Day 936. Last night I headed to bed at 12:15 am. I had to take Tammy to bed with me, as she was once again crying. And all night long she kept waking up and crying. I could tell that she couldn't breathe through her nose. But not only that, Emmy also spent the night in our bed. Thankfully this bed is bigger than our bed in Vienna, but I still made sure all night long that the kid on the outside would not fall off the bed. So all in all it was not a good night. And Emmy was up first again, before 7 am. By 7:30 I got up as well.
I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat. I was feeding Sammy. Then we cleaned them up and dressed them to go back to the conference. Emmy was very impatient to leave, and at 9:20 we did. By 9:30 we were at the church and went to our table. The meeting was to start at 10 am, but there weren't really any people who were looking at tables. After a few minutes the kids went to the bathroom with me, then we walked to the front together, where the band was already gathered and playing a little, and so our kids were watching as hawks, as they're really interested in instruments. And it was a French-African band (Congolese). I had Sammy for much of the time, then Emmy. Worship started at 10 am, and we stayed in that corner in the front at first. I was dancing with Sammy, then Emmy. Then Emmy said the music was loud, so we walked back to our table in the back. They were also saying they were hungry, so we got the snack box out. And the kids were looking at the picture books and pictures on the banner, where I pointed out who was who, as the banner is quite a bit older than them.
They were a bit restless and sometimes loud, and so we went to the baby room together, and we all ended up having lots of fun together in there. We were also talking with another couple in there. I was especially having fun with Sammy. I ended up lying on the couch, and Sammy was on top of me for a while. Tammy and Emmy als came from time to time to climb on me. And I read a few books to Tammy. They interacted a little bit with the other kids and parents in the room.
With noon approaching Emmy kept asking to go eat. Just before noon we walked back into the sanctuary, but they were too hungry, and we soon left to go eat in the tent. We sat down in our spot, and I stood in line to pick up our food. Emmy came to me, sitting on my arm, and kept saying "food" (Essen). It was finally our turn, and I got three plates of food and an empty one. I moved food onto the empty plate, and gave the other one to Emmy, so Tammy and Emmy both had their plates. Then I sat down to eat and feed Sammy off my plate. They all ate a little but soon wanted to get up. The tent was the most crowded it had been, and Randy did not want them to get up. I finished eating as quickly as possible, so we could leave. By now the kids were really tired and cranky. We dresssed them and left to walk to the car. It was nearly 1 pm.
Just after 1 pm we were back at our home. We quickly undressed them to put them to bed right away. By 1:15 they were all in bed. Sammy and Tammy fell asleep quickly, but not so Emmy. I stayed with him for a while, then left at 1:40. Even though I was extremely tired, I needed to write down the day so far. At 2:15 I went to bed as well. It was only about half an hour later that Sammy woke up, and so I took him to Randy. When I got back, Emmy was stirring and Tammy as well. Tammy crawled into bed with me, and Emmy was very unhappy about it as he wanted me for himself. He still came but only lay down for a few minutes before getting up and also leaving to go to Daddy. Tammy fell asleep in my arms. She's had a runny nose all day and hasn't felt so well.
The boys were having fun with Randy for a while. At some point Emmy returned, and finally Tammy woke up from the noise he was making. So after a while we all got up and got dressed again to return to church. It was much later than expected anyway.
When we got to church we had a hard time finding parking. It was 4:30 and the afternoon sessions had started at 2 pm. As an American from the countryside Randy is not used to parking in tight spaces, and as someone from a capital city who always parked in tight spaces, it's not easy for me to watch him. I finally got out with Emmy and Tammy to walk to church and let him find parking somewhere on his own without losing any more time.
The three of us walked straight into the tent and got cake and milk. They drank the milk but were not interested in the cake. It took a while before Randy and Sammy arrived and joined us. Tammy and Emmy were soon on their feet and running around. It was really windy and the entrance to the tent flapping in the wind, which fascinated them. After a while we finally left and walked to the baby room. I left them there and found Margit, who joined them in the room, while I went to our table. It was already 5:15 and only half an hour was left in the schedule until dinner break. The meeting ended up going until after 6 pm, and the kids joined me at the table. When they were asking for food, and people weren't coming anyway, we decided to go to the tent for dinner. Eating again!
We got two sandwiches and a plate of rice, potatoes, meat and sauce, the same as at lunch time. They all ate some bread, but without anything on it, and Sammy ate some of the potatoes. He was sitting on my lap. Once again Tammy and Emmy got up and started running around. There were a few girls older than them that started playing with them and constantly bringing them back to us, as I had asked the oldest to not let them leave the tent. The kids then thought it was a game and kept running away so the girl would bring them back. They were also getting pretty tired, and when Daddy restrained them so they could not leave, they were crying. It was a very stressful dinner for me, and I just wanted to be done with it and leave as quickly as possible.
We walked into the sanctuary and to our table and had the most fruitful time of the whole conference until the session started at 7:30 pm. With the kids being so extremely tired I let them watch Peppa Pig while sitting on the floor, so that gave us the opportunity to talk to people and not run after them or try to calm them down all the time. I had some really good conversations and finally had a few people sign up for our newsletter. I was surprised, when the meeting suddenly started, as time had passed so quickly. I stopped their video, which they did not appreciate, and as they were talking once again before worship, we just decided to leave right there and then. We took all the coats and walked out of the sanctuary. It was extremely full as George Verwer was the speaker that night. We had a longer walk to the car and drove to the house, where we arrived by 8 pm. They had some cereal bars, and we undressed them and got them ready for bed. By 8:30 they were in bed, and by 8:45 I left them to go to my computer to work.
In the course of the next few hours Tammy frequently woke up crying, and I would also go to comfort her. I could tell not being able to breathe through her nose bothered her, and she was also coughing. I guess it's gonna be another night with lots of interrupted sleep. And in the morning we need to pack everything and still get to church in time.
