4 years 29 days

Day 1489. I thank God for the last night having been so much better! I carried Emmy back to his bed twice, but he woke up there in the morning. I once prevented Tammy from coming to our bed, and she slept in her bed all night. And Sammy was satisfied with having something to drink, when he was crying, and didn't require me to stay right by his side.

It was the alarm that woke us up at 9 am - a time when everybody used to be long up already. They all had breakfast, then I dressed them and got them ready to leave the house at 10 am. Randy then left with Tammy and Emmy who had their little backpacks on their backs for the first time in a long time. Sammy and I stayed home.

It was actually the second week of their piano class, but we had not been in Austria yet last week, so they get to make up for that missed class this coming week. Randy said that they had done exceptionally well participating in class today. They have the same teacher as last semester.

As for Sammy and I, I tackled my new pantry that was created just before we left for the USA and still needed lots of work, while Sammy was listening to children's songs on the Echo device and having fun pushing on the different songs that looked appealing to him. At 11:15 am I went to the kitchen to start making lunch, and Sammy came with a toy car that he was having fun playing with. At noon I put him at the table, as we were both hungry, and then the others came home as well and joined us there. However, Randy had just given them a snack half an hour earlier, so they were not eating. Only after I said "no tablets" did they decide to eat some, then they got their tablets for a little while.

Just before 1:30 pm I started the process of putting them to bed; I was at the point of needing my bed desperately. I was a little better at times, worse at others, but my throat was still hurting, I was still coughing hard, and my nose is still stuffed up, for nearly 2 weeks now. Tammy was the first to be sick and is nearly over it, but Sammy and Emmy still have it bad. Emmy was the last one to get it, and had a fever this afternoon and evening. This morning all three had stuff in their eyelids that I had to wash out. And Sammy's nose is the worst of all.

Emmy has been "too scared" to sleep on the top of his bunkbed, but he's also not wanted to sleep on the bottom. Instead he wants to sleep with me, and by 2 pm he joined me and lay down by me. Then Sammy cried, and I had to lie down with him for a little while. Then I returned to my bed, but it was already 2:15. Emmy was up for good and wanted his tablet and walked away. I finally got to fall asleep after a while, but then the alarm already woke me up at 2:45, after way too little time. I was pretty tired. I opened all the curtains, so that everyone could wake up. Sammy was up right away. At 3 pm I started teaching, and Randy had to get Tammy out of bed as well.

I then taught for 3 hours, and it went okay, a lot better than yesterday. Randy soon took the kids downstairs, but they already came upstairs way before I was done with my third student. Emmy was in bad shape by then. After I was done teaching, he wanted to lie down in my bed, and I let him. He then fell asleep while watching his tablet. As for me, I was preparing for my 8:30 pm lesson, not knowing that my student was not going to show up. It took me that whole time until 7 pm, when I went to the kitchen to make their dinner. They all had some food, especially Tammy, and then I only put Tammy and Sammy into the bathtub, as Emmy was asleep. However, he woke up, when I put his pj's on and then also wanted to go into the bathtub, so he did, but not for long. After they had come out, I read the second half of a book we'd read before - it was all I could do voice-wise, plus time was short with my upcoming lesson. I prayed for them and put them to bed and left to get ready for the lesson.

Well, the student never showed up. Tammy was whining the whole time wanting me to be with her, and Emmy wanted at least Daddy to sit by him, which he did after having finished eating. I finally gave up and got myself something to eat as well. At 9:30 Tammy still tried to come lie down in my bed, but I took her back to hers and stroked her head again. At some point she finally fell asleep. Emmy also came at some point, while I was working on the computer, and I let him lie down next to me. After a while he himself said he was going back to his bed. I always praise them for staying/sleeping in their beds and not coming to us.

Now it's after midnight, and I still have to clean up the kitchen before going to bed. We have no plans for tomorrow but to stay home and rest. This coming week is going to be busy enough.