31 months 17 days

Day 959. Last night I pushed myself to finish my report, even though I kept falling asleep. Emmy wanted me to sit with him, and so I took my computer with me and worked right next to him for a while. I finally went to bed just after 1 am. In the morning I woke up, when I heard Emmy play, and then Tammy as well. It was before 7 am. Then Sammy started crying. Tammy and Emmy did come to our bed, and then Randy added Sammy, and so all three were with us for about a minute, before they all got up to do other things. At 7:35 I got up as well.

I unloaded the dishwasher and made breakfast, while Randy gave them new diapers, then we sat down at the table to eat. Sammy ate little, as he has been with his runny nose and cough, but the other two didn't eat much either. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs, where we read a Bible story. Then Tammy gave me another book to read to her, which I did. Then Sonja walked into the room; she had come early, just before 9 am. And so I went upstairs, where I did some housework for a few minutes, then Sammy came upstairs, we put his coat on, and at 9:30 we left the house together - Randy, Sammy and I.

We took the subway for two stops, then had a long walk to the center where Sammy goes to physiotherapy. Today the speech therapist wanted to see us both with Sammy. We were there a little early and looked at the birds and fish again. Then we were called into a room. The therapist played with Sammy and talked to us for a whole hour. She said she was still assessing Sammy for her initial diagnosis, so we didn't really get much new input. Then we received a paper for Sammy to go have a hip x-ray, saw his physiotherapist who wants to have a conversation just with Randy and me and without Sammy, and got the appointment for Sammy to see the orthopedic doctor. He also has an appointment to see the general doctor there. So a lot going on! It can be rather discouraging.

We put Sammy into the stroller again and left to go home, where we arrived at 11:30. Sammy went downstairs to join his siblings with Sonja, while I put the soup on the stove to heat up and turned my computer on.

At noon they came upstairs to eat. Tammy finished her food and had a little more, while Emmy didn't finish his first bowl. Sammy also ate little. They all had pudding, and then we cleaned them up and dressed them. The boys were in bed by 12:40 pm. Emmy was really tired and asleep by 12:50. Sammy fell asleep shortly after. I returned to my computer to work. At 1:20 Tammy went to bed, and she also fell asleep quickly. At 1:50 Sammy woke up and went downstairs to be with Sonja. At 2:20 Emmy walked into the room. I picked him up and held him for a moment, but then he wanted to go be with Sonja. He talked so loud that he woke up Tammy, but thankfully she fell back asleep quickly. Twenty minutes later she was up for good and went downstairs to Sonja. I had just fallen asleep and went back to sleep because I was so tired. I was surprised that it was 3:30, when I woke back up. High time to get to work! But first I took some snacks downstairs to the kids.

While I was working on the computer, Randy unpacked the curtain rods we received today and started working on putting them up in the kids' room. By now it's not dark, when they go to bed, which makes bedtime harder, so the dark curtains will be a big help. But these jobs are always trickier than they look, and so it did not get done today.

At 5 pm Sonja had to leave, and so I went downstairs and started playing with the kids. We were having lots of fun. At 5:15 Randy came to take my place, and I went upstairs to make their dinner. It took me a little longer today, and so it was already close to 6 pm, when I went downstairs to tidy up with them. I had just walked downstairs, when I heard a crash. The kids had pulled my keyboard stand with all the stuff down. It took me a moment to realize that my computer had not been on top of it. Thank God! I was upset as I've told them - as has Randy - a hundred times not to touch it and leave the stuff on my desk alone. They're not listening right now, not doing what we tell them. I told them it was time to tidy up, but they did not want to help. Tammy ended up helping a little, Emmy did not. Later I opened Emmy's piggy bank and got a coin out that I then gave Tammy.

After we were done tidying up, we went upstairs and sat down at the table to eat. They ate some, then we took the rest of the food to the bathtub, where they continued eating while playing. Then they came out one after another, and we got them ready for bed. Just after 7 pm they were all in bed. I sat down by them, and we started talking. They are still talking about the circus and the puppets (Kasperl) and want to go back to both. They also talked about yesterday, when Emmy stayed home, and I went to church with Tammy and Sammy. After a while I tried to get them to stop talking and started singing. Finally Tammy moved from my chest to her bed, but Emmy was still monkeying around. Sammy and Tammy were already asleep, but he was not.  He was giving me a hard time, and finally Randy came to take my place just before 8 pm.

I got myself something to eat and then started working again. Sammy has a terrible cough right now, and all evening I've heard him cough. Emmy is coughing a litte, and Tammy not at all. She starts crying every time I give cough sirup to her siblings and not her.