25 months 11 days

Day 773. Last night I went to bed at 12:15 am. When the girl came at 2 am, I took her back to bed, where she stayed right away. A few hours later both her and Emmy crawled into bed with us. When I had to go to the bathroom some time after 6 am, it woke them both up unfortunately, as I was squeezed into the middle between them, and from then on the night was over. They were doing all kinds of stuff. At 7:10 I got up to make breakfast.

They have been eating little for breakfast. Before sitting down they drink a little milk, and sometimes they eat some salami. Once they sit down, they sometimes eat banana, and sometimes eat a little of their cereal, but other days they don't eat anything. Today was spilling the cereal and spreading it day, keeping me busy with cleaning up after them, and it was rather annoying to see them do it on purpose.

After breakfast we went downstairs, where I turned worship music on and got the kids' Bible out. I like that new Bible, and they were interested in the pictures and the story. Once Randy came with his breakfast, I went upstairs to clean up and work. They eat quite a bit of his oatmeal; maybe one reason they eat little for breakfast, and little for lunch.

I hadn't been that tired while working in the morning in quite some time. I was even falling asleep while working, but still powered on instead of giving in to sleep. At 10:30 Sonja arrived, and at 11 I started cooking. At 11:30 everyone came up to eat. We had leftover pork, and I had made some mixed vegetables as well as potatoes. Tammy didn't really eat anything, Emmy ate a little, and so it was only Emmy who got to eat puddings - with his sister watching him and crying in protest, but she would still not eat anything.

I decided to still let her play in the bathtub instead of punishing her more. And so they were having great fun playing with the water coming down for the shower head. Once Sammy was done eating, I put him into the bathtub as well, where he was lying on the back enjoying the water and laughing with his siblings. They were all upset, when we got them out. Then I put the boys to bed, while Sonja went downstairs with Tammy.

Today they were giving me a really hard time. Emmy was throwing out his pillow and comforter and dolls and jumping and running around in his bed. It was 12:25 before he fell asleep, and I returned to work. At 1:15 it was Tammy's turn to go to bed, and it was smart to wait that long, as she was tired and not messing around and fell asleep more quickly than I had thought she would - without waiting any of the boys up, thank God.

I returned to work until Emmy woke up. I picked him up and lay down with him and he fell asleep again and slept a few minutes with me. When Sammy woke up, he woke up too, and I took both boys downstairs to Sonja.

I was able to continue working, in spite of my tiredness. When Randy returned and was talking with me, it woke her up. It was nearly 3 pm, and Randy took her downstairs as well, together with their snacks. Sonja was alone with all three and doing a great job. Randy came upstairs to work, and then it wasn't long before we were both sorting and organizing kids' clothes, from summer to winter, boy and girl, too small and too big clothes. It's a big job and will probably never be done. But at least we have made the switch to long-sleeved clothes, now that the warm days seem over for good.

By 5 pm we had stopped, so I could make their food, which took me until 5:30. Then I went downstairs so we could all tidy up together. Emmy did not lift a finger once again but tried to escape to go upstairs. Tammy did put some stuff on shelves, while Sonja and I did most of the work. Once we were done we all went upstairs to eat.

As always they mainly ate corn at the table and left the rest for the bathtub, where we fed them, while they were having fun playing with the faucet. Then it was time to come out, brush their teeth, put their pj's on, and go to bed. By 6:30 they were already in bed, but of course not ready to sleep. All three were very active and doing everything in their power not to sleep. It was challening, it was tiring, and took much effort. When I allowed Tammy to come so I'd hold her for a few minutes, Emmy would get jealous and protest. Tammy does not react in such a strong manner as Emmy. The same also happens during the night in bed. Emmy fell asleep first, then the girl got tired, while Sammy was still crawling all over his bed. He had spent quite some time playing with his sister, as their beds touch, and laughing out loud with enjoyment. Once his sister was falling asleep, he also calmed down and finally fell asleep.

I was glad to be able to walk away, but was too tired to make my work-intensive salad. I made something faster and went back to work. I'm glad I don't have to work on pictures tonight, but it's late and I still have to do the cleanup, even though I'm extremely tired, falling asleep while writing.