WalkingonTravels Seen Elswhere

In case you haven’t checked out my new Press page under About on my blog, here are a few links to articles I’ve been quoted in lately. Keep an eye out for more ramblings by me on other sites.

What’s the Worst Travel Advice You’ve Ever Received? (By Adam Seper @BootsNAll)

Best Music for Family Road Trips (By Colleen Lanin @TravelMamas)

Need more to explore?

• Read about my tricks to keeping food cold on a plane without getting ice through security in Plane Food & Recipes.
• Is the idea of baby jet lag pulling you under? Go to Back Home for jet lag and eating suggestions for you and your little ones.
• While there is getting loaded up with even more goodies and links to specific destinations. Got more info you want to add for a specific sight? Just shoot me an email.

Blogging As Mama Therapy

I’m not sure why other moms blog. I think we all have a variety of reasons, but I am finding that it is very therapeutic. Not only am I making a record of our travels (I’m a horrible at journal writing), and all of the “wisdom” I have gathered along the way, but I am connecting with so many people I might not ever know.

I’ve met my childhood best friend’s sister-in-law. I’ve reconnected with friends from high school who actually left Philadelphia (a rare thing), and either live abroad or love taking their kids abroad too. I have met complete strangers all over the world and even in my own backyard of Seattle, because we all have one simple thing in common, we love traveling with our children.

Oddly enough, most mom bloggers that I read or have connected with started out with a resolve to travel with their children in the same way I did. We got pregnant, were told we would never travel again because it would be too hard, too expensive, we wouldn’t be able to relax and enjoy ourselves, etc. Yet here we are, all traveling. So are we really crazy, rich, or is the rest of the world of nay-sayers just really wrong? I’m going with the fact that they are wrong. I am certainly not rich, yes I am a little crazy, but adding another person to our travels was a no-brainer.

Sure travel with kids is hard, but you know what, travel with my husband can be hard too. Do you know how difficult it is to get him to choose a place to eat or even to pick a food group for me to work off of? I mean come on! And directions? If I don’t figure out how to get us to the hotel, when exactly was he planning on figuring it out. Check out Wait…How Do We Get To The Hotel Again? if you want to see how that one came out. Sadly, it is not an isolated case either.

The best thing about blogging and following other traveling mamas, is that you get a little support when you need it most. Last night I was at my wit’s end. I basically felt as drained as I did right after I gave birth to Dek. No solid sleep, up every few hours, your basic zombie to the world, but trying to hold it together because I needed to prove I’m a supermom (still working on that one). I didn’t know what else to do, so I blogged about it. I haven’t really looked for it, but I haven’t found too many accounts of baby jet lag by someone in the thick of it. I thought I would shed a little light on the situation.

One of my traveling mama friends in town saw my post go up and instantly wrote me back. She talked me down from the ledge (drowning your ears in alcohol constitute a ledge I think). She told me to stop panicking and to just ride the wave through. She assured me that Dek would eventually get back into his routine and that it took her kids 10 days to get back on schedule after they had been in Europe for a month over Christmas.

I knew this was true. The logical part of my brain did at least, but the sleep deprived part just wanted it to be done, and I expected my perfect baby (yeah right) to instantly fall back into his usual sleep pattern.

Life isn’t perfect, kids and adults certainly aren’t, and travel isn’t one sweet ride with no bumps, but it is worth it. Every time. No matter what bumps, hiccups, late nights, or no nights of sleep there are, it is always worth it. Jet lag is like plane rides. No matter what, it has to end sometime.

I am happy to report that Dek sleep through the night for the first time since we got back. That’s exactly nine days after we left. Blogging really must work. Tonight he had a little trouble going down, but he figured it out in about half the time as it took last night. Hopefully we will have an undisturbed night again. If not, I’ll deal with that when it comes.

After all, this is nothing new. With kids there is always something you have to deal with, whether it is jet lag, fevers, bad naps or missed naps, or just a will of iron that does not want to do anything mommy asks him too. If you let every little thing stop you from living life, you will never leave your house and your kid would never experience all the world has to offer. So suck it up, get out the door and don’t be afraid of the speed bumps that may slow you down.

Baby Jet Lag Blues

Sometimes sleeping just isn't that much fun

I’d like to rip my ears off, drown them in a stiff drink and sit alone on the beach. That’s what I am thinking as I am trying to get my son to sleep in Seattle after a 3 week trip in China and Japan.

Now traveling with my son is worth it in every way, and I will continue to do it, but this week sure has tested my resolve.

Bottoms Up

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know how hard the adjustment has been for Dek this week. We got back to the States on Sunday night (May 22nd) and have been ever so slowly creeping our way back to Pacific Coast time.

Oh, and did I mentioned that Mike and I both had to go back to work on Monday? I’m only in my office on Mondays and Wednesdays, so obviously there was some poor planning on my part, but every vacation day is precious. Why waste one on jet lag?

When we first got back, Dek was waking up from around 10pm to 4am. We allowed this the first couple of nights since he was still not sure when was day and when was night, and when exactly he should be sleeping. Mike and I took turns going out to the living room with him and watching a movie or playing with toys, and having some food.

Separation Anxiety In Full Effect

Dek also suffered from some separation anxiety while we were away and who can blame him. First he didn’t see his dad for two weeks. Then I threw a crazy babysitter at him for a few hours a day for a week while I was working. He was sleeping in a new room every few days, there was new food on the table at random times, and his usual sleep schedule had been thrown out the window. For a boy who thrives on a schedule, he managed remarkably well for the 3 weeks we were gone. I still can’t believe how awesome he behaved and all he put up with.

I guess I am paying for my good fortune now though. Naps have been easy. He goes down without a peep. He even goes to bed at his normal time without a peep (well, apparently not tonight). Then 10 or 11pm rolls around, which is exactly when we are trying to go to bed ourselves most nights, and he tries every trick in his book to get out of bed.

So what is he yelling? “Down,” his new favorite world and one he learned on our trip.  Now my boy who once would go to sleep without much of a fight, and definitely could not sleep if we were near him, won’t go to sleep unless we are physically sitting in the room. Except he isn’t actually going to sleep. As soon as we think he is firmly passed out, he will wake up as soon as we leave. This goes on and on.

Last night Mike finally got Dek back to sleep a little after midnight after lying on his floor for over an hour. We’ve been trying the Sleep Lady shuffle method this time since nothing else seems to be working.  Twenty minutes later, Dek was up. I gave up and finally brought him into bed with me. This had worked while we were away, so I was hopeful we could all finally get some sleep. Nope, he didn’t want to sleep with us either. So now what? Finally he started signing for milk. I gave him a quarter of a cup of milk and put him back down. Finally he went to sleep.

At 6:58am he was up and ready to go, or so he thought. He had to have a morning nap by 8:30am. He was a wreck.

Mishaps along the way

Granted, we have had some mishaps as we have tried to adjust Dek back to Pacific Time. Our first full day back (Monday), I had to go to work, so I had our old nanny come for the day. This was both good and bad. It was good, because she has a baby and this was a very nice distraction for Dek after the nanny had to wake him up around 9am. The bad part was that Dek’s separation anxiety was put to the test. Mommy had disappeared. Would she come back? We had to do the same thing on Wednesday when I went to the office. This schedule had not been upsetting before we left, but after having mom for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the past three and a half weeks, he wasn’t sure what to expect anymore.

My second mishap came on Tuesday. I had been up with Dek until 4am. In my exhausted brain, I never set myself an alarm. When I finally woke up to Dek yelling for me, I assumed it was 8 or 9am. It was 11:59am. Almost noon! This was a disaster. How was I supposed to get Dek back to a normal schedule if we were sleeping half the day away? We were both up till 2am that night, possibly longer. I’m starting to block out how little sleep I’ve gotten this week.

Our third mistake has been to not stick to a method of getting Dek to sleep and really sticking to it. Kids thrive on routine, schedules and knowing exactly what to expect. We have been so tired, Mike and I are just desperate to get him to sleep in any way possible so we can sleep too.

The Grandparents Come to Visit

My parents arrived on the Thursday after our return. Their visit had been planned for months. My last-minute trip to Asia was a bit of hiccup in our plans to wander with them. We would now be sticking closer to home so we could all try to catch up on our sleep. Normally a trip from my parents, or any family for that matter, would be enormously welcome. My mom normally gets up with Dek, so we can get some sleep on the weekends. It’s heaven. With Dek sleeping in late and up all hours of the night though, there was not much my parents could do except let us take a few naps during the day if we needed too. This conflicted with my desire to actually see my parents though and spend some quality time with them. I only see them 1-3 times a year.

So Now What Do We Do

I have one more week left of work and then I will be home with Dek full time. Hopefully I will have a little more sleep in me, and have the energy to tackle all of the bad sleep habits and other naughty behavior Dek picked up while we traveled in Asia. I spoiled him while away and certainly let him do stuff, like sleep in my bed and eat stuff with sugar in it, that he normally does not do at home, so I need to reverse some of the effects of that.

As far as sleep goes though, what am I doing wrong? How do I get this baby to sleep as well as he used to, or even as well as he did while we were away? Coming back from China has been so much harder than when we came back in December. Dek is six months older of course, and much more aware of his power over us. I think he is also hitting the “scared” stage. A nightlight has now been added to his room, which helped initially.

I have heard it can take up to three weeks to get over jet lag. Can I really wait that long? Not sure I have much of a choice. I’ll just keep reading the other mom blogs and sleep books to see if I find a bit of advice I haven’t tried yet. If you have some wisdom to share, I am all ears.

Follow-up coming: as soon as we are on a normal schedule I’ll post what we did and didn’t do. What I did wrong, and what seems to have worked and what didn’t. Either way, I do know that this will just take time.

Now to Catch You Up On Hong Kong

Thankfully I have been to China before. I’m not sure I would have gone through with this crazy plan if I had not.

When we got off the plane I knew exactly where to go to get cash and hop in a taxi. I know the MTR is amazing, but after 24 hours of travel, I didn’t want to deal with the train and any transfers. I wanted a nice man to whisk me away in his car and deliver me to the door of my hotel. I didn’t want to carry bags anymore. I just wanted to focus on me and my boy. My company would cover the cab fare, so why not live in luxury for a while. I’m not above it.

We now have three ducks

We checked into the Butterfly on Prat around 8pm. I booked into this hotel again because I knew the area, and I just wanted our arrival to be simple. I knew exactly where I would go to grab some dinner, where milk was if I needed it, and what to expect from the hotel.

The staff was able to quickly check us in. I even recognized a few people. Dek shyly flirted with the other guests and one of the receptionists gave him another rubber ducky. I love that they provide bath toys, especially since I never pack any.

We were on the 17th floor and all the way down the hall from the elevator. No chance of street or elevator noise here. Hooray! I still had my trusty sound machine, but at least I wouldn’t have to turn it up as loud as usual.

A room at the Butterfly on Prat hotel

Dek was not too thrilled to be in the hotel room, so I quickly changed and we headed out to the kebab shop down the street. I needed a salad after eating way too many carbs on the plane and I thought a mango lassi might be in order too. They do take away service, which got us in and out of there in a jiffy.

Dek wasn’t interested in eating, but he had some milk. Our doctor told us anytime we travel, Dek may lose his appetite for a few days but as long as he keeps drinking he will be OK. I just pushed the liquids and knew I would be able to get some more carbs and fruit in him the next morning.

There was no bathtub in our room, which at first I thought would be a problem, but the shower was so huge that Dek loved it more than a bath. He could still splash his hands on the floor and loved the feel of the water on his head. He showers a lot at home with us, so it was nothing new.

Jammies on and food/milk in our tummies, I unpacked the Baby Bjorn Travel Crib I had finally broken down and bought for this trip (I knew we would get a lot of use out of it). Of course the sheet I packed that normally goes on our pack n’ play didn’t fit. Great. Should have probably checked that before we left. Ok, quick back up plan. I used the 2 blankets I had packed for him (one gross from the plane and one clean) to cover the mat.

Dek didn’t want to sleep in the crib. He was so overwhelmed by all the new things in his world, he just couldn’t take one more change to his life. I couldn’t leave his sight, even though he could hear me. He was glued to my side even in the bathroom. So I pulled him into bed with me, made a little wall of pillows so he would bump into them before falling off  and snuggled up. He was out in a matter of seconds. I on the other hand took about an hour to fall asleep, making it about 10:30pm before I crashed after a very, very long day.

It’s Nighttime, No It’s Daytime

Remember that oh so quite room I had on the 17th floor? Well, at about 12:30am the club goers started to return. It wasn’t that they were talking loud in the hallway, it’s that the doors slamming behind them made so much noise it woke us up. Dek kicked around for about another hour and for some reason my neck was the most comfortable spot on the bed, but finally around 2:30am we both gave up the fight and got up. Ella Enchanted was on the TV, so we had some cereal and milk and zoned out in front of the tube for a bit.

I called Mike and we were able to Skype. Dek, who constantly Skypes with his grandparents, was not phased by seeing daddy on the computer. He said “Hi” and went back to playing with the new car he had found in my secret emergency stash of toys.

At about 4am I declared we were ready for bed again. It took some doing, but Dek finally settled down. Unfortunately the hotel does not have black out curtains. I remembered them at least blocking more light the last time we were here though. When 6:30am rolled around the room was bright and we were trying to find some dark pillows to hide under. Like so many things in life though, it wasn’t that easy. Light means it’s day time and day time means Dek is up and ready to go.

More cereal and milk in hand, Dek munched while I got us ready for our day. I did not have grand plans. We both had less than 6 hours of sleep in us, me less than Dek, and I knew nap time would be longer than usual as Dek continued to adjust. We headed down the street to the coffee shop to have a breakfast of tea (for me), fruit, yogurt and baguette. I saw a solo girl traveler who looked pretty American there too. I should have stopped and chatted with her. I love chatting with other travelers, but sometimes I wonder if they want to talk to me too.

After breakfast we headed to Harbour City on Canton Road to do a little grocery shopping at City’Super. I could have gotten milk at 7-11, but I needed diaper wipes and a few snacks for Dek too and I knew I could get them there. I also really needed to stretch my legs with a nice walk.

If you haven’t been to Hong Kong, Canton Road is a shoppers paradise, especially if you like high-end goods (I do, but can’t afford any of them). However, my one of my favorite stores, H&M, is on Canton Road and they have a great kids section. I couldn’t help stopping in real quick to see what they offered in Asia that might be different from what the U.S. stores were carrying. I walked out with a cute long top to wear over a pair of leggings and a new green hat for Dek. I got my last favorite hat for Dek there, so it only seemed right to get him a new one since his head had grown and we were now into summer wear.

Groceries and new clothes in hand, we headed up Canton Road, cut across Haipong Road, grabbing a fresh strawberry juice along the way and got back to our hotel without any major meltdowns. It took Dek a while to go down for a nap though. He was not keen on the crib still, but I was adamant. We did his nap routine (diaper, books, bed). He had to fuss a bit, but is now sound asleep as I catch up on some writing and emails. I should be napping. Why am I not napping too?

I am still hoping to make it up to Mong Kok to see the Goldfish, Flower and Bird Markets. Hopefully we can swing by the Temple Street Night Market on our way back to the hotel before bedtime too. I’m going to take it easy though. If Dek needs a long snooze to catch up, then long snooze he shall have. Just not too long that he won’t sleep tonight.