3 years 2 months 10 days

Day 1166. Yesterday I had a 10 am lesson; morning lessons are always pretty tough for me as I'm so tired, and I do set my alarm even when I have a 10 am lesson. I had no lessons in the afternoon, which is unusual, as the plan had been to go to dance class, since Tuesday was a holiday, so no class. However, I received a text message that the class was canceled, and so we stayed at home. At 2:30 Randy and Sammy left to go to his weekly physiotherapy session.  Emmy woke up as well and joined me. I had fallen asleep and was still not quite awake. Emmy lay down with me, and I let him watch videos of themselves from the last few months. After a while Tammy joined us, and we all watched some more time.

As the sun was shining, and it was relatively warm, we decided to go outside so they could run their scooters. However, the sun goes down early right now, and so by the time we went outside, it was already so low that you could not see it. And so it was chillier than expected. Tammy and Emmy were still enjoying running their scooters up and down, and Emmy talked to some passers-by. When it got to cold, we went inside, and a few minutes later the boys already returned.

This morning I had to set my alarm for 7:45, which was very tough. Especially after the rough night we had had. I thought I could go to bed at a decent time, but Sammy woke up, which is rare, and insisted on me sitting with him. And so it was about 2 am, when I finally did go to bed. And then Emmy was already up before 7 am and wouldn't let me sleep, which was annoying. So I was really tired.

After breakfast we got ready and left the house at 9 am. It's become a tradition that we do a photoshoot once a year on the date, when they should have been born, which is November 6th. So that's when they actually turn 3 biologically. We try to take a family picture, and then we take Christmas pictures. And today was the day. It was a long ride across the town to get to the photo studio, and it was raining. We rode one subway, and then another. I had wanted to walk from there, but because the rain had increased in intensity, we got on the tram that had just pulled up and rode one stop. Then we still had to walk in the rain. We got to the studio just before 10 am, so perfectly on time.

We rode the elevator up, and our friend and photographer was already there and waiting for us. We started dressing the kids in their birthday clothes, and I still had to change as well. Then we went inside for our friend to take a picture of the three of them, as well as one of the five of us. Now that they are older, I thought that it was gonna be easier, but it still turned out to be a tough 90 minutes. They didn't want to look at the camera, or didn't want to do what was asked of them, and had enough of pictures after a while.

After we were done with the birthday pictures, we all put our new Christmas pj's on so she could take the Christmas pictures. As time went on, it got harder, and my voice got pretty strained from all I had tried to get them to look at the camera. I asked them to do what they were asked if they wanted to watch videos today and if they wanted to go to McDonald's for lunch, but the result was minimal. I still hope that there'll be some good pictures, as there were some precious moments. They were checking out many of the props, and at one point Tamm had unwrapped one of the fake gifts before I could stop her. They also tried to take apart some other props. Finally the 90 minutes were up, and we all changed again. We said goodbye to our friend and left. I hope it won't take too long until we get the pictures.

Back on the street, it was raining pretty hard, too hard to walk back to the subway. So we walked to the tram stop (half the distance) and got on the tram for one stop. After getting off, we crossed the street to walk to McDonald's. It wasn't noon yet, when we got there. We found a table, and then I went to order and took the food to our table. The kids spotted the ballons right away and each got one that they were playing with. They also enjoyed the Smurfs from their Happy Meal.

After 50 minutes we left to start our long journey home. It was already 12:40. When we got to the elevator, we discovered that it was out of order. That was a nuisance. We had to go to the staircase, where I walked down with the three kids, while Randy first got the first stroller down, and then the second. And then the subway arrived already. The kids were not watching videos on the first subway, as they had not listened at the studio, but I let them watch on the second. They were tired and cranky, and that kept them quiet.

It was nearly 1:30, when we got home, and bedtime. By 2 pm they were all asleep. I myself was extremely tired and after taking a few minutes to get my 3 pm lesson ready, I closed my eyes to get a few minutes of sleep. As always it was Emmy who woke up first and walked into the room, and then Sammy woke up as well. Randy took them downstairs, while I forced myself up to get ready for my class. I started teaching at 3 pm, with Tammy still asleep right next door. I had two hours with the same student, a teenage boy, and those were some of the toughest hours of online teaching. He was in a bad mood and didn't really want to do anything, so you can imagine what that is like. Tammy woke up just before my first hour was up, and during the break I took care of her, and she then walked downstairs to join the boys. I had another lesson from 5 to 6 pm, and I had just finished, when Randy and the kids came upstairs.

Tammy and Emmy started watching Superbook, while I went to the kitchen to get started on making dinner. It wasn't long until Sammy joined me in the kitchen in his chair. He had great fun pushing buttons on the oven and making it beep, and then opening and closing the silverware drawer. The more I protested (in fun), the more he enjoyed it.

It was after 6:30 before we sat down to eat. They got started, and then continued eating in the bathtub. After we had put their pj's on, they were eager for me to read a good-night story to them, and now that I have a book, we read out of it. Then I brushed their teeth and prayed for them, and they went to bed. It was just after 8 pm. I sat down by them. Soon they started asking for Daddy to come sit with them. That's a new thing that probably started because I sometimes teach and then Randy sits with them. Once Randy was done eating, he came to take my place, which allowed me to start making my salad. Then I ate, and then I started working on today's pictures. I had started writing this update, when Emmy walked into my room at about 11 pm. He had some milk and then lay down next to me on my computer. Now I'm going to take him back to his bed, clean up the kitchen and go to bed myself.