23 months 9 days

Day 709. Last night I was so very tired. I had a headache and could not go on. I finished the most important stuff as quickly as possible and headed to bed at 10:30 pm. I felt the difference today, even though I was still very tired. I think Emmy came at 5:30 today, but then slept on me and between us for a while. It was going on 7 am, before we sat down for breakfast. Now Tammy and Emmy don't want to eat cereal at all any more, but I still have way too many boxes to use up. Sammy still likes it. However, when Randy comes downstairs with his oatmeal, they eat quite a bit of his breakfast.

After they were done eating fruit and snacks, I took them downstairs, where I turned the worship music on and gave them the instruments. Emmy loves the drums! I also started speaking French only, as soon as we were heading downstairs. A while back I started doing an hour in the afternoon but then stopped. It's this time in the morning that we have together most every day, so that might be a better time for me to only speak French with them. They sure looked a little perplexed at me a few times, certainly wondering why they could suddenly not understand what their Mommy was saying. I gave them the Bibles, and they wanted their table and chairs, and so they put the Bibles on the table and sat down on the chairs. They let me know, when they were done, and then they wanted me to throw them around, which I did until Randy came and relieved me.

I went upstairs, cleaned up, and went straight to work. I have so much office work right now I need to get done, but simply not enough time. Someone asked me recently, whether it's easier with them now than when they were little, but it definitely isn't.

At 10:20 a crying girl suddenly came running to me. She shouldn't even have been able to come upstairs! She clung to me, putting her head on my shoulder, and there was no putting her down. I sat down with her, leaving the office work behind, but conscious that it was time to start cooking lunch. When I heard Emmy crying downstairs, I told Randy to just let him come up as well. I gave up cooking potatoes, and put frozen fries into the oven instead. She'd cry every time I set her down against her will. At 10:45 I was happy, when the doorbell rang, and Sonja arrived. Emmy's face lit up, when he saw her. He asks for her a lot. I was able to cook the fish and put everything on their plates, and at 11 am everyone sat down to eat lunch. Tammy ate really little, but I gave her her icecream anyway, as it was already sitting out for her. Then I cleaned them up and put Emmy to bed, while Sonja went downstairs with Tammy. Once Sammy was ready, I put him to bed as well. Emmy was having a hard time falling asleep and kept asking for Sonja. I told him she'd be here, when he woke up. And as soon as he woke up, he wouldn't even sleep on Daddy but just asked for Sonja.

So it took Emmy a while, and then I put Tammy to bed, who always needs a long time to fall asleep, but at least I don't have to stay with her. Today Sammy surprised me. Emmy woke up first, and went downstairs to be with Sonja. Sammy slept two hours, which he hardly ever does, and then he went downstairs as well. You could tell at bedtime tonight, as it took him a lot longer to fall asleep.

And the girl kept sleeping and sleeping, while time went by, and I was doing office work. At 3 pm I suddenly realized that we had forgotten to take our Corona test that we were supposed to hand in by 2 pm to have the results in time. So instead of bringing the boys up for the afternoon meal, we did the tests, and Randy left right away to hand them in. Then I called the boys up, which woke the girl up. She'd slept nearly 3 hours!

Sonja was feeding Sammy, while I was feeding the other two who were running around - on the balcony and inside. Everyone had a great time. Once everyone was done, we went downstairs, where they immediately wanted to go outside, and so we did. Emmy likes playing soccer and played with the inflated ball - throwing it and hitting it with his feet. Tammy played in the sandbox for a while. And then Sammy got to play soccer too, with Sonja's help. They were all having fun. The physiotherapy studio nextdoor had their door open, andt he ball rolled in there twice. Then they closed the door.

At 4:15 pm I left to get some more work done, and Randy took my place. I could hear them play outside while working. At 5:30 I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner, which takes me half an hour. At 6 pm they came upstairs and sat down to eat. They all ate very little at the table. Once in the water, Sammy is now only happy, when he gets to play with the faucet, which he started doing right away, while I put food into his mouth. His brother joined him, but Tammy was cranky and wanted out. It wasn't long before Emmy wanted out as well, and Sammy also started crying, who knows why, maybe out of solidarity. We had no choice but to get them out, so they did not get much food tonight. We did weigh them. Tammy now weighs 11.6 kilos, Emmy 10.3 and Sammy still 8.7.

I put them all to bed, and for a while all three were awake and tossing and turning. Emmy fell asleep first, after quite some time, and Tammy needed me to stay for a while, before I was able to leave. Then I got to eat, and went back to work. It's getting late, but I have not finished what I tried to finish today. And tomorrow we won't be home in the morning.