25 months 29 days

Day 791. Last night I went to bed at 12:30 am. Emmy had been restless all evening, and that continued into the night. And so it wasn't long before I found myself sandwiched between Tammy and Emmy again, unable to move or even get up without waking them up. We all got up at our usual 7:30 am time.

After breakfast, we went through the ordeal of giving three medications each to three kids, and then I took them downstairs, where we turned worship music on and got the Bibles out. I was still soon running out of voice, while reading the Bible stories to them. When Randy arrived with his breakfast, I stopped and went upstairs, where I finished cleaning up and then sat down to do office work.

I worked until 11:30 and then got up to cook lunch. At noon I called everyone upstairs to eat. It was leftover day, and I was glad to see both Tammy and Emmy eat their rice with vegetables. Emmy was also eating chicken, while Tammy only pretended to be eating chicken. She's really crafty. She puts a piece in her mouth, and then lets it fall out to the ground. When I cleaned the floor tonight, I couldn't believe it, when all her chicken pieces were right there. And I had thought she had eaten well and had given her puddings!

Emmy had a fever again, which shouldn't be the case after 4 days of antibiotics. The last hour before coming upstairs he had slept on Randy. After lunch, he willingly drank his medication, and got 5c for it, but that did not encourage Tammy to also just drink hers. She had to be forced again, to the point that she is completely exhausted after three medications and 5 ml of liquids forced into her mouth through a syringe. She went downstairs with Randy, while I put the boys to bed. However, I could not get Emmy to lie down in his bed. He only wanted to lie on me. I'd take him a few minutes and would then try to put him down, but he'd never agree to. At 1:15 I finally called Randy upstairs with Tammy, hoping he'd fall asleep in his bed with his Daddy sitting there. Instead, Daddy's falling asleep with Emmy on his chest, and Tammy waking up Sammy again. And so Randy went downstairs with Sammy, while I took Emmy and was hoping the girl would just fall asleep. I had to close up the opening to her bed first. She protested at first, but then lay down and fell asleep. Emmy would still not lie down in his own bed, and I took him to our bed with me. But he never fell asleep. He finally asked to go downstairs to his Daddy, and I took him there.

I continued working, and at 4 pm I stopped the ocean background noises, and that was enough to get Tammy to wake up. I grabbed some more snacks and took her downstairs with them.

When Emmy saw me, he clung to me and did not want to let me leave again. I tried to explain it and pried him loose and handed him to Randy against his will. He cried for a while, but I still left, as I had some important office work to get done. I made good progress working and could have gone on instead of stopping at 5:30. But I had to go to the kitchen to make their dinner. At 6 pm I went downstairs to clean up together with them. Both Tammy and Emmmy helped - that was a first for Emmy. Getting money for taking his medication voluntarily must have given him interest in getting money. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Then we went upstairs to eat.

I was glad to see Tammy eat her soup, while Emmy was going for the chicken. Tammy was the first one to leave her chair again, which of course means that Emmy needs to get up soon. And so I put the rest of their food onto a plate that I took to the bathroom, and put them into the bathtub. They ate very little more food there. Sammy also didn't eat that much more. We were all having fun, until it was time to come out. Sammy came out first, and we gave him his medications - with the syringe and somewhat against his will. Then Emmy got out, and he had already drunk his medications, and lastly Tammy, after I had put the boys to bed. It was once again a major undertaking to get the medications into her against her will. And so it was 7:15 before they were all in bed.

I sat down by their beds, and though they were tired, I could not get them to calm down and go to sleep. Eventually Randy took my place, which works better at night. I was thankful that Emmy's fever was gone again. I just don't understand how it comes back for a few hours like that. As for me, I feel a little better overall, but that cough is still absolutely terrible, and when I have a coughing spell, I feel like my guts want to come out. I got myself something to eat, and then went back to work. I did all the cleanup, and then sat down to write my update. No pictures today. Now it's after midnight and I'm so tired I feel sick. By the way, this was Randy's worst day yet. It seems like this weird sickness has not grabbed him full-force as well. Thank you for praying. All three kids still have runny noses and cough, and Sammy cough is the worst.