Day 646. I made it to bed not long after midnight last night, but wasn't any less tired today. We got up before 8 am again this morning, which seems to become our new regular get-up time. After breakfast, we went downstairs, where we worshipped God and prayed, and then I got one of the new kids' Bibles out that I've ordered. As a new book, they were very interested in it. Tammy's attention span is the longest.
When Randy came, I went upstairs to clean up and then do office work. Just before 11 I put a lasagna for the adults into the oven, and fish for the little ones, and fish jars into the warmer, and then continued working. I had the food ready at 11:30, and the kids had already come upstairs to eat, when Sonja arrived. I opened the door, and they went outside to welcome her. They've become very attached to Sonja. Then they sat down to eat. Sonja was feeding Tammy and Emmy, while I was in the kitchen serving hers and Randy's food, and cooking my own. I also got their fruit and pudding out. The kids loved the fresh fish, and three more baby food jars got taken care of. Slowly, very slowly, they are decreasing in number.
Once they were done eating, I cleaned them up, dressed them, and Emmy and Tammy went downstairs to play with Sonja, while Sammy went to bed. I ate my food and was doing cleanup, when 12:40 came around, which is when I get Emmy to put him to bed. He was pretty tired and fell asleep quickly, and then I got Tammy and put her to bed. She always plays for quite a while, before she goes to sleep as well.
Randy went to the grocery store, while they were sleeping, while I was doing office work once again, even though I was very tired. When Emmy woke up a bit early after just over an hour, at about 1:45, I lay down with him, but he did not go back to sleep, and so I took him downstairs to play with Sonja. Most of the time Sammy wakes up, when Emmy does, but today I got Emmy right after he made the first sound, and so Sammy ended up sleeping nearly 2 hours, which he rarely gets. He woke up just before 2:15, and I took him downstair as well. I continued working, Randy returned from the store, and at exactly 3 pm Tammy woke up, which was 2 hours after I had put her to bed. Everyone came upstairs for their afternoon meal, which has been difficult recently. But not today. Tammy and Emmy ate their cereal & fruit jar (which they sometimes don't eat at all), and then I gave them the plates with fruit and bread with peanut butter I had already prepared, and they ate much of that as well.
While Sonja was feeding them, I got their clothes ready. It was a sunny day, and now the temperatures are FINALLY rising. It just took until June to get warm, after the coldest spring in 25 years! So we decided to go back to the playground we went to on Saturday, which is in walking distance and very nice. Nobody needed a jacket, and I even took the warm shirts off them after a while. Emmy was on the tricycle again on the way there, and then Tammy on the way back. No dark cloud in the sky this time. And there were a lot more kids there because of it.
And they had a lot of fun. Not just using all the equipment, but also watching other kids and interacting with them. Emmy had fun with a girl older than him who was dancing for him and getting him to dance too. And Tammy saw a boy older than her lying under the slide and simply crawled to him to join him. When I asked him what he was doing under there, he said he was playing hide and seek. Tammy enjoyed it.
And they enjoyed the slides, going up and down a few times. They went up the ladder again, including Sammy (with Daddy's help). Emmy also got to use the climbing wall one time to go up.
There was a little platform under the slide that they enjoyed being on. There was like a window there that Tammy and Emmy decided to climb through. I thought it would be nice to get a picture of all three there, and I was lucky to get one picture where they were all looking my direction.
They have one baby swing there, and Sammy loves swings, so I stood in line with him there to wait for his turn. That's when I took this cute picture, holding him up to the poles of the swing. He greatly enjoyed swinging, and then his sister joined him.
Emmy was visibly pretty tired, having had a short nap, and so we decided to leave and go back home.
We got home at 5:20, and they went downstairs, while I went to work making their dinner. Just before 6 pm they came upstairs to eat, and they ate well. Everyone finished up their food in the bathtub. While they were in there, Randy decided to go to another grocery store to get what he couldn't get at the first one, and so it was just Sonja and me getting them out of the water and ready for bed. Emmy suddenly started whining and crying and wanting out. We were just finishing up their cereal with milk drink. Sonja got him out of the water, while I finished up with Sammy and Tammy, then they came out as well. It all worked out well, even though Emmy wasn't happy being the first in bed and having to wait for a while before we were done with the other two.
Emmy was really tired, but Tammy's energy got him up again, after I had walked away, and all three played for a while. Emmy was whining a little, trying to get me to come, but then fell asleep. As for Tammy, I had put the only pj on her tonight that she cannot take off, and I had not given her her rabbits as she just hits the blinds with them. When I checked on her after a while, I picked her up to change her dirty diaper, gave her the only pacifier she likes and her rabbit, and put her back to bed. She fell asleep not long after.
And then I was able to eat my food, and go back to work after. It looks like it will be about 1 am again before I make it to bed.
