3 years 2 months 22 days

Day 1178. We didn't have an alarm set up this morning, but we did need to get up at 8 am. Of course Emmy was up first, waking the others up. I was so tired I didn't even notice at first, when Randy got up at 8 am and started changing their diapers. I stayed in bed as long as possible, and had Sammy with me, until it was time to get up and sit down at the table. We had just finished breakfast, and I had cleaned them up and partly dressed them, when Deborah, the Mobile Support lady, rang the doorbell. Tammy and Emmy ran outside to greet her. Once she was inside, Emmy told her with pride that they were going out with Mommy. I had some errands to run, and they wanted to come with me. And so Randy, Sammy and Deborah went downstairs, while I got them ready for us to leave.

It was raining a little bit, when we left the house. It was a real fall day. We took the subway for 3 stops and then went to the post office first. When we left it, Tammy said something about gifts, and it took me a while to figure out that she meant that they had not received candy this time, like they did last time we went to the post office together. We then went to the drugstore to hand in Randy's corona test that he needs for Sammy's physiotherapy tomorrow, and the kids wanted to have some Paw Patrol squeezies that we bought, together with some other stuff. Next we went into the grocery store, where we picked up a few items. As some of it was icecream, it was time to head home as quickly as possible.

We got home at 10:15. They went downstairs, while I did not have much time left to work, just about an hour. I made the most of the time, and then went to the kitchen to start making lunch. Randy and the kids came upstairs before the food was done, but I was surprised that we were actually able to sit down at the table just before noon, which is rare. And the food was great. They all had icecream, I cleaned them up and dressed them, and even though we had to leave the house early today, I let them watch videos until 1 pm, as it was still early. Then they lay down for their nap. I had to encourage them for a while to fall asleep, as we already had to leave the house at 2 pm. The boys fell asleep first, but the girl always needs longer. I walked away before she was asleep, but then she was soon asleep.

I wanted to lie down myself for a few minutes, but never made it. And at 1:45 it was already time to get ready for us to leave. A few minutes later I had to wake them up and put their socks, shoes and jackets on. Tammy had only slept about half an hour and was not happy at all. The boys were cranky too, and they were all more cranky than usual on the subway and then during the class.

We took the subway to the end and then walked to the school, where their exercise class was starting at 2:30. I was surprised at how many children were there today. We did the greeting song, then we did a warm-up. It was highly unusual that Emmy did not want to run around, which he usually loves doing, but wanted me to pick him up. Thankfully he soon got over it and started enjoying himself. After the warm-up she set up different things for them to do around the room. Of course they love the trampolin, especially Sammy. I ended up sitting down on the floor with him and playing with him there. He was kneeling with one of those colored, round things and exchanged it for different colored ones over and over again. He was even able to get to the floor to crawl to where he wanted to go. His siblings were all over the room, and Randy helped them where necessary, like to balance across the bench or jump high on the trampoline.

Then she put everything away, and we sat down for some songs - some where the kids were running around, and some where we did our movements while sitting down. Then we put them on the mats, pulled them around the room, and then put the mats up. She did a few more action songs, and then the good-bye song, and the class was over. Emmy told me that he was disappointed that he had not gone over to his (girl)friend to hold her hand today. I told him that next week he'd had another chance. We put their shoes and coats back on and left to go home.

Of course the kids asked to go to the playground but that was out of the question as everything was wet. We went straight to the subway, and today I did not let them watch any videos because of their behavior. Of course they were upset, but by the time we got on the subway they had accepted it. They were looking out the window instead.

By 4 pm we were back home, and they all went downstairs. I had a lesson at 5 pm, so I had some time until then. Not long before my lesson it was canceled, so no lesson today. I enjoyed the time off to do other stuff.  Just before 6 pm Randy and the kids came upstairs. They started watching Bible stories, while I went to the kitchen to start making their food. Sammy soon joined me in the kitchen. It was after 6:30, when we sat down at the table to eat, and then they continued eating in the bathtub. Today they were already in bed by 7:45. They had been so tired, and had been saying that they are tired, that I thought they'd be falling asleep quickly, but that was surprisingly not the case. They gave me the usual hard time. However, Randy was done eating earlier than usual, and so I was able to go to the kitchen to cut my salad before it was 8:30. By the time I sat down to eat at 9 pm, they were all asleep. Randy was even able to leave, while I was still at work in the kitchen.

After having eaten, I started working on today's pictures. Everything took a little longer tonight, and so it's 1:30 now and time to clean up the kitchen and go to bed.