Planes, Trains and Automobiles

We finally arrived in Dubai after a rather eventful trek across the globe!  We left Fairfield, TX on Friday, December 2nd around 1:00 pm with our suburban loaded down along with a travel trailer packed full of suitcases and strollers.  The drive to the airport was rather uneventful but Baby Jake made his presence known with crying nearly the entire way there.  I was just praying that he was getting it out of his system in time for the 14-hr flight.  Which was exactly what ended up happening.  Once we finally boarded the plane, Jake took his bottle and was asleep within 1.5 hours of our 6:30 pm departure.  He slept soundly in the bassinet provided by the airplane and only made a few peeps throughout the flight.  Cash was a slightly different story.  He did great on the car ride down but once we got on the plane he was not so happy about being confined to such a small space.  It took him a while to get settled and once in the bassinet, he would prop up on his elbows to look around and check everyone and everything out.  He definitely likes his "look around time" just like his momma did :) Mason is our expert traveler and this flight has become "old hat" for him.  He spent several hours playing Angry Birds, watched Cars 1 and 2 and ate a big dinner before falling asleep around midnight.  All in all, they were troopers and did much better than I or anyone else sitting nearby us ever expected.   

Once we arrived to our hotel though, it was a different story.  According to their time clock, it was morning time and time to play, but it was actually 9 pm Dubai time.  (Dubai is 10 hours ahead of TX time, and the rule of thumb is for every hour of time change, it takes your body that many days to adjust to the new time - yeah!)  We figured that we had been traveling for nearly 21 hours from door to door, so everyone was a bit out of sorts.  We stayed up all night with the boys and played and finally put the boys down around 6 am.  (Note: when I say "we" I mean me and Jenny, our nanny we brought with us!  Rod had to hit the ground running and start work the next morning at 6 am!)  The twins slept for almost 6 hours and had a somewhat normal first day.  Jake has definitely adjusted better than Cash.  He's also a much better and consistent sleeper than Cash has ever been, so I knew this would be a more difficult process for Cash.  The hotel provided us with 2 pack-n-plays, which are set up in the dining room right in the middle of everything.  My goal is to transfer them to Mason's room once we get their sleeping back on track!

The last couple of days have been pretty tough on Cash, and everyone else within crying range of him.  His ears are definitely bothering him as he continues to pull and tug on them and has been very fussy since we have landed.  His longest stretch of sleep has only been 6 hours with just a few catnaps here and there.  The week before we left, both boys came down with bronchitis and ear infections, so we started them on antibiotics and prayed for the best.  He's also the kind that needs to "cry it out" when trying to go to sleep, and this usually only lasts for 5-15 minutes and not like 1-2 hours like he's been doing here.  The usual methods of rocking, holding and sushing him to sleep don't seem to work either because he really just wants to be left alone. This has been tough since he doesn't feel well and their bodies don't know they are supposed to be eating, sleeping or playing.  I think we are finally on the right track though, as he is napping as I type this!

Mason seems to be adjusting pretty well and keeps himself busy with various activities such as entertaining the twins, playing with his cars and trucks, the random cartoon on the local channels, Angry Birds and chasing/pestering Jenny - ha!  We also set up our Apple TV and are now able to watch the shows and movies that we enjoyed watching back home.  I have to say that the Dubai TV is getting more up to date with their programming and have shows that are current with what we watch back home.

That pretty much sums up our first three days here in Dubai.  We haven't gotten out much, but the weather is great so I'm sure we'll start venturing out here pretty soon.