22 months 7 days

Day 677. Last night it was late as always, somewhere after 1:30 am, when I went to bed. This morning we got up just after 8 am, and it was Sammy who I heard the most. After breakfast, I went downstairs with Tammy and Emmy and turned the worship music on, and we started dancing and worshipping God. They can now say "Hallelujah" and raise their hand, when they do. And Emmy is a great dancer; it's just too cute.

Emmy wanted me to hold him, so I was praying for him, while he was in my arms, and I was walking up and down. When Sammy came, I did the same with him. Then I got some Bibles out, and Tammy and Emmy each wanted their own and sat down to read them all by themselves. Then Randy came with his breakfast, so I left to clean up and do office work. Emmy always says "baba" (bye bye) and waves at me, as I leave.

At 11 am I stopped working to start cooking. The second day in a row I was cooking instead of using up the baby food jars. I made steak with potatoes and vegetables. Last time they had eaten a lot of steak, but not today, and I don't know why. They didn't eat a lot of potatoes either. But I got out the vanilla icecream Randy had bought for them, and their faces lit up, when they ate it. They all wanted seconds. Randy said he's never seen Sammy open up his mouth again this fast.

I cleaned them up, dressed them, and Randy went downstairs with Tammy and Emmy, while I cleaned up Sammy and put him to bed for his nap. I started cleaning up, and at 12:30 I went to get Emmy to put him to bed. Once he was asleep a few minutes later, I put Tammy to bed. Her runny nose started a day later than the boys', and she had it bad today. She and Emmy have also been coughing.

Sammy woke up first, and I go thim out of bed. That woke up Emmy, and Randy sat down with him, but he only rested on him for a few minutes. So Randy went downstairs with him, and I took Sammy downstairs as well. The girl usually sleeps about 2 hours or more, but today she woke up crying after a few minutes. The runny nose really affects her. I had to pick her up, and lay down with her, and she fell back asleep. It's been quite a while since she slept on me. I was pretty tired as well, but only fell asleep for a few seconds to minutes. When the boys came upstairs at 2:45 for their afternoon meal, she was up right away.

Emmy went straight to the balcony door, so I opened it up for him. I got their jar of food and sat down with them out there, and they finished the jar. Then I got some peanut butter, and Emmy had three spoonfuls, while Tammy didn't want any. They both had some watermelon. And then I got my little trampolin out that was stored on the balcony. They were so excited to get on it and jump! But they wanted to hold both my hands, so I could only do one kid at the time. They were both laughing with joy while jumping.

After a while we stopped and went downstairs, and so did Randy and Sammy, and I left them there to do office work upstairs. I was pretty tired but powered on. When I heard some crying at 4:40 pm, I decided it was time to quit and go downstairs. I took shoes and shirts for them downstairs with me, put them on them, and opened the door for them to be able to go outside. It was pretty cool today. They enjoyed their vehicles, and Tammy wanted me to open up the sandbox, though she didn't spend much time in it. Emmy was once again saying "hallo" (hello) to every person walking by. And then he had success. A dad with a little girl their age waved back and stopped. We talked a little, and they ended up walking down to where we were, as the girl expressed interest in playing in the sandbox. She was riding a little "motorbike". She got off and wanted to ride on our tricycle instead. Both Tammy and Emmy briefly tried out her motorbike. They were more interested in watching her. Emmy was really shy, as always, sticking close to my legs, but I was surprised to see Tammy a little shy as well, keeping her distance. The little girl looked inside our apartment, and her eyes lit up because of all the toys she could so. I got the slide out and put it outside for her to use, and she did. Then her Dad decided it was time for them to leave, and they said their good-byes. They live very close to our house.

And by then it was already 5:30 and time for me to go upstairs and make their food. At 6 pm I called them to come upstairs. Thy didn't eat much, and did not finish their food in the bathtub. Neither did Sammy. Tonight it was Tammy who was crying in the bathtub and wanted out, so she came out firs.t We now weigh them the first day of the month, and since I had forgotten yesterday, I did it tonight. Tammy now weighs 11.3 kilos, Emmy exactly 10, and Sammy still 8.4. He's still not gaining weight.

I put them to bed and walked away at first, but then returned for Emmy and sat down by their beds. It didn't take too long for Emmy to fall asleep. Thankfully it's more quiet today than yesterday. Tammy just woke up once, and she fell asleep pretty fast after I comforted her.

Now it's just after 11 pm, and I still have a lot of cleanup ahead of me, even though I can't even keep my eyes open as I'm writing this.