3 years 4 months 30 days

Day 1247. This morning I had set an alarm for 8 am, as we needed to leave the house at 9 am. Emmy usually joins me in bed in the early morning hours, now sleeping most of the night in his own bed, which is good. He had already gotten up, had a squeezie, and then lay down next to me, when the alarm went off. He now enjoys being the one to turn off the alarm, after I showed him how to do it.

We slowly got up, had breakfast, dressed them, and left the house just after 9 am. We took the subway to the end, then had to take a tram for quite a long distance. The only elevator in that important square and hub of public transportation was out of order. So Tammy and Emmy got on the escalator with me, while Randy took the stroller with Sammy and went up the escalator with him. Then he went back down to go get the other stroller. We then waited for our tram and got on. I sat down with Sammy staying in the stroller, while the other two sat on a bench with Daddy. They were having fun, and so the ride did not seem quite as long. We finally got off and only had a little further to walk.

Since the pandemic hit, I had not been back to my obgyn, so it was high time. And I took the kids with me, as I knew that she'd enjoy seeing them. And I was right. She was delighted to see the three kids she had followed in my womb. Tammy and Emmy were watching videos while we were waiting, and I had Sammy, who wanted to play the duck game and listen to children's songs. Then I went inside by myself to see the doctor, and I could hear Sammy cry in the waiting room. He's spent a lot of time with me during our vacation last week and now always wants to be with me.

My doctor checked me out and went back into the waiting room with me to look at the kids again. Then we said good-bye and left. It was just before 10 am, and we needed to meet up with my Mom at the nearby bank to sign a form we had already signed last summer, but the bank had lost it. How annoying! We walked a bit, took the tram for a stop, then continued walking until we got to the bank. My Mom was already there, and the kids were excited to see her. Sammy is saying her name a lot, so I'd say he was most excited, next was Tammy in her excitement, and Emmy is at the point where he wants to keep his distance so he's not disappointed again that Grandma hardly ever comes to see him.

Thankfully we did not have to wait long until our number was called. We had a young lady take care of us that hardly knew what she was doing and constantly had to go ask other employees what she needed to do. That was a great start! Tammy and Emmy started running around, chasing each other, and I finally put Sammy on the floor, as he's getting heavy. We signed the papers, hoping that this time it was gonna work, and left the bank. Then we had to say good-bye to Grandma and went our separate ways.

It was gonna be late by the time we'd get home, so I ordered a pizza online. Then we had to walk a bit to get to our tram that we rode to the end, then we needed to get on the subway.

And the elevator was still not fixed. I took Sammy, Emmy and Tammy and got on the escalator. Emmy sat down on a stairs, and as we were getting closer to the bottom, I told him to get up, but he wouldn't. And so he fell, when he reached the bottom - a dangerous position to be in. As I was holding Sammy, I was rather helpless, but I used my one free hand to pull Emmy away from the edge that could hurt him bad. Randy and the stroller were right behind him, so he also needed to get out of the way. Emmy was crying and was really upset with me for pulling him away, as if I had hurt him by doing so, which may be the case. He hit me quite a few times. I just grabbed him and put him on my shoulders, while Tammy wanted to push Sammy's stroller, and off we went to get to the subway. Soon Emmy calmed down and was himself again.

We took the subway home, where we arrived at 12:40. Thankfully the pizza arrived just a few minutes later, so perfect timing. We sat down to eat and then everyone had icecream. As it was already 1:15 and time for their nap, there was no more playing or watching. Thankfully they did not complain. We washed and dressed them, and I put them to bed. The boys were soon asleep, and I walked away before Tammy was. It was about 1:45.

I had planned to prepare the three lessons I had today, but I was so very tired that I did not do that for long. I simply couldn't. And so I closed my eyes and fell asleep, after I had set my alarm. Emmy then walked into the room just before it went off at 3:15 pm. Sammy woke up from the noise as well, and Tammy was also soon up. I was so extremely tired that it was hard for me to force myself to get up and get ready. I'm not sure how I looked to my 3:30 pm student, but I was ready to go. Randy took the kids downstairs and then came back up at 4:20, when I ended my class. We needed to get them all ready to leave the house, and it was rather stressful, and we left the house later than we should have.

Originally I was gonna go to piano class with Tammy and Emmy, but then Sammy's physiotherapist had offered a session for Sammy as he had none scheduled in January. It was the perfect time for him to go while his siblings were in piano class! I was gonna go there, and Randy to physiotherapy, but then we decided to switch. I don't usually go to physiotherapy with him, so it was an opportunity for me to do so. However, Emmy and especially Tammy were very upset about Mommy not coming with them. Tammy was fussing the whole time we were leaving the house and going to the subway together, and crying when Randy walked away from us to go to the other end of the platform.

As for Sammy, he was excited about alone time with Mommy, and since he faces me in his stroller, we could interact the whole time and had lots of fun. We took the subway for two stops, then had quite a long walk before arriving at the center. Thank God we don't need PCR tests anymore, as we could not have done this session today if we did. They've only just made the change. We walked in, registered, and waited to be called. We had arrived a bit early. We were watching the birds in the cage together, when Maria, his physiotherapist, came and told us to come into her room.

Sammy then had 60 minutes of physiotherapy, and he was having fun. She pointed things out to me the whole time and told me what he needed to do or not do and work on. Sammy was doing a great job and kept happy the whole time. He did seem tired at the end after having worked so hard. We said our goodbyes and left the center to go home. It was 6 pm.

We walked back to the subway, talking the whole time, then rode it home. As expected we were the first ones home. Normally it was already later than usual for me to start making dinner, but I still had to prepare my 9 pm lesson. So I turned the children's songs on for Sammy to listen to and watch, and sat down to take a few minutes to do that. I was done, when Randy and the other kids arrived just after 6:30 pm. It was high time for me to make dinner, as I was teaching at 8 pm, so I was really rushed since I was half an hour behind. And the kids really love and want their bedtime story. We finally sat down at the table to eat, then they went into the bathtub, where they continued eating. Then I got a message that my 8 pm class was canceled. I have to admit that I was relieved, as I did not have to rush any more. Now they could take their time in the bathtub, then we got them out and ready for bed. We even read two Bible stories tonight, as they were intrigued and wanted to continue. Then I prayed for them and put them to bed. It was already about 8:30 pm. I sat down by them for some time, then Randy took my place, and I got ready for my 9 pm student. I decided to stay upstairs instead of going downstairs, and that worked out well. I taught until 9:50 and then stayed at my desk to continue working until Randy went to bed way after midnight. At that point I had to move to the kitchen with my computer. Now it's 2 am, and I still need to clean up the kitchen. Unfortunately we have to get up at 7 am tomorrow, which is why I still had some preparations for that meeting in the morning.