Back home again!

Ready as we're going to be for the long-haul flight

I thought I would take a minute and update you on how we're settling back into life in Switzerland. We've been back for almost two weeks now, and I have a hard time posting about jet lag until I know Baby K is fully past it; I'm always worried I'll be all excited that she's back to normal, then out of the blue she'll throw us for a loop and be up all night.

Watching all the other kids run around

The flights and jet lag weren't too bad coming back this way. DFW Airport really needs to up their game on the whole kids area situation. I've gotten used to traveling in Europe, where virtually every airport has an enclosed kids/family area. The big blue sculpture thing in Terminal D was the best I could come up with at DFW to let Baby K walk around and get some energy out pre-flight. It sort of worked.

Trying hard to settle in for the flight

I think the worst thing about our flight from DFW to London was the sheer amount of time it took them to do meal service for the flight. Our plane took off around 6pm and the lights finally went out around 10pm. That is a long four hours on a plane with a baby girl who really needed to go to sleep. Then for breakfast they turned the lights back on about an hour before we landed, waking Baby K right back up.

Ridiculously tired during our stop in London

Luckily, we sat next to another mom and two-year-old daughter who were also flying solo. Both Baby K and the other little girl were great little travelers. One other thing about our flight I have to note...there is a huge difference in women versus men flight attendants. All of the ones on the way over were females, some with children, and on the way back it was all males in my section. There's just a big difference between being willing to take Baby K so I can grab a bite to eat or go to the bathroom (women) and offering me more wine with a look of sympathy as the most helpful thing you can offer each time you pass (men). Just saying...

Exhaustion finally wins on the way to Geneva

We used Baby K's jet lag to our advantage the first couple of nights back by going to dinner and celebrating Swiss National Day. We stayed at a friend's house for dinner and socializing until around 10, and Baby K hung in the whole time, like a champ. For the first four or five nights Baby K would wake up somewhere between 8pm and 11pm, play for an hour-ish, then go back to sleep. Not too bad, and it seems kind of normal after our third trip to the US.

Feeling good after a short nighttime "nap"

Now, since we're back to life, August is the month of holiday in Europe. Not that everyone gets a month off or anything, but the majority of people go on some sort of vacation, and many of the smaller shops and restaurants close down. Needless to say, both babysitters are on holiday until mid-to-late August, so Baby K and I have a lot of time together to get back into the swing of things and get the house back in order after being gone for a month.

"Helping" in our garden

Of course, one thing that's different for us is that we're a one-dog family now. BK reported that Tobs had much more pep in his step after Baby K and I returned. He's started playing again, lets Baby K "love" on him quite often and is generally very happy to have his people around. Tobs is a much better traveler and socializer than Tanner was, so he's been to dinner with us, been on a car ride with us, and rarely barks. To be completely honest, when we got home the first thing I felt was relief. Relief that Tan was no longer in pain, relief that our days were no longer scheduled around when he needed insulin, relief that I would be sleeping through the night, relief that our life just got much more flexible. That may sound bad, but it's the truth.

Happy that his baby was back home

So there you have it- what we're up to. We're being spontaneous this weekend and heading off to Berlin; it's been somewhere we've wanted to visit for a while. Monday, BK suggested that we see if we could make it happen, and so we did. I have the essentials booked- flights, hotel, and babysitter. We'll take it from there when we arrive!

International travel with the tot

Enjoying some in-flight entertainment

A number of people have asked me how traveling internationally with Baby K has been this time, especially now that she's mobile. Things were a bit different this time, considering that last time I did this journey by myself at Christmas she was just starting to crawl. Now she wants to walk, and would also prefer to talk to anyone who is not me.

Our trip from Switzerland started off a little rough; the flight from Geneva to London was not our best. Baby K didn't sleep all that well the night before, and because it was a 7am flight, I had to wake her around 5:30 so I could feed her a little breakfast, change her clothes, pack up and catch the shuttle to the airport.

Heading down to our early morning flight from Geneva

So, Geneva to London was not our best flight, as Baby K was restless and wanted to get down the entire flight. She was SO tired. Luckily we were sitting in the vicinity of a family who seemed to have about seven kids with them, ranging from teenagers to toddlers, so they all entertained her and helped keep her occupied. Regardless, a restless toddler can still make an hour-long flight feel much longer. I was relieved to get off the plane so she could move a little. After getting through customs at Heathrow, I called BK to let him know that if the rest of our journey went like this I would only be going back to the US twice per year, for two weeks, and only with him.

One great thing I've discovered about traveling in Europe is that virtually every airport has kids play areas. As in, enclosed, confined areas they can go in to and run around like wild banshees. Not that Baby K is quite to this stage yet, but it's still good to let her go in and roam around, play with other kids, and generally just get her energy out. BK always reminds me that we can go to the lounge during our layover; as good as that sounds, it just doesn't work with Baby K right now, as all I feel like we're doing is bothering all the business travelers and she's busy getting into everything that's not child-proofed. So, play area it is.

Thankfully, our flight from London to DFW went much smoother. Did I mention that Baby K was really tired? Yeah, she fell asleep before we even took off and slept for the first two hours of our eight hour flight. The flight from Europe to the US is always harder, as it's a daytime flight and they never turn the lights off, so Baby K just kind of has to wear herself out until she falls asleep.

While she slept, I was able to eat a bite and relax a bit. I think I may have even dozed some. Skip to the end- Baby K slept for the last two hours of our flight as well, as she felt like it was bedtime in Switzerland. So that still leaves four hours in between...

Some quiet toys on the plane

During her four hours awake on the plane I did various things to keep her occupied. I brought a number of small, portable toys to bring out at various times; she watched some Baby TV; and we walked the length of the plane a number of times (she charmed everyone with her cuteness). I think those are the big things. The flight attendants were extremely helpful as well, taking Baby K for a short time so that I could eat without her crashing my plate.

I think one of the huge things that you have to keep in mind, and be willing to do when traveling with a toddler, is move around with them and do the things they're used to doing. People may be wondering why we're pacing up and down the aisles, but it's a lot better than listening to a frustrated kid cry and squirm because their parent won't get up and let them move around a bit. If you want to/have to travel with a toddler, you can't go into it thinking you'll get to relax or just kind of hangout on the flight, your job is to help them make it through the flight. I figure I'll rest later when the grandparents can get up with Baby K and let me sleep a little bit later.

A very excited Abbs greeted us at the airport with PopPop

On the sleeping note, just like our trips before, as soon as we arrived in the US I forced Baby K to be on Texas time. As usual, my family all came over for dinner the night we arrived, and Baby K played with her cousins until it was time for bed at around 7:30pm. My jet lag has to kind of be ignored, but the first few nights I started to crumple into a little ball on the couch around 9pm.

To be honest, I was just hoping Baby K would sleep past midnight the first night in Texas, as her little body would be feeling like it was 7am in Switzerland, which is her normal waking time. I was pleasantly surprised when she slept until 3:30am and stayed awake until 4:30. I let her quietly play in our room, keeping the lights low and staying in bed myself. She would play around for a while, then after about 45 minutes or so she would start to get tired again. Until she got over jet lag I put her in bed with me so she didn't feel like I was forcing her to go back to sleep. Even though she was sound asleep at 7am, I typically got her up and we got going so she could make the switch to this time zone. Everything I've read says that one of the most important things to do when recovering from jet lag is to get out, be active and be in the sunshine, so that's typically what we do.

We arrived on Sunday evening, and I'm happy to report that she was sleeping normally (7:30pm to 7am) by that following Friday night. Maybe she's just a Daddy's girl. BK arrived on Saturday to a Baby K who was sleeping though the night, just like at home. No big deal, right?

Tomorrow we embark on our journey back to Switzerland. The flight back home is an overnight one, so I'm hoping that Baby K will feel like she's ready to go to bed and will sleep the majority of the time. Fingers crossed.

Think good thoughts for us. I'm excited to make it to Geneva where an eager BK will be waiting to pick up his girls!

Our first fur baby

It's been a few days now, and I haven't posted until now about it, but we lost Tanner boy last Friday. I've been rolling things around in my head about what to say, but it just hadn't come to me yet. I'm still not really sure what to say about it, but I need to just get it out there.

Before leaving Switzerland for the month, BK and I had discussed the fact that I was really worried about how Tanner would do with us being away for a month. At Christmas, when we were away for an extended period of time, he lost about a quarter of his body weight, which is a lot for a 10-pound dog. We also discussed that at some point our discussions about Tanner needed to turn from being what other treatments can we do, to what is his quality of life.

The boys have been with a dogsitter who takes great care of them. Not to get into the gory details, but Tanner got sick and started having seizures Thursday night, she took him to our vet, and he called early Friday morning to tell me that he needed to know how we wanted to treat Tanner. The thing that really sucked was that Baby K and I were already in the US. It's hard losing a pet anytime, but when you're an ocean away, it felt even harder.

I knew the answer when the vet called. No, we didn't want to send him for more tests or more treatments. He was blind (not a life-threatening thing), had diabetes, didn't enjoy walks anymore, went on hunger strikes quite often, and I really think he only felt good about 10 percent of the time. Despite all the love we have for the little guy and everything we did for him, his life was just not enjoyable or comfortable anymore.

I'm thankful that BK had not left Switzerland yet, and was able to quickly leave work and go to be with Tanner, just before he had to leave for the airport to come to Texas. He said it was hard, and I'm sure it was. It would have been a little less hard if BK and I could have been together and there for one another, but it just wasn't in the cards.

The vet did speak with me numerous times about various things, with one of them being what we wanted him to do with Tanner after he passed. The options were: 1) store him in cold storage until we returned so we could bury him in the garden; 2) "burn" him with other animals; or 3) "burn" him and we could have his ashes. You may be flinching at the word burn, and so was I, but when you live in a place where English is not the language, you understand that sometimes things just get lost in translation. Of course he meant cremate, but still...

For me, he doesn't belong in Switzerland, as that's just our temporary home for a while. He belongs under the tree in the backyard at our house in Fort Worth. He spent many of his younger days chasing squirrels out of the backyard and acting like a wild man, and I just feel like that's where he (his ashes) belongs.

Sorry to be a downer to anyone reading, but obviously this is a pretty big deal in our lives, which I typically share about, and it's been on my mind, so there you have it. I would go on about what a great dog he was, funny things he did, but I'm not quite there yet. Apparently before Baby K came along I posted quite a bit about the pups. You can read 18 other posts I've written about the boys here if you want to reminisce.

Don't worry, I'll let you know how the Tobster gets along. The dogsitter reports that he is now doing better than when Tanner first went to the doctor, is happy and playing with her dogs. The furry dog should be okay, and is typically happy if he can just be with his people, and especially his baby.

Okay, that's all for now. I rest easy knowing that Tanner boy is no longer in pain and is probably doing his three-legged run and barking his head off in dog heaven now. Rest In Peace Tanner boy; you will be missed.