18 months 4 days

Last night I thought I was going to bed earlier again, but it didn't work out this way, and so it was just before 4 am again. We got up just before 8 to feed them. At 8:30 Caritas helper Christine arrived. Thank God! She hadn't been here in the morning in a week. The kids were already close to finishing. Tammy was eating her beloved watermelon. I made sure everything was ready for Christine to take over, and went back to bed, only for Randy to drop Sammy on me like he usually does. Even when the Mobile Support lady arrived to play with Sammy, he still stayed with me. I ended up taking him downstairs to her, while Randy finished making his breakfast.

I went back to bed, and Christine took Tammy and Emmy outside to the park for about an hour. They had lots of fun, and I'm still waiting to get some pictures. Randy put Sammy to bed at 10:30, while Tammy and Emmy stayed up until lunch at 11:30. I had cooked enough for two days yesterday, so Christine just had to warm it up for them. Then she fed Tammy and Emmy, while Randy fed Sammy as always.

After lunch, Emmy went to bed first. After half an hour, Christine put Tammy to bed, and she also fell asleep. Perfect! I woke up when I heard Emmy cry at about 1:45 pm. I got up and lay back down with him, and he actually fell asleep on me. It's been a very long time since he slept on me, and I greatly enjoyed it. Unfortunately it was cut short unnecessarily. I heard Sammy cry really hard downstairs, while Randy was in the kitchen sterilizing bottles. I was hoping Randy was gonna go to him, and so I kept waiting and waiting, while Sammy kept crying. Finally it was 1:30 and Sammy's bed time, and I had heard him cry for 45 minutes. I could not take it any longer and called Randy who finally came, and I asked him to put Sammy to bed for his nap. Unfortunately Emmy woke up in the process, and I took him downstairs to Christine.

I held Sammy for a few minutes to calm him down, and then put him to bed. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep. I was glad that the girl fell right back asleep after raising her head. I was up for good now, and as Christine was about to leave, I got myself a sandwich and went downstairs to be with Emmy. We had Mommy and son time, just the two of us, and had lots of fun. I had my tea there and told Emmy "heiß" (hot), when he got close to it, and for the very first time he repeated "heiß" back to me, several times. It was so cute and so exciting! They are now repeating our words in such a way that we understand more and more often.

It had been quite a few weeks since we had turned the shelves around, and so I decided to do it right then and there. That way the current toys disappeared for a weeks, while the old toys returned. Emmy was so excited and ended up being really busy discovering one toy after another again. In the midst of all that, I fed him his afternoon meal.

Sammy was the one waking up next, and Randy fed him. Then Tammy woke up after a nice, long nap, and she joined us downstairs, where I fed her. She was also overjoyed at all the "new" toys!

Randy left to run some errands, and I got to stay have fun with my three little ones. And they kept me really busy, with puzzles, and shapes, and having to throw them around. Sammy also had lots of fun going through everything. Daddy returned just in time before 5 pm, so he could take my place and I could go get their dinner ready.

I still had cleanup to do in the kitchen first, so it took a little longer than usual, and we sat down to eat after 5:30 pm. At first they eat silently, as they are hungry, but then they start playing more and more until they refuse to eat. So off we went to the bathtub, where they continued eating, and Sammy joined them there too, also finishing his food there. As I hadn't weighed them in 3 weeks, I did so tonight, and they have hardly gained any weight at all. Tammy weighed 10.4 kilos (+200 grams), Emmy 9.3 (the same) and Sammy 7.9 (+100). That's not much for their age. Sammy still wears 68/74, Emmy 74/80, and Tammy 80 and some 74.

After I had put them to bed, it was pretty much the same story as it has been. Emmy going to sleep right away because he'd only had one nap, Sammy crying hard, and Tammy needing me to be there to fall asleep. As I had to pick up Sammy and hold him, I was there for Tammy at the same time. Tonight I held Sammy three times before he finally fell asleep. By the time I left Tammy was asleep as well.

After eating, I got my pictures done and started writing this right away. But now I still have to clean the dining room and high chairs and the kitchen, and then do some much-needed office work.