Day 699. Last night I went to bed at 1:20 am. This morning it was after 6 am, when I woke up because the kids were having fun with each other. It was not even 7 yet, when we sat down for breakfast. Then we went downstairs, where we were worshipping God, and I got all the Bibles out again.
I went upstairs after Randy had taken my place, cleaned up and sat down for office work. I was pretty tired, but kept working. I finally did close my eyes for about half an hour. At 10:30 I forced myself to get up and cooking. Just before 11 am Sonja arrived, and at 11 everyone came upstairs to eat. Yesterday Emmy said "Sonja" for the first time, and today he said it again. It sounds like "Sasa". I'm still waiting to hear him say his siblings' names, though one time I thought he had said a name for Sammy.
They ate all their spinach and potato, and then their icecream, and then I cleaned them up, and Sonja went downstairs with Tammy and Emmy, while I put Sammy to bed. It wasn't even 11:45 yet. At noon I put Emmy to bed, and at 12:15 Tammy, who needed some time to fall asleep. Emmy woke up first, and when I sat down with him, he asked for his Daddy. He's been asking about him a lot recently, whenever he can't see him. So Randy came and sat down with him, and they both fell asleep and slept a long time. They didn't even notice, when Sammy woke up and I took him downstairs.
I wanted to sleep myself, but didn't get to. Once again I was cleaning up, and then I had get their dinner-to-go ready, which took some time. After I was done, I still had a little time and ended up lying down and closing my eyes for a few minutes. Today the tiredness was really bad all day, to the point that I could barely keep my eyes open for most of the day. I couldn't lie down for long, as it was time to get them dressed and get going.
We left the house at 3 pm and went to the train station. They always want out of the stroller to sit on the regular seats. On the subway it was more evident than ever today; Emmy sits like a grown-up in his seat without moving, while Tammy cannot sit still for a second. When we got off at our stop, the only elevator up was out of order. What to do? We ended up getting back on, taking the next train to the next stop, and then took a train back so we'd get off on the other side where there was a functioning elevator. A nuisance but the only thing we could do. It made us late for church.
Church services there now start at 4 pm. We sat down in the back, though I hardly ever get to sit. The kids were running around, and especially enjoying another kid, a 1-year-old. Tammy stayed around that baby for much of the time. When the preaching started, we left to go to the baby room, where we got their food out. Sammy was in a high chair, and the other two also wanted to get into the other high chair at times. But they wanted to check EVERYTHING out in the room, and they did. They were pretty busy, and excited when the one-year-old also came to join us after a while.
Just before the service ended at 6 pm, we returned to the sanctuary. They had worship music in the end, and I had Sammy, who was nodding his head and clapping (with fists) to the music, as well as laughing, just having the greatest time. When the service ended, we went outside, where we talked to someone, and then were offered some cake. The kids couldn't get enough of it!
Emmy was getting pretty tired. Tammy didn't want to go into the stroller, when we decided to leave, but finally did sit down. When we got to the train station, we still had 15 minutes to wait, so they had some more of their dinner, but still left quite a bit uneaten. We got on the 7 pm train, and just after 7:30 they were all in bed. Tammy and Emmy needed a while before they finally fell asleep. As for me sitting in a chair by their beds, I was ready to fall asleep right there and then.
We always order food the night we go to church, and I had ordered it for 8:15 pm this morning. Just before 8:15 I received a text that our order was canceled. That had never happened before, and they gave no explanation as to why. Randy ended up making omelets for us, even though I had told him he didn't need to. We ate our omelets while watching the second half of the movie we had started last week.
While it's still some time until midnight, I'm so very tired I cannot go on and will have to go to bed. The pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.
