27 months 12 days

Day 835. Last night I headed to bed after 11 pm. I'm not used to being so tired so early in the evening, and I feel like I'm not getting anything done at night, when I'd finally be free to work with them being asleep.

When I went to bed, Tammy was already there. Emmy joined us later, and so both of them were in bed with us for most of the night. They were up just after 6:30, and so it wasn't long before I had to get up as well. They always want to see the cat first who shows up as soon as I open the bedroom door. We gave the cats some wet food that they were crying for. Then I made the cereal for our kids, and I also gave them some fruit and peanuts. Emmy and Tammy didn't eat much. I cleaned them up, dressed them, and we went to the living room to open their three advent calendars. They were pushing all the buttons on the Christmas song calendar and even opened doors of future days. The little book also came out of a door with a future date. Then we read a Bible story - without Emmy - and then I left them in Daddy's charge.

But I didn't go to the back yet to do office work. The undecorated Christmas tree had been staring me in the face since it was put up, and so it was time to take care of it. I got the lights and decorations and started putting them up. The kids were very interested and watched me. They wanted to touch everything and climb up the step ladder. By the time it was done, it looked pretty nice, and I haven't even put the chocolates up yet. Nor the candles that all need batteries.

Then I went to the back to work; it was still pretty early.

And once again the kids kept going back and forth between the living room and the bedroom. They like going into the bathroom and then close the door. Today they were in there for longer and I heard them laugh. I finally got up to check on them... they had grabbed their toothpaste and squeezed it all over everything and themselves! I had to take their clothes off and put them in the shower to wash them off, which they did not like at all.

Margit finally came around 10:30, and they came to me less often. At one point Randy was doing some stuff, and so I picked up Sammy who was crying and had him with me for a while. At 11:20 I went to the kitchen to start cooking. At that point Margit was playing kids worship videos for our kids. Sammy was cranky, and one reason was that he wanted to see the video as well, and so Randy took him over there and held him up, and he could also get into the toy box.

At noon we sat down at the table to eat. I was glad to see both Tammy and Emmy eat for a change, and it was Tammy who ate a lot today. Sammy always wants to eat by himself, but is not able to, but today he got a hold of the spoon and was really happy, even though the food falls off before he gets it to his mouth. They all had some yoghurt, pineapple and watermelon as well. Then it was time to take them to the bathroom to clean them up, dress them again and put them to bed for a nap. Yesterday we had not been able to get them to sleep. Today it all started the same way, at 12:45, with no one sleeping. After a while you can tell how tired they are, but they seem to fight it even more. Thank God we got them to sleep today! By 1:15 they were all asleep.

As for me I sat down to work, even though I was so tired I really wanted to sleep myself. Just before 3 pm I did finally lie down, right between them. Five minutes later they all woke up; so much for getting a nap. We all went to the living room, where Randy was. I got some snacks for them out, and then left to go back to doing office work. It wasn't long before they started coming once again. In the course of the afternoon I had them all on my lap while working, and let them watch animal videos at times. Emmy was rather cranky this afternoon.

At 4 pm Fanta came with her two youngest (1 and 3), who enjoyed getting to play in our house.

Even though Emmy is scared of the sheep, he keeps talking about them and wanted to see them again. And so Amadou brought one baby sheep over agian. Once again Emmy would not touch it. Tammy looked away and touched it, and Sammy wasn't so sure, but was safe in Daddy's arms.

The kids kept playing, the Malian kids really next to our kids rather than with them. Tammy was pretty active this afternoon, and they were all having fun. Margit never came over this afternoon as she had gone to the village and was probably tired. Emmy wanted me to hold him, but I started getting dinner ready at 5:15, and I  needed my hands to do so. I fried some cooking bananas, and put some regular bananas, pineapple and watermelon on their plates, as well as soletti and scrambled eggs. Just before 6 pm we sat down to eat dinner. I was thankful, when Tammy ate some eggs, as well as some watermelon. Emmy concentrated on the pineapple. I also got some yoghurt out.

Then it was bathtub time, where we went through all our action songs we know and had fun. Then they came out, got their pj's on, and we all sat down on our bed for Daddy to read a Bible story. Then it was bedtime.

They did their usual playing around. After a while I got Emmy to fall asleep, after I had laid down  before finally next to him, as I was so tired I could have slept myself. The girl was still active and moving around and needed a little more patience to fall asleep as well. Randy was sitting next to her. Once she was asleep as well, I got up from our bed and went to get my salad. After eating I went back to work, and as usual I've been struggling with staying awake while writing my update.