3 years 1 month 7 days

Day 1133. Sunday, hallelujah, time to sleep in! I put on Kasperl for them to watch and went back to bed. Just before 9 am we got up. After breakfast I went downstairs with them, where we read a Bible story together. Then I left them there with Randy and returned upstairs, where I turned my computer on, but then I got the food ready to put into the oven, as well some other food on the stove. I don't usually teach on Sundays, but I had made an exception today and had a new student at 11 am. It went really well. I was done just before noon, and then everyone was already coming upstairs. The food was ready, and so I got it all onto plates, and we sat down to eat.

After everyone had had their icecream, I cleaned them up and dressed them and they started watching some video, like they usually do. At 1:15 I put them all to bed. Sammy fell asleep quickly, but not so the other two. Usually they all don't need long to fall asleep, but today was different, and I have no idea why. A two-hour nightmare started. I myself was so extremely tired that I just wanted to lie down and sleep. We tried everything, but nothing was working, and in the process I never got any sleep myself, but only got more and more frustrated. After an hour of sleep Sammy woke up from all the noise, and Randy went downstairs with him.  I still kept trying to get the other two to sleep, but to no avail. With Sammy downstairs, they wanted to go downstairs as well. Emmy left first to go downstairs, while Tammy lay down in my bed with me, but only for a few minutes. Then she got up and also went downstairs. It was about 3 pm, and I finally got to close my eyes and fall asleep.

Emmy came back upstairs once and wanted something, then left again, and I continued sleeping. At 4 pm I got up and went straight to the kitchen to make their dinner-to-go boxes. It was not possible for us to take the 4:20 train to church, but I still wanted to go, taking the next train at 4:50. That did not give us much time to get it all done. I was making their food, and then Randy came upstairs, and I picked out clothes for them, and he dressed them.  I don't know how, but we left at 4:40, which was not much time to get to the train, but we actually made it, thanks to us running with the strollers.

We took the train, and then the tram, and got to church at 5:30, half an hour after the service had started. We went straight to our usual spot, and the kids picked up fabric to play/dance with it. I had Sammy, who was waving some fabric and moving his head with the rhythm of the music. It did not take long for them to get antsy, and at 5:45 we already left the sanctuary to go upstairs to the toddler room. I left them there with Randy and returned to the sanctuary. It was my turn to enjoy the service. At 6:45 I went back upstairs. I watched Tammy and Emmy have fun on the slide, playing with another girl's Dad. Randy had Sammy, and I then took Sammy, as Randy started cleaning up. Then we put their shoes back on and left to return to the sanctuary. Sammy was already calling Anna's name, as usual, and there she was on the bottom of the stairs. She took Sammy who was delighted about it.

Communion was going on, and so we decided to go take it. We left Sammy with Anna and went to the front with the other two. Sonja was the one standing by the communion table. The kids were excited to see her, but aware that she was working and did not go up to her. We then returned to the back, spoke to another person, and then dressed the kids to leave. We walked back to the tram stop and ran to get on the tram that was sitting there. On the tram the kids were eating and watching videos. We got off and went to the train platform, and got there just in time to catch the 7:30 train. Usually we don't make that one but take the 8 pm train. And so we were home around 7:45. We got them ready for bed, and by 8:10 they were all in bed. I sat down by them, gave them the milk they asked for, and was shocked, when they were all asleep just a few minutes later. I guess that was the advantage of them not having had a nap after lunch today. I left their side at 8:20, and was shocked that there were no protests. I got myself something to eat and ate earlier than ever after church on Sundays. Then I got working again, and now it's earlier than ever on a Sunday that I finish writing about the day.