29 months 17 days

Day 900. I went to bed at 12:30, and they both joined us in bed at some point. They were up just after 7 am, but we stayed in bed a little longer. When I got up at about 7:30, I saw them sitting on the floor with a snack box and the snacks everywhere all over the floor. I was not happy! They helped me put everything back into the box, and then I went to the kitchen to start making their breakfast.

After breakfast Emmy went potty (Tammy is taking a break from the potty) and he's usually successful. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs to read a Bible story. It was dreary day, not the time to go anywhere. Emmy joined us for the Bible story today, and then they left to play. When Randy came, I went upstairs to work.

I was finally making progress with the financial report of last year. One time I went downstair, when Emmy was crying hard and long. I comforted him and returned to work. At 11:30 I went to the kitchen to put fries in the oven. Randy and the kids came upstairs 10 minutes before noon, and at noon we sat down at the table to eat. They ate a lot more chicken than yesterday, and enjoyed the fries somewhat. They were asking for corn, and so I quickly heated up some corn that they enjoyed eating. Tammy had a gummy bear for having eaten everything on her plate and then some pudding. Emmy and the others all had some cake. Emmy went potty, then I cleaned them and dressed them, and the boys went to bed, while Randy went downstairs with Tammy. By 12:50 they were asleep, and I was very tired myself. Tammy came upstairs at 1 pm, I sat down with her, and by 1:20 she was also asleep, and I was able to return to my computer and the numbers, even though I really wanted to sleep as well.

At 2 pm I heard Sammy and then Emmy was already standing next to me. I picked him up and let him lie on my chest, and I was surprised that he actually stayed for 10 minutes. In the meantime Randy picked up Sammy and went downstairs with him. Then I took Emmy downstairs as well and returned to the computer. At 3 pm Tammy walked into the room. She's always cranky after waking up, but she would not lie down on me. I got their snacks and took her downstairs as well. She was crying, when I left again, but I really needed to work on that report. An hour later, at 4 pm, I took my computer downstairs, and Randy left to go to the grocery store for a few items before the weekend.

For the next 90 minutes that he was gone, we were playing. They were all in the swing at some point, and Tammy and Emmy watched videos for a short time. They also rode their cars and motorcycle, and played going to the grocery store, with me being the cashier. At 5:30, when Randy had arrived, we started tidying up. Emmy had one of his frequent fits, overturning his full shopping cart and then sitting there, refusing to put everthing into the box. But after a while, when Tammy came picking the stuff up, he also started putting it into the box. Once we were all done, we went upstairs.

They pulled up chairs to the kitchen counter, and I started making their food and putting it on the plates in front of them. Thank God Randy had bought bread, strawberries and cantaloupe, as we had been out of them all. They had lots of the latter two. We sat down at the table, but today they barely touched their soup, after having eaten more than usual in the kitchen. They got up, Emmy went potty, and then they went into the bathtub, where they were having fun. Sammy came out first, then Emmy and then Tammy, and just before 7 pm they were all in bed.

I sat down by their beds, and Tammy lay down on my chest. Then we talked about all kinds of things. When Randy became available after a while, he sat down in my place and I returned to the computer to work. After a while I went back upstairs, as Sammy was still fussing, and put Sammy into his sleeping position, tucked in Tammy, and then they were also happy to fall asleep. I returned to work for a while, before going to the kitchen to get something to eat. I took my food downstairs, ate, and then went back to work. At 11 pm Emmy was crying, and I went upstairs to comfort him and give him milk, and then he went back to sleep. Now it's after midnight, and I'm heading to bed.