Day 1296. It was another busier than usual night, but not as bad as the previous night, as the kids are getting better. Emmy was up first, as usual, and eventually Randy got up to make his oatmeal for him and them. After they were done eating, I cleaned them up and dressed them. Just after 9:30 we left the house together.
The kids' hair had been way too long for a while, and mine had alsos been in need of a fresh cut and color for quite some time, but I had waited until this day in light of our trip starting tomorrow. Now the day had come. The kids have been to a hairdresser near us twice before, but today I took them to my hairdresser of many years. While the other place was full of people and many employees, there were no other clients today and just the one hairdresser.
We had to cross town to get there, which took us about 45 minutes. At this one major hub that we sometimes pass through the elevator was once again not working - it seems for most of the past few months - so that it was the first time Sammy got to go on an escalator in his wheelchair, but it worked out alright.
We got to the hairdresser just before 10:30 am. She was just finishing up one lady, then it was our turn. She was excited to finally meet the triplets for the first time; she has a daughter of the same age. The kids sat down with Randy, while she started with me, putting the coloring paste into my hair. I gave the kids something to watch, while Randy was occupying Sammy. He did not like the noise of the hairdryer at all.
Once she was done with me, a young man came in whose hair she cut. Only then was it the kids' turn. For some reason Emmy did not want to get picked today, and so his sister went first.
The hairdresser put two pillows on the chair and Tammy on top. Then she started cutting. As Tammy had some knots in her hair, she had to cut quite a bit, but it looks really cute on her. She looked like a grown-up, sitting in this chair and looking into the mirror, while the hairdresser was working. After she was done, Emmy went next, even though he was still a little resistant. Once he sat in the chair, he was okay. When she got the little electric rasor out to cut the hair around his ear, it tickled him and made him smile. While I wasn't looking, the hairdresser asked him whether he wanted a little bit of gel in his hair, and he said yes. So little and already gel in his hair!
And then it was Sammy's turn. The first two times had been a disaster with his crying the whole time. I held a crying Sammy on my lap, while she started cutting his really long hair. After a while he calmed down and let her cut. In total she had cut a lot of hair off the kids, which you could see, when she swept them all up together. The kids sat back down with Daddy to watch, while it was finally my turn to wash the dye out of my hair and have her cut it. I never took a picture of my own final product.
The hairdresser was so sweet and gave the kids all some chocolate she had bought for them. We paid and left; it was already 1 pm, so very late. We took the tram, then another tram, and then the subway to get home, where we arrived just before 2 pm. I immediately put the soup on the stove to warm it up, and just minutes later we sat down at the table to eat. They were already pretty tired; Sammy refused to eat altogether, while Tammy would only eat if being fed. Only Emmy is obviously feeling much better and ate everything in his bowl. He then had the chocolate the hairdresser had given them, while Tammy opened it but didn't want to eat it. I cleaned them up and dressed them and put them straight to bed. As I had a student at 3 pm, which was less than an hour away and still had to make sure I had everything ready for the 3 students between 3 and 6 pm, it was Randy who sat down with the kids. I worked on the computer, but very much still wanted to close my eyes, as I was very tired. I finally set a 10 minute timer and did just that. Obviously I never fell asleep in this short time. I quickly turned the timer off and got up to get ready for my first student. The kids and Randy were all fast asleep, and they never even woke up during my first hour of teaching, even though I sat right behind the door that is by them.
The tiredness was really quite obvious all afternoon, but I powered on. I eventually heard them wake up, and they came into my room, while I was teaching. At some point Randy took them downstairs. I finished just before 6 pm and continued working. Then the kids already came upstairs, and I went to the kitchen to get their dinner ready. They had some fries but were still not very interested in eating bread. They did have some fruit and then had some more in the bathtub. Then we got them out and ready for bed. I read them some Bible stories, prayed for them and put them to bed. It was just after 8 pm, and they were saying how they were not tired at all. I could not stay as I had a 9 pm student and needed to correct homework and prepare for the lesson, and so Randy sat down with them. I then taught until 10 pm and still needed some time to wrap it all up. Then I got something to eat, followed by working on today's pictures. I never even started packing for our trip, just getting the stuff for our product table together. Now it's nearly 2 am and time to finish cleaning the kitchen and go to bed. It's gonna be an early morning tomorrow.
