Monday - a day of appointments!!

Today has been a LONG day, but a good one as well. It started at 6:00 with Reni wide awake. That wasn't too bad since we had an embassy appointment at 8:00, so I took advantage of the extra time and gave Reni another bath, before getting ready myself for the day. Because I was pretty sure for security reasons they wouldn't allow the stroller in the embassy, I packed all of our paperwork and plenty of toys for Reni, two bottles of water, and some cereal for him to munch on.


When we got to the embassy, our names weren't on the official schedule because the appointment was made over the phone at the end of business day Friday, but that was ironed out and Agim was allowed in to start the process. It didn't take me too long to regret not having the stroller since there was nowhere safe to put Reni down. Thankfully, he was satisfied munching on the snacks I brought and didn't fuss to get down too much. We were waiting outside the gate of the embassy for about 2 hours in all, but when Agim emerged, the ball was rolling towards Reni's VISA.


We sat down to sort through the papers and make a battle plan for the rest of the tasks. One form I had to fill out was one I have done twice before already! I wonder where the black hole is for that form. Below is a few questions I needed to answer about David Reni on one of the forms (DS-230 Part II)

• Is Reni "an alien who seeks to enter the United States to engage in espionage, sabotage, export violations, terrorist activities, the overthrow of the Government of the United States..."
• Is Reni "an alien who is coming to the United States to practice polygamy..."
• Is Reni "an alien who has ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people..."

I was able to answer 'no' truthfully to those and several other questions about his motivation to come to the USA. Now that Reni is asleep, I have a few more forms to fill out before tomorrow. The VISA application cost has risen from $400 to $404 since Elisona's adoption. I think the $4.00 is to pay for the ream of paper used in the process!

Our next step was to get Reni checked by the embassy approved doctor. That doctor has a guaranteed revenue stream since every person granted a VISA has to see him. We didn't have an appointment, but neither did most of the others who were just approved for their VISA's today, so we went to get in line.

What do you think of the 'waiting room' for the doctors office. There were no magazines, but plenty of graffiti to read.

I found a 4 inch ledge to sit on and took this self portrait. As you can see, it was past Reni's normal morning nap, so he just passed out in my arms! It didn't take me long to realize that my backside is bigger than 4 inches, and as parts of me fell asleep, I again wished I had the stroller.

This was my view! He had no clue that all of the excitement of the day was about him!

When we pulled into the spot where the Dr's office was, I remembered being there earlier this trip when we brought the judge back from Elbasan and dropped her off. I thought it would be ironic to see her today, but forgot about it until we ran into her on the sidewalk! She was behind us and called to Agim. He was more surprised than me to see her since he didn't know where she lived. She was pleasant and asked us to coffee, but we were on our way to get some blood work done for Reni, so we declined. We did take the time to snap the picture above though. I really didn't think we would ever have a picture of her because our interactions earlier had been so tense.

We were only part way through our adventure, but I will be brief with the remainder of the details. At the clinic for the blood work, the first nurse couldn't find a vein so we had to come back when the doctor was in. In the mean time, we had to walk across 8 lanes of traffic 4 times to get more pictures of Reni (head turned at a 45% angle to show right ear and partial profile) for the medical paperwork. Doctor got a vein, and Reni cried pitifully!

There was then a return visit to the doctor's office (he was nice and professional unlike the doctor who saw Elisona 3 years ago). Through all of this for more than 6 hours outside in the heat for most of it, Reni did great! He munched through all of the snacks I had brought, so we had to buy more! Originally, Agim was trying to get our final embassy appointment for this afternoon, but mercifully for Reni's sake, it was pushed to tomorrow at 3:00. We returned home exhausted and Reni promptly fell asleep. I joined him for a nap, but forced both of us to get up so that we could sleep tonight. Reni was fussy when he woke up and tugged at his diaper. With his slightly bloated stomach and obvious grunts and attempts to push, I realized that he was constipated. When I mentioned this to Cydil over Skype, she immediately jumped on Google and started reading about infant constipation.

Possible Causes:

1. Consuming more than normal dairy (Reni has consumed more than half a gallon of milk and several yogurts in the last 48 hours)
2. Oatmeal (the only think I could get him to eat the first day)
3. Starting solid foods (he ate his first solid food on Saturday and downed more than a cup of Gerber graduates and Fruit Loops today)
4. Whole grains (proudly printed on both the Fruit Loops and the Gerber Graduates)

I had unintentionally helped create the 'perfect storm' of constipation! I was just happy that he was eating well for me! Thankfully I have been able to do some of the 'cures' this afternoon. He happily ate the apricot baby food I got him, and he has been drinking water not milk since last night. I massaged his belly, but he didn't really like that. The bicycle legs however were a real hit! Even with his constipation, he just wanted to sleep, so to keep him up as long as I could, we went for a walk to 'Aunt' Vera's shop and had some coffee.

Vera invited some friends to join us so they could meet Reni too. Unfortunately they didn't get to see Reni as his normal happy self, but they thought he was 'adorable' none the less. One lady is sure he looks like a young Brad Pitt! After today, I think we will take tomorrow morning easy and probably go out for the first time at 3:00 for our embassy appointment. Barring the unexpected, we should be approved for his VISA tomorrow and pick it up Wednesday!


Sorry this post was so long!