33 months 1 day

Day 1004. Last night I headed to bed just before 12:30 am. Tammy joined us in bed at some point, but some time later Rand took her back to her bed. This morning I woke up and found Emmy sleeping next to me. That is a first. He can now climb into our bed by himself. He was soon up and running, and Tammy came as well and joined him. We finally added Sammy to our bed, as he was crying, and at 8:10 I got up to go make breakfast, after Emmy had been pulling on me me and asking me to get up and make their food.

But Tammy and Emmy didn't eat much, while Sammy ate more than usual. Randy thought it was because he'd eaten so little for dinner last night. They soon got up, Emmy went potty, then they finally got their package with their pool shoes. They wanted to put them on right away and were really excited. I dressed them, and we went downstairs - with all three wearing their shoes. We sat down to read the Bible, but Sammy wanted to be with Daddy again. As Randy was already with us, he sat down with us, and so Sammy stayed. After we were done reading, Tammy wanted to draw, and so I got the table, paper and crayons out for her, put it all next to Randy on the couch, as Sammy could also draw that way, being supported by Daddy. Then I went upstairs to work.

The countdown is now ticking until our departure on Monday, and there is so much I want to get done before. I got some stuff done, but time was just flying. At 11:15 I went to the kitchen to make the asparagus soup, it being asparagus season. At noon they came upstairs to eat. As it wasn't quite done yet, the kids went straight out on the balcony to go on the trampolin. Then we sat down at the table to eat the asparagus soup. Tammy said she didn't like it, the boys did better, and I thought it tasted wonderful. Emmy kept putting his hands into the soup, even after I had told him not to, and so he didn't get any dessert, even though he was throwing a fit. Tammy and Sammy were eating pudding. Then they went potty, I cleaned them up and dressed them, and they went downstairs. It was 1 pm, when I came back upstairs to clean up and then sit back down at the computer to work.

At 1:20 Randy came upstairs with the kids, and they went to bed. They were wide awake and active and giving me a really hard time. I was surprised, when they finally did fall asleep, and it was only 1:40, when I walked away. I continued working. At 2:50 Emmy walked into the room and went straight out on the balcony, where Randy joined him. He was having fun jumping on the trampolin. At 3:05 Tammy woke up and joined her brother on the balcony. After a while they came back inside to get some snacks, then they went back outside. At 3:20 Sammy woke up, I got him and took him outside to his siblings, then returned to work. Soon they started coming inside and having fun with me. Then finally they were going downstairs. They only agreed because they wanted to go outside and ride their cars. And so I went downstairs with them and put their new knee protectors on them that they had never used before, as well as their shoes and elbow protectors and helmets. Then I opened the door for them to go outside. They started riding up and down, but soon asked for the bubbles. I was gonna go upstairs to work, but Emmy asked me sit down and outside and work, and so I tried that. However it was not working, so I went inside to my desk. It didn't take long before they all came inside. They wanted to look at picture books, and so Emmy and Tammy each had one book they were looking through. Then Emmy started asking to watch Peppa Pig. Since their behavior had been decent, I turned it on for them to watch for half an hour. As I was sitting in my chair, they stood in front of the Echo Show. Sammy was playing by himself on the floor, while Randy was upstairs making the single stroller travel fit for our trip. The timer went off before I had left to go make their food, and they started crying, when I turned the video off. I left them there crying and went upstairs to make their dinner. They soon gave up the crying and started playing again.

I was done making their food before it was 6 pm, and so I returned to my computer to work a few more minutes. At 6 pm they all came upstairs and sat down at the table to eat. They ate some, then got up to go potty and then into the bathtub. They were having fun as usual, and were role-playing again. Emmy said that he was Daddy. I asked him where Emmy was, and he pointed at me. And so I started playing Emmy. Logically Daddy then had to be Mommy. And so we called him by calling, "Mommy!", but he didn't come for the longest time. I played being Emmy so long that Tammy had to say a few times she wanted Mommy back for me to break role.

They came out one after another, and we got them ready for bed. By 7:10 they were all in bed. Tammy lay down on my chest, but soon went back to her own bed, and then Emmy lay on my chest. Once he went back to bed, I picked up Sammy and held him for a few minutes. Unfortunately it was not gonna be an easy night, once again. They were not obeying, not quieting down, and I finally walked away and Randy took my place. However, Emmy kept crying for me, and so I returned after a few minutes. He then behaved, being pretty tired, and at 8:10 pm I was able to walk away. Tammy and Emmy were asleep, but Sammy was still wide awake and playing, which is typical for when he's had a 2-hour nap in the afternoon. Once I was gone, he kept playing for a while until he finally fell asleep as well.

I got myself something to eat, and then went back to work, trying to finish up different things. I went back downstairs to finish printing what I had worked on in the afternoon until my printer stopped working. Thankfully I got it working again and was able to finish all that. We're ready to get a few more things done tomorrow to prepare for our Mexico trip!