30 months 16 days

Day 930. Last night it was very late, when I finally made it to bed at 1:20, but I didn't get to sleep until 2 am. Tammy was trying to get into our bed, when I was about to lie down, and I put her into her bed. Then Sammy and Emmy woke up as well, and it took that long to get everyone to sleep again. And so it was a very short night. Sammy started crying some time after 6 am. Milk wasn't enough; we had to bring him to our bed, where Tammy had just joined us. I was gonna let Randy handle it since I was so tired, but he only calmed down after I started interacting with him. Tammy was awake too and then got up, and then Emmy came as well. I stay in bed as long as I can, but at some point Emmy usually becomes so very insistent that I get up. Today Tammy was throwing up sitting on the floor, and I could see it happen. I got up and took care of her and cleaned it up. It was 7:10, and so I stayed up.

I went to the kitchen, emptied the dishwasher and made food, then we all sat down to eat. Tammy didn't eat anything, but other than that nothing seemed wrong with her. Emmy hardly ate anything either, only Sammy ate some. Then we cleaned them up and dressed them and went downstairs, where we read a Bible story together. I had Tammy and Emmy on my lap, sitting on the floor, and they listened intently to the story. There was a rip in a page, and so I glued it. Tammy wanted to continue looking at the Bible on her own, so I gave it to her. Then I went upstairs with my computer.

I was so very tired I just wanted to sleep. At the same time I first needed to get some stuff done. I turned the computer on and started working. After a while I heard Randy shouting "Help!" from downstairs, so I jumped up and ran downstairs. Tammy had thrown up again. I took her and went upstairs with her to clean her up and change her clothes and diaper, while Randy cleaned up the vomit. She had had a squeezie a little earlier. Then I took her back downstairs and continued working.

A little while later Randy shouted "help" again, and again I went downstairs and found that she had thrown up again. Again her clothes needed changing, and she wanted to come upstairs with me for that. Then I took her back downstairs and went back to work. It wasn't long before Randy was calling me again, and I had already herad Tammy say "sleep". She wanted to go to bed, and so I took her upstairs once again and put her to bed. It was 9:50 am. I went back to work, and she quickly fell asleep. At 10:30 I set my alarm for nearly an hour and fell asleep after a while. When the alarm went off at 11:25, it also woke up Tammy who walked into the room. I took her downstairs, but after a few minutes she was crying again and asking to go back to bed, so Randy brought her upstairs, while I was cooking. After a few minutes she walked into the kitchen and stayed with me the remaining few minutes until it was lunch time.

At noon we all sat down to eat. All three kids hardly ate anything at all. Tammy had one pudding, Emmy opened his and didn't eat it, and Sammy only had a few spoonfuls. They must have all have the same bug. Sammy has been pretty cranky. We cleaned them up and dressed them, and the boys went to bed. It was 12:35, but it took Emmy until 1 pm to fall asleep. Tammy came upstairs at 1:10, and I sat down by her side. By 1:35 she was asleep. I was so tired myself that it took me until 2 pm to get up off the chair and return to the computer. I had literally just sat down, when Emmy walked into the room. Randy went downstairs with him. At 2:40 pm Sammy woke up, and I took him downstairs to the boys. At 3 pm Randy started hammering downstairs, and so Tammy woke up a few minutes later. I took her downstairs, then returned upstairs to cut up some fresh fruit and get the peanut butter that I then took downstairs for them. However, they did not want to eat. I also had an unpeeled banana, just in case, as sometimes they like eating banana, and other times they don't. When Tammy saw it, she wanted to peel it, which she has only done about once before. However, once it was peeled she put it down and did not want to eat it.

As soon as I had brought my computer and my tea downstairs to my desk and sat down to work, Emmy came asking to watch a service/worship time, which he does so he can then ask to watch Peppa Pig or Paw Patrol. It seems like this is becoming a custom! After some hesitation I said yes, given that Tammy hadn't felt well today. And so Tammy and Emmy sat down on the bar stool, and I turned Peppa Pig on. They were watching, while I was working on the computer right next to them. Randy had Sammy who was really cranky this afternoon. He did not want to eat either, and he was lying on the floor by himself, when he suddenly vomitted. Randy shouted for me again. I took Sammy and went upstairs with him to clean him up and give him new clothes, while Randy cleaned up the mess. It's the only time he vomitted, and he ate dinner as if nothing had happened.

Today Randy set up the benches of different heights that he's been making the past few days, creating a staircase for Sammy to climb up on, which is what he often does in physiotherapy. Emmy and Tammy loved the new exercise equipment, and Sammy seemed to enjoy it too.

One of the pictures shows Emmy in his "boat", since he calls himself the "captain", be it a boat or plane or whatever vehicle, and he's waiting for summer so he gets to steer a boat. And he has a toy phone at his ear, playing calling Paul in Mali and talking to him. I told Emmy to give Paul my love, and he passed it on.

Then Emmy wanted to draw. Ironically he's the one who spent the least time drawing. Tammy loves to draw, and now she draws long lines covering the whole paper, which is great at her age. She proudly came to show me her drawing - first the one side, then she covered the other. And Sammy also has improved his drawing and enjoyed drawing next to his sister, held up by Daddy.

At 5:15 pm I left to go upstairs to get their dinner ready. Tammy was busy, but Emmy spotted me leaving and ran after me crying. I gave in and let him come upstairs with me. His sister was not aware of it. Not wanting him in the kitchen with me, and given his level of crankiness, I let him watch Paw Patrol on the Alexa Show. It wasn't long before I heard Tammy calling for her brother, and she was heading to the staircase while doing so. I told her he was upstairs, and of course she immediately wanted to come upstairs as well. I opened the gate for her, and she was up the stairs about as fast as she can go and joined Emmy to watch Paw Patrol. I finished making their food and put it on the dining room table. Then we turned Paw Patrol off, and I told them it was time to go and tidy up together. They threw a fit, which just made Daddy not wanting them to watch anything even more than he already was against it. We walked downstairs anyway, where I put the "tidy up" song on and started cleaning up and encouraging them to help me. No chance! Tammy was still very upset and never helped, but Emmy helped putting the balls and balloons away, and he got a coin for his piggy bank for it. Normally it's Tammy who helps and Emmy doesn't. In any case it was worth it to have the room nice and tidy again, as it had looked pretty bad.

We went back upstairs and sat down at the table. All three of them hardly ate anything at all. Soon they were up and heading to the bathtub. I put their food in bowls, and given the circumstances they ended up eating pretty well, with little food left. They also had fun in the bathtub, as always. We got them out and ready for bed, and it was 7:15 before they were all in bed. Tammy lay down on my chest, while I was holding Emmy's hand, and we were talking. Then Tammy returned to her bed, and soon it got more quiet. At 7:40 I left, but while the boys were asleep, Tammy was not happy at all. Randy had just finished eating and sat down in the chair. At first she said "Papa weg" (Daddy gone), wanting me to sit there instead, but then she calmed down and was okay with it. In the meantime I was in the kitchen making myself something to eat, then went downstairs where I ate, and then went back to work. We're leaving for Upper Austria the day after tomorrow, and I'm starting to stress a little about packing and getting everything ready for the trip.