20 months 22 days

Day 631. Last night it was 1:30, the latest since I started going to bed at midnight. This morning, it was 8:15 before I woke up from their whining. After breakfast, I took them downstairs, where I played with them until the Mobile Therapy Support lady arrived at 9 am to play with them for 90 minutes. Randy joined them a few minutes later, while I went upstairs to clean up and then go do office work.

We've all been battling a cold. All three had it, then everyone was fine for a few days, until Tammy started again, then Emmy, and then Sammy. This time they are also coughing. Tammy is nearly over it, but all three still have runny noses. I myself felt pretty miserable this morning and had a splitting headache in the afternoon. As a Mom, that does not matter; you have to keep on going anyway. And today, I needed more time than usual to get cook lunch - even more than I expected, and so it was noon before we ate. It had taken me nearly 90 minutes to make! And it was just asparagus and mushroom soup, but all the cutting just took so much time. At least it turned out great.

I heard Sammy crying downstairs and went to bring him upstairs, while I was still cooking. I put him in the swing, and then on the floor, and he was happily playing and exploring. As it was getting later and later, Randy came upstairs with the other two. Emmy wanted me to hold him, and then he got to help me by stirring the soup, which he enjoyed. That was his first time!

It was finally cooked enough to eat. I warmed up some leftover chicken to go with it, and they were happy to finally get their food, and they enjoyed it. Just Sammy was simply not eating today. He must not have felt well, because he ended up vomiting the little Randy made him eat after the meal.

I cleaned them up and waited for Randy to take the girl downstairs. The boys went to bed, and as it was already 1 pm, later than usual, it did not take as long as it has been for them to fall asleep, and so Randy and Tammy could come back upstairs after just a few minutes. Tammy played by herself for a while, and then fell asleep as well.

I felt so miserable, I didn't even clean up. I just kept powering on, doing office work on the computer. When Emmy woke up crying, I picked him up and lay down with him. I'm not sure if he fell asleep again. After a while he got up, and I took this picture where you can see what it says on his shirt, "Daddy's greatest fan". Within minutes all three were awake, and even though it was only 2:30 and we'd had lunch late, we sat down for the afternoon meal. Sammy had his appetite back and didn't just eat his jar of cereal with fruit, but also lots of bread with peanut butter. So did the girl. Emmy refused to eat the jar, and he does not care for peanut butter. He had just bread, banana, apple and watermelon.

I'd planned to go take an urgent trip to a store this afternoon, but I had such a headache and was barely functioning that I did not see how I could and postponed it until tomorrow. I took the kids downstairs, and then ended up staying with them for half an hour, even though that had not been the plan. Inflatable balls arrived in the afternoon, as the ones we have all have holes, and we blew three up and they started playing with them. We had lots of fun throwing balls back and forth. Then Emmy went into the swing, and we played ball that way. At 4 pm Randy took my place, and I went upstairs to lie down and work. I took something against the headache and felt better after a while, and so I went back downstairs at 4:30 to play with them for another half hour, and we had lots of fun. We were reading books, and I was chasing them, making them laugh. I also had fun with Sammy, who I can also make laugh easily.

At 5 pm Randy took my place, and I went upstairs to make their dinner, but first I had to clean up, as I had not done so earlier. As had been the case in the morning, I heard Sammy cry and cry, and finally went again to bring him upstairs. I put him in the baby swing, and gave him a kitchen tool, and then an apple, to play with. After a few minutes Randy came upstairs with the other two for some reason, and so they were running around upstairs, and coming to me for food at times. When I was finally done, they went into their chairs and started eating, while I was still grating the apple and pear. Then I sat down with them and fed them their soup. Once they start throwing their food, I take their plates away. I took the remaining food to the bathroom, where they ate it all in the bathtub, and so did Sammy. Then they all came out and went to bed. I walked away and started making and eating my food. Suddenly Sammy burst into tears, and when I checked on them, Tammy had thrown her doll into his bed and it had hit him hard on the head. And she had taken her pj's off. I comforted Sammy, and then put her pj's back on and walked away again. All three were still awake. When I returned after quite some time because Tammy was whining, I found her with her pj's off again, and Emmy completely naked. All three were STILL awake. We got them dressed again and put them back to bed. They were still playing for a while before it got quiet. Maybe it's time to make bed time later? We would have to first figure out how to do that.

After eating, I went back to work. Now I still have to do all the cleanup, but I'm confident that I'll make it to bed by midnight tonight.