32 months 20 days

Day 993. Last night I headed to bed at 12:30 am. I'd had to sit down by Emmy's bed several times, and by that time I was glad he was fast asleep in his bed. Some time later he did come to me, lay down next to me for a few minutes, then returned to his own bed. Tammy also joined us in bed at some point and stayed. Emmy came again just after 7 am and soon thereafter his sister was awake, and together they were playing and having fun and messing around. I was so tired I didn't want to get up and was surprised that it was nearly 8:30, when we did get up. I had also been wondering why Sammy was silent as he usually cries to be picked up and join us in bed. I finally called to him, and he answered back, so I knew he was fine.

I made breakfast, and we sat down to eat. Then I cleaned them up and dressed them, and we went downstairs, where I read a Bible story to all three. Then the boys were drumming, and Tammy building towers, and I went upstairs to work. A few minutes later Randy went downstairs to be with them. It was already 9:40 and at 10 I had to go to the kitchen to make the soup. By 10:30 I was done and could finally get to work. However, Tammy was crying really hard, and so I went downstairs to comfort her. She was crying again, when I left.

Just before noon everyone came upstairs to eat. Tammy ate everything on her plate, and Sammy ate well as well. They had icecream yesterday and wanted it again, so I again cut up an icecream bar and gave it to them. Then they had their regular dessert as well. As they like making everything and themselves dirty, I put them into the bathtub and even washed Emmy's hair as he had put the pudding into his hair as well. And so it was 12:50 before the boys went to bed. Emmy simply would not fall asleep, while Sammy fell asleep after a few minutes. It took Emmy until 1:25, and by then Tammy was already coming upstairs, and so I stayed in the chair. Thankfully she was asleep by 1:35, and I was able to walk away. By 1:45 Sammy was already awake again. After a few minutes Randy picked him up and went downstairs with him, while I fell asleep. At 2:20 pm Emmy walked into the room and woke me up, and I let him go downstairs. Then I fell back asleep and woke up again at 2:40. I was still extremely tired. Just after 3 pm Tammy woke up. I took her downstairs, then I finally started making their dinner-to-go. Twenty After minutes before departure time they came upstairs, we dressed them and got ready to leave, leaving a few minutes later, after 4 pm. Thankfully I always have a buffer, and so we made our train.

The train was really full and so they could not come out of the strollers. After we got off the train, we went to the tram stop and were shocked to see on the board that the next tram was 25 minutes away. That was a long time to wait, but we did not have a choice as there was no other way to get to church in any decent amount of time from where we were. Someone had thrown away a helium spiderman balloon that Emmy spotted right away and wanted to have, and Randy got it for him. He ended up playing with Tammy and Emmy with it, while I had Sammy, who did not want to be in the stroller. They must have added a train, because before the 25 minutes were up an empty train pulled up and we got on. This time we all sat on seats. After we got off, we still had to push the strollers up the hill to church. Sammy was upset about having been put back into the stroller, and so I got him out of his seat and had him stand in the double stroller, while Randy pushed the single stroller with the other two up the hill. Even with the delay, we arrived at church just a few minutes after 5 pm, just as the service was starting. The kids immediately ran to the front to grab the streamers to dance with them. I had Sammy who also enjoyed waving it. The kids were watching a lot, and standing on the steps to the stage, and then Emmy even walked onto the stage and so did Tammy, and Randy had to get them down. Then Emmy ran to the other side of the sanctuary, where Sonja was sitting, to find her. It was 5:30, and so we decided to go upstairs to the toddler room.

We were not the first ones in there today. We put Sammy by the cars, and Emmy also started playing with the cars. Tammy joined a Mom who was reading a book to her daughter, and then Emmy joined them as well. And then I was the one leaving, not Randy, which was the first time ever. Because of my birthday yesterday I wanted to be in the sanctuary as those who have a birthday always get prayed for. And that's how I sat in a church service by myself for the first time since the kids were born.

Worship was still going, and I greatly enjoyed being able to actually worship, since I was by myself. What a precious time! And it wasn't long until they asked all the birthday kids to stand. Then people surrounded us to pray for us. I get prayed for so rarely that tears started running down my cheeks. Two ladies saw pictures, both with me sowing seeds. One saw seeds from the past now bearing fruit, the other one saw me with sacks full of seeds throwing them out plentifully. I was blessed. Then the preaching started, and I hadn't heard any preaching in a service since the kids were born. After half an hour, at 6:45, I left to go back upstairs to the toddler room.

They were all playing, and Tammy came running to show me the drawing she had made. I took Sammy, while Randy took Tammy to change her diaper. Sammy knelt on the floor exploring the contents of a box and had fun. Tammy and Emmy were having fun going up and down the slide. Then the tidy-up song started, and we got ready to leave. Tammy threw a fit once again, when we tried to put her shoes on, as she wanted to do it by herself. But she had put her shoe on the wrong foot and was very upset, when we took it off to correct it. Randy tried to retain her, while I put the shoes on right, then I had to carry her on my shoulders.

We returned to the sanctuary, and there was Anna. Sammy was calling her name really loudly, and the other two were pretty loud as well. But then the service was over. We walked over to the other side of the sanctuary to find Sonja, and all three were happy to see her. Emmy was interested in the ministry time going on in the front and walked up to someone praying for someone to see what they were doing. We talked with Sonja a little, and then we left to go home.

We walked to the tram stop and were lucky that the tram arrived right away. The kids wanted to watch Peppa Pig, of course, and while they were watching, I was putting food into their mouths, and they were just eating it, which was good. Once we got off the tram, we went up to the platform our train was leaving from, where we had 15 minutes to wait, but it was a nice, warm day, so no problem at all. They continued eating and watching. The train was pretty full, but they continued eating and watching. At 8:20 pm we were back home.

They were playing around instead of taking their shoes off, and so I told them whoever had their shoes off first would get a gummy bear. When I gave Emmy a gummy bear, Tammy threw another fit. Just before 9 pm they were all in bed. I didn't rock anyone, but convinced them to be content with holding my hand. Once they got more quiet but Emmy would still not let me go, I got my computer to at least make use of the time. After working for a while I thought I'd try to leave and was successful. I don't know what time it was. I went downstairs, where Randy was waiting for me with our delivered food. We finished last week's movie, while eating our food, then I went back to work. And then I received the result of the Covid test I had taken yesterday, and it was positive. Tomorrow all the others are getting tested. I immediately started canceling this week's appointments by email, as it means that we'll be staying home. We'll have a quiet week ahead. Now it's nearly 1 am, and I'd better go to bed.