Highlights

Well, the jetlag is still going strong. Austin has a good night and then a bad night- night before last he slept till almost 6, right now it is 5:50 am and he is awake, talking in bed- and has been since 3:30 am! Cruel parent you say? Well, maybe, but he has been content and playing and pretending all sorts of things, so I saw no need to get him up. Bennett has not really had a good night (maybe in months though, it is just made worse by jet lag). Usually he awakes by 2 or 2:30. The last two nights I fed him, then we put him back in bed and he cried angry screams for awhile but did eventually go back to sleep. He also has started rocking and kicking the pack and play so hard it slides across the floor. We have temporarily put him in our bathroom to sleep. He is so loud and aware if we are in the same room, Chris needs his office a lot this summer and there is no way he can be with Austin yet if any of us want sleep. So, thus that left our (rather large) master bathroom. Bennett is VERY opinionated lately. I bought him teething biscuits and last night had a big chunk in his mouth so I took it out for fear he would choke. He was so MAD that I took it- he just screamed, but you could tell he was mad. When I gave it back he immediately smiled. Chris and I think he might be a sanguine.

Well, enough of that. Here are some highlights of our time in the U.S. with the Gaertner side. More from the Haneys another day.
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Revisiting the old train in downtown Sanford (and the fountain beside it, thus the diaper-only attire) with Uncle Jason.Swimming in the pool in the backyard- what a summer treat.

hSwinging on the porch swing with NaiNai- Austin was a little out of sorts here (as he often is lately, unfortunately).

Walking in the woods (the backyard) with Grandpa.

Visiting the NC zoo in Asheboro. This was a very fun day- though it started out rough. They advertise you can feed giraffes at the zoo. Austin was so excited to do it, probably especially b/c he had fed a giraffe last summer at the Chiang Mai zoo and of course remembered it. But the giraffes here are more finicky (and well-fed, probably) and were not in the eating mood. So we had to literally drag Austin kicking and screaming off the feeding podium when it was time to go. I feel like I am now in this stage where most non-parents (and probably me, before I had kids) said when you see a screaming child in public and think- my child will never act like that. But of course they probably will. The day got much better though and we all enjoyed the zoo.