26 months 11 days

Day 803. Tonight I was already falling asleep at 8:30 pm. Last night I went to bed at midnight. Randy got Emmy to stay in his bed, but it wasn't long before Tammy came. She's not usually crying, when she comes, but her body was hot. She had a fever. And she was restless the whole night, waking up crying at times. Emmy joined us as well, and at some point they were fighting over who got to lie on my chest. In reality there is room for both of them. It was 7:15, when we got up this morning. When I measured Tammy's temperature, it wasn't really that high, but she was sure cranky and wouldn't eat. With the weekend ahead we decided I would take her to the pediatrician. I wasn't thrilled, as I'd been gone so much this weeks, both morning and afternoon the previous days. I dressed her and Emmy, and then we got ready to leave, which we did at 8:20. Emmy was not happy, when we left without him.

So once again I started on the long trek across town to go to the pediatrician in our old neighborhood. And I had just been there with Emmy the day before yesterday. We got there at 9:10 am, and there were already lots of kids there, even though it only opens at 9 am. We had to wait a while before it was our turn to register. I got a number, and we sat down in the waiting room. But first I had to put the urine bag on Tammy, which she did not appreciate at all. After a while we were called into the lab. Tammy was apprehensive and did not want to open her mouth for the guy to swab her throat for the Corona test. Because of the fever they also wanted to do a blood test, and so he pricked her finger and then pushed blood out. However, it took forever for him to get the blood out, while Tammy was crying and trying to free herself. Poor girl. Then it was all done, and we could return to the waiting room.

We waited a long time before we were called, and then waited quite a while inside the doctor's office. I finally decided to take her T-shirt off which made her cry hard, as she didn't want me to. But I'm glad I got that out of the way. Finally a young, male doctor came, asked questions, and looked at Tammy. Tammy did not like any of it. He said that everything looked good, but he'd still check with the senior doctor. After more waiting she came in and listened to Tammy's lungs again. She said it was all good, and sometimes kids just get fevers when they battle viruses. That was the end of it. We could have stayed home and spared ourselves all this.

And so we left there at 10:40, and just before 11:30 we were back home. Just in time for me to cook. Sonja had arrived at 11 am, and Randy took Tammy downstairs to her and her siblings, while I startes cooking. I was tired, but I had a job to do.

At noon I called them all upstairs to eat. Tammy didn't want to eat once again, while Emmy ate the bread I gave them instead of a dumpling, and some meat. And so Emmy had some pudding, while Tammy didn't. I decided to let them play in the bathtub, and then Sammy joined them too and had his pudding there. After a while we got them all out, and it was time for the boys to lie down for their nap, while Sonja went downstair with Tammy. Emmy wanted his Daddy, and so it was Randy who sat down by their beds, and soon they were both asleep... or should I say all three. It was 12:45 pm. At 1 pm I went to get Tammy and put her to bed. She was tired and soon fell asleep as well. Randy continued his nap a while longer, and then got up to go to the grocery store. All three were asleep at the same time.

I was very tired but pushed myself to work. It was Emmy who woke up first and came running to me, and I lay down in my bed with him. That was my chance to get some shut-eye. Emmy fell asleep, and I was about to, when Sammy woke up and was crying. I gently slipped away from Emmy who thankfully continued sleeping, picked up Sammy, and took him downstairs to Sonja. Returning back upstairs, I did not want to try to lie back down next to Emmy so I would not wake him up. It's a shame I couldn't get to take a nap together with him. Instead I sat down away from him and continued working. He was sleeping really well, without moving, and for a long time. He woke up just as Randy returned from the store, around 3:30 pm. He just sat there on the bed, speechless and just watching me for a while. Then Tammy woke up and came in. She was sleepy and wanted her Mommy. I then took her downstairs to Sonja, and then took Emmy as well. I had already taken snacks downstairs at 3 pm. Both Tammy and Emmy were cranky and wanted their Mommy, and so I had no choice but to stay downstairs, having them both on my lap and resting on my chest. Today the October photo book had arrived, and they love looking at the photo books. So we got it out, and Sammy was also very interested in it, especially turning the pages himself. When you don't let him, he gets really upset and hits his own head.

In October I had cut their hair for the first time, and I had left some space on the page of that day to tape their hair inside the book. I had kept it for that purpose, and went to get it, so we could tape it into the book together, which we did. But there were 3 more books for each of the kids, and so I decided to cut some more of their hair off to put into the 3 other books, which we did. Now they all have some of their 2-year-old hair as a keep-sake for eternity.

When they were all distracted, I quickly slipped away to go back upstairs and get some work done. Emmy was crying hard, and after a few minutes Randy went downstairs to be with them, which then calmed Emmy down. That allowed me to actually work for some time. Just before 5:30 I quit and went to the kitchen to start making their dinner. I could hear Sammy being pretty fussy downstairs. Just before 6 pm I went downstairs to tidy up with them, but I did most of it, with Tammy doing very little and Emmy lifting a finger only once. Then we all went upstairs to eat.

The physiotherapist had recommended that Sammy sit in a chair, where he can put his feet on a board, and Randy had adapted one of the high chairs for him that he sat in for the first time tonight. It looked like he liked it. Tammy and Emmy didn't eat much. They were at least eating their soup, and Tammy ate all the salami off her bread. It didn't take long before they were done sitting at the table and wanted to go into the water. I gave Emmy his medicine first, which took some convincing before he was willing to drink it - and get a 5c coin for it.

They all went into the bathtub, and Sammy into the basket in the water. I still have to steady the basket, because he's so light, and then he wanted to stand anyway to play with the faucet. I got him to eat everything on his plate. The other two barely ate anything at all. But they were having fun playing with the faucet. Tammy came out first today, because she was cranky. I grabbed her and handed her to Randy, and when I turned around, there was Sammy under water with Emmy standing next to him looking at him. I immediately grabbed him and pulled him out of the water. He had sat inside the basket, and I guess it had floated away with him slipping under. Sammy wasn't even crying, he just coughed a little from the water. Even with three adults there we hadn't noticed; it was only a moment I had not looked. He stayed outside to be made ready for bed.

Soon all three were in bed, after I had prayed for them. Tammy wanted me to hold her, while Emmy wanted Daddy to hold him. I then let Randy have the chair, and thankfully the girl agreed to let me put her back to bed. I walked away and let Randy sit with them, and soon they were all asleep. I got myself something to eat, ate, and then went back to work. Like I said, at 8:30 I already found myself falling asleep. And while writing this update, I fell asleep several times. Now it's 11 pm, I need to finish cleaning up, and then go to bed. I'm just so tired.