We went to the American consulate today to report D's birth to the US and apply for his social security number and passport. The only other time I remember going to a consulate was when Mom and I went to the Chilean one in Houston to reapply for my passport and carnet, and we basically had just walked into this room in a building and took care of everything.
So when we got to the US consulate here in Geneva I was kinda taken aback by the security. First, there was a security guy standing outside the closed door. We told him what we were there for, and he rang a bell on the door. Then a second guy opened the door and I assumed he was gonna let us in, but no, he stepped out and closed the door again (so was standing out in the hallway with us). He then told us we needed to leave all our stuff outside-- all we could take in with us was our wallets and our paperwork. So we gave up our jackets, my purse, our cell phones, etc, and only then were we allowed to walk through and go see the wizard.
Once we got in things were pretty easy, I'm still worried if the pictures I took will be ok (I found a website where you upload a photo and it edits it to the right size standards for you), otherwise I'll have to deal with taking him in to a photo place and hope he remains a) awake and b) in a good enough mood to take a proper picture. If all goes well, we'll have his little passport in about 4 weeks.
In other news, D's been taking his yucky-tasting antibiotics meds like a champ. Unfortunately I suspect it's messing with his stomach a bit, poor guy. I don't know, he still seems fussier than normal and I'm not quite sure what's making him upset. He remains fever-less, though, which is the important thing. On the flip side, I've swaddled him up tightly 3 of the past 4 nights and on those nights he's slept 6-7 hrs at a stretch. Which is, um, AWESOME. Definitely beats the 2-3 hr stretches he'd been sleeping.
Of course, now that I've blogged it Murphy's Law will probably come back and bite me in the ass.
Methinks the Wizard has an overinflated sense of himself.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, I might need your hubby's current-events brain to help me with my ScriFry (No Child Left Behind: The Musical). So far, my songs and ideas revolve around the bloody TAKS test. Does he have any other issues I should attack?
:D
Small world... I've been reading your blog off and on because my wife and I are in a similar situation (American, living in Geneva, just had a baby, yadda yadda yadda) and we were also at the consulate yesterday to register our little girl. We must have left before you arrived, though.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck!
We have our appt to do this on April 15, and I am not looking forward to the hassle at all, but can't wait for Finn to have his American passport! It is crazy that in 2 weeks my 2 month old son will have 2 passports - now we have to make sure, as do you, that they are well traveled!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you are fever free. We are as well. We do need to collect a urine sample next week with this tiny plastic bag. FUN! Eliza's meds are moxed beryy flavor and she seems to like it ok.
ReplyDeleteOh I used to go to the Zurich consulate. I found it almost scary with all that security!
ReplyDeleteBut I understand why they have it