Day 895. Last night I walked upstairs at 1:30, when I already heard the girl ask for milk, so I took it to her. Emmy was lying in my bed, so I moved him to his own bed. He never woke up. It was close to 2 am before I got to fall asleep. Some time during the night Tammy and then Emmy climbed into bed with us, and Tammy was rather cranky, needing milk, needing her rabbit, etc. Just after 7 am she was the first one up, and then Sammy woke up and was crying, so Randy put him in bed with us. Then Emmy woke up, and so we all got up before it was 7:30.
I made breakfast, we sat down to eat, and then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs, where we read a Bible story. Randy came downstairs with his breakfast, and I went upstairs to go work. The night had been so short that I was extremely tired, but I needed to work. At 11 am I stopped to go cook, and 11:30 I was ready to return to the computer, while the soup was cooking.
Randy and the kids came up at 11:50, just as I was going back to the kitchen to add the noodles to the soup. Then I ladled it onto their plates and put them into the fridge to cool the soup down a little. At noon we sat down to eat. Tammy ate hardly anything, Emmy ate well. No so pudding for Tammy, which made her cry. They then ran to the potty, and Emmy succeeded, while Tammy did not. Then I gave them all cake, even Tammy got some. I cleaned them up and dressed them, and Randy went downstairs with Tammy, while the boys went to bed. I sat down by them. At first they were wide awake and playing, but by 12:55 they were asleep. I was falling asleep myself, I was so tired. I returned to my computer, and just after 1 pm Randy brought Tammy up. After a few minutes I sat down by her bed, and it took her until 1:25 to fall asleep, while I was falling asleep myself. I then returned to the computer to work and never got a chance to sleep.
Emmy walked into the room at 1:50. I lay down with him, but after 5 minutes he was up, and so was Sammy. We went downstairs, where I lay down on the floor with Emmy who didn't want me to leave. I was so tired I didn't mind lying on the floor. We lay on the floor together for a few minutes, then I left to go back upstairs. I sat down by the computer again. At 2:30 Tammy walked in. I picked her up and lay down with her. We both fell asleep. At 3:15 we woke up and got up, as she wanted milk. Now time was really short to get everything ready for us at 4 pm. Everybody came upstairs, and we dressed them for church, and I still had their dinner to make. We got it all done and left the house just after 4 pm and still had 10 minutes at the train station to wait for our train.
We took the train, bought some chestnuts, and then took the tram. Getting off, we still had a walk up the hill to get to church. We got there just before the service started and walked all the way to the front on the left side. That's where the flags are that they're allowed to use. They weren't there, when we arrived, which got them all concerned, but it wasn't long before the lady who brings them put them out on the stairs. They were excited and picked some up right away and started using them, while Randy was away giving Sammy a new diaper. When they returned, I took Sammy as he'd been cranky. They had chairs stacked on the side, and it was the perfect height to put him on top. He also got a band to wave, while standing up there and was perfectly happy again.
Emmy kept talking about Renate, and so I told him we'd go see if she was there, and in fact, we found her on the other side of the room. He didn't really say much, and we returned to where the flags were. He was also asking about Sonja, but I had to tell him that she was not there.
With 5:30 approaching, they started asking about going upstairs to eat, and at 5:30 we all did. We were the first ones in the toddler room. I got the food out, and Randy started feeding Sammy, while the others were more interested in playing and just came by from time to time to get a bite to eat. When I turned around, I saw Tammy sitting on a chair looking at a book. Sammy had a fire truck that was making noises that he was playing with, and I was sitting right by him.
It was 6:15 before the program started, and our three kids were half the group tonight, as there were fewer kids than usual. They were excited and participated in the songs and actions, especially Tammy. Then it was time for the teaching. The teacher had a box with fruit and vegetables, and they got to get some. Then they had to put it down either by the tree or on the ground, depending on where they grow, and they enjoyed doing so. Sammy had an apple, and as he still puts everything into his mouth, he actually bit into it. Then everybody stood in a circle holding hands and thanking God for giving us fruit and vegetables. Next everybody sat down by the table, and the teacher cut up the fruit for everyone to eat. Our kids had pears and apples and tried some orange again that they did not use to like in the past. Then Sammy went back to the ground, where one parent came up to interact with him. Some kids went to the sink to wash their hands, and Tammy and Emmy simply followed them and had a parent help them wash their hands. Then they continued playing. I changed two diapers, and then it was already time to put their shoes on and go back downstairs.
Emmy had also been talking about seeing Anna, and was already disappointed last week, when she wasn't there. We always see her, when we walk down the stairs, and so he got really excited when Anna was actually on the bottom of the stairs, and Tammy was excited too. Emmy couldn't get down the stairs fast enough. Once they had reached Anna, they started having fun with her, and there was a lot of laughter, including at a time, when the whole church was quiet. After a few minutes the service ended, and we got the strollers and started slowly walking towards the exit. But first we went to see Renate again, as Emmy kept asking to do so, and Tammy hadn't seen her yet. And so we talked with her for a little bit. Then we made our way to the exit, and Anna came with us.
We walked to the tram stop and because of what time it was, we decided to take the subway instead of the train, so we wouldn't have to wait half an hour for it. And so we got on the same tram as Anna, but had to get off after two stops and say good-bye to her. Then we took two subways and got home at 8 pm.
By 8:20 they were all in bed. I sat down by their beds, and after a while Emmy was the first one to fall asleep, then Sammy, and Tammy was still saying "Mommy" as she was slowly falling asleep. It was about 8:45 before I could walk away and finally get something to eat. I was pretty tired and only slowly making progress on working on today's pictures. Randy went to bed early, and so I had to take my computer downstairs to my desk and continue working there. I don't even know how I kept going so long, but I finally had to realize I could not finish my report, I was simply too tired. At 12:45 I went upstairs, loaded the dishwasher and turned it on, and then fell into bed. But first I had take Tammy back to her bed; she had only just climbed into bed with Daddy.
