31 months 14 days

Day 956. Yesterday I went to bed at 12:30 am. It was Sammy who had a hard time last night for some reason. I got up several times to comfort him and get him to sleep again instead of crying. Tammy was also with us at some point, but thankfully she stays in her bed once you move her there. Emmy was up early as usual. After some activity he did fall asleep again in my arm. Randy picked up crying Sammy and put him on my other side. He was happy and talking and active. Soon Tammy came, and Emmy also woke up, and they got up together. I heard a crash, when they made a metal shelf fall. At 7:50 I got up to make breakfast.

We sat down at the table to eat, then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs. They had already asked me about the train set, and I had told them it was downstairs. They immediately got it all out of the box, and I helped them set up a track. They were pretty excited. Then Tammy said she wanted to read a Bible story. I was glad she still thought of that, even with the train, and we sat down to read a story. Tammy and Sammy were with me, Emmy stayed with the train. After the story I left to go work upstairs. I worked until 10 am, then went to the kitchen to make a casserole. Once I had it in the oven just over half an hour later, I was able to return to work.

Except that I ended up going downstairs several time in the one hour until noon, as different kids were crying. Just  before noon they all came upstairs to eat.  I had made my favorite dish that they like eating as well, including Sammy who ate better than he has been. Then they all had pudding, before I cleaned them up and dressed them. By 12:40 the boys were in bed, and Tammy went downstairs with Randy. But that's where the typical nap time ends.

I put the new curtains over the railings of their beds to make it darker for them, and Sammy was soon asleep. Not so Emmy. He had one of the new trains in his hands and was playing with it. I tried and tried, but he was not falling asleep. At 1:30 I told Randy to bring Tammy upstairs anyway. Then I tried to get them both to sleep. Tammy even had two trains. I finally gave up and let Randy have a shot, but we just got them to cry instead of sleep. I tried taking one of them to bed with me, but then the other one also wanted to be in bed with me. At 1:50 all their crying woke up Sammy, who was now crying as well. Randy went downstairs with him. I told him I'd try to lie down with both of them to sleep. Randy had already taken the trains away, which just caused more tears. I had Tammy on my left and Emmy on my right and told them the train set was gone if they didn't sleep. First Tammy was ready to sleep and Emmy wasn't, and then it was the reverse. In the end I had no choice but to give up. It was about 2:30, when I took them both upstairs.

I was so very tired myself, probably even more so now, and just wanted to sleep. Randy brought Tammy up a while later saying she had said she wanted to go to bed, but after two minutes she was up again and I took her back downstairs. At 3 pm I finally had to close my eyes. Randy came upstairs to get snacks and I heard Tammy cry. I thought she might sleep together with me, and so she joined me in bed. Even though she had said yes, she did not want to sleep, and so once again I took her back downstairs. I returned to my bed and closed my eyes. For about ten minutes because the doorbell rang - a package delivery. It was Easter stuff for the kids. They had heard the bell and were at the bottom of the stairs and wanted to have the package. When I told them no, there was more crying. Even though I was so very tired, I decided to go back to work instead of sleep.

At 4:15 I went downstairs as they were crying, and Tammy said she wanted to go to bed. You could tell she was really tired. She went straight to bed and fell asleep. After 35 minutes I woke her up, and she was fine with that. She went downstairs, where she started happily playing with her siblings. I continued working until 5:15, when I went to the kitchen to start making their dinner.

I was only about half-way through, when Tammy came crying to the bottom of the stairs. I went downstairs, and she wanted to come upstairs with me, so I took her up. You could tell she was really tired. I sat her on the kitchen counter and continued making dinner. Soon Emmy joined us as well, and I also sat him on the counter. Once I was done, we all moved to the dining room table, and Randy and Sammy also came upstairs. Everybody ate some, and then they were already getting up to go into the bathtub. I put their food into bowls and joined them there. Tonight I had made an omelet with 2 eggs, which I do sometimes, and Emmy ate nearly the whole omelet by himself. Tammy didn't want any, and Sammy had very little. They all ate more in the water, then they came out one after another. It was earlier than it's been in a very long time, when they were all in bed by 6:40 pm. I sat down by them. Tammy didn't even ask to lie on my chest, which is very unusual and showed how tired she was. By 7 pm they were all asleep and I was able to walk away; that's also the earliest they've slept in a very long time.

I went back to work, worked for a while, then got my myself something to eat. After having eaten, I continued working. Tammy has been very restless tonight, calling for me quite often. Her body also feels a little warm. It's a good thing I stayed upstairs to work tonight instead of going downstairs to my office.