Day 1121. It's been a crazy few days. On Sunday I didn't feel too great, and I needed to write a newsletter. I achieved the unthinkable. I wrote a (long) newsletter in the morning, translated it to German in the afternoon, and did the French translation at night. I actually got all three out on the same day, which never happens. I didn't feel well enough to go to church, and so we stayed home.
On Monday the Mobile Support lady came at 9 am to play with Sammy and the others for 90 minutes. I hadn't been able to fall asleep the night before, and it took me until 3 am to do so, so I was extremely tired and didn't care that I was sleeping for much of the morning - until Emmy came in at 10:30 and woke me. I was still extremely tired and slept after putting the kids down for their nap. I still wasn't feeling too great either. But then I had to teach from 3 to 6 pm, and it went alright. I again had a hard time falling asleep, but thankfully it was earlier, somewhere around 1 am, when I did fall asleep.
Today was the craziest day of all, and I knew it was going to be. I set my alarm for 8 am again. By that time the kids have usually already been up for about an hour, and recently they've been pulling down lots of stuff again, making it look like a disaster zone. I made breakfast, and then we dressed them to leave. At 9:10 we left the house to catch the 9:20 am train.
For months, really all year, I had been looking for a swim class for the kids and had been frustrated that the few classes out there for their age were always full. And then I recently found two classes with availabilities and picked the one on Tuesday morning that started today. Finally! We took a tram after the train and got to the swimming pool plenty early. I had never been to this pool before. We had to take the elevator up, then we got keys to cabins, and walked in to get changed. Then we had to go down a staircase to the pool area. We showered and approached the small, round pool with really hot water, where another class was taking place. The kids were curiously watching. We went inside the room and stood on the side watching. I put Sammy into a sitting position on the edge of the pool, and the other two sat down there as well. Once the class was over, we went into the water. The water was extremely hot; it felt too hot as first. The teacher told us that 10 kids were signed up for this class, but besides us there was only one other baby who was only 1 year 7 months old. The teacher did a starting song with us, then put swim rings on the kids. I was positively surprised that both Tammy and Emmy had no problem swimming all by themselves with them. Emmy had been so scared for so long, but lost that the last time we went swimming. Thank God he had retained that newfound confidence. And so Tammy and Emmy were swimming all by themselves, going back and forth between the teacher and the edge of the pool, picking up stickers with her that they then put on the side of the pool. She also had them pick up balls and take them to a bowl at the edge of the pool. Then she had them get onto a big floating device and walk over it and get back into the water on the other side. They also swam through a tunnel, and jumped off the floating device into the water. The 40 minutes went by really fast. She did a closing song, and the class was over.
We got out of the water and asked whether it was allowed to go into the other pool while here, but that was not the case. We had to leave right away. We showered off and went back upstairs to get changed. Then we took the elevator back downstairs. However, there's a good number of people using that elevator, and so it took forever before Randy made it downstairs with Sammy. By then the window of opportunity to make our train had closed, and so we had to take the subway instead. Tammy and Emmy were watching videos on both subways. It was about 12:10, when we got home.
The kids were clearly tired. I immediately started making a quick meal, and we sat down to eat. They also all had icecream. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and Grandma arrived. Thank God she was able to come, so that Randy and I could both go to the appointment at Sammy's center. I put the kids to bed, gave Grandma all the information she needed, and she sat down in the chair by their beds. Then Randy and I left the house, just after 1 pm.
We took the subway and then walked to the center, where Sammy goes to physiotherapy. It was raining, and we got wet. I was extremely tired and could barely keep my eyes open. Our appointment was at 1:30, and it was with the physiotherapist and the psychologist. I asked whether we could be done by 2:45, and they were okay with that. They started asking us all kinds of questions about Sammy, what he can and can't do. I could tell that Randy was getting very tired, as it was in German, and whenever I was unsure I'd translate and ask him, which was quite often anyway. After we were done, we walked back to the subway. It was raining again. Just after 3 pm we were back home.
Grandma and all three kids were downstairs. Grandma said that Emmy had woken up first and had rested in her arms, then Sammy woke up, and she went downstairs with both of them. Tammy woke up later, as usual. They all came upstairs, and we dressed them to get ready to leave again just 10 minutes after our arrival, at 3:15 pm. I thanked Grandma for helping out, and she left to go home.
I was so very tired, as we were walking to the subway again. I had not had a minute of rest, and it was after 8 pm before I turned my computer on for the first time today. We took the subway, then got on a bus, then had to walk to dancing school. It was raining (again). We got there on time, and had yet another teacher filling in for the other one. I didn't like how she was doing the class very much. Tammy participated the leasta again, just didn't want to at times. I had Sammy a lot, who always wanted to be with me, and he was having fun. Emmy also enjoyed himself. After 50 minutes it was over.
We made our way to the bus stop, rode the bus and then took the subway again. The kids were watching videos, as usual, when we're on our way home. I was extremely tired, to the point that I was nauseous and had a headache and was sensitive to light. We got home at 5:40, and as I still had 20 minutes until 6 pm, I lay straight down and closed my eyes. Those few minutes passed way too quickly. I got up at 6 pm and went to the kitchen to start making their dinner. It wasn't 6:30 yet, when we sat down to eat, then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. It was only 7:30 by the time they were all in bed. I sat down by them, and at 8 pm Randy took my place, after he was done eating. They were all still up at that point, but were okay with me leaving.
I went to the kitchen and got myself something to eat. After having eaten I started working on the pictures of today. Now it's midnight, and I still have to clean up the kitchen and spend a little time preparing my 10 am class tomorrow.
