29 months 7 days

Day 890. I was working at my computer, when Emmy called me from the top of the stairs at 11:30 pm. I told him to go lie down by Daddy and that I was coming soon. Then it was quiet, and so I continued working. After a few minutes he called my name again. He was still there! I said the same thing again, and it was quiet again. After a few more minutes I was done and turned the computer off. When I went up the stairs, there was Emmy sitting on the floor by the gate, waiting for me. Again I asked him to go lie down by Daddy and I'd be right there, but he wanted to stay with me. And so he watched me finish loading the dishwasher and getting ready for bed. It was close to midnight, when we finally lay down together, and when I got up to give crying Sammy some milk, Emmy cried. After I returned he lay on my chest for a couple of minutes. Then I asked him if he'd go back to his own bed, and he said yes. He got up and left.

Some time during the night he returned, but I would not let him into our bed. He stood next to me for a while, putting his head on my arm, and then walked back to his bed. It was 7:10, when both Tammy and Emmy crawled into bed with us. They lay down for a few minutes, but didn't sleep any more. Sammy was crying so hard that I asked Randy to bring him to our bed, when he was up anyway. And so the three were with us, having fun. They soon got up. It was 7:40, when I got up as well.

After breakfast we cleaned them up and dressed them and went downstairs to read a Bible story. After the story, they got on the cars and motorbikes and went up and down, while Sammy played with a balloon. When Randy came, I went upstairs to work.

Just before 11:30 I went to the kitchen to cook. Randy and the kids came upstairs a few minutes before noon. At noon we sat down to eat, and they didn't really eat that much, even though to me the food was better than I had expected, as I had tried something new, coming up with it myself. They had some yogurt after the main dish, and then we cleaned them up and dressed them. Randy and Tammy went downstairs, and the boys went to bed. At first Sammy was wide awake, but by 12:45 he was asleep, and five minutes later Emmy was also asleep. I returned to my computer to work, even though I was really tired myself. Just after 1 pm Randy and Tammy came upstairs. Randy sat by her bed for a while, and then I took his place, as I know how to put her to sleep, and she was asleep before 1:30. Again I returned to my computer, but I was too tired to continue to work and closed my eyes instead.

I woke up, when Emmy walked into the room. Randy wanted him to go back to sleep on me, but it's been a while since he's done that, and so he rested on me for a few minutes and then got up, and Randy went downstairs with him. I'm not sure, but I think I fell asleep again until Tammy walked into the room just before 3 pm. She always comes crying, and then I comfort her. She also lay down for a few moments before getting up for good. Sammy was crying, and so I picked him up, and I took them both downstairs together with their snacks. I was still half-asleep and so very tired. I left them downstairs and went upstairs, not expecting to be able to be there for long before they were crying and calling for me, and I was right.

I was able to work for about half an hour, so that's something, before Emmy was crying at the gate for me. I grabbed my computer and took it downstairs to my desk. In the course of the next few hours I was able to work a little, while playing with them and being busy with them. They wanted more balloons blown up, and I ended up blowing up quite a few. Emmy showed again how well he plays guitar, and Tammy got her guitar out as well. Sammy went back into the walker Randy created and is trying to improve on, and he enjoyed walking up and down the room. They were also all in the swing at different times, wanting me to push them so high that they touch the ceiling, which they have done a few times by now. They also wanted to watch babies and Barbapapa, which they did for a few minutes. And then they wanted to do the sticker books, and so I sat down on the floor with them, and they got to pick stickers and put them on the different pages of the sticker books. In the end they each got a little sticker on the back of their hand to take with them.

Then it was cleanup time. We hadn't tidied up the last three days, so it was very needed. Tammy helped, but Emmy I had to ask a hundred times before he finally put a few things away on a shelf. Once we were done, we all walked upstairs. It was about 5:40 pm. They pulled chairs up to the kitchen counter to stand on and ate whatever they liked that I put on their plates. Once it was all there, everyone sat down at the table, and I added the soup to their plates. After they were done eating, it was bathtub time. But first it was time to go potty. They took their diapers off by themselves and first Tammy sat down ont he potty, and then Emmy, and they both pooped in there! They're really getting the hang of it! Great job! It's time to read up on how to potty train them to get rid of diapers.

They went into the bathtub, where they were having lots of fun. Sammy came out first, and then the others. By 6:50 they were all in bed, and I sat down by them. Once again they were talking about all kinds of things and praying for everyone by name, and once again Tammy was on my chest to start with. And Sammy was wide awake having slept over 2 hours at lunch time. After a while I was really getting tired of sitting there and them still not sleeping. At 7:30 I walked away, before they were all asleep. Randy took my place, and a few minutes later they were all sleeping. I got myself something to eat and went downstairs to my desk, where I ate, and then went back to work.

At 11 pm Emmy once again got up and came to the gate crying. Randy was still up and put him back to bed, but a minute later he got back up and I picked him up and tried to put him back to bed. He wanted to go sleep in our bed, and so I put him there, telling him I was coming as soon as I was done working. Randy went to bed a few minutes later, picking Emmy up at the gate once again. I don't feel like I can work as long as I like at night any more with Emmy waiting for me and crying for me. Right now I don't have enough time to get work done.