Highlights from our trip "Home"

Our first trip home was a bit ambitious- lasting 4 weeks and spanning 4 locations. We crammed a lot in and got to see several of our favorite people (but still missed out on time with many loved ones). Our first stop was Lafayette, LA. 

My parents relocated to Lafayette from The Woodlands after we moved to Thailand. Not gonna lie, I'm still grieving hard about the fact that we no longer live a mile away from each other and likely never will again. BUT it's kind of cool that they've returned to the town I grew up in and their house and neighborhood are totally gorgeous. It was the perfect landing point to stretch out and relax and recuperate from our journey. 

This leg was a little tough for me because I was very ill the whole time, preventing me from enjoying Christmas (spent the day in bed with a box of Kleenex and Powerade) or seeing my immunocompromised BFF who lives there. That's one of the really sucky things about ex-pat life. There is so much pressure on these home visits and if plans get derailed- like that's it. My sister in law's dad ended up in the ICU during our time with them as well so that visit was cut short too. It's just hard, y'all. Life happens and when it happens during your 2 or 3 day window to see certain people it just doubly stinks! 

From Lafayette, I headed to Jasper, AL to see my other BFF and we then went to Atlanta to see LSU demolish Oklahoma. This may have been my favorite part of the trip! I got to see Talia, got to see LSU, got to drive by myself (something I miss while living in Thailand) and got to sleep un-interrupted 2 nights in a row for the first time since leaving Bangkok (which helped me to finally start feeling better). 

When I left for Atlanta, Jon left with the kids for our next destination- Perdido Key, Florida. 

We stayed here for nearly 2 weeks and had my brother and sister in law plus my sister and her 4 kids come for visits, so that was really nice to get to kind of settle in to once place and get a routine going. 

Plus, we stayed in the same complex as my parents but rented our own condo which always feels nice to have your own space and not feel like you are wearing out your welcome in someone's home. We enjoyed cooler weather, beautiful walks on the beach, nice trails and parks, and lots of fun outings and restaurants. It was fun to pretend we were just normal people living in the US again. 

When leaving Target, I impulsively ordered 2 ICEEs from the snack bar. Forest, who'd never had an ICEE remarked, "Mom it sounds like we are about to do something delicious."

Ahhh..the zen of a child-free Target run. 

Ah the simple joy of an American grocery store. 

My parents and Jon's parents both have condos down there so we had lots of family time and tons of help with the kids as well! I especially enjoyed our mahjong games! 

Mahjong+Bachelor = naptime goals

The last leg of our trip was Disneyworld. That deserves it's own post for sure. What was I thinking tacking on a trip to Disneyworld with a 5 month old baby? I have no idea. But I was the one pushing for it and everyone else was less than enthusiastic. But we committed and did the Disney thing. 

Once again, we rented a 3 bedroom condo. My parents came along but ended up getting sick so didn't do much Disney. My dad was a super (storm)trooper and managed to hang 2 full days with the grandkids at the parks despite not feeling his best. That's enough on Disney for today because I do think it warrants it's own post so I don't want to spoil too much. 

Mainly my top highlights on being stateside were enjoying the cool, clean air, the many conveniences that come with being in the US, seeing Star Wars with Forest, playing mahjong with my parents, watching LSU vs OU with Talia and then seeing them handle Clemson like a boss, time with my sister and nephews, and morning runs on the beach. 

meches donuts were also a highlight

The biggest bummers on the trip were not getting to see April, not getting to see my brother and sis-in-law enough, and being travel weary, sick and jet lagged for the about half of the time. But honestly, now that we've been through the gauntlet of travel we do feel a bit more confident moving forward. A trip with the kids without Jonathan to Phuket in February seems easy breezy in comparison! Maybe we'll even tackle Japan this Spring!

I'll try to write more this week on Disney and I also owe y'all a post on Juliet's 5 and 6 month milestones. Sat tuned! 

Super Long Hauls and Jetlag

So basically, you can't get further away in the world than the US is from Asia. The travel is brutal and adding in two young children just makes it all the more undesirable of a trip. But the travel ended up being the easy part! Jetlag was the real nightmare. The 12 hour time difference is the worst case scenario when it comes to jetlag. It completely flipped days and nights in the eyes of our newly sleep trained 5 month old. We had a really rough time with it going to the US, but luckily a much easier time coming back. Here's a blurb about the logistics of our journey. 

First logistical issue- actually getting to the airport. We were traveling back with 5 large suitcases, a stroller bag, and a car seat bag, plus 2 carry ons and a personal item for every person. Since we also have a driver, there was no way we could fit all of us plus luggage in one vehicle. There was also no way that we could get all of our bags to check-in on our own. Jonathan and our driver went early with Forest, parked the car and brought the bulk of the bags to the check-in counter. I borrowed a friend's driver/car and came a little later with Juliet and the rest of the bags. 

Forest has been having some crazy growth spurts lately!

Our flight left at 1:35 AM so Jon and I put the kids to bed normally and then woke them up around 10:45/11pm  to head to the airport. This flight time reaaaalllly blew chunks. Jon and I didn't sleep at all pre-flight so we were starting the trip at a deficit already. 

The second issue was choosing a route. None of our family lives near a good international airport. We had the choice to add another flight and fly into a small regional airport (either Lafayette, LA or Pensacola, FL) or we could end our plane journey in Houston and drive on to Lafayette, which is ultimately what we chose to do. 

There are no direct flights from Thailand to America (major frustration!) so we had a ton of routes to choose from through Asia/Europe/Middle East. We decided to go with critically acclaimed (and Momma Diane approved so you know it's swanky) Qatar Airways and I'm so glad we did! The flight time was a little longer than flying over the Pacific, but totally worth it for Qatar's Business Class Q-suite setup and the lounge in Doha. Best airport ever! 

It will be a tough decision for our trip home over the summer to brave the 1:45 am flight again to fly Qatar or get a better flight time flying a less cushy airline. Our route back was perfect, leaving Houston at 6 pm and flying through the night. Juliet slept 9 hours on both long hauls, but as parents we felt better able to sleep right at the start with leaving around the kids' bedtime so we all started off more well rested than leaving in the middle of the night. 

First leg: BKK--->DOH (6 hours): We decided to fly business class with a lap baby vs economy with Juliet having her own seat. This plane wasn't a super fancy one so there wasn't room to lay Juliet down but she slept well on daddy for almost the entire flight. Forest also slept the whole way. 

Since I nurse every 3 hours during the day, we decided Jon would take Juliet at night when she didn't need to eat. 

Layover: We had a 3 hour layover in Doha but a big chunk of this was eaten up by having to take a bus to the terminal which seriously took at least 20 minutes. It was bananas! Then we had to go through a very thorough security check once we made it to the terminal. 

We finally got to the lounge and it was fantastic. Someone immediately came and showed us the family rooms which were dim, quiet and private, perfect for nursing and laying Juliet down for a decent nap while Jonathan and Forest went to the restaurant and game room where they had playstations set up. 

Makeshift bassinet in family lounge. 

It was really a superb lounge! The airport itself is incredible with an indoor pool and changing rooms and several large play areas for kids. They also have strollers to borrow which we didn't utilize but may have on a longer layover. Really, it is a great airport for families! 

The only issue we really had was security. Having already been through it coming into Doha, we were shocked to find out we had to go through yet another round to get onto the airplane. And it was super thorough. They made me take Juliet out of the carrier and made us take all of our electronics out of their cases (including phones). They pulled F's backpack aside because he had a slinky and they tested each of his 7 stuffed animals with their wands. 

It was stressful mainly because we weren't expecting it and having already gone through security upon arriving in Doha, I assumed we were through with this rigamarole and had reorganized all of our carryons for the long haul during Juliet's lounge nap. Now we were all disorganized again. Forest ended up with my iPad on the plane and about had a heart attack. 

Second Leg: DOH---> IAH (16.5 hours): Anyway, we made it past security and onto the plane and were ecstatic to see the famous 'Q-Suites'. It's basically its own room that can be closed off and it had a little sidecar area for Juliet to sit in. 

With the seats laid flat we could easily lay her down perpendicular to us and still have room to lay down ourselves. Plus the privacy door made me feel so much more comfortable breast-feeding.
But we ran into some personal blips on this flight. About 2 hours in I was feeling totally exhausted. I started running a raging fever and my throat was so sore I couldn't swallow without wincing in pain. Jonathan recognized my distress and took Juliet who slept for 9 hours straight with him. I was given Forest duty (who is supposed to be the easy one) and got basically no rest. 

I've touched on the fact that Forest has some issues with anxiety. Prior to traveling he had gotten very into Home Alone and Home Alone 2 and we didn't realize how much this would effect him on our flight. He was so paranoid that we would get separated and since he was in his own private Q-Suite, he couldn't actually see me from where he was. This resulted in every 10 minutes his head peeking over my wall and shouting a frantic 'Mom- are you still there?'. 

Y'all I'm not kidding, this happened the entire flight. I got no sleep and was feeling like death. I had a 'come to Jesus' talk with him about letting me rest and explained that I would tell him if I got up to use the bathroom but until then he could just assume that I WAS STILL THERE. It did not curb the behavior and one time I did get up to use the bathroom, told him I was doing so and then exited the bathroom to find him sobbing with the cabin crew because he didn't know where his mom was. It was a very long 16.5 hours but I'm very happy that Jonathan and Juliet got to sleep 9 hours straight....

Once we got to Houston, both kids had their global entry interview which for some reason took 30 minutes. Then Forest and Jon took the rental car bus to get our car while I stayed with the bags and Juliet waiting for them. I then painstakingly and at a snail's pace moved all the bags outside to meet them and was little surprised that no one offered to help the solo petite lady with the baby and 5 suitcases. That would never happen in Thailand where people basically fall all over themselves to be of assistance to momma's with little ones. 

We decided to get a hotel room in Houston for the night to take a power nap before driving 4 hours to Lafayette. We all went to bed at 7, Juliet woke up at 11, waking Forest up with her.  Jonathan went into the room with Juliet and managed to get her to sleep until 2:30 but Forest never fell back asleep. I once again stayed with the 'easy' kid and got bombarded with 'momma I'm bored/hungry/thirsty/cold' every 5 minutes. 

a quick 2:30 am breakfast before driving the last leg of our journey

So we left at 3 am, drove the 4 hours for which Juliet slept the whole time and Forest didn't sleep a wink. We got there at 7 am and figured that was great for Juliet starting day one at the right time. 

We made it!!!!

At this point I hadn't slept in 36 hours and was running a high fever and feeling super miserable. I thought I just needed sleep but I turned out to be really sick and it took almost 10 days for me to recover. Perhaps it was the flu? I was way too exhausted and overwhelmed to go to the doctor to find out. 

So jetlag- our cautious optimism about getting Juliet on track from day one was not a reality. Forest slept through that night, but Juliet slept a stretch from 7-11 and then was pretty much up the rest of the night. 

Laine P. 1983-2019. Died from baby jetlag. 

I was so miserable! Jonathan finally sent me to the couch downstairs but I could still hear her crying the whole time. She made hardly any progress for the first week and it was so hard. Then she started cutting a tooth and crawling which didn't help matters as we had to transition her out of the dock a tot cold turkey and she kept getting her arms stuck through the crib slats. 

We changed her to a pack n play at that point which definitely helped, but she didn't consistently start sleeping through the night again until literally 3 days before our trip was over and we had to do the whole shebang over again. 

RETURN TRIP
The return trip was a doozy because we added a leg. Orlando to Houston to Doha to Bangkok. It would be 23.5 hours in the air and nearly 30 door to door. NBD. Once again, we need a lot of help even getting to the airport! My dad rode with Jonathan and Forest to drop off the rental car and help get our 4 bags (we reduced by one on the return) checked. My mom drove me and Juliet to meet them at the check in counter. Forest was an emotional mess about leaving the US which of course had me crying in the airport as well. The leg from Orlando to Houston was 3 hours which by this point felt like a day at the beach compared to our other flights. Juliet napped a good bit and Forest and I did Paint by Sticker puzzles. Jonathan napped the whole way. 

Mom travel vs Dad travel. 

Another complication was that our trip from Orlando to Houston was booked using miles through a different airline so we had to collect all of our baggage in Houston and figure out a way to get it to the international terminal, check in once again and go through security. We ended up just paying a porter to transport all of our bags to the check in counter which was super worth it. 

Houston-Doha (14 hours) I mentioned before the flight left at 6 and our kids normally go to bed at 7 so we got them in their pjs, fed them and put them right to sleep. Juliet slept about 7 hours, woke for an hour and then went back to sleep for 2 hours. Not bad! I think Forest slept for 7 or 8 hours which wasn't great but better than the trip over. Juliet was seriously an angel. 14 hours and she didn't cry once. Just happy and charming. 

She developed and changed so much during our trip!

The flight attendants kept borrowing her for cuddles during lulls in their workload which was nice and allowed me a few minutes to use the restroom or have some tea. She would just happily go to them and charm the stuffing out of everyone with her bright blue eyes and sweet dimply smile. She took a nap right before landing so she was well rested for our layover which allowed us all to go get some food at the lounge instead of trying to get her to nap. We had a shorter layover this time so just hit the family rooms to nurse her and let her crawl around some. 

Doha-Bangkok (6 hours). We were ecstatic to find that our plane to Bangkok had Q-suites too! Jonathan offered to take Juliet for me but he lasted about 45 minutes before she was rudely awaked from a nap and started crying hard. Momma to the rescue. Unfortunately she wouldn't let me put her down without waking/crying, but napped in my arms for 4 out of the 6 hours in the air. 

That got her to 5 AM Bangkok time which was decent. We needed two cars to get back to our house, but arrived home by 9 AM and all took a nap which helped us get through Day 1. 

We were bracing ourselves for some bad jetlag, but the kids actually did ok. They both woke up at 3 but were able to go back to sleep and remained sleeping until 7:30 AM!! Night 2 was more rough, but by night 3 they were both making progress and by night 5 they were both sleeping close to 10.5-11 hours again. Phew! Much easier on the flip side. 

(Of course, Juliet started cutting more teeth after a week at home so sleep is once again up in the air. That first year with a baby, y'all. It's ALWAYS something...)