26 months 30 days

Day 822.  Last night I went to bed at 11:35 pm. The girl once again snuck into bed with us, sleeping in my arm, but when I realized that at 3 am, Randy took her to her bed. She came again later, and then Emmy came as well. By 6:45 Emmy was up for good, and soon they were both on their feet exploring the apartment. At 7 I got up to make their breakfast; Tammy was asking me for milk. Today she even ate some of her cereal which was the first time in a long time.

After breakfast we went downstairs, where I got their Bibles out, and we sat down to read a few stories. Then Emmy wanted his balloons and to go into the swing. When Randy arrived, I left to get to work. House work, office work, and I did my cooking early, from 10:30 to 11, as the soup needed to boil until noon. At noon I went downstairs to take them all back up for lunch. I was glad to see both Emmy and Tammy eat at first, but Tammy soon stopped. Emmy actually ate his WHOLE bowl, which was great. Tammy was just looking for the carrots, and so I gave her all the carrots I found in my bowl, and Daddy gave her some too. But she had not eaten much.

They went into the bathtub to play, where Emmy had some pudding, and Sammy ate his high-calorie pudding. Tammy just wants squeezy drinks all day long. Then they all came out, I put the boys to bed and then sat down by their beds. By 1 pm they were both asleep. And then Randy already came upstairs with Tammy, and I put her to bed and stayed with her until she was asleep, which didn't take long. Then all three were asleep, and I went back to work.

After only an hour of sleep Emmy came running to me. If Randy had been available, he would probably have fallen asleep again on his chest, but he would not go back to sleep on me. And then Sammy woke up too. Daddy came as well, and so he was gonna go downstairs with them. But just as we started down the stairs, they could hear the cleaning lady downstairs vacuuming and stopped in their tracks. And so they stayed upstairs. Emmy was with me, watching animal videos on my phone, while Sammy was with Randy. After a while the vaccuuming was over, and they could go downstairs. And then Tammy already woke up as well, also having slept only about an hour. I took her downstairs, together with snacks for everybody. And then I stayed with them for a little bit, as they did not want me to leave, as always. I actually ended up staying longer. These pictures show Sammy with one of his favorite books, Bob, the builder, where you can push buttons and hear the different machines, and Tammy and Emmy also like it.

At some point I was able to leave and return to work, and work until it was time to make their dinner at 5 pm. I actually started a little earlier. Once I was done I went downstairs and told them it was time to tidy up. I kept encouraging to help me, but they were not very motivated. At some point they both did just a little bit, and they later got a coin each to put into their piggy bank as a reward. At 6 pm we went upstairs to eat.

The cleaning lady was just finishing up, and they all said good-bye to her. Tammy and Emmy were eating their soup, but Tammy stopped there, and Emmy didn't eat much else. They got up to go into the bathtub. Sammy was pretty cranky and didn't want to eat. They all ate very little more in the bathtub tonight. They eat much more, when Sonja is here. But they had fun playing in the water. Then we all got them out and put them to bed, and tonight it was 7 pm.

I sat down by their beds, and it looked like they were all gonna fall asleep fast. Until one of them asked for milk, and that woke them all back up. All three had some milk. Randy then took my place, and I left to get myself something to eat. After having eaten, I went back to doing office work. I've made good progress recently.

Well, four more days and we're off to Mali! Please pray for us. It's time for me to clean up now and then go to bed.