My First Halloween

So we spent it in the car going back to Ferrol, but we've got the outfit anyway.

Just over a month

I keep thinking that I will have time to squeeze a post in, but then it doesn’t happen. Bianca had her second pediatrician visit on the 20th before we took E’s mom to the airport. She had grown 3cm in 10 days. She’s up to 4.05kg – 8lbs 15oz. She is 56 cm long now. She’s got a little baby acne / rash, but through diligent attention from mommy she’s clearing up.

Here she is with a slight smile. She smiles a lot now, but its hard to catch with the shutter.

Check ups

9 days since a post. Time to catch up.

- I'm back at work. It sucks.
- My mother arrived on the 5th, left on the 11th and had a great visit.
- Bianca had her two-week check-up. She'd gained 500g from her birthweight, she was up to 8lbs 3oz or 3720g. All her reflexes were great and she goes back next week for her one month check.
- Boat loads of pictures up. We took Sobi to the beach though we just carried her in her seat as we forgot to bring the Baby Bjorn. Won't make that mistake again.
- The pedeatrician said that she was right on track growth wise, but her charts were for Spanish children and she didn't know what the Anglo-Polish charts looked like.
- We applied for Bianca's US passport at the consular office in La Coruna. It was not easy. As an American citizen, I had to prove my 'physical presence' in the U.S. for 5 years, including 2 years after the age of 14. This is not easy. I pay taxes, have a bank account, have car insurance, a driver's license; none of this proves I was physically there. I feel like I'm in Spaceballs - "We're at now, now" I gave them my university diploma, but that won't cut it. My mother is going to have to scan and email my report cards or transcripts as that is the only way I can prove I was physically present in the US. I can only use passport stamps as secondary proof. The consulate said they had no way to verify that my passport- which I got when I was 21 - was my first! Are you kidding?!?! I can't bring toothpaste on a plane because its a security threat and yet, the government can't tell if you've had a previous passport. Why put the "Is this your first passport" check-box on the application. I could go on. I also had to note exact periods of presence in the U.S. and foreign countries, entry dates, exact ones. The form has 7 lines; not nearly enough. I took an hour and reconstructed every time I have entered and left the US during my life and on another sheet noted every where I was when I wasn't in the US. The consular agent went through every line with me to make sure that I didn't miss a day, not a day. Its not easy recounting 9 years of traveling when the passport stamps don't always show. Anyway, she should have her passport in 4-6 weeks. Oh, its not easy getting passport photos of a baby either. Eyes open, full face. Not easy.

Two Weeks Notice

Our little 'package' has been with us for two weeks now. We've figured out a few things:
1) She attacks the breast like a dragon, a smoku - a cute little dragon - in Polish
2) She gets hiccups as often now as she did in the womb.
3) She likes to fall asleep to singing and walking. I find myself drifting towards Sufjan Stevens and The Postal Service; a cappella.


E chides me - as I'm listening to music, typing, playing with Sobi, watching Lost, watching Champions' League - as having the greatest vacation ever. I agree. I'd like to think that we're both getting 8hrs of sleep a night. Of course, not all at once. We're taking daily walks, though the Galician fall/winter is coming; which means rain and wind coming off the Atlantic. Our stroller is performing well. We went with the Graco, as many brand and tech savvy parents that I know have chosen the same. Stroller prices start here at 400Euro. We're glad we got it in the U.S. The standard Spanish brand is Jane. Everyone has Jane. We're the outliers. I could see how folding ours into our car's trunk may be dicey, but we really only use it for walks. And the city streets here, even the pedestrianized ones, contain cobblestones; so the big rubber wheels really help.

E and her Mom talk and sing to Bianca in Polish; and I rattle on to her in English, occasionally busting out a verse of Spanish or Italian. We watch soccer in Spanish, exclusively. I think E will cry if her first words are Gol! or Estamos viviendo futbol, porque la vida puede ser maravillosa.

I've got the four copies of her birth certificate and the papers from the US consulate. Now I just need to figure out how to get her little face in some passport pictures and make an appointment at the consulate. Its all coming together.

Baby Einstein - What's the damn blinking

Mr. Chicken, Mr. Ducky and Lady Bug have their own voices now. Mr. Chicken is masculine, though immature. Mr. Ducky is sage and soothing. Lady Bug mostly talks about what color she is and why her 'skin' is blue for emphasis, not to reflect reality. You'd be surprised how long it would take her to explain her coloring and the reason for it.