Day 834. Last night I was so very tired. I finally got done and fell into bed just after 11 pm. I don't remember ever being so tired so early in the evening, as I'm normally a night owl. It wasn't long before the first kid climbed into bed with us, and then the other, and they stayed with us all night. At 4:30 I had a cramp and started screaming, which woke them all up. Thankfully they fell back asleep. Some time around 6:30 they were up for good. I was so tired I didn't want to get up, but I was sure watching them, as there is too much stuff they shouldn't get into, once they leave the bed. But then it was the doorbell that rang around 7 am that got me out of bed.
It was Paul who came to get our shopping list. It's a blessing that he's doing all the shopping for us. Once he had left, I made the cereal for them. I also gave them soletti and watermelon and banana, but they hardly ate anything. I made some scrambled eggs, and the boys had some bites of those.
Then I cleaned them up, brushed their teeth, dressed them, and we went to the living room to open the advent calendars and read the Bible. Then I left them with Randy to go work in the back. However, they seem to be with me more than with Randy. They don't have as many toys here as in Austria, and not as much to do. Randy is busy with Sammy, and so he's not really doing any activities with the other two. That makes working rather difficult for me, and I can only do stuff that does not require much concentration. At one point I gave them paper and crayons, and they sat on the floor next to me drawing. Emmy does not have much of an attention span, though, and soon got up to do other stuff. Tammy did a great job putting the pens back into their case, and we had to chase down Emmy to get the last one.
One time Emmy came to sit on my lap and wanted to watch tigers, so he did for a few minutes. Then the girl came, and I put the phone on the floor so they could both watch, but Emmy usually does not want to share, and so he was not happy. In the end Tammy was watching babies - her favorite - and was watching them by herself. Margit had finally come, and so Emmy was in the living room with her. After a while Tammy also left, and for the first time I had a few minutes without any kids around.
We still had leftovers from yesterday, so I didn't have to cook. At noon we sat down to eat. Once again Tammy ate nothing, while Emmy ate everything in his bowl. Tammy was just cranky, wanting to have yoghurt, which she was not gonna get without eating some food first. I did give them all pineapple that they had already been excited about, as Paul had bought one in the morning. And the boys had their yoghurt, but not the girl. Emmy was once again crying, when juice from the pineapple tripped onto his leg and hurt him, as he has a rash pretty much covering his whole body now. I took him to the bathtub first and rinsed him off, all against his will. Then I put some oils on him to soothe the rash and dressed him again. The girl came next, and then Sammy.
Then it was nap time. Sammy went into their bed and was soon asleep. Tammy and Emmy were in their typical spots on our bed, and then the typical struggle started to get them to sleep. Both Randy and I were involved, trying everything, from holding them to lying down with them. I was just walking away to get more milk, which they seem to drink instead of water, when Emmy started crying. He had fallen off the bed. All the rolling and moving around instead of sleeping. He was crying hard, and I saw the blood by his right eye - two months after we spent the day in the hospital because they had to sew him up by his left eye. Thankfully no hospital visit was necessary - definitely not in Mali - even though it looked bad. He kept saying that he wanted me to put oil on it (disinfectant), but it was too close to the eye. In the end I gave in, but then the oil burned him a little, and he cried again. I tried lying down with him, comforting him, and getting him to sleep, but to no avail. Tammy was also wide awake now and simply left. I then decided to also give up on Emmy and let him leave, and so he also went to the living room. Sammy had already woken up from all the commotion, after an hour of sleep, and I had taken him to Randy. It was close to 2 pm, when I gave up on getting the other two to sleep.
I was so tired myself and had wanted to close my eyes with them for a while. In the morning I had to put my head on my desk for a few minutes, because I was too tired to continue to work. But I powered on, and the kids once again came back to where I was over and over again. Fanta arrived with her two youngest, so that kept them in the living room a little more. Margit also arrived, but she just sat down to use our internet on her phone and do some stuff. The kids ended up having fun with their dog-carryons, pulling and being pulled by each other.
And Amadou brought two chicks over again. They're now getting more courageous with touching them. They were sure cute.
Margit left, and then Fanta's kids did too, and with 6 pm approaching I started making their dinner. I fried some sweet potato slices again, cut up some banana and gave them some more of the pineapple. I also gave them a few peanuts and a slice of cheese. Once again the girl wasn't interested in hardly anything. Emmy ate a little more. And I cut open a new watermelon that looked a lot better than the last two, and they all ate some of it.
Then it was time for the bathtub, where they were having fun. Emmy was pretty cranky already, really tired, not having had a nap, and so he came out first today, just before the others. I put all the oils on him, which seems to help him. I also took a picture of his rash to send it to some doctors and get some feedback.
After they were all ready for bed, they were asking to read the Bible, even though we had only done so once before, which was last night. I got one of the little Bible story books, and Emmy said for Daddy to read it, and so he did it. Then it was bedtime.
Emmy fell asleep rather quickly, with just a little help. Once he was asleep, I went over to the girl and sat by her, while Randy left to get some food, and within minutes she was asleep as well. Maybe we should keep them up every day so they fall asleep faster at night! After a while I moved both Tammy and Emmy to their bed, but a few minutes later Emmy woke up and wanted to be in our bed again, and so I moved him. Quite a while later I moved him back to his bed, and he's been asleep since.
It was unusual to walk away from them so early tonight. I went to the kitchen and got my food, then sat down by the computer to eat, and then work. Now it's 10:30, and I've really been struggling with keeping my eyes open so I could write my report. Bedtime for Mommy!
