Adventures in Baby-Raising: Week 5

It's hard to believe that El Senor is already five weeks old.  I suppose each day seems like it lasts forever, but then the individual weeks go by quickly.  Rest assured the little guy is doing well, and has become quite the accomplished border-crosser.  Speaking of the border, let's talk about getting from Mexico to the US and back again.  

Behold the mighty Rio Grande!  Believe it or not, I think this may be most water I've seen in the riverbed since I have been here, although it did rain the day before I took this picture.  Life in the Borderland consists of a lot of international crossings, for things like grocery shopping (which is surprisingly much cheaper in the US), doctor's appointments, and other errands.

For most folks, crossing the border can take an hour or more, as you slowly inch across the four-lane bridge and wait to get through the security inspection.  However, for people who cross all the time, it makes more sense to enroll in a sort of trusted traveler program, that can get you from Mexico into the US in about five minutes or less.  If you are crossing three or four times a week, it is definitely worth applying.

But that's where our problem lies.  Although Sarah and I are members of this program, our son is not.  We have to schedule an interview for him with border security, and getting his trusted traveler card can take a couple of weeks.  So while we wait for his card, we have two options.  We can go through the regular slow lane and wait with our newborn in the car for over an hour.  Or, we can have one person walk across the bridge with El Senor, while the other person drives the car through in the fast lane, and then waits on the other side.  Although slightly inconvenient, this can actually save us about 45 minutes to an hour while we wait for our son's trusted traveler card to arrive.

As you can imagine, we generally opt to walk across the bridge to save ourselves a few minutes and a lot of frustration.  The other day I got to walk across the bridge with the little man, and decided to document this unique part of his upbringing.  Here he is with one foot in both countries, much like many of the people that live around here. 

And here he is, passport in hand, waiting patiently in the line of pedestrians on their way into the US.  Sometimes it can take a few minutes, and get a bit boring, as demonstrated by the photo on the right.  I know that feeling, amigo.

Thankfully, El Senor's trusted traveler card should be arriving this week, which means no more walks from one country to another.  Thanks for being such a trooper, little guy!

Rambo IIIl: Great Film or the Greatest Film?

Rambo III will always have a special place in my heart.  I remember spending hours in my backyard atop my fence with a red bandana on, mowing down Soviets in the Afghan desert.  I love the Rambo series to this day, although upon re-watching them I sometimes wonder why my mother thought this was good programming for her young son.  I suppose I was just an especially mature young lad.

Many films from the 80s and 90s seem ridiculous when you sit down to watch them today, but Rambo III remains as awesome as ever.  I’ve been thinking about Rambo III a lot recently, because I have just had my one-year anniversary as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO).  What does Rambo III have to do with my time in the Foreign Service?  As it turns out, everything…
 

 Woohoo!  Diplomacy!!!

As many of you are aware, the process of becoming an FSO begins with the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT), a three-hour exam that is meant to determine whether an individual would be a good State Department employee.  The first (and most difficult) section of the exam is a collection of multiple-choice questions ranging from politics, world history, geography, mathematics, management styles, and several other topics. 

The day I took the test, I started making my way through the questions, when I came upon one halfway through, which asked something to the effect of: “The present-day Taliban gained much of their fighting experience through which of the following armed conflicts?”  Among the answer choices I read: “Repelling a Soviet incursion in the 1980s.” 

As fate would have it, I was home alone the night before I took the FSOT, which meant I got to watch Rambo III on AMC (since Sarah is not one to spend the evening watching Rambo).  And what does the intrepid John Rambo do in the third installment of his film series?  Why, go to Afghanistan to help the Mujahideen repel the Soviet Union, of course!  What luck that I would have watched the film the night before taking the exam!

I don't know what my final score was on the FSOT, but I like to think that Rambo gave me just the push I needed to pass the exam.  Fast forward six months, and I received an official offer to join the Foreign Service.  After several days of trepidation, we decided to say yes.  And what should come on TV that very night.  You guessed it, Rambo III.  In many ways, you could say Rambo III has been my guiding light through the entire hiring process.  So, here's to you, Rambo!  Thanks for always being there for me.    

The Times, They Are A-Changin'

Hello internets,

I apologize in advance if this post comes off as whiny, TMI, or angsty.  I have had a lot of things on my mind lately (ha!) and wanted to take a minute to share my thoughts and most of all gratitude to my friends, family, and community.  

Anyone who really knows me knows that I love change. I would like to think that my upbringing (constantly moving to foreign countries) prepared me well for the Foreign Service. Yet, I have to admit that the last year at the Peterson house has been a constant whirlwind and admittedly I have at times struggled with the changes. Ryan joined the FS last September (I cannot believe it was only a year ago!) and since then nothing has been the same. It’s been a crazy year. We bought a house, got pregnant, moved twice within 6 months, arrived in Ciudad Juarez, and had our sweet little Senor.  I would be lying if I said we managed all of this without a lot of murmuring and tears (out of anger/frustration/etc.) on my part. 

I am embarrassed to say that over the last few months here in Juarez I have often called Ryan (or other family members) in tears, complained constantly about possible employment prospects, and generally become a bit emotionally unhinged.  I don’t want to embarrass him, but Ryan has been my rock throughout this crazy transition. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what I would be like at this point without his love and support. He deserves a medal for dealing with all of my hormonal madness.  I am also grateful for our loving family members and a wonderful consulate community who have embraced our little family.

El Senor’s arrival has also thrown me for a bit off a loop. It reminds me of the scene in ‘Juno’ where Jennifer Garner’s character is holding her son for the first time and she turns to Juno’s stepmom and says “How do I look?”  Juno’s stepmom replies "Like a new mom. Scared Shizless."  I am currently experiencing said terror, but the love and support from my family and friends have given me enough courage to hold on. I have no delusions that this will be an easy transition, but like the others we have experienced over the last year, I know that this one will be more than worth the while.

So in the meantime I doubt we will be posting many (if any) pics of fun baking projects (don’t worry I won’t/can’t stay away from my favorite hobby for too long). Though times keeps a-changin' and I expect there will be some more tears (mostly mine, not El Senor’s) I know we will be able to make it through this. Maybe you don’t believe in divine intervention but I can tell you that the events of just the last few weeks have reaffirmed my faith in a loving God who wants us to be happy. Just my two cents.

Love,

Sarah

* Disclaimer: I actually don’t really like Bob Dylan. Before I get any hate mail I would like to clarify that I think he is a brilliant songwriter, but I really don’t like his voice that much. Regardless, I felt the title of this song was an appropriate way to summarize how the last year has felt to me.

Adventures in Baby-Raising: Week 2

Greetings from our home in Juarez!  We ended up staying in the hotel for about ten days, when our birth certificate for El Senor arrived three weeks early!  We feel incredibly fortunate and blessed, because we were starting to lose it in the hotel.  Is it sad that I just wanted to have my DVR back?  It wasn't all bad, however, since we had plenty of visits from supportive friends and family.  That includes my parents, who came all the way from Arizona to meet their seventh grandchild. 

As you can imagine, once that birth certificate arrived, we got out of town as quickly as possible.  So long, Staybridge Suites.  Under different circumstances, we could have had a very pleasant stay at your establishment.
 

It is very nice to be in our own home again.  It is not without its challenges (now we have to drive across a border to go to doctor's visits), but we are just glad to be in our own place, and for El Senor to have his own room.  Look at that little burrito baby, just living the dream in Juarez. 

Look at this Cake!

Let's take a break from baby talk and look at this cake.  The Community Liaison Office (CLO) at the Consulate threw Sarah a baby shower a few weeks ago (along with two other pregnant ladies at Post), and Sarah volunteered to make a cake.  But not just any cake: a three-layer chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake. 

It has one layer of chocolate cake, then a layer of cheesecake, then a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, covered in chocolate frosting.  Don't worry, having a baby will not be the end of our baking adventures.

Adventures in Baby-Raising: The Birth

Hey everybody, sorry it's been a couple of weeks since our last post.  As you can imagine, having a newborn is a somewhat tiring activity.  The good news is that our little guy slept relatively well last night, which means I have finally managed to muster the energy necessary to update the blog.  Since this is a public blog and we will be posting from all over the world, Sarah and I thought it would be best not to include our son's name online.  If you want to know what we're calling the little guy in real life, please shoot me an email.  As far as the blog is concerned, he'll simply be known as El Senor.

(Don't worry: in the picture above, I'm doing what I'm told is the proper way to burp a newborn.)  I won't go into a very long, drawn-out explanation of the birth, as many people tend to do on their blogs.  If Sarah wants to go into further detail, she may update the blog in the future.  Sarah started having regular contractions around 3:00pm on on Wednesday, August 21st.  So what did we do?  In typical Peterson fashion, we decided to make a lemon pound cake, since we already had the ingredients ready to go.  So we baked the cake, packed our bags, had a few slices, and then made our way to the hospital.

Sarah was in labor for some time, so El Senor wasn't born until Thursday afternoon.  He came two weeks early, which is a good thing, since he was a pretty big boy (8lbs. 5oz.).  El Senor came out as a healthy little boy, but had a lot of trouble learning how to eat in the first few days.  Which meant lots of time feeding him with a syringe dropper until he got the hang of sucking and swallowing.  Rest assured, he's eating really well now.

Next came one of the most unpleasant parts of the newborn experience: moving into a hotel.  Since we live in Ciudad Juarez, but chose to have the baby in El Paso, that meant we couldn't return home until our little guy had a birth certificate.  Which normally wouldn't be an issue, except in Texas, where getting a copy of your birth certificate can take up to four weeks!

The hotel had its perks (free breakfast, housekeeping), but the disadvantages were somewhat challenging.  We were constantly on top of each other, and had no separation to rest or relax.  In short, it's just hard not being at your own home with your baby.  And no joke, our hotel had the worst tenants.  The room above us was occupied by a bunch of twenty-somethings in town for a rave, which meant they spent three days drinking, listening to techno, and jumping up and down at 3:00am for three days, until they got kicked out by management.  Compare that to the family on the other side of our wall, who apparently kept a whiny puppy in the bathroom during their stay.  Luckily, we didn't have to stay at the hotel for too long, but more on that in a bit...