2 years 26 days

Day 757. Last night was really tough. When I fell into bed at midnight, Emmy woke up once again, and nothing we did could console him and keep him in his bed. I was so very exhausted and kept trying, but every time I walked away, he started crying for me again. Randy offered to take my place, but he wanted Mommy. As 1 am was approaching I finally gave up and let him join us in bed, just so I'd get any sleep at all. Unfortunately it meant I got woke up over and over again, and the girl soon joined us as well, which meant no room in bed. Emmy wakes up a lot and then wakes me up. Tammy was also really restless, waking up a lot. When she woke me up once and I found Emmy in a deep sleep, I carried him to his bed, which helped a little. By 7 they were up, and then we got up as well. I've been tired all day, but never got a nap, as I have so much to do right now. I'll have to go to bed early again tonight. Please pray for a quiet night.

After breakfast we went downstairs to worship God and read the Bible. I also did some tidying up. Once Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs to clean up and then work. It was later than usual before I sat down at the computer. I got so busy I never tried to call Paul, as it was already time to go to the kitchen to cook at 10:30, which is also when Sonja arrived.

Just after 11 am everyone came upstairs to eat: We had leftover chicken from yesterday, plus fresh potatoes and vegetables. And then they finished up the icecream. They love theses little fruit puddings so much that they'll be eating those now. I cleaned them up and dressed them and put the boys to bed, while Sonja went downstairs with Tammy. It didn't take long for them to fall asleep, and then I went to get Tammy, who needed a while, as always. We also dit our at home Covid test, and then Randy ran to the store to hand them in and pick up a few items, while I was back at work.

Emmy woke up first today, after about 2 hours, and the noise didn't even wake his siblings up. He immediately wanted to go downstais to Sonja, so I took him there. Tammy was next, and she went downstairs as well. It was highly unusual that Sammy hadn't woken up from the noise of either one of them. At about 2:30 he also woke up, after over 2.5 hours of sleep, which is rare for him. I then called everyone upstairs for the afternoon snack.

Everyone sat down by the table, as it's a little cool outside right now. I cut up some fruit to give them, besides the jar, and gave them a few other things they like. Once they were done, they went downstairs to play, while I went back to work.

I finally got to call Paul so we could go over 14 new children to take into our sponsorship program. It took us a whole hour, with the call dropping repeatedly and the connection being really bad. I was so exhausted after an hour of straining to understand what he was saying, and shouting so he could understand me, and calling him about 15 times. But we got the job done. Some more work for me to do. I continued working a little longer. Sonja had to leave just after 4 pm, and I stopped by 4:45 to go downstairs and spend some time with the kids.

A package with stuff mostly for them had arrived, and I took it downstairs for them to open up. Two "Barbapapa" books were inside. They were excited and immediately sat down for me to read it to them - but Tammy with one book, and Emmy with the other. They have such a hard time sharing a book, or anything else for that matter. We worked it out and looked at both books.

Then I put Sammy in the swing, and Emmy started pushing him and having fun with him, and soon Tammy joined in. Sammy was laughing out loud for much of the time. When I mentioned that we'll have to tidy up today before going upstairs to eat, Tammy immediately started putting stuff on the shelves. I was impressed. But it didn't last long. Emmy also put stuff up a few times, but that was it. I even had to do some stuff twice. But in the end everything was tidied up and looked better than it had for a long time.

It was already after 5:30, when we walked upstairs for dinner. Instead of them standing on chairs in the kitchen, while I make their food, we sat down at the dining room table right away, and I started cutting up food and putting it on their plates right there. It worked out pretty well, but I have to be quick and can't give them the variety of fruit I would otherwise do.

Then they went into the bathtub, where they were having fun and eating, what I put into their mouths. Then we got them ready for bed. I walked away right away, and was surprised that Emmy never complained. He was so tired he fell asleep quickly. The girl however did whine a lot. I came back a few times, but it got worse, and I finally asked Randy to sit with her so I could eat my soup that was getting cold. Randy got a little nap out of it, and the girl fell asleep.

After eating I went back to work. Thankfully I have few pictures today. And unfortunately Emmy is starting his thing again, waking up crying for me and wanting me to sit by his bed. I just need to have one good night tonight; it just can't be like last night. Now it's just after 10 pm, and once again I can barely stay awake. It's time to do the cleanup and then head to bed early.