One of the
complications of having a baby in China (and most likely any other
country outside your home country) is registering them with the US
Consulate as well as the Chinese government. The Chinese registration
has to be done with 30 days and of course requires their passport.
Since we are giving up Carter's Chinese citizenship and registering him
as an American, his US passport is a requirement before we can register
him with the Chinese government and secure his residency Visa. As expected, we need a
passport photo of him. So, Doug and I bravely took on the task without
the help of professionals. Our first attempt failed, as his picture was
rejected by the US Consulate because his eyes were closed. Our second
attempt, we were armed with the exact requirements, dimensions, and
nuances required by the US government. Another trip downtown in traffic
with a 2 week old resulted in slightly better results. Apparently,
both ears visible in the picture is also requirement (although not
specifically specified in the 1 page document we received). I mean
really?? 3 years from now when we are going through immigration, is it
really going to be the missing ear that they are concerned about or
rather that he looks nothing like he did at 2 weeks old. However, they
took pity on me as panic set in and my eyes welled with tears thinking
of yet another photo shoot and trip to the consulate. They will "try".
We will see. In the meantime, what resulted from our photo shoot was a pretty humorous set of pictures. Enjoy the laugh. I know we did.