26 months 16 days

Day 808. Last night I went to bed after 11:15 pm. Both Emmy and Tammy joined us in bed at some point, and it was really tight with both of them. Going to the bathroom means waking them up, and when I return, I have a hard time squeezing back in. And then Tammy wasn't lying on my arm any more, and so I was concerned she could fall off the bed, which made me more vigilant and made it harder to sleep. It was about 7:20, when I got up today to make their breakfast.

After breakfast I cleaned them up and dressed them, and put a shirt, pants and shoes on Emmy. He's been taking antibiotics this past week to treat the pneumonia, and the pediatrician had asked for him to come back for a check-up. It was 8:50 before we were able to leave the house. We rode the subway to the end and then got on a tram for quite some time. Then we walked to the pediatrician's and went up the elevator to the place for healthy kids we had asked to go to. It was 9:30. However, when the doctor opened the door, she told me they were opening at 10 today instead of 9, and sent me over to the other place for sick kids, which is across the street. We got there at 9:45 and had to wait in line for our turn to register. I was praying Emmy would not catch anything from all the other sick kids there.

We sat down in the waiting room until our number was called. One of the main doctors came to look at Emmy, listen to his lungs, and said everything was fine. I knew that's all it was gonna be. I dressed him again, and we went back to the reception to make an appointment for their vaccinations they still need before we leave for Mali. It was close to 10:30, when we left there, and even though we have to cross all of Vienna, we made it home by 11 am. Sonja had just arrived, and after changing Emmy's diaper, I took him downstairs. He was really excited to see her. Then I returned upstairs to start cooking lunch.

It was a few minutes after noon, when I called everyone upstairs to eat. Emmy was cranky and needed some time before he was willing to sit down and eat. I was glad to see Tammy eating everything in her bowl today. Emmy didn't eat very much, but they both got their puddings. Then they were eager to go into the bathtub to play. Sammy joined them there, and I fed him his special pudding. Then we got them out and dressed them, and the boys went to bed, while Tammy went downstairs with Sonja. Randy sat down by the boys until they were asleep. It was just after 1:15, when he went to get Tammy and put her to bed as well. After a while Emmy woke up, but Randy was able to rock him back to sleep.

Sammy had a private physiotherapy session today, the first in a while. And so Randy got him up at 2 pm, dressed him, and left with him at 2:15. A few minutes later Emmy woke up again and came running to me. I picked him up and lay down with him, and he actually fell asleep once again, even though he didn't sleep very long. Once he woke up for good, he just wanted to go downstairs to be with Sonja, and so I got their afternoon snacks and took them downstairs with him. Back upstairs it wasn't long before Tammy woke up, and I took her downstairs as well. Then I went back upstairs to continue doing office work.

One of the things I've been working on upon popular request was to make our website trilingual. The main structure is now up, even though I have not translated everything yet. Try it out!

Randy and Sammy returned at 4:30. I had just finished a big job, and Sammy was asking for me, and so I took him downstairs and stayed there with them all. Randy decided to run to the grocery store.

The other two were also happy to see me, and they decided to cook me and Sonja a nice meal in their play kitchen. And Sammy played the xylophone. Especially Emmy was asking for food, and rather than letting them continue snacking, I wanted them to eat something at dinner time. And so I left them a little earlier at 5:15 to make dinner. They were not happy, especially Tammy, when I left alone, rather than letting them come with me to the kitchen. But it was time to help Sonja tidy up, and it was even messier than usual. When it was time for dinner, Sonja told me that nobody had helped her.

They came upstairs to eat before 6 pm. Again Emmy was cranky and didn't want to sit down at first, but in the end did sit in his seat and ate his soup and some bread. Tammy ate her soup but nothing else. Sammy was also rather cranky. It wasn't long before they got up to go to the bathtub. I combined their remaining food on a plate, and surprise, surprise, tonight they ate a lot of it in the bathtub, when Sonja gave it to them. Sammy also ate everything on his plate there, including his soup, but then he often does that. They were all having fun playing with the faucet. But everything comes to an end. We got them out and ready for bed. Before it was 7 pm they were all in bed. And all three were wide awake tonight. At least Tammy and Emmy had slept long this afternoon.

Randy sat down with them at first, but he was tired, and he's been sick and not feeling well (he was the last one to get sick). At some point he'd had enough of them not sleeping, and I relieved him and sat down with them. However, I was in the middle of eating my soup, and so after a while, with everybody calmed down, Randy sat down again, so I could eat my soup before it was cold. Sammy was still awake and talking, when he walked away. I don't know why it took him so very long to fall asleep tonight.

After having eaten, I went back to work. We've gathered together a lot of stuff that needs to go to Mali, and it looks like our 10 suitcases won't even be enough. We're about ready to start packing the important stuff, after having made some room downstairs to lay out the suitcases. I'm more and more looking forward to going to Mali. Emmy talks about Mali every day.