19 months 1 day

This morning we already got up at 7:15, as they were crying. I thought "why not", after having slept for only 3 hours. I made their breakfast, and we fed them. I cleaned them up and dressed them and went back to bed. I was hoping for some good sleep, as Christine was coming, but it wasn't quite meant to be. She arrived at 8:30 and took them downstairs, and then to the nearby playground. Sammy stayed home, as he for sure needed a morning nap today, with the early morning. Emmy and Tammy had fun at the playground, and it was a warm and sunny day.

I had asked Christine to feed them early because of their early morning, and at 11:15 they sat down to feed them what Christine had cooked. I woke up when Sammy wouldn't stop crying, and found that Christine had just put Emmy and Tammy to bed who were not sleeping yet, and Sammy was crying because he didn't want to eat and Daddy was trying to get food into him, as he hasn't been gaining weight. I rescued Sammy from the torture and comforted him. Randy then dressed him again and took him downstairs, while I went back to bed.

It was a rude awakening, when Christine walked into our bedroom before 1:30 and dropped Sammy on me, saying she was leaving and Randy had gone to the grocery store. At the same time Emmy was crying, which woke up Tammy as well. She left, and here I was with Sammy in bed, and two other kids crying. Not the way you want to wake up. I got Emmy and Tammy out of their beds and took all three downstairs. Emmy always needs quite a long time to wake up and needed to lie on my chest with me holding him. Sammy was cranky, as he was getting tired, approaching his afternoon nap. Tammy was happy, but trying to sit down on my lap with a book she wanted me to read to her, but there was no space. Sammy was also trying to sit on me. And Emmy didn't like anybody else trying to take his Mommy space away from him. I'm big, but there was not enough room for all three. I really couldn't make them all happy, and I was glad, when Randy returned. It was time for their afternoon meal, so we all went upstairs.

Tammy and Emmy ate their food pretty quickly, and I took them back downstairs after having cleaned them up and dressed them. Randy was still feeding Sammy, and then put him to bed for his afternoon nap. While I was playing with Tammy and Emmy downstairs, I was getting pretty hungry, as I had not had a chance to eat anything yet, and it was already 2:30 pm. Finally Randy came down, and I went upstairs to make my food and eat and clean up. I just about got it all done by the time it was 4 pm and I needed to wake up Sammy.

We joined the others downstairs and had fun together. Randy went upstairs to take a break, so I had them all to myself until 5 pm. All three got to be in the swing - alone and together. They went on the slide, and Sammy was happily playing with toys around him. Tammy sat down near him and had a box with a roof with differently shaped holes. She opened it and got the shapes out. But instead of putting the shapes through the holes to put them back into the box, she opened the roof up and put them all inside. What a smart girl! Why do it hard when you can do it easy!

Then she lay down right next to Sammy, interacting with him on his level, which was so caring of her. Then she gave her brother a hug. She also brought him something to drink at one point, and a pacifier.

At 5 pm Randy took my place, and I went upstairs to get their dinner ready. Instead of having them come upstairs, I actually went downstairs when I heard Emmy crying hard. I picked him up and together with his sister we went upstairs, and Randy and Sammy followed a little later. They were hungry, and so I put the already cut up pieces of bread with cream cheeses into their mouths. When I was nearly done, they went into their chairs and silently ate the food on their plates. After I was done, I sat down with them and fed them their soup, and by then they were done eating what was on their plate and just playing. I took their plates away, combined the leftovers on one plate, and took them and the plate to the bathtub, where they finished their food. Then they came out in their typical order of Sammy first, then Emmy and then Tammy, and went to bed. All three were awake and active for a while, and I had to come back a few times. Emmy throws his pacifiers out (and needs them to sleep), and Tammy her rabbit, so I give all those back to them and put them back down on their backs. Normally I make my food next, but I decided to do the cleanup first, while I was listening to the little ones. By the time I was done with everything, they were asleep. I went downstairs and tried to call Paul, but I couldn't reach him. I was hoping for some details of testimonies, as I need to write a new newsletter. Instead I started working, and a little later I got my food, and continued working after.

It seems that I'm really tired tonight, and it's "only" just after 2 am. Maybe I should call it quits early tonight.