We’re in that kind of fuzzy stage right now after vacation, trying to get back in the groove. It’s harder when it’s a long vacation, like this one was.
Sleep/ jet lag has been so-so.
I’ve been waking up really early and unable to fall back to sleep- around 3 am on Sunday (1st day back), and Monday I think around 4-4:30. Today I also woke up just before 4. I laid there a while and then just decided to get up. The boys have been waking up a bit earlier than usual, too.
Last night we were in the kitchen talking with Ivan’s sister who had stopped by. We hadn’t seen Asher in a while, and Ivan went to look for him….turns out he had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room! It wasn’t even 8 pm. Haha. We dragged him half-asleep into his room and tucked him. 🙂
Work catch up is also going okay. Lots of emails. I sat at my desk basically from 8-4 with barely any breaks at all yesterday, just sorting through things and trying to regroup. After a very active vacation, it felt kind of yucky to just SIT so much. Not even joking, I think I logged maybe 3,000 steps in the entire day yesterday. BAD. I’m determined to get out for a walk today and do a short home workout. Not going to add the gym back on quite yet. Maybe tomorrow??
Home stuff is going pretty well. We still need to do a full grocery run, but have enough to get by until….maybe tonight. Haha. I’m happy we are at least all unpacked. I still have a variety of home admin tasks to do, and I feel like I spent forever adding upcoming sports schedules to the family Google Cal and my planner. Ethan has a new schedule conflict with piano vs. soccer….ugh. I’m waiting to hear back from his teacher on that one. My personal email inbox needs more attention, too, and I have a variety of forms, papers, things to respond to, etc.
Souvenirs
We didn’t buy much on our trip (as if we had SPACE to bring stuff back!! The combo of country/outdoor activities + Ireland weather + big city/Rome + slightly warmer weather made this trip a little tricky to pack for…we didn’t exactly travel as light as is ideal).
But the boys each brought back some cool souvenirs for a couple of their best friends. 🙂 They really seemed to enjoy picking things out for them! It was cute. They put some real thought into it.
Asher also wanted to get this magnet for his school Religion teacher, from the Vatican:
I already shared my worry stone souvenir… Besides that, I just got a couple of small things. My mom also got me this little tea bag holder. (Coaster? Plate? I don’t know what it’s called. Something you can set your tea bag on when you take it out of the cup or pot.)
It’s small and fits right at the back of my desk, and is very cute!! I do tend to make single CUPS of tea, very often. And then I take the cup to my desk to work, and after a while, I want the tea bag out! But I never have anywhere to set it. So this is perfect. The little leprechaun is silly but so adorable, too.
I also picked up a new bookmark in Ireland:
I wish I’d found a real bookmark in Rome, but we didn’t do too much shopping there. I did buy these beautiful postcards. Many times I just use postcards as bookmarks, anyway, so they’ll be fine. It really brings me so much joy to use travel bookmarks or postcards to mark my book pages! It’s one of my favorite “bright ideas” I’ve ever had. LOL! Every time I open the book and see it, I get a flash of fond memories. 🙂
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful that Ivan is the manager of the boys’ shoes. They both needed some new shoes, and he always deals with that 100%- finds them, orders them, gets the good price, makes sure they fit, deals with any exchanges….I’m not even sure I know what size shoes my boys wear right now. hahaha. Not sure when he ordered them, but they already arrived yesterday.
GRATEFUL KAE 
That’s hilarious about the shoes comment – it’s the exact opposite in our house. My husband would have NO idea what size shoes the kids wear.
Also, he has NEVER cut kid fingernails. That is a job that is exclusively mine (for my best friend it’s the exact opposite; her husband is the only one who cuts kid fingernails in their family)!
In our house, my husband is the only one who books hotels (and he generally does all the other “booking” side of travel – flights, tickets etc). We plan activities out together, but in terms of finding hotels/flights – that is 100% his job.
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Hubby is the only one cutting A’s fingernails here too! I’ve never, ever done it!
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I don’t cut their fingernails either!! My husband does that too! I am just not good at it! And I like my nails super short… the one time I cut Ethan’s he said I cut them way too short and he said never again. 🤣🤣 Now the boys have started cutting their own, but it was always Dad’s job. 😉
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Hehe! This is fascinating!
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coming back from a long and fun vacation is hard especially when you get back to work/school right away. I find having at least one day to regroup helps a lot to feel less overwhelmed but that means one less day having fun, so hard choice. Jet lag is hard! the older I get the longer it takes me to adjust to it. I try to either read or just lie still resting fully awake it helps to get the rest and less anxious about it. kids adjust to jet lag much faster so i’m sure they’ll be back to normal soon.
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Yes, we often come home the day right before, but I was sooo glad that for this trip, with the jet lag aspect, that we planned to get home on Saturday instead.
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That adjustment after long haul travel can be really tricky. It sounds like you’re doing great! I always love getting caught up on the laundry after any trip away, it feels so rewarding! Take it easy and enjoy being home 🙂
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Ditto. I have also learned if we’re visiting friends not to bother to do a load of laundry right before we come home. I want to just throw everything into the washing machine and get things fresh anyway! This was a huge revelation to me – I always tried to squeeze in a laundry right before we would leave my parents, but discovered it was much easier to unpack if I just washed everything (admittedly we do tend to pack very light!, so it’s basically just a single large laundry)…
It makes the transition home/unpacking SO much easier for me.
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That makes total sense! There’s just something so rewarding about stuffing everything in the washing machine!
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Years ago I read or heard that it takes your body 1 days per hour of time change! So it makes sense you guys are still feeling off. It’s a rough adjustment for sure!
That is funny about Ivan and the boys’ shoes. I do all of the clothing and shoe management so far. But one thing Phil does that is mentioned above is trim the boys nails. I tried to respond to the chain of comments above but got a weird ‘this comment is blocked” note when I tried to do that! So I think it didn’t go through? Anyways, what I tried to say is that I tried cutting Paul’s nails when he was a baby and took off a little bit of the top of his finger! Not much but wow did it bleed. I was so traumatized so I said NEVER AGAIN!
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I had never heard that about 1 day per hour, but I feel like that’s totally accurate!! That adds up about perfectly to when I started feeling more normal again…right around 5 full days, and we were 5-6 hours off (daylight savings happened in the U.S. while we were gone, but not in Ireland, so our “time off” shifted part way through the trip).
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