Day 691. I was heading to bed just after 1 am last night. I don't remember when Emmy started coming, but I counted, and it was 15 times that I walked him back to his bed. I fell asleep, and the next time he came, which was around 5 am, being still asleep, I instinctively picked him up and lay down with him. A mistake I have to tell my subconscious not to make. I couldn't really sleep after that, and the more I was awake the more I wanted to take him back to his bed, which I finally did. But it was approaching 6 am, so there was no more sleeping. Instead he started walking around and doing all kinds of things. Including waking his siblings up, who I then also got out of their beds. I'd had 3 hours of sleep, from 2 to 5 am. At 7 am I finally got up. The kids had already gone through some stuff and spread it out all over the place. It was time to give them a fresh diaper and put them into their chairs for breakfast, which we did.
Instead of going downstairs with them I started dressing them for a trip to the zoo. We had plenty of time, until it was suddenly time to leave. We left the house at 8:30 and had two subways to take, which would nearly take us an hour to get there. We walked straight into the zoo, and saw the giraffes being out and close to the fence. However, the fake and moving giraffe was more interesting to them, and so they actually got to ride it (video uploaded). Then we walked over to the kangaroo, and then our friend arrived with her son. We walked to the giraffe house, and there were also birds walking around, and walking around in freedom. No clue what kind of birds they are. One was right behind a glass door, with Tammy on our side, and suddenly he started hitting the glass aggressively with his beak, as if he was attacking Tammy, who took a few steps backward, but was otherwise unafraid. Thank God that glass was there! A few meters ahead there was no glass, and in fact, when we walked away, it came out to where we were.
We continued walking and got to the different kind of monkey that they enjoyed watching. We sat down on a bench, and our friend gave all the kids a snack. Then we moved on, and the little playground got their attention, so we stopped for a little bit. Before we could get to the elephants, another little playground got their attention, and they got to go on top of an elephant, with Daddy's help.
Then we finally arrived a the elephant house with the real elephants. Only one elephant came out, and the zookeepers showered and fed him, which we watched. We continued walking and got to the penguins. It was obvious that they were getting pretty tired, especially the boys. As it was already 11 am, we decided it was time to head back home. So we walked by the leopards who were close to the glass and impressive and reached the exit and left together. It was still quite a walk to the subway station. We said our goodbyes to our friend, and got on the subway home - the first of two. They were tired and cranky, and I was so tired I could not keep my eyes open any more, but I had two kids on the seats with me that I was making sure were safe.
It was 12:20 pm, when we got back home, and I immediately warmed up some baby food jars to feed them. They'd had quite a few snacks, but the girl ate well, and ate some of her brother's food. At 12:40 I was already putting Emmy to bed, while the other two were still at the dining room tale. He was so very tired that I put him to bed right away, and it did not take long for him to fall asleep. Sammy had slept about half an hour on the way home, but we gave it a try anyway to put him to bed, and he slept for a little bit. Once Emmy was asleep, I cleaned up and dressed Tammy and put her to bed.
We adults hadn't eaten yet, but I was too tired, and went straight to bed. When Sammy woke up, I got up and handed him to Randy, who went downstairs with him. When Emmy woke up, I lay down with him, and he rested on me. Then Tammy woke up, but Emmy was still lying on me. I finally picked her up as well, and called up the other two boys, and from there it wasn't long before they got up. I got out the cereal with fruit jars, and had watermelon, apple and peanut butter. We also blew bubbles, and Emmy enjoys jumping on the trampoline. Bu of course you can jump higher, when Mommy holds your hands.
With Sammy about done, we went downstairs with one of the two packages that had just arrived. Emmy enjoys packages, or empty box and made a hat out of it for himself. There were crayons inside, and so Emmy wanted to sit down and draw, so I decided to stay with them at that time instead of later. And they did a great job drawing, though the crayons were still put into the mouth for quite a bit.
At 4:15 Randy came back to take my place and I left to work - for the first time today. At 5:30 I stopped to get their food ready, and at 6 pm they came upstairs to eat. They didn't finish their food in the bathtub, but had great fun playing. Then I put them to bed. Emmy was very tired and seemed to fall asleep quickly. Sammy was asleep really fast. Tammy was very tired as well, but was struggling. She has been coughing since yesterday, but now her nose was also runny and she could't breathe through it. She was still awake, when I left, and she didn't mind. However, the first time I walked away, I found out that Emmy hadn't slept all the way yet, because he was suddenly on his feet and coming to me. I walked him back to his bed and stayed, and this time he was really asleep, when I left. I got myself something to eat, and went back to work. Now it's midnight, and I've been fighting my eyes closing the whole time I've been writing. Everything is cleaned, and so I'm going to bed shortly.
