they could interact with. They are very social and went from person to person, making contact and smiling at them, having fun, and fun with those people who'd respond to them.
During worship they were running around, and kept taking their headsets off that protect them from the loud music. I gave them something to drink, and Tammy took the bottle to Sammy and put it into his mouth - but for such a short time that he couldn't really drink. As you can see in the uploaded video, she'd do that, then leave, come back, and do it again, over and over again.
After worship we all went to the baby room to feed them and so they don't bother anyone during the preaching. And they had lots of fun there as well, even though they went to the door a few times to leave and return to the sanctuary. There are some fun toys there that they enjoyed playing with. As the message was coming to an end, we returned to the sanctuary, where they went straight to the people they'd had fun with earlier. After the service, a few people said hello, and one friend asked if she could hold Sammy. I told her he'd probably cry, but hey, he didn't!
Then we put their coats on and put them into the stroller, and left to return home. We were lucky that the train arrived right after we got to the station after having taken the subway, and so it was before 8, when we got home. Everybody had stayed awake. We went straight to putting their pj's on and putting them to bed. A while ago Tammy started taking her sleeping bag off, and sometimes also her pj's in the morning, and he recently Emmy has been doing it as well. Last night Emmy slept all night without the sleeping bag. So tonight I put warmer pj's on them and no sleeping bag. I had to come back one time because Sammy was fussing, and put him back into his sleeping position. Then they all fell asleep fast. And by now they've all requested and had their milk. As tired as I am, I don't think I'll be getting much more work done tonight. I haven't even cleaned the dining room yet. Sigh.
