2 years 5 days

Day 736. Last night I was so exhausted I went to bed just before 10 pm, but Emmy had me on my feet again just a few minutes later. In fact he keeps me up much of the night. He kept coming to me again, and I kept taking him back to his bed, until I gave up somewhere around 4 or 5 am and let him come to bed with us. All night long he asked for something to drink last night, and I gave it to him. Then he asked for food again this morning, like every day, but today I got a box of cookies and took it to bed with us, and he was satisfied with that. His siblings were still sleeping so I wanted to keep him in bed as long as possible. Even though they had gone to bed 90 minutes earlier than usual yesterday, they were so tired they slept long today. It was after 7 am before Tammy came to us, and close to 7:30 before I got up, so about an hour later than usual. I'm keeping that box of cookies by our bed since it helps us to stay in bed longer.

After breakfast and dressing them, we went downstairs. I turned worship music on, and today I got the Bibles out again, and we looked at them. When Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs to work. I could tell that I'd had more sleep and was able to work well. I did hear first Sammy cry for quite a bit. His temperature was slightly elevated this morning, but nothing like Emmy's was. Emmy's fever disappeared in the course of yesterday. Then I heard the others cry. Emmy always calls for me shouting "Mommy", when he otherwise says "Mama". It sure pulls on my heartstrings, which is why I usually close my door so I don't hear it. Today I decided to respond and went downstairs. And it was Tammy who was crying at that point. I held her for a while. The hard part is leaving again at that point, as the kids just cry again.

It was leftover day, so I was able to work long and only needed to go to the kitchen a few minutes before it was time to eat.

We ate at 11:15 today. None of them ate much though, and they still received their icecream that they did eat. Then I cleaned them up, and the boys went to bed. They were pretty tired and fell asleep quickly. I usually put Tammy to bed at 12:30, but Randy came back with her from downstairs before then as she was tired, and so she went to bed early, but also fell asleep fast. All three were asleep then, and today for unusuallly long. The boys both slept 2.5 hours, and the girl about 2; usually she is the one sleeping longer. But when Sammy woke up and cried, he woke up Emmy, and then Emmy which woke up Tammy. And so all three went downstairs to be with Daddy at 2:30 pm. I returned to my computer to work.

It wasn't long before Randy came upstairs with all three, earlier than planned. And so I got their afternoon snacks out and opened the door to the balcony. It was nicer and warmer than the weather forecast had said.

Randy was feeding Sammy, while I was feeding the other two, as usual. I got the bubbles machine out, and they grabbed it and moved around with it. First Emmy then Tammy picked it up and held it in the direction of Sammy, so he'd also get to enjoy it. When we got too close to him, he started crying, though, as he's afraid of the machine. Tammy and Emmy continued having fun, running around, jumping on the trampoline and playing peek-a-booh with me. When Randy left to go to the bathroom, first Tammy then Emmy took his place next to Sammy. After they were all done, we went downstairs again, and I left them there to continue working.

However, I didn't get to work for long. I heard crying and went downstairs and then got stuck there. I even got my computer, thinking I might be able to work in my office downstairs, but I did not get far (as expected).

I had told them that packages were coming, and so they had been waiting for the door bell for a while. When it finally went off, they were all excited, and we went upstairs to open the packages. It was all for them anyway. Then we took everything downstairs with us. I put together the shopping cart and gave hit to them, but they were fighing over it. Emmy always bites his sister when he is angry, as his only way of defending himself or showing his displeasure. Tammy still has two bite marks from him from yesterday on her arm. I was upset with Emmy, having told him many times not to bite, and put him in time out. It was Tammy who had compassion for him there, and he didn't stay there for long. Emmy was obviously pretty tired.

It was nearly 5:30, and so Randy came to take my place, and I took Emmy upstairs with me to make dinner, while Tammy stayed, which was a miracle that that even worked. Emmy was lying in my arms being comforted after his time-out. He did let me put him on the chair next to me, while I was making dinner, and was soon eating what I put on his plate. A few minutes later his sister came as well. They both ate a lot of salami and cheese while in the kitchen with me.

Then we all sat down to eat dinner, and they ate a little more, while I took the rest to the bathroom to eat in the bathtub. They ate a littl more but not much. Sammy had been cranky all day, and he was also in the bathtub, which is rare, and so he came out early. A tired Emmy was next, and I enjoyed some fun time with Tammy alone, before she came out. We got them ready for bed, and I put them to bed. At first I thought they were gong to sleep fast, especially Emmy, but that was not the case. Before long Tammy and Emmy were both on their feet and leaving their beds. I took them to the bathtub 2-3 times, telling them they could sleep there if they didn't want to sleep in their beds, which they did not want to do of course. It was really tiring trying to get them to sleep Tammy had seen the pillows that had arrived today and wanted one, so I gave her her pillow. The plan was to give it all to them tomorrow, after having washed the new bedding. She was so very happy about the pillow, and lay down on it. After a while Emmy wanted one too, but not for long, and then he returned it to me.

Finally Tammy fell asleep, but Emmy was still up and about. By the way, Tammy also slept next to the pillow and not on it. I still had to enourage Emmy to sleep for a while before he finally went to sleep. All this had taken way too long, and I was glad to finally be able to leave and get myself somthing to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. Now it's nearly midnight, and I still have to do the cleanup, while I'm struggling to keep my eyes open while writing today's update. So far it's been Sammy who was cried several times.