32 months 10 days

Day 983. Last night I went to bed at 12:20 am. At some point during the night Tammy and Emmy came, stayed a little, then we took Tammy back to bed and Emmy went on his own. In the early morning hours they came back. At 7:15 they were up for good, and at 7:50 we all got up. I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat.

After breakfast we cleaned them up and dressed them and went downstairs, where I read a Bible story with them. Then I went upstairs, and Randy downstairs. I started working, but Sammy was crying so hard and would not stop that I went downstairs to comfort him. After I left, he started crying again. He wants Randy to hold him all the time, and sometimes he just can't. I was glad when Sonja arrived at 10:45. Randy came upstairs, started looking at another curtain rod he needs to install, and then started making omelets, which he does ever so often. That way I was able to work until just before noon, which is when I went to the kitchen to warm up the leftover pasta for the kids.

At noon Sonja came upstairs with the children, and we all sat down to eat. She was feeding Sammy, which always works well. The kids always want our bacon and omelets and then eat less of their own food. Then they all had pudding. Tammy and Emmy went potty successfully, then we cleaned them up and dressed them. The boys were in bed by 12:45, while Sonja went downstairs with Tammy. By 1:05 they were asleep, and I returned to work. Tammy came upstairs at 1:35 and fell asleep quickly. Emmy already woke up at 2:10 and went downstairs to be with Sonja. Sammy had his weekly physiotherapy session, and so Randy got him out of bed a few minutes after 2:30. It's always on this day that he has to be woken up, when he's usually awake by this time. The noise of dressing Sammy to leave the house was enough to wake up Tammy, who came running at 2:40 pm. Randy and Sammy left, while I took Tammy downstairs to Sonja, together with some snacks. A few minutes later I grabbed their shoes and took them downstairs, so they could go outside and ride their vehicles. It was a beautiful, sunny and warm day, and I knew they would love to get a chance to do so. They were excited and asked for the bubbles right away as well. I gave them to them and then left to take advantage of some extended time of uniterrupted work which is rare enough.

At 4:30 Randy and Sammy returned. Sammy was in a great mood, when Randy handed him to me. Then he took Sammy downstairs to his siblings. At 5:15 I went to the kitchen to make their dinner, and I could hear that they had come inside. At 5:45 I was done and went downstairs to tidy up with them. They needed to be encouraged quite a bit, but then they both helped a little bit, with Sonja and I doing the most of the tidying up. After we were done, we went upstairs. We took their clothes off, and they sat down at the table to eat. Sonja also sat down to help which I greatly appreciated. She was feeding Sammy, which freed me up to do other stuff. Once they had stopped eating, they went potty, then went into the bathtub. Sonja said her goodbyes. I put the rest of their food into bowls that I took to the bathtub, where they continued eating, while having fun. Then they came out one after another, and we got them ready for bed. By 7:15 pm they were all in bed.

I sat down by them, as usual, and Tammy came to lie on my chest for a few minutes, while we were talking. Then she went back to bed. It wasn't long before Emmy wanted to be rocked and crawled out of bed and onto my chest. Interestingly that upset Sammy who now also wanted to be rocked. He was hitting his head against the bars as he does, when he is upset. I asked Emmy whether he'd go back to bed so I could rock Sammy and told him he could come back after. He agreed, and I picked up Sammy who melted into my chest. In the past he never wanted to be held, so I enjoy every minute of it now, and obviously so does he. After I had put him back to bed, Emmy returned to my chest. After a few minutes he went back to bed without me having said anything. Everyone wanted my hand, but I only had two not three. It took until 8:05 before I was finally able to walk away, Emmy being the last one to fall asleep.

I went to the kitchen and made my salad, then took it downstairs to eat. After having eaten I went back to work. At midnight I heard Emmy cry and cry. I knew Randy was trying to calm him down and get him back to sleep, as he was upstairs, but it was not working. He was calling for Mommy, and so I had to go upstairs. He came running to me, I picked him up and sat down with him. I rocked him a few minutes, then put him back to bed. I tried to leave a few minutes, but he always stopped me in my tracks. I finally asked him whether he would go lie down in bed with Daddy until I was done and could come, and he agreed. And so I put him next to Randy who had just gone to bed and returned to my computer downstairs, hoping to finish working soon.