27 months 17 days

Day 840. Last night I went to bed just after midnight. At first there were no kids in bed with us, but that changed soon, when Tammy came to lie down between us. She was the only one in bed with us until 6 am, when Emmy came to lie on my other side. He fell back asleep, and today they slept a little longer than usual, nearly until 7 am. That's when we got up. The cats were waiting at the door, and Emmy carried their pouch with food to the kitchen, where I gave it to them. Then I started making their food.

After they had all had a new diaper, it was time to sit down and eat. Tammy ate watermelon, while Emmy ate his omelet, and Sammy barely wanted to eat at all. Then we cleaned them up, brushed their teeth, and dressed them.

We went to the living room, where we read a Bible story, and then we started opening the advent calendars. I stayed for a while, waiting for Randy, and then went to the back to work. I closed the door, which made them cry, but not for long.

And it wasn't long before the door was back open and they were back. We called Sonja, and everyone was happy to see each other. Emmy wanted to see Amadou, and so I called him, and he reminded me that he was visiting his family this morning. But he called and sent the other kids over to play with our kids. They were happy to see them, and I heard a lot of laughter as they were pulling them in circles on their carry-on dogs.  At 10:45 I started making the soup for lunch and enjoyed hearing the children having fun. They stayed a long time, some of them until it was time to eat.

At noon we sat down to eat, just the five of us, with everyone gone. The food was pretty hot, and I kept warning the kids. We have the ceiling fan on that cools down the food, and they know to blow on what is on their spoon. Still, they were hungry, and before I could even sit down I heard Tammy cry. I comforted her, and after she had calmed down, and Randy had put an icecube in each bowl, she sat back down and ate. In fact, today both Tammy and Emmy ate everything in their bowls. That has been rare recently. I was so happy I gave them a gummi bear each as a reward - their first ever. Tammy didn't even try it and gave it to Emmy, who liked it so much that he asked for a third one. Instead they all had yoghurt as dessert.

We cleaned them up, dressed them, and put them to bed for their nap. Sammy fell asleep fast. Tammy was pretty tired and just needed a short time to fall sleep. But Emmy gave us a challenge again before he finally fell asleep at 1:30. Then I went back to work, even though I was tired. I finally got so tired that I decided to lie down for a few minutes, setting my alarm so I wouldn't sleep long like I've done before. However, just after I lay down Tammy woke up. I tried to get her to fall back asleep, but she wouldn't. So I took her to Randy, hoping she'd sleep with him, but Sammy was up too, and I took him to the living room as well. I lay back down, but the girl was back with me within minutes, and while she lay down on me at first, she did not go to sleep. So we got back up, and I took her back to the living room. She kept coming back, but I asked her to be quiet and let her brother sleep. Until 3:30. Then I told her she could wake Emmy up. I didn't want him sleeping more than 2 hours so he'd still fall asleep at night.

Around 4 pm Amadou came over - much to Emmy's delight - and stayed for a while. However, none of the other kids came back, which was disappointing. Amadou told me they were playing soccer. I love watching Amadou withour kids. After a while he left, but then he came back with the lamb. However, both lamb and sheep did not want to be separated, and Emmy got really scared, when the sheep protested the separation, so we let the lamb go.

The kids were having fun with Amadou, but he also left at some point. Tammy was putting my shoes and other shoes on, as well as my hat, and I thought she looked pretty cute. Sammy was kneeling next to the blue box with toys with the lid on, and succeeded in pulling himself on top of the box, which was quite an achievement.

At times the kids were coming to the back to be with me, and at one point I let them watch a video for a few minutes while sitting on my lap. Believe it or not, I was still able to work on the computer at the same time, even though the video was also on my screen.

At 5:15 I turned the water in the bathtub on and went to the kitchen. They were already asking for food, and so I started to get it all ready. Since Tammy had thrown up yesterday after she had eaten all kinds of stuff including Austrian bread with my remaining Austrian camembert cheeses, I decided not to give it to her, even though she was asking for it. Instead I put some cheese for melting on the bread, but of course she did not want that. She was really cranky tonight.

We put them into their chairs before it was 6 pm. Tammy had asked the whole time for eggs, but the omelet was still hot, and so I warned her. Even after I had told her that she could eat it now since it wasn't hot any more, she would not touch it. Instead she was eating watermelon. Emmy on the other hand ate a good part of the omelet. And Sammy really has not been eating much recently. In the end I got the yoghurt out, and they all had some.

Then it was bathtub time, and they were all having fun. Out they came to be made ready for bed. Randy read a Bible story, and then I prayed for them, and we put them to bed. Sammy fell asleep fast, but not the other two. Tammy fell asleep next, after I lay down on our bed, between her and Emmy. Emmy was still awake for a while before he finally lay down and then fell asleep. I gently slipped out from between them and got up to go get my food from the kitchen. It was not 8 pm yet.

I ate and then went back to work, but before it was even 9:30 pm, my eyes were falling shut while writing. So tonight I definitely need to go to bed earlier, and I'm hoping for some kid-free sleeping time.