The Many Faces of Carter

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.