Monday, December 17, 2007

And We're Off

It's 8:15 on Tuesday morning. We're leaving for the airport at 10:45. The girls are still sleeping. We put them to bed late last night hoping they would sleep late. We're trying to get them on an Italy schedule. Matt scoped out Sicily when he was there a couple of weeks ago. The restaurants don't open for lunch until around 12:30 (right around nap time) and dinner at around 8:00 (past bedtime). So, we'll have to try to change their schedule up a bit. I wonder if schools start later or if the kids of many European countries are sleep deprived. It's a similar schedule here in Portugal and our Portuguese babysitter told me that the kids suffer from a schedule of late nights and early morning. Matt and I just keep the kids on an American schedule of early naps and early bedtimes - except for once a week when we eat out.

For this trip, Matt and I even sat down and finalized an itinerary. The GPS navigation system has been checked for appropriate POI's (Points of Interest) and Matt has deemed it an essential tool who must not forget.

I'm off to make some strong coffee and pop some Motrin. I'm already getting a headache. I dislike flying with young children. It never goes very well. I wish I could wear a sweatshirt, sweatpants and slippers. I hate standing in line for a coffee preflight and noticing that I'm standing next to someone dressed to kill for her flight. I mean, why wear four-inch heels and skirt on a flight? I just don't get it unless you're walking off the plane and immediately into a business meeting. I usually stick with a decent sweater, jeans and clogs that can be taken off easily during the flight.

Well, both kids have just woken up. So much for our plan. They didn't go to bed until 9:00. Therefore, they have slept under 12-hours. Bad. Very bad. We have a long flight. At least Lila slept through the night and had undisturbed sleep. Olivia usually sleeps 13-hours a night lately. Hey, at least we tried. We'll have to go with the flow and hope for the best!

We're off on our first European adventure with two kids under the age of three! Oh, and Lila's cutting about three teeth....this is going to be fun folks!

2 comments:

Angie said...

We had the same problem with finding places for dinner that were open early in Italy. We even ate late (7, for us) and some places weren't open. The good part about that, was that eating at 7 or 7:30, when we found a place, it was definitely not crowded.

I hope that you have a great flight and a good time.

The Dunns said...

Oh, yuck! Good luck! I don't envy you at all. The last time I flew with Daniel (3) & Mikey (1), Daniel threw up all over me and him midflight. Of course, I had a change of clothes for the boys because I'm a prepared, on-top-of-it mom, but did I have extra clothes for me? Ohhhh, no! So I smelled like puke for most of the 7-hour flight. Lovely! The people on the plane really enjoyed it, too, since the air is constantly recirculated. I think we made a guy next to us puke, too. ;) Oh, and Steve somehow ingeniously chose that time to take a magazine to the bathroom for 20 minutes, so there I was with a crying baby and a sick toddler by myself with people all around me glaring at me but not offering any help. Did they think I could have stopped Daniel from throwing up?!? Oh, and we had turbulence, so while I was cleaning up we had to stop and get buckled into the seats. :( So, I have sworn off all air travel until our youngest is at least 4!

Hope you have a great flight and a fun vacation!!