The trip was an overall success, and though I wouldn't say the flights were easy, they certainly could have been a whole lot worse. Jet lag seemed to affect him somewhat while we were in the USA, but we had no real issues transitioning him back to Swiss time. Sometimes sheer exhaustion is the best antidote to a bit of jetlag! We flew from Milan to London and then on to NYC and it actually was in some ways easier to handle as there was a break in the flying time for him to run a bit more freely. On the way there he took a couple of 45 min naps but was otherwise awake the whole way, marching up and down isles greeting people with ciaos and big smiles. The last 2 hours got a bit hairy as we entered exhaustion state for him (11pm his time!) and he was still awake. After about a half hour crying he fell asleep on me for the last hour. Still, he just took that as a nap, and we put him to bed closer to 8:30pm US time. Sleeping wasn't all that bad except for early wake ups around 4am. We did insist he stay in bed (or our bed) though, so we only actually got up around 6am. Needless to say we had a lot of time in the mornings!
Staying with Matt and Karen was really great. We were able to have our own space with little disruption to their routine. I likened it to a homey bed and breakfast when we barely saw either of them for the first 5 days! Karen was studying for her final exam and Matt was working like a madman on a crazy case. We had much to do with James' family though, so it worked out that we were able to spend time with them and catch up with people. Of course the big event was Anna's wedding the day after we arrived. We managed to be at all but the cocktail hour, and Liam attended the ceremony. we put him to bed at Karen's during the cocktail hour and went back for the reception when he was asleep. Karen says he didn't wake up! We managed to have dinner out a number of times thanks to others willing to babysit - Kevin, Grandma Cathy and Grandpa, and Karen. It was actually really nice.
Liam running down the church isle at Anna's wedding
Anna's wedding - at the ceremony
Family photo - Anna and Sean's wedding
Our little family dressed up for Anna's wedding
Playing with cousins - Liam, Michael and Samantha
Three cousins, one piano!
Getting some Uncle Mike Love
Meeting up with Ben from Bennington days
More cousins - Liam hanging out with Isabelle and Connor
Getting some Aunt Christy love!
In the midst of New York madness we made it up to Boston for a long (Easter) weekend, and got to hang out with Shirin, Mims and Nana. It was a pretty smooth trip with record time drives, and despite some rain we had some fun times outside as well as in! It is always so fun to get to see Liam interacting with family as he is more and more a little mr. I even managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Dr. Choi for some acupuncture!
3 generations in Boston
Walking in the Fels - Liam climbs a rock
Taking a stroll with Aunt Shi!
Back in Brooklyn with some warmer weather we could spend more time outside. We also had a chance to visit with friends we haven't seen in a while!
Spending some time in prospect park on a sunny spring day
Meeting up with Laura at Le Pain Quotidien
Hanging out at Bryant park
Finally we had an evening out with Karen and Matt at the Bedouin Tent in BK!
Coming back we had an evening flight leaving around 6pm. It worked out pretty well in terms of Liam's bed time, but the bassinet was pretty small so he had to kind of crunch up to fit in it. He also found it kind of amusing and was messing around a lot at the beginning, and only a couple of hours into the flight finally went to sleep. He slept about 2 hours and was then awake, at first unhappily, but then alright. So that's what I mean by just being exhausted! He stayed awake for the rest of the flight and through our transfer in London, and then fell asleep on me on the flight over to Milan. And that was that! Back home he went to bed usual Swiss time and slept in till 9am because he was so exhausted!
