27 months 22 days

Day 845. Last night I was so tired I headed to bed at 11 pm. At first there were no kids, but that didn't last long. Tammy came first, and one kid is still doable, but once Emmy joined us, it got tight. Randy turned around, so that only his legs were on our side and that made it easier. That also meant that I had to deal with both Tammy and Emmy all night, and Tammy woke up frequently, both asking for milk frequently. And Sammy also woke up crying a few times, which is not typical, and after Randy had done so before, I had to go to the kitchen to refill the milk bottle once again.

Emmy was the first one up at 7 am. Sammy woke up and was unhappy. The cats were at the door scratching to get in, which made Emmy laugh. Tammy was still sleeping in my arm. By  7:15 she was also up, and so we got up, with Emmy eager to see the cats. I opened the door, and they came running in, much to Emmy's delight. I gave him the pouch with cat food, and we went to the kitchen, where I gave it to them. Then I started making their breakfast - cereal, omelet, and my own cereal. Tammy has now found out that she likes my cereal - oatmeal with coconut, almonds and cold milk.

After breakfast I cleaned them up and dressed them, while Randy was getting his breakfast ready, then we went to the living room and read a Bible story together and opened the advent calendars. Then it was my turn to get to work. They were not happy, when I closed my door, but at this time of day they at least still accept it.

I started working, but was very tired. I finally decided to lie down. I asked Randy to lock the door from the outside, so he could come in as needed. I got to sleep about half an hour, before Randy came to call me because Paul needed to see me. 

I was so very tired, and stayed that way all morning, moving slowly as a results. At some point Amadou came over, and the kids could not wait to put their shoes on to go see the sheep. Margit went with them, while I had Sammy who had a cranky day today. Randy said he can see another big molar tooth break through.

At noon we sat down to eat leftovers. They ate a little, but by far not everything. Then they had yoghurt, before I took them to the bathroom to clean them up and put their clothes back on. It was just after 12:30, when we put them down for a nap. And as always they were giving us a hard time. Sammy was asleep first, Tammy was asleep by just after 1 pm, and Emmy took his time until 1:30. I was finally able to get back to work.

It was Tammy who woke up first, just after 2 pm, so really early for her, and since I did not lie down with her, I could not get her to fall back asleep. And then Sammy was up too, and so I took them both to the living room, where Randy was. Emmy kept sleeping, and at 3:30 Tammy and I woke him up on purpose. He was very sleepy, and it took him longer than usual to wake up. I took them all to the living room.

I wasn't able to do very much office work the rest of the afternoon. When Fanta and her two youngest came over, the kids were playing with her kids, especially pulling and being pulled on the dogs. As for me, I decided it was time to finish the Christmas tree and got the chocolates to hang on the tree out of the frigde. I looked everywhere and could not find the hooks, but at least I found a box of previously used hooks. Randy sat down at our dining table and started making knots in all the candy. Soon Margit joined him. I then picked the candy up and added the hook and put it on the tree.

Amadou had come over and was playing with our kids, which was great. Sammy was so very cranky, but I could not work and hold him at the same time. I finalyl put him into a high chair, and surprisingly he was okay with that. He sat next to Margit for a long time, and stayed happy the whole time. The other two also wanted to sit in their chairs and stayed for a while, watching us adults.

Time went by fast. We did not have enough time to finish hanging it all up. At 5:30 I started making their dinner, and just before 6 pm we sat down to eat. Tammy was crying so hard that she ended up in my lap, where she calmed down and eventually ate some watermelon, actually quite a bit. I forgot to get the yoghurt out and took them to the bathtub instead. They were having lots of fun there. We got them out and ready for bed. They haven't been very interested in our nightly Bible story times, so we gave up tonight, when they were not listening.

By 7 pm they were in bed, but not ready to sleep yet. By 7:30 we had succeeded in getting Tammy to sleep. Sammy was crying and what I did was not working, but Daddy was able to get him to calm down and fall asleep. I was with Emmy and thought he'd never fall asleep. It was after 8 pm, when he finally did.

But it's been a restless night since, with both Emmy and Tammy, and I still haven't even tried to move them to their bed. With my eyes falling shut, and Randy heading to bed now, this is our next task before we're going to bed.