All Legal

Although Grace was born 8 and a half weeks ago, she is just now existing according to the U.S. government. We traveled to Tokyo today to get her passport, social security number, and birth certificate processed at the U.S. Embassy. Our baby is now legal!

This was our plan for today:
Take Grace to her 2 month baby checkup, get her first round of immunizations, drive the one and a half to two hours, depending on traffic, to Tokyo and leisurely spend the rest of the day finding the Embassy to take care of all the paper work.

Here's what really happened:
Mike called at 8:30 this morning to tell me the Embassy closes at noon on Wednesdays. Grace's doctor's appointment was rescheduled for next week. Mike comes home to pick us up. We drive to Tokyo, run into traffic, and stress out. We get to the New Sanno Hotel to park and get directions to the Embassy. There's a long line at the concierge's desk so Mike says, "Forget it, we don't have time to wait. We'll find it okay." We haul butt to the train station, in the rain. There is a long flight of stairs leading down to the train platform and no elevator. We carry the carrier/stroller down the long flight of stairs.

We get off at the appropriate stop. Again no elevator, so we carry the carrier/stroller up the long flight of stairs. We look at a map posted on the sidewalk and find out where the Embassy is. By this time we've got 40 minutes before the Embassy closes so I suggest we take a taxi. Mike says it's not far. We head out. We go the wrong way. We back track. We get lost. It's raining. Mike runs into a convenience store to ask for directions. We head out again. It's still raining. We finally find the Embassy. We have 15 minutes to get all our stuff processed before they close for the day.

Oh, and did I mention I broke my toe yesterday?* So all this walking around was not fun.

Luckily, because we got there so late, there was not a long line so we were able to get all our paper work processed. When we turn in her passport application, both parents have to sign the paper work in front of the agent and swear that the information is all true. Two minutes before we were called up to the window to do this, Grace decides she's ravenous and needs to eat. So I had to sign the form and raise my hand to swear in front of an elderly gentleman agent that the information was true, all while breastfeeding my child. Thank goodness for the Hooter Hider!
















I realize now that this is the only picture I took today and it's too late to get any other ones since she's now sleeping peacefully for the night. This is a common pose of hers right now- she loves trying to stuff her hands into her mouth.

*I don't think my toe is really broken, but it sure does hurt. I tripped over Grace's bouncy seat while I was making the bed yesterday morning and now my toe is all purple.*