30 months 20 days

MORE PICTURES TO COME

Day 934. It was after midnight, and I was still working, when Emmy woke up and wanted Mommy. I sat down next to him, then left again, but a few minutes later he was back up. I tried to put him in bed with Daddy, but he wanted Mommy. As I was very tired, and the most important stuff was done, I realized I just needed to go to bed to make my little boy happy. I turned the computer off and headed to bed with Emmy. It was 12:20. I held him a few minutes, then told him we'd now go lie down in his bed, which we did. After a few minutes I was able to get up and return to my  bed, and he was fine after that. We had some more sleep interruptions with Sammy wanting milk, and Tammy joined us in bed at some time. Just before 6 we woke up because Sammy was crying. I had Tammy sleeping on my left, and Emmy on my right. It was way too early. It seemed that Sammy was up for good, and Randy moved him to our bed, where he bothered Tammy. After a while of this not working, Randy lay down on Sammy's mattress with him. Tammy fell back asleep, and so did Sammy and the rest of us. I like that the room can be made completely dark during daytime. I believe it's thanks to that that it was just before 8 am, when the kids woke up for good. We'd had a lot of additional sleep!

We got up, I made breakfast, and Randy gave them new diapers. Then we sat down to eat. I had cut open the expensive watermelon we had bought yesterday, and it was really good. They love watermelon and hadn't had it in a while. Then we dressed them and got ready to leave. At 9:45 we got into the car to drive the few minutes to the local zoo.

We parked the car there around 10 am. Randy got the single stroller out of the trunk and put it together and they got in. The entrance to the free zoo was very close. It was a back entrance, and as soon as we got in, we saw sheep. Tammy was really excited and ran to the fence. Emmy was more fearful and kept his distance. He never tried to feed any animal. Sammy was in between the two, a little hesitant but did get close. There were different types of sheep and goats, and by the time we left by the same entrance, we had some change to buy animal feed and Tammy and Daddy did all the feeding.

We walked on and saw deer, flamingos, other birds and pigs. You could also feed the deer, and another Mom with three kids had some feed and let Tammy have some. Tammy then started helping herself to it.

We walked on and got to the monkeys, and only one type of them were really active and gave us a spectacle to watch. Emmy had already seen the playground and only wanted to go there, which we did next. They were all having fun there. Then a peacock walked by, which excited them, and then we saw a lynx. We walked by a cage with a guy from the zoo and a few people instide, together with these cute little birds. Tammy stuck her finger through the fence and got picked on, but she didn't mind.

We walked on and saw storks, then there was another little playground, where they enjoyed the slide. We continued on, walking back on the other side to the door, where we had gotten in.

We got back into the car and drove the few minutes home, where we arrived at noon. Especially Emmy was hungry and was whining that he wanted to eat. Randy undressed them, while I was getting the food ready. It took a few minutes but then the food was on the table. Emmy and Sammy ate well, but Tammy little, as always. And so only the boys had some pudding. Then I cleaned them up, we dressed them, and put them to bed. It was 1:15, before they were all in bed, and they were giving me a hard time for which I had no patience as I was really tired myself. By 1:30 they were asleep, and I took my computer to the other room to start working. It took me until after 2:30 to be done and then be able to finally lie down. But first I had to pick up Sammy and take him to Randy, as he was already up. And then Emmy was up too. I lay down with him, but he didn't want to stay. It was 2:40, and I just didn't get my nap in. Emmy walked up the two steps to the door, but it was closed. He pushed the handle down, opened the door and fell down the two steps. He was crying, and so I picked him up and held him and took him to Daddy. Then I lay back down - but next to Tammy, as she had woken up from the noise. She soon fell asleep again. The floor was too hard for me, and so I finally moved to our bed. Unfortunately I did not get much sleep. It was 3:15, when there was a knock on our door. They wanted to check why there's no electricity at our bedhead and fixed it. Then I was having a great fun time with Tammy and Emmy, playing with them in the bed. I was still tired, but knew there was no more sleep. We had a relaxed time of playing, then I walked over to my computer to use the time to do some work, before we needed to leave the house. Emmy decided to do the same and turned their computer on. Then he got a phone, and it sure looks like he's hard at work!

It wasn't long before they were asking to watch Peppa Pig, and I let them. Sammy was on the floor next to me, playing with a sound book, and I was interacting with him to keep him happy, while working. Some time after 5 pm we started getting everybody ready to leave at 5:30, but it ended up being 5:45. It was only a 2-minute ride to church, and it would be 19 minutes to walk, which might just be challenging at some spots, as it's a big main road you have to walk along. We had a hard time finding parking and then had to walk farther than expected. We were welcomed and shown to where we could set up our table. It was completely blocked in, making it very hard to get in and out, which was pretty inconvenient with three kids. Thankfully they understood that, and we got to switch with the table in the corner with easy access. It's just less visible, making it harder for people to come by.

I wanted to set up the table as it was after 6 pm, but especially Emmy kept saying that he wanted to eat, and so we went to their dining area where we got some ham and cheese toast. We sat down at the table, I cut the toast into fours, but as usually Tammy didn't care for it, while the boys ate some. An old friend ended up sitting closeby, and so I got to exchange a few words.

But I really needed to set up our table, and so we returned there. I was setting up the table, while Randy was occupying the kids. Then it was Randy's turn to set up the banner. I took the kids to the front of the church, where the band was practicing. It was another chance for Emmy to see someone play the guitar and the drums. Sammy was pretty cranky, and I had to keep moving him and throwing him to keep him happy. After the table was set up, we still had some time until the service started at 7:30 pm. With the kids being so restless, we thought it might be a good idea to take them to the baby room and for Randy to stay there with them, while I returned to man the table. Once we got there, it turned out that there were only 5 minutes left, and so we turned around to return to the sanctuary.

We sat down in the last row, near our table. Rand was sitting with Emmy, while Tammy was running around, and I was still throwing around Sammy to keep him happy. And then Margit walked in, who had gone to Mali with us for two months. The kids were pretty tired and didn't react much. She sat down by us. When it was not worship that started at 7:30 but different people speaking, we decided to leave and return home, given that it was late and they were tired. We said good-bye and walked to our car. By 8 pm we were back home.

As they had not been in the bathtub the past two nights, I really wanted them to go in tonight. We took their clothes off, and I turned the water in the bathtub on, and Emmy went in first, the other two followed. We kept it short and sweet. By 8:30 they were all in bed, and I sat down between Tammy and Emmy. They fell asleep quickly, and by 8:45 I left. However, I was talking with Randy and that was enough for them to wake up, and so I had to go back in there and sit down with them again, and again not for a long time. It was 9 pm before I was finally able to sit down at the computer and start working. At some point Tammy woke up crying, and when I came to comfort her, she was not in her bed. I used my phone's flashflight and found her in our empty bed. And so I moved her into her bed. She asked for some milk, and then I was able to leave her right away and return to work. As always  I hope to go to bed earlier tonight.