32 months 1 day

Day 974. Last night I went to bed at 12:45 am. Tammy joined us in the early morning hours, then Emmy came a little later. By 7:15 he was up for good, and soon his sister joined him to go play and pull stuff off shelves everywhere. After Sammy woke up, he was fussing as he also wanted to join us in bed, and was happy, when he did. It was after 8 am, before I got up. I was just so very tired.

I emptied the dishwasher and made breakfast, then we sat down to eat. After breakfast Emmy went potty, then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs, where we read a Bible story. Emmy and Tammy listened carefully, and Sammy joined us as well. Then I went upstairs to work. I don't seem to be able to catch up on all I've got to do as time is always too short to work. We just have too much going on.

Just before 11:30 I went to the kitchen to cook. At noon they came upstairs, and we sat down to eat. Sammy ate the best today. Then they all had pudding, and we cleaned them up and dressed them. I was putting Emmy's pants on, when he said that his name was on it. I told him it was the name of the people who made the pants. Then he said "two names". I was amazed that he had recognized that there were two words next to each other!

By 12:35 the boys were in bed, and Randy went downstairs with Tammy. They were both awake and active. I'd had a headache all day already, and their behavior was not helping. I tried to encourage them to sleep, but that just encourages Sammy the more. For him it's better I leave, as he then goes straight to sleep. Emmy was giving me a hard time. I finally walked away, hoping he'd go to sleep. He then started asking for his rabbit, which was a rabbit he had brought upstairs for lunch. It had stayed on the lunch table, and so I went to get it and gave it to him, then walked away. He then fell asleep, holding the rabbit, which I had never even seen before. It was 1:20. Sammy had fallen asleep around 1:10.

I went to the kitchen to clean up. Just after 1:30 Tammy came upstairs and went to bed. She wanted milk, and wanted me to sit with her, which I did for a few minutes. Then I walked away, and she was okay with that. But then I heard her ask for more milk, so I got more milk and took it to her, and walked away again. By about 1:50 she was also asleep.

I was finally able to sit down at the computer again to catch up on work. At 2:20 Emmy woke up, and the noise was enough to wake up Sammy. We took them downstairs, where Randy stayed with them, while I returned upstairs to work, and then to get everything ready for our planned departure at 3:15. Just before 3 Randy and the boys came upstairs, and Tammy woke up. We dressed them all and left the house at 3:20. It was supposed to be raining and cold, but it was actually sunny and warm. We took the subway, and then a second subway, then had quite a long walk ahead of us. Just before 4 pm we arrived at the dancing school.

Today there were quite a few other kids there; it varies every week. And Tammy and Emmy both did great today. They weren't tired and both participated the whole time. They were having lots of fun, sometimes with each other. One time Emmy was just running for fun, rather than what he was supposed to do. It was Sammy who was a little cranky today. Randy thought it was because we've been going places every single day. He wanted to be with me all the time, but every time my arms were getting tired, I had to  hand him back to Randy. And he was also having fun, when I was dancing with him.

The class lasts 45 minutes. Then they put their shoes back on - Tammy insisting on doing it herself  - we put them into the strollers and left. We've been out of watermelon and decided to stop at the grocery store on the way to the bus stop. Unfortunately they didn't have watermelon either. We grabbed a few other items and lined up to pay. Emmy and Tammy were holding the items, and Tammy was very unhappy, when I took them away from her to put them on the conveyor belt. I kept saying that she'd be getting them back after we'd have paid. I put most under the stroller, Emmy didn't care to hold anything, and Tammy kept the bananas and the orange.

We walked to the bus stop, then got on the bus, riding for a few minutes. The bus was pretty full, and it was tight, so that they had to stay in the strollers. Sammy was cranky, and Tammy kept saying we should get off the bus. Then we did and walked to the subway that would take us home. At 5:50 pm we were back home.

Normally we eat at 6 pm, but that was not gonna happen today. The kids wanted to go downstairs, so I took them there, then went to the kitchen to get their dinner ready. They'd already had snacks on the way home, so I wasn't sure how much they'd actually eat. At 6:15 pm they came upstairs to eat. After having eaten a little, they went potty and then into the bathtub. I took the rest of their food there, and they ate a little more, while having fun. Then they come out one after another, and we got them ready for bed. By 7:20 they were all in bed, and I sat down by them.

Tammy wanted me to rock her, as usual, and once again they talked about how they'd been scared of Micky Mouse on Sunday. After a while she went back to bed, and I sang over them. I encouraged them to sleep, but all three stayed awake for quite a long time. Tammy fell asleep first, then Sammy, while Emmy suddenly wanted me to rock him, so I did for a few minutes. I put him back to bed and wondered whether he was gonna sleep, but then he finally did. It was somewhere around 8:30, before I was able to walk away and go to the kitchen to make my dinner. I took it downstairs to eat, then went back to work. I'm hoping to make it to bed earlier tonight.