Saying good bye sucks, and it makes me sad and I hate it. I hate having to kiss my parents good-bye, and I hate explaining to my kids in simple terms what is going on, and why everyone is crying and sad. It breaks my heart to watch my parents kiss their only grand babies good-bye, knowing that it will be a year or so before they see them in real life again. Saying good-byes are always sucky, and I have given up and the fight to not shed tears and to keep it together, only one look at my mom and the flood gates open (I love you mom, and thanks for the pack of tissues they were handy). I felt like such in idiot in the waiting to get through security and passport control, because all Hayleigh could say is "mama sad, shhh, it is ok mama" and people looking at as all funny, I mean most people who leave there is all excited to go on some vacation, little did they know out vacation was over....
We had a really nice morning with my parents before we flew out that evening. We had our last breakfast, mostly so the kids could play in the fun and amazing play area one last time, and just to fill our day with something fun, there is nothing worse then the waiting to leave part, so we wanted to be distracted. We had fun chatting about everything we did, and all our future plans, and the excitement that awaited us unknowingly when we got back to Germany [more on that later.]
Thank you mom and dad for a beautiful vacation, and more beautiful memories created. The kids miss you so much, and they talk about you all the time. Ian made up the phrase, "oupa and ouma are in the Africa house," and he will tell me that through out the day. I am pretty sure the times of "forgetting oupa and ouma" is over, so do not fear!
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Our flight back was uneventful and actually went surprisingly smooth. Yay, for no wine needed again, I am so proud! I think I was less stress because I kind of knew what to expect and the added bonus is Nate was with us to help. Everything went smooth from checking in to boarding the plane (I was surprise, there is always some sort of hold up with my passport, and residence card and the fact that everyone in my family have US passports besides me.) We boarded the plane in record time with lost of help from flight attendants, once again I was shocked, SAA is never that helpful.
The kids did really good on the flight. Hayleigh was amazing she went right to sleep during take off and slept the entire flight, she woke up twice but just had to readjust. She even slept through the whole turning the lights on for breakfast. I was impressed and proud, but sadly had to wake her for breakfast. Ian did ok, he had a little harder time, he is like he mama, can't sleep properly in strange places, so Ian and I just took little cat naps here and there. He was a little more fragile and emotion, and whiny. But I am still proud of him, because I think he did amazing for a 3 1/2 year old. 11 1/2 hours in a plane is no joke for little people.
We made it home to our house mid morning on Thursday [both kids slept in the car the whole way back] so Nate and I decided to suck it up and shower and head out to return the rental car, get some lunch, and pick up groceries. We had no food in the house and Nate had to go back to work the next day.
I am happy to say that after four days home, we are finally unpacked and even the suitcases are back in the storage room. I also stated to go through old toys before adding the new toys from oupa and ouma, and I am slowly but surely adjusting back to staying home, cooking, and being a single mom every other day while Nate is at the fire station for 24 hours.
Adjusting back is going a little slower then I expected and we are all still tried and exhausted. Hayleigh adjusted just fine sleeping in her room again, and back in her crib with no problem. Sadly Ian has been having a hard time, and he grew up a lot in South Africa, we have had some middle of the night power of the will battles, but it seems to have calmed down a little and to be less dramatic. He is at the age of being scared and learning about scary and fear, and it sucks. I have no idea how to deal with it, so we are taking it one step at a time. This morning he did finally tell me that "Ian is longer scared of fear, and fear is gone." Hoping and praying we can return to sleeping properly by the weekend.
My camera has been taking back burner {is is till in it's case} as we try to settle in and adjust back to normal. Sorry about that. Hopefully I will have some photos of the kids by the end of the week. We are doing everything in phases with breaks in between. Yes, we take breaks to catch up on two months of missed TV show episodes.
Hopefully I will fall back into life and my blogging routine, sooner the later.
Till then.
Happy Monday!
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