28 months 22 days

Day 874. Last night I headed to bed just after 1 am. We had a kid-free bed at that time, but after a while Tammy joined us in bed. Emmy was also with us for a while, but then returned to his bed, where he stayed until the morning. Around 7:30 the girl got up, and Sammy was up right away as well. I went to get him to take him to our bed, but he soon joined his sister on the floor, and they played together for a while. After a while Emmy got up and joined them, and at 8 am I also got up to get their breakfast ready.

We sat down to eat, and Emmy ate a good bit of bread with cream cheese, while the girl ate hardly anything at all. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs, where I got a kids' Bible out, and we sat down to read it. Then I started praying, and Emmy jumped into my arms to be prayed for. I got the bag full of little instruments out, and Emmy was happy to have his tambourine back. Sammy was happy to have the rattle, and I put "Jingle Bells" on so he could rattle to it.

Then Randy came with his breakfast, and I went upstairs to clean up and go to work. It was 9:30 before I could turn the computer on. At 11 am I went to the kitchen to start cooking. I could hear Emmy cry really hard downstairs and calling me name, but I had a lot of cutting to do. By 11:30 I was done with most of that and went downstairs to get Emmy. Of course Tammy wanted to come too. And so everyone came upstairs. We had the bendable sticks from the airpline out, and they started playing with them. No more crying. Just after noon we all sat down to eat.

The chicken soup was really hot. I got some meat out and put it on the table to cool faster. Emmy was impatient to eat, while Tammy never ate anything. I told her she'd have to eat to get a pudding or squeezy. And so she had nothing for lunch. Emmy didn't eat much, but at least he ate some.

I cleaned them up, though there wasn't much to clean, and dressed them and put Emmy to bed. Randy got Sammy ready and then went downstairs with Tammy. I put Sammy to bed at 12:45, and he always falls asleep right away. I tried to get Emmy to sleep and thought I was getting there, but then he threw a fit, wanting Daddy. So I went downstairs to stay with Tammy, while Randy went upstairs and sat down next to Emmy's bed, who was soon asleep, by 1:15. Tammy and I came upstairs, and ten minutes later she was also asleep. Even though I was so tired I could have slept myself, I went back to work.

At 2 pm I got a phone call that the airport delivery guy was here - with 4 of our 5 suitcases. He wouldn't even bring them all the way to the apartment. Randy had to go to the entrance of the building and picked them up there. I was relieved to find my main suitcase among the four. Randy still has to open the other three to know what he had packed inside the missing one.

Sammy woke up at 2:15 pm, and Randy went downstairs with him. About half an hour later Emmy got up and immediately said he wanted to go be with Daddy, so I took him downstairs. He noticed our suitcases sitting there. They had been waiting for the doorbell all day, as I had told them that that meant the guy had arrived to give us our suitcases.

The boys were having fun with Daddy downstairs, until Emmy came to the gate at the bottom of the stairs and started crying for me. The crying was loud enough to wake Tammy up at 3:10. I took some food and went downstairs with her. Then I returned back upstairs to get my computer to take it to my desk downstairs. Tammy always needs a while before she wakes up for good. She was crying and throwing a fit for a while, until calming down on my chest, where I held her for a while. Then she wanted to go be with Daddy, which didn't last long. For pretty much most of the afternoon they were all around me, including Sammy, so working was not easy. Tammy wanted to watch babies, so I gave her my phone at some point, but she does not like it, when Sammy crawls up and disturbs her. She also wanted to look at pictures books, which she did. Emmy has been on his cars a lot, and Randy also put Sammy on a car and pushed him around.

I emailed the airport to ask about the fifth suitcases, and they said that they did not know where it was. 90 minutes later I had an email from a different employee that the suitcase had arrived and will be delivered tomorrow. Praise God! It will be over 3 days since arriving.

It was after 5:30, when we all went upstairs. I started making their food, while they were playing. They also got a bite to eat from me from time to time. Then we sat down to eat. Tammy ate the soup, sausage stick, berries, and cereal, but didn't care for the bread. Emmy ate a lot of bread and cereal, but didn't care so much for the berries and soup. Neither one wanted a pudding. Then they all went into the bathtub, where they were having fun. Then we got them out and ready for bed. Now they finally have their toothbrushes back. They were all in bed before it was 7 pm.

I was the first one sitting by their beds. They were all awake and getting wilder. Tammy and Emmy were on their feet passing their babies back and forth. I was extremely tired and asked Randy to take over, which he did. I lay down in bed for a few minutes. When Emmy started calling for me, we switched again and I sat down by his bed. Tammy was asleep, and Sammy had finally quieted down. Emmy grabbed my hand and put it on his face. After a few minutes he was asleep as well. It was nearly 8 pm. I had really wanted to do dinner a little later, but they had already been asking for food.

I went to the kitchen to get myself something to eat and went downstairs to my office. I ate and then went back to work. I'm slowly starting to get back into my Vienna routine, but I sure need to go back upstairs soon, before I'm too tired, as I still have to clean up.