A new normal?

Where to start, where to start?

I can tell a huge difference from my visit to the US in December and our visit in August/September. Surprisingly most of these things don't have to do with Baby K, but more just differences I am noticing being 18 months in now, versus nine months in last time. So here are a few random observations about our time in Texas.

1. Holy crap it's hot. I say this like all of my years prior to Switzerland weren't spent in Texas, but seriously. You pretty much have to get anything outdoors done before 10am and after 8pm. I think I may have taken this for granted when I lived here since I worked indoors in the frigid air conditioning.
2. There really aren't that many foods that I crave from here anymore. I used to have a list of places I wanted to hit, but now it seems that I'm really not all that concerned. I actually found myself wishing for a meal that I'm used to in Switzerland. Everything is just so heavy here and not necessarily fresh. 
3. On a related note, I cannot bring myself to eat pre-sliced sandwich bread. After all these months of having a fresh loaf every few days, the pre-sliced stuff just isn't right. Just thinking about what they have to put in that (and the majority of food) to keep it fresh kind of weirds me out now.
4. You really have to work to get walking in over here. I try to make a point to walk with Baby K each day. I think it's good for her to get out and obviously good for me. But if I'm going to come anywhere close to my goal of 15,000 steps per day, I better get out there and get to walking.
5. DFW is like a concrete jungle. I feel like there's no green space. But please don't take this observation as a desire to move to the country or the 'burbs- the city is the place for me.
6. My social schedule has shifted to be heavier during the day. Everyone wants to meet Baby K, and most of them have kids, so lunch is easier for all of us. Around dinner we all get into bedtime, bath time and baby sitters, so lunch has been easier. It seems like I had a lot of free evenings; hopefully I'll learn to manage things better as we make additional trips.
7. It seems like drivers are really aggressive and pretty rude. In my short time driving in Switzerland, things appear to be more orderly (as is everything) and less aggressive. Driving in Texas, I just want people to relax a little and not be so white-knuckled all the time. I mean, is it really going to kill you to let that person in when the lane merges?

I think those are the big ones that stuck out for me; just a few thoughts. Baby K and I arrived back in Switzerland safely and were met with a very excited BK. It's safe to say, he missed us just a little bit. The boys were also excited to see me and Baby K, but were probably just happy to be back home, as they spent a record 32 days with the boarder. Yikes!

I'll be back soon to update you about traveling abroad with Baby K, and how the whole international flight and time change went with her. As she's still not sleeping "normal," I'll wait for things to settle down a bit and then report in with the whole story.