32 months 11 days

Day 984. Last night I headed to bed just before 1 am. Tammy was the first one to join us this morning, then Emmy came. At 7 am they were up and running, and at 7:40 we also got up. Randy had already been on his feet a few times, as they had climbed on top of the sink in the bathroom to get to stuff sitting on the shelf above it. So he locked the bathroom door from the outside.

I went to the kitchen, emptied the dishwasher, and made breakfast. I was so extremely tired as I rarely am. We sat down at the dining room table, and I lay my head down on my arms, which Emmy didn't like who was sitting right next to me. I lay down in bed, but he didn't like that either. I just wanted to get them downstairs and go back to bed. It took me a lot of effort to clean them and dress them, then we went downstairs. I wanted to go straight back up, but Emmy bugged me so much to pain his face that I finally gave in, even though I could hardly keep my eyes open. He wanted me to pain a giraffe, so that is what I did, and then Tammy wanted the same. And so we have two giraffes in the house today. Then I was finally able to go upstairs. By then I was awake enough to start working, postponing sleep until later.

I worked well until 11:30, then I went to the kitchen to cook. At noon they came upstairs to eat. They all had pudding, then I cleaned them up and dressed them. Their giraffe faces had faded quite a bit already. The boys went to bed, while Tammy went downstairs with Randy. It was 12:40. I sat down by them, and by 12:55 they were asleep, and I was able to walk away. I cleaned up the kitchen, and then Tammy already came upstairs at 1:15 pm. I sat down by her, and by 1:35 I was able to walk away and return to work. At 1:55 Emmy walked into the room. When he heard that Sonja had arrived, he immediately wanted to go downstairs to be with her. At 2 pm I closed my eyes, but I was still awake, when Randy went to the grocery store ten minutes later. At 2:50 Sammy woke up and started fussing. That woke up Tammy, who came running into the room. I picked her up, and together we went to Sammy. I picked him up, got some snacks for them, and took them downstairs. Then I returned upstairs to work. After Randy returned, he left again to go to another grocery store to buy what was still missing from our list.

At 5:15 I went to the kitchen and started making their dinner. At 5:50 I went downstairs to tidy up with them. I had heard a lot of laughing, wondering what they were doing. When I got downstairs, they were crying and did not want to tidy up. And so it was Sonja and I who did the tidying up, and it sure needed it as it looked like a bomb had hit. I kept encouraging them to help, and they each put about one thing away. My desk is right there, and when Randy sits on the couch, he cannot see what they do around the corner. Every day they get on my desk when they know they're not supposed to, and it's aggravating. Today they broke my ruler.

We went upstairs, where they both had to give me a coin from their piggy banks for having done their job of tidying up. Everyone sat down at the table, where they ate some food. And we said good-bye to Sonja. Tammy got up first and went potty, then Emmy. Then they went into the bathtub, and I put the rest of their food into bowls that I took to the bathtub. They all ate some more there, then came out one after another. By 7:30 they were all in bed.

I sat down by them, rocked them all individuall, and Tammy and Emmy at the same time once. I left at 8 pm, which caused crying, and then Tammy and Emmy sitting by the kitchen waiting for me to return. Then they both had dirty diapers, and Randy changed them. I sat down by them again and had to stay until 8:40 before they fell asleep. If only the could fall asleep faster so I don't waste so much time just sitting there!

I went to the kitchen to finish making my salad and took it downstairs to eat. Then I went back to work.