2 years 24 days

Day 755. Last night it was 1:15, when I went to bed. And it was another busy night with kids coming. By 6:30 they were up for good, and at 7 am we got up for breakfast.

After breakfast I went downstairs with them, turned worship music on, and then they wanted to look at the two new books Grandma had given them. What impressed them the most in the two books was the little girl's thumb getting hurt. They were very concerned about that.

Then they started playing with other stuff. Tammy went to their kitchen and was cooking for me and her baby. All three were in the swing at one point and enjoying it. When Randy came with his breakfast, I left. Tammy and Emmy had hardly eaten anything for breakfast, but they always have their second breakfast eating with Daddy.

I went upstairs to finish cleaning up and putting stuff away, before sitting down at the computer to work. I was tired after a typically short night and could have easily slept, but powered on instead. I was making good progress. At 10:30 I got up to start cooking lunch, and just after 11 am they came upstairs to eat. It was cremed spinach with potatoes and egg. I was surprised at how fast they had eaten their portions, and gave them more a few times. They haven't been eating much recently, always wanting dessert, so it was good to see. And they did get their dessert, vanilla icecream with apple sauce.

Then I cleaned them up, dressed them and put the boys to bed, while Randy went downstairs with Tammy. The doorbell rang, and I took a package for our neighbor. Only moments later the doorbell rang again. This time it was Sonja. I had not told her in time to go to the downstairs door instead of ringing the bell. As soon as she came through the door, Emmy was up and running to greet her. They hadn't seen her in over two weeks. And it wasn't long before Tammy downstairs heard that Sonja was here, and nothing could stop her from coming upstairs. She was also so very happy to see her, and so was Sammy, when she walked over to their beds. When she tried to leave, there was an outcry, and so I asked her to sit down by their beds like I usually do. All three were awake, which usually doesn't work well, but it wasn't too bad today. They were happy to have Sonja back. I had to come by a few times and ask them to lie down and sleep before they finally did. Then Sonja went downstairs.

And Randy went to the grocery store - finally - while I continued working. But not for long as I was simply too tired. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I was woken up, when Emmy started rcxrying hard. I tried to lie down with him, as he had not even slept for an hour, but all he wanted was to be with Sonja, and so I took him downstairs. While downstairs I heard the doorbell and quickly went upstairs to get another package. It turned out that his doorbell was what had woken up Emmy, but not me.

I went back to bed and fell asleep again. Until I heard Tammy and then Sammy and that Randy was back. There was no more staying in bed. Moments later Sonja and Emmy were upstairs, and so we decided to give them their afternoon snack. It was 2.30 pm; a little early for some of them. Tammy and Emmy hardly ate anthing at all, even though I had the fresh fruit Randy had just bought. Just when we wanted to go downstairs, they started eating a little. Minutes later they did go downstairs.

And then the fun began. After over two weeks without Sonja, they were all playing hard. I was amazed that I never heard any crying or calling Mommy, and so I continued working and worked until 5:30, which is when I start getting their dinner ready. It was at that point that I did hear Emmy call his Momma, as he was upset about something. He hadn't slept long enough, and they were surely also hungry. A few minutes later they came upstairs, and I started an episode of "Barbapapa" on my computer for them to watch. They sat on the floor in front of it. They had been asking for it all day, even though they had only seen short clips on YouTube so far. It's a cute and wholesome animated series from the 70's that I myself had watched and loved as a kid. They only watched it for a few minutes and by then I had their bread and some fruit ready for them to eat. They sat down at the table and started eating, while I got the rest of the fruit cut up. It wasn't long before Tammy started demanding her fruit pudding, refusing to eat anything else on her plate, and so they had three little ones together. Sammy ate his special high-calorie pudding.

Then they went into the bathtub, where they immediately started playing with the faucet, as well as eating what we put into their mouths. They were still eating, when Emmy had had enough and wanted out. So we got him out first. By about 6:30 they were all in bed - and giving me a hard time once again. Tammy went to the bathtub 3 or 4 times again, while Emmy never did. I kept encouraging them to sleep, and it took a long time before they did. I got myself some food, and then went back to work. I should have stopped to write my update earlier, as I have struggled to stay awake the whole time I wrote. Every time I force my eyes open again, I have to correct the last line I worte. And now I still have the cleanup to do.