It's basically what you need when you are fighting jet lag with two small children. I officially hate jet lag with kids.
We found it funny when we posted on Facebook that we'd made it home safely, but had been up since 1 AM with Hadassah who couldn't sleep past then. Most of the responses were "praise God, you made it home safely!" while the few friends who lived in China or had experience with jet lag responded more along the lines of "praying for you!" Jet lag with kids is just hard to imagine until you've lived it...
It's:
- A baby who wants to play at midnight instead of going back to sleep
- A 2 year old, who after crackers and milk and playing for an hour still can't sleep in her nice, dark room but instead sings and talks to herself for 2 hours happily
- But it's sporadic enough that you, exhausted from almost no sleep on the 24 hours of travel, can feel yourself almost sinking into the sweet sleep abyss only to be jerked out by another sweet voice.
It's:
- Counting it a triumph when your children sleep until 5 AM
- Because at least one has woken around 4 AM for the day all week
It's:
- Desperately trying to wake up children who feel like it's the middle of the night from their naps
- Holding the toddler for twenty minutes, singing through her favorite book, only to have her absolutely fall apart and cry for ten minutes because her popsicle was too cold.
It's finally over. I think. Hadassah made it to 5:30 AM this morning, and Ellie has slept until 6 AM the past two! And I am so ready to have my children back. Because not only were they dealing with no longer having grandparents to play with them every waking hour, their bodies were just so messed up with a massive sleep debt, they couldn't respond logically to basic life at times. Not that an almost 3 year old is entirely logical, but still - it's way worse on jet lag!
But, still, it was worth it. Even though I question it at times, and every time 5 hours into a 10+ hour flight I wonder why on earth we are willingly submitting ourselves and our girls to such a grueling ordeal... It's worth it. Their little hearts were so loved on by grandparents, and they grew in many ways through it. Hard as it is to be gone from home and routines for 3 weeks with littles, it was a blessing to spend so much quality time with family. I just try not to think about the week at a time spent just trying to recover every trip. If we go there and back twice a year, it's a total of a month out of 12 just trying to get the kids used to sleeping at the right times again!
But I digress... Picture memories are worth sharing. :)
Sister snuggles on the floor... Ellie's never too sure about these, as sometimes Dassah uses her weight to her advantage and they turn antagonistic. But I am glad that Hadassah is having more and more sweet and gentle times with Ellie!
Having a back yard for three weeks was in every way awesome.
This one captured Grandpa's heart :)
I'm pretty sure the feeling was mutual :)
Ellie tried really hard to crawl while we were there, but only now has she finally moved forward a time or two!
I liked being able to swing my girl and make her a flower crown while the baby napped...
We even got to escape to one of our favorite Louisville restaurants for a date. We were tired, the food took forever to come, and the baby woke up early from her nap, then road construction prevented us from getting back as quickly as we wanted to. Dates don't always work perfectly, but being together is what counts!
The girls had an outside tea party with Grammy :)
And that last evening Hadassah relished just playing and playing on a perfect evening... With it light outside so late, we ended up pushing her bed time until 8:30 PM as it was taking her forever to fall asleep at night. I think her body is just tied so closely to light. Try as we might to darken her room, it's like she knows. So when the sun gets up at 4:30 AM here, it makes it hard to get her to sleep too much longer!
Bubbles were so much fun with Grammy, as she found so many different ways of doing them!
And you know they love her when they'll dance in the pool and get their own clothes wet just because she asked them to. ;)
Early morning goodbyes at the airport...
Waiting for our plane... And that sky!! It was our day of such amazing blue. I've only seen it slightly here in the last whole week. The sky outside of our window is always white/gray these days. So one day soon after returning, Dassah was helping me hang laundry and said "It's night time." I was confused until I realized she was looking at the sky, and seeing no visible sun or blue, she assumed it was the evening. But oh, how I enjoyed three weeks straight of blue sky!
Jet lag with littles makes for cute moments. This was after 20 minutes of trying to get her to wake up from her nap while I held her. I had to put her on the floor when the doorbell rang with a grocery delivery...
And this cutie's sleep has been all over the place as we try to figure out when naps should be all over again and she at times seems to desperately resist sleep, trying instead to crawl, sit or stand... But her cute baby belly and little lamb loving definitely make up for it. :)
Though it's been a crazy week of jet lag, there is nothing like home. Never thought China would feel so much like home, but this IS where our home is for now, and we are thankful. It was a wonderful vacation. But we look forward to the rest of the summer at home!
We found it funny when we posted on Facebook that we'd made it home safely, but had been up since 1 AM with Hadassah who couldn't sleep past then. Most of the responses were "praise God, you made it home safely!" while the few friends who lived in China or had experience with jet lag responded more along the lines of "praying for you!" Jet lag with kids is just hard to imagine until you've lived it...
It's:
- A baby who wants to play at midnight instead of going back to sleep
- A 2 year old, who after crackers and milk and playing for an hour still can't sleep in her nice, dark room but instead sings and talks to herself for 2 hours happily
- But it's sporadic enough that you, exhausted from almost no sleep on the 24 hours of travel, can feel yourself almost sinking into the sweet sleep abyss only to be jerked out by another sweet voice.
It's:
- Counting it a triumph when your children sleep until 5 AM
- Because at least one has woken around 4 AM for the day all week
It's:
- Desperately trying to wake up children who feel like it's the middle of the night from their naps
- Holding the toddler for twenty minutes, singing through her favorite book, only to have her absolutely fall apart and cry for ten minutes because her popsicle was too cold.
It's finally over. I think. Hadassah made it to 5:30 AM this morning, and Ellie has slept until 6 AM the past two! And I am so ready to have my children back. Because not only were they dealing with no longer having grandparents to play with them every waking hour, their bodies were just so messed up with a massive sleep debt, they couldn't respond logically to basic life at times. Not that an almost 3 year old is entirely logical, but still - it's way worse on jet lag!
But, still, it was worth it. Even though I question it at times, and every time 5 hours into a 10+ hour flight I wonder why on earth we are willingly submitting ourselves and our girls to such a grueling ordeal... It's worth it. Their little hearts were so loved on by grandparents, and they grew in many ways through it. Hard as it is to be gone from home and routines for 3 weeks with littles, it was a blessing to spend so much quality time with family. I just try not to think about the week at a time spent just trying to recover every trip. If we go there and back twice a year, it's a total of a month out of 12 just trying to get the kids used to sleeping at the right times again!
But I digress... Picture memories are worth sharing. :)
Though it's been a crazy week of jet lag, there is nothing like home. Never thought China would feel so much like home, but this IS where our home is for now, and we are thankful. It was a wonderful vacation. But we look forward to the rest of the summer at home!
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