Made in Reykjavik: October 2010

About time to update the baby blog, dont'cha think?!

It's hard to believe, but half a year has already flown by since the day our precious Elsa María came into the world. Suffice it to say that I am impressed every single day by how much she is growing and how quickly she is learning. When I look at videos and pictures of her from just a few months ago, it is hard to imagine her being so small and squiggly...she is quickly becoming a strong, chubby little child! As of last night (she is still asleep, and who knows what tricks she has picked up since I last saw her awake 10 hours ago) she can now babble adorably, sit by herself, crawl (we're still refining the technique) and eats solids like a champ. In the past month, she has started sleeping all night, with a bit of fussing usually around 2am, and only one feeding. Last night she slept from 8pm until 7am when she ate, and then fell asleep again until 9am! Little lady 'sleeps like a Viking,' as her father would say.

Solid food is so much fun! She was super skeptical about it at first, but I think that's just because I was doing what the book told me and giving her rice cereal only. Have you ever tasted that stuff? It's flavorless and basically nasty-gross. She would eat it and then literally shudder her little body and give me a look like, "Why did you put that in my mouth, Mom? It's so icky!" Once we discovered the wonderful world of mashed up bananas, applesauce, potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes, there's been no stopping my little eating machine.

We are getting excited for our long upcoming trip to the US next month! We will leave Iceland on Monday, November 22nd, and stay in the Pacific Northwest for Thanksgiving and Christmas and then fly back to the land of fire and ice on December 30th. Tumi will join us in the US when his school and coaching responsibilities wrap up on December 8th.

In light of forthcoming international travels, we recently acquired a passport for little Elsa María. Since we had to report her birth to the US Embassy in Iceland for her to become a recognized US citizen anyway, we applied for her to get her passport at the same time. To be honest, it didn't even occur to me that we should get her an Icelandic passport, even though it might have been easier and less expensive, and less of a hassle. She is a dual citizen, so she could technically have passports from either or both countries. How many passports does a little baby need? In any case, we made an appointment to go to the US Embassy to get her citizenship and passport sorted out before our trip this fall.

I don't know if you've ever had the pleasure of visiting a US Embassy while abroad, but it is quite an adventure. Technically, you are stepping onto US soil, and it really does feel like you're leaving one country and entering another. To begin with, the US Embassy in downtown Reykjavik has a guard outside (a security measure not employed by any other embassy in Iceland). He is friendly enough. Then you stand outside in the rain while the second guard just inside the building checks to see if you have an appointment. He lets you set our baby inside, but has to check you and your husband out. He informs you that while your name is on the listhis is not. Why doesn't he have an appointment? You let the guard know that you were told both parents needed to be present when reporting birth abroad which is what you are here to do (gesture politely to baby). He concedes to let you both into the building. The foyer of the US Embassy is basically an airport security checkpoint. The guard employs the same kind and trusting tone as a TSA agent and a customs official all rolled up in one happy welcoming package. "Ma'am, please take the baby out of the car seat and place it on the X-Ray belt." "The baby?!" "No, the car seat." "Sir, please empty your pockets and take off you belt. Remove any cell phones, computers, or metal." Then you hold your bundle of joy/anchor baby while you walk through a metal detector. Then it's time to meet with the woman behind the panel of bullet-proof glass.

I don't know if you've ever seen a baby's passport before, but just like all children's passports, they are good for five years. The application is the same for a child or grown-up passport. When I filled out the application for Elsa, there were a few places I left blank, because I figured they could not seriously apply to my six month old; occupation, height, hair color, etc. When I handed the stern woman behind the bullet-proof glass the application, she looked it over, and informed me that all the spaces needed to be filled in. Ok. So occupation (sucking, pooping, tummy time, chewing on stuff, sleeping) was marked 'n/a'. Height...seriously? 70 cm. Hair color? I asked the woman about this, since Elsa baby does not have any hair, and she said, "Just write in 'light.'" This passport will serve Elsa María until she is 5 years old. Oh well.

There was a very kind and cheerful woman, obviously trained in customer service in the US, who dealt with our paperwork after that. She was overly-bubbly, cooed at Elsa, and made eye contact (almost) with my eyes....sort of upper right forehead quadrant. When the paperwork was finally all done and accepted, she said, "Congratulations, Elsa! You are the newest US citizen living in Iceland!" At this, my calm, sweet baby abruptly projectile barfed the biggest barf I have every seen come out of her...it wasn't an 'I just ate' little spit up, either...this stuff had been in her stomach long enough to turn into stinky curds and whey. It got all over me, and the chair I was sitting on. "Oh, she is so excited!" Miss Bubbles behind the glass cooed...Yea, she's *something* alright! Excited? Disgusted? We'll see...

If you haven't already seen them, check out the latest videos of our little lady who can now crawl, swim, and smile for the camera!

Elsa and Mama at baby swim class