I said.... I would NEVER move to Saudi Arabia.
I would NEVER have kids back to back.
I would NEVER travel across country with little kids.
I would NEVER-- yada yada yada.. you get the point.
I also said I would NEVER, EVER, EVER fly with all 3 of my kids by myself.
Well, NEVER.SAY.NEVER!
Brooks' had 4 weeks of vacation, but it did not fall over Christmas day. I really didn't want to go back to Saudi three weeks before Gavin had to return to school, but Brooks and I agreed we didn't want to spend Christmas day apart and our little family not being together. So... we both had to compromise a little. He agreed to "let" me stay in the USA a week and a half longer then his vacation and I agreed to be back in Saudi Christmas morning. We both got what we wanted-- I got to spend more time in the USA and he had his family on Christmas. It really wasn't a bad scenario, except for the fact that NO ONE was flying back to Saudi the week of Christmas-- everyone was flying home to the USA. So, I was left with a big decision... either only get a month in the states and travel with Brooks or fly back by myself with all 3 kids. I chose the latter.
It is amazing the things you are willing to go through just to have time in the USA. I never in a million years thought I could do this by myself nor did I ever want to, but it was worth it to me. For weeks leading up to the trip I just kept telling myself it's only 24 hours. I can do anything for 24 hours. I had accepted this was either going to be the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life and experience 24 hours of misery and suffer through it or it was going to be a great decision accompanied with a little hard work. It ended up being great!
For starters, my mom was a huge help in the airport. I got us all checked in, then persuaded, begged, and pleaded with airport officials to give my mom a gate pass to accompany me through security to the gate only to be turned down multiple times, we sat at a deli, fed the kids dinner, changed their clothes, distributed benadryl, and visited before we were escorted through by a gate clerk. It was extremely hard telling my mom goodbye and seeing her kiss my babies one last time, but we managed and did our little routine where we both attempt to not cry in front of the other one, only to look into each other's eyes and get lost in the tears. It's always a tough moment.
So, I did receive help and made it through security in one piece and we walked up to the gate at the end of boarding time. It was perfect. There was no line, we walked right up to the plane, and boarded. The crew was extremely helpful and the kids were pretty excited about being on their way to see daddy. Within 30 minutes of take off all the kids were asleep. Awesome! It was wonderful. I ate my dinner then drifted off to sleep as much as I could before someone woke up. The boys slept 9 1/2 hours. Again... I say awesome! The flight was only 14 1/2 hours so once they ate breakfast, watched a movie, played a little, we were done with that flight. Brooklyn was a different story. She wasn't as interested in sleeping as long and since I didn't give her benadryl, she didn't have any assistance in that department. I had to take her out of the bassinet at some point due to turbulence and she never wanted to fall back asleep. After 2 hours of struggling to put her back down, I pulled out my baby carrier and strapped her onto me and walked her up and down the aisles until she fell asleep. This allowed her and I about 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep time. For me, on a flight where I wasn't sure if I was going to sleep at all, it was great! The kids all did really, really good. I had help from the flight attendants when I needed to go to the restroom, or wash out bottles, or change diapers. Someone was always willing to sit with my kids as well as take care of us. We were continuously getting waited on with snacks, drinks, cookies, toys, and more! Before I knew it, we were landing. Many, many gentlemen offered assistance to get the kids off the plane for me along with our carry-ons and I took them up on it. We boarded the bus that took us to the terminal and all that was left between us and home was a 55 minute flight. Oh glorious!!
Well.. this is where the fun begins. This stupid flight has a policy about certain car seats and they didn't want to let me on the plane with my car seat for Miles, but Miles and Brooklyn are under 2 (at the time), which means technically I have 2 infants who have to be strapped onto me for take off and landing, but it's against policy to have 2 infants in my lap so we went around and around and around. I won that battle and was escorted onto the plane with security and administrators to verify that my child's FAA approved car seat does in fact fit on the plane, in the seat, and can be strapped appropriately. Oh yea and to add to the fun Miles and Gavin's seats weren't near mine so I allowed the flight attendants to escort my two children to their seats only for them to realize they were being seated with someone other then their mother who was not interested in taking care of them during the flight. Within minutes they came and asked me if I wanted my kids to sit with me. Um. yes. please! haha. It was really funny watching them go through this, not to mention there was no way in the world I was going to allow the boys to sit anywhere but with me. They then moved them to the row behind me, only to have the gentlemen seated in my row tell me he'd move back there and then told the next gentlemen who was assigned to my row that his new seat was next to him. Great!
In the end everything worked out, we made it through the flight, we got through customs within 15 minutes, found all 8 of our bags, and were reunited with Brooks! It was not a bad trip at all and something that I would honestly do again, if needed, but only if I was traveling back to Saudi. I would NEVER fly TO the USA with all 3 kids by myself. That flight is much more difficult due to the time frame of flying along with the fact that it's almost 3 hours longer then the return flight.
Oops.. I did it again. I just said I would never.
Here's a glimpse of a little jetlag once we got home.
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