20 months 25 days

Day 634. Another night where I went to bed after 1 am, and after several nights, I'm really feeling it tonight. 6.5 hours is not sufficient sleep for me. Tonight I'm hoping it's gonna be close to midnight.

This morning it was Emmy I heard crying from 7 am onwards, but he knows to cry, when he wants Mommy to come. I stuck it out and got up just after 8 am. Emmy was fine, even still had his pj's on, contrary to his sister. I made their breakfast, fed them, cleaned them up, dressed them, and took them downstairs, where we played until Randy came to stay with them. I grabbed my computer, went upstairs, did the clean up, and then sat down to do office work.

Just after 11 am I stopped to go to the kitchen to cook. We still had leftover kids' pasta from yesterday, plus kids' pasta in jars, and I mixed them together, and they really liked it. I just had to cook for the adults. Sonja came late today, so I was the one feeding them, while trying to not burn the adults' food. She arrived just before they finished their dessert. I cleaned them up, dressed them, and we took them downstairs, where Sonja played with them. Randy was still finishing up with Sammy and then put him to bed for his nap. As for me, after eating, I started doing the cleanup, while checking on Sammy at times, to see whether he was asleep yet. He went to bed at about 12:15, and Emmy doesn't usually sleep before 1 pm. At 12:40 I went downstairs to get him and put him to bed. He needed me to hold him for a few minutes, and then he willingly lay down in bed, and fell asleep shortly after that. Then I went to get Tammy and put her to bed, and she fell asleep after playing for a little while, around 1 pm.

After I was done with the physical labor, I went back to the office work. I was tired, but powered on. Emmy was the first one waking up, as usual, and I picked him up and lay down with him. He did not fall asleep though. When he raised up, being done sleeping, he went downstairs to play with Sonja. The other two still slept a little while, and when they woke up just before 2:30, we called Sonja and Emmy upstairs and sat down to eat the afternoon meal. Sammy was still stick and not eating much, not even the peanut butter. Emmy didn't have much appetite either.

Two days ago I had taken Emmy to the store with me, so it was Tammy's turn today. Emmy understood what we were saying apparently, because he started crying and clinging to me. He wanted to come with Mommy! I could not hand him over to Sonja. So I went downstairs with him, and then managed to hand him off to Sonja, against his will. Ironically Tammy was crying and throwing a fit upstairs as well, as she often does after waking up in the afternoon. I'm not sure why; she must have misinterpreted the situation. She got happy, when I started dressing her to leave the house. She sat down on the tricycle, and off we went.

It was exactly the same kind of weather as two days ago. Sunny when we left, and raining on our way home. Tammy was enjoying the ride, but was much more quiet than her brother, who had constantly pointed at things. Tammy only did occasionally. When we arrived at the drug store (Bipa), I put her into the cart, as I had done with her brother. It was her VERY FIRST time in any store whatsoever! She must have been pretty overwhelmed by everything because she sat quietly in her cart the whole time, just looking. The nice cashier from last time wasn't there today. In fact, today everybody ignored her, in the drug store as well as the post office, which is where we went next. We had to wait in line for a while. I offered to take her out of the tricycle, but she did not want to. I guess she liked the security of the familiar.

From there we walked backe home. The sky had turned dark, and it started raining, but it only rained for a short time, and not as hard as last time, so we were okay and simply walked home. Back home I took all her clothes off again and took her downstairs to the others. It was just after 4 pm, and I stayed with them until 5 pm, while Randy went upstairs for a break. We had a fun time, as always. I noticed that Sammy was his old self again, which was great to see, and the thermometer said that he didn't have a fever any more. Thank you for praying!

Emmy is pretty nosy and started emptying out Sonja's backpack, but she didn't mind. Of course Tammy helped. And we read books again, which they enjoy doing, especially the ones with sound. In fact, they are so used to it that they try to push spots in other books to make sound come out of them.

At 5 pm I left them to go make their dinner, and Randy came downstairs instead. And we made a change today, as they've been so active and awake for so long after putting them to bed. So far I'd turn the water in the bathtub on after their bread with cream cheese was done, and then cut the fruit. Today I got all their food ready, called them up to eat, and only then I turned the water on. They ate at their regular time, just after 5:30 pm. And as usual, we took their plates away once they started throwing and playing with it. Emmy must have been pretty hungry, as he ate a lot and ate fast. Instead of going into the bathtub, we took them downstairs again today. Randy stayed upstairs. A new book had arrived in the afternoon, so we were very busy looking at it. It's a like kid dictionary, with lots of pictures of items with their names. Sonja is a kindergarten teacher and has therefore lots of experience, and she was really impressed by their ability to point at things, when you ask them where they are on the page. They can't talk yet, but they can show you anything you ask them for - anything that they know anyway. They really enjoyed the new book.

The plan was to go upstairs and into the bathtub at 6:30, but they were getting tired and cranky - mainly Emmy - so we went upstairs at 6:15 already. From there it was the same routine as before. They finished their food in the bathtub, and then they went to bed. They were definitely more tired than they have been recently, but all three still stayed up for a while. I sat down a little bit for Tammy, who wanted me there, then left, and Emmy cried for me for a short time. They definitely fell asleep faster and with less activity today. And I didn't have to put any pj's back on that they had taken off.

I made my food, ate, and went back to work. Now it's just after midnight, and everything is clean and ready for another day tomorrow. Time to go to bed for me!