The Great American All Nighter

Just when we thought our all-night ragers were over, Jacob and I found ourselves at a 24-hour diner in San Mateo at 3am, surrounded by guys who had been out drinking, others who appeared to have been playing poker all night, a couple of underage lovebirds, and a table of cops doing the night shift. Oh, and our two children as well.

It was 1:30 am and we had flown in from London about 10 hours prior. Emil sat up in bed and starting talking and smiling. Esme followed suit, with Jacob and me close behind. All of us felt wide awake and ready to start our days. Our bodies were telling us that it was morning and time for breakfast (and if we had been in London still, our bodies would have been right). It was the beginning of jetlag. Thank god we were back in America, where there was a 24-hour diner and a nearby 24-hour grocery store so that we could feed ourselves.

We've been told by a few friends that it takes about 3 days to get over jetlag, and thus far, we think that's about right. Tonight will be our third night back from London, so hopefully this will be the last night of children waking up confused and ready to start the day while the sun still soundly sleeps. It was about 3 days on our flight out for the children to adjust. This being our first experience with jetlag as parents, I don't have a ton of advice, other than to take it easy and not expect too much of the children during the day, when they're sluggish and confused about why they have to be awake. That, and make sure you have food on hand for middle of the night wakings, when your child's body is insisting that it's breakfast time.

Esme was upset yesterday when she was awakened from her nap by her nanny instead of me. Although, I can't say she would have reacted much differently if I had woken her up. She just didn't want to wake up. It's 6:46 am here now, and she's been awake since 2am. She's starting to get grumpy, but I'm trying to keep her up as long as possible. Emil's napping, but he needs lots of frequent naps. If Esme goes to sleep now, she's going to want to sleep for 8 hours.