Jetlag woes

August 5, 2010 - 9:22 AM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life

Itzik Rennert piece, titled "Jetlag"

We’ve been in the States for the last month or so of our summer vacation, and while returning home is always welcome, it is a little jarring. There are the suitcases to unpack, the treats to distribute, the house to put back in order, work awaits, and of course, there is the jetlag to handle (argh).

I’d been so jangly about jetlag with 21-month-old twins that I put off a trip to the States for many months. We did travel to South Africa last winter, but hey, no time difference and no jetlag! Our trip to the States wasn’t bad; they slept most of the way and while the jetlag in Atlanta, GA consisted for several middle-of-the-night playdates and a bout of 103 fever, it all ended pretty quickly and I didn’t have to think about it again for another six weeks.

As we readied ourselves for the return flight home, I started contemplating the next bout of jetlag. There are those who say the jetlag is worse on this end, even though you’re back on your own home turf. My brother-in-law takes two weeks to recover. I tend to sleep it off in a few days and then get on with things. But who knew how the boys would react?

First night: Nightmare. A nap from 9 pm to 11 pm, up until 2:30, including snacks of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at 1 am. And then, full-on sleep until 12 pm, (not including a knock at the door at 7 am, as my 17-year-old nephew needed the extra key to his house, don’t ask) when we all finally woke up.

Day one at home: After wondering when to ‘nap’ the boys given their 12 pm wakeup, we consult the internet, which concurs that regular sleeptimes help, and daylight is a must. We head to the pool after their late afernoon nap.

Second night: Bedtime at 10:10, boys wake up at 9:20. Joy of joys! No need to pop in Elmo Takes a Bath at midnight, because they weren’t awake.

Day two at home: We head to the pool again. Tack on food shopping at the end, boys do great.

Third night: Bedtime at 9:20, boys wake up at 7 am. Suspiciously close to usual wakeup time.

Day three at home: No pool today, outdoor concert instead. Bedtime TBA. We’ll let you know how it goes, but I’m feeling hopeful.

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Tags: jetlag, summer vacation, twins

Happy 1st birthday, Ziv and Lev

October 14, 2009 - 9:57 PM by Jessica · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life

Lev, Ziv and the rest of us

Hard to believe, but yesterday was my twin sons’ first birthday. I’m realizing that I probably didn’t write this yesterday because I was, in a sense, too overwhelmed to even think about contemplating the passage of this year. But now that they’re one year and one day, I can get sentimental. So, here goes:

Ziv and Lev are a year old, and 365 days have passed since they were born, at 2 and 1.2 kilos each, respectively. We’ve gone through learning about the Hadassah NICU, how to nurse (me and them), bath and feed. We’ve figured out the tag-teaming that is twin-care, from lifting two at at time and feeding with one spoon (it’s a lot simpler) to figuring out who really needs you when both are crying and not worrying so much about favoritism issues.

We’ve become friends with our Tipat Chalav nurse, Nira; have become accustomed to the grins, smiles, stares and well-meaning strangers who constantly stop to ask if the two similar-looking boys sitting side by side in the stroller are twins; and now know that in Israel, red is considered a color for baby girls, not boys. We’re into the park and playground circuit, and despite our ‘advanced’ age as parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins), it’s kinda fun to hang out with all sorts of people at the playground. Turns out that when you have kids, you have a lot in common with anyone else who is or has ever been a parent.

Which means that if you can hack it, there’s a lot of good advice out there, which I’ve been wise enough about taking so far, and hopefully will continue to do so. If it wasn’t for my sisters and a good friend, I never would have sleep trained my boys, and consequently, wouldn’t be getting good nights of sleep for the last four months. And almost everyone, when you’re the parent of twins, has something to tell you. It can be the guy at Aroma the other day, who showed me the video on his cellphone of his 15-month-old twin girls, and he also has an older daughter, similar to our blended family situation. Or the friend who’s also a mother of 19-year-old triplets, who gave us a photo album for each boy, with a designated page for each month of their first year. Better get working on that. (Thank god for Mac and iPhoto, which separates your pics into months.) Or the neighbor who has six-year-old twins and told me — when I’d had a particularly harrowing day around five months — that things get much easier after they’re six months old. She was right.

But all in all, it’s been a fantastic year. And we’re looking forward to many, many more. Happy birthday, Ziv and Lev.

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