For the past two weeks, we've been in Beirut, Lebanon. We're here with 5 students as one of our cross cultural summer projects. It's been an adventure for sure. And lots of adjusting.
Our little guys are doing great, but it was rough on our flights over here and helping their bodies get over to the major jet lag. I share this because it's in the past and now comical. We obviously hoped and prepared in every way for Grayson and Jackson to sleep on our 9hr, then 4hr flights here. We left at 8pm and gave them their usual teething tablets (all natural!) to just take their crankiness down a notch on the plane. We are not above drugging our sweet angels, on horribly long flights but unfortunately we tested it out a few days before and they were even more untamed. Anyway, sweet 'ol Grayson eventually was rocked to sleep and we put in him a little bassinet attached to the bulkhead wall in front of us. We zipped him in and made sure the lights weren't glaring in his eyes. He slept solidly for 5 hours! Which, honestly was all we could ask for...with the dinner service and the announcements and lights after takeoff and before landing that was really the only quiet and dark time.
Poor Jackson though. He finally fell asleep in my arms with his head on my shoulder for probably 45 minutes before he jolted awake. And that was it! He took this little power nap and was WIDE awake the rest of the flight. He was content, thankfully, but I don't think his eyelids drooped once after that nap. So that meant Andrew and I switched off with J and we probably each got a total of an hour of sleep. Ha. It really was ridiculous looking back!
During our layover Jackson totally crashed in the stroller (which he hasn't done since he was maybe 3 months!) and then again on our next flight.
Aside from the travel getting here and eventually coaxing mainly Jackson to relearn sleeping through the night, it's been great! We thankfully found strawberries and kiwis which G and J still love! They've tried falafel, hummus, menoush, plums, cherries, and lots of other yummy things since being here, but I think they still prefer fruit over anything else.
They also love watching the many cranes and construction sites scattered around the city. People love them and I think they're almost an attraction here...old men, young people, kids, everyone stops, stares and then reaches in pinches their cheeks and often kisses them on the head or hands. Definitely a different concept of personal space around kids! I mean a blondish, blue eyed baby is rare here and even rarer when there are two!
We've been taking Arabic classes, visited an orphanage, met with lots of foreign workers, visited a few churches, looked at several college campuses, and overall talked with lots of people.
Our trip is down to halfway which is baffling! We're looking forward to what the next two weeks hold.
Our little guys are doing great, but it was rough on our flights over here and helping their bodies get over to the major jet lag. I share this because it's in the past and now comical. We obviously hoped and prepared in every way for Grayson and Jackson to sleep on our 9hr, then 4hr flights here. We left at 8pm and gave them their usual teething tablets (all natural!) to just take their crankiness down a notch on the plane. We are not above drugging our sweet angels, on horribly long flights but unfortunately we tested it out a few days before and they were even more untamed. Anyway, sweet 'ol Grayson eventually was rocked to sleep and we put in him a little bassinet attached to the bulkhead wall in front of us. We zipped him in and made sure the lights weren't glaring in his eyes. He slept solidly for 5 hours! Which, honestly was all we could ask for...with the dinner service and the announcements and lights after takeoff and before landing that was really the only quiet and dark time.
Poor Jackson though. He finally fell asleep in my arms with his head on my shoulder for probably 45 minutes before he jolted awake. And that was it! He took this little power nap and was WIDE awake the rest of the flight. He was content, thankfully, but I don't think his eyelids drooped once after that nap. So that meant Andrew and I switched off with J and we probably each got a total of an hour of sleep. Ha. It really was ridiculous looking back!
During our layover Jackson totally crashed in the stroller (which he hasn't done since he was maybe 3 months!) and then again on our next flight.
Aside from the travel getting here and eventually coaxing mainly Jackson to relearn sleeping through the night, it's been great! We thankfully found strawberries and kiwis which G and J still love! They've tried falafel, hummus, menoush, plums, cherries, and lots of other yummy things since being here, but I think they still prefer fruit over anything else.
They also love watching the many cranes and construction sites scattered around the city. People love them and I think they're almost an attraction here...old men, young people, kids, everyone stops, stares and then reaches in pinches their cheeks and often kisses them on the head or hands. Definitely a different concept of personal space around kids! I mean a blondish, blue eyed baby is rare here and even rarer when there are two!
We've been taking Arabic classes, visited an orphanage, met with lots of foreign workers, visited a few churches, looked at several college campuses, and overall talked with lots of people.
Our trip is down to halfway which is baffling! We're looking forward to what the next two weeks hold.
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