Brisbane Week 1 + Jet Lag

June 2013. Malachi and mum on a walk.

Our first week of our Australian holiday was spent in Brisbane with Ben's brother Carl, sister-in-law, Jane, and nephews Henry and Daniel. Ben was working on American time while we were there, which translates to most days working from 4am-noon. I think Ben managed his hours pretty well, and it was nice for him to be done working all afternoon.

3 brown-eyed boys, Charlie, Daniel and Henry

Adelaide, my beautiful 'big' girl

Adelaide on the swing

6 month old Malachi

Adelaide and Charlie were sharing a sleeping space in the downstairs living room and Ben, Malachi and I were in the bedroom next to it. It's awfully sweet how much Charlie loves Adelaide, but she gets a bit cranky when he jumps in her bed and wakes her from a peaceful sleep (I don't blame her, hah!). Because of the jet lag, Charlie's internal clock was waking him up around 4am most days (2:30am on day 3), and by about the third night I felt like we needed a change in the schedule. We tried doing a 7pm bedtime the first few nights, but that meant the kids were only getting about 9 hours of sleep, quite a deficit to the 12+ they get at home (not including naps). We moved bedtime back to 5pm one night and the next day they slept until 5am. This was a win because, yes 5am is still early, but it's later than 4am and 12 hours of sleep make for much happier children. By the end of the week bedtime was back to around 7pm and they are waking close to 6:30 at this point. Naps are a bit early (around 11/11:30) but the kids are much happier today than they were a week ago. A note that we were also having to wake them up from their naps the first few days we arrived, since they were still in a dead sleep around 4:30/5pm. 

Charlie, Adelaide and Malachi on a big swing

Adelaide and Malachi

Charlie admiring his baby brother

Malachi adjusted very well to the time change. I made sure to wake him up about every 3 hours from his naps during the day (much like you would a newborn) to help get his days/nights figured out. He started doing a 5 hour stretch the first night and then about an 8 hour stretch of sleep followed by about another 4 hours by the end of the week. He has had some big changes since we have arrived, but I will post about those separately. 

Henry and Adelaide in the jumping castle

I was feeling pretty lousy by Saturday, which can be attributed to lack of sleep. With Ben working I was handling the kids in the early morning hours through to nap time and was trying to balance it out with an early bedtime myself, but was also getting up in the middle of the night with Malachi... it all caught up with me by the weekend. But after a couple of days of good sleep I feel much like myself again. I think the jet lag is over by now, which confirms that if you are going to make a big trip such as this, you must devote enough time for your body to adjust and then you can enjoy yourself :)

Daniel and Charlie

Daniel on the quad-bike

Most mornings Carl and I would take the 5 kids out in our big rental van to a playground. After nap time the kids spent a lot of time playing outside on scooters and bikes. We had fish and chips more than once and Charlie learned that "chips and to-mah-to sauce" in Australia is actually "fries and ketchup"... quite a difference to a 2-year old, but thankfully even more delicious. We have already enjoyed many goodies including: Tim Tams, caramel milkshakes, Mint Slice, iced chocolates, cappuccinos, meat pies, sausage rolls, etc, etc. We have lots of favorite foods here! We have also been taking lots of walks and spending time with family. Everything about Australia is just gorgeous. I'm completely in love with this country :)

June 2013. Charlie (2.5 YO) and Adelaide (4 YO). Early morning walk.