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| Look who snuck into the 'big bed' after dads got up! |
Well, it ended up taking two trips to the photo shop to get passport photos for Clare and Luke!
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| The beginning of unsuccessful attempt #1...note the farmer tan has not improved |
It seems as though our babies are passport photo shy, or they have narcolepsy. Take 1 was actually entertaining as between Chris, myself, and four photo shop workers, we could not get either baby to open his/her eyes! Feet were tickled, wake up calls were made in both English and Thai, and faces were blottedwith a wet cotton ball. No go. We decided to try again the next day.
It was Saturday night which we have decided is 'twins take dads to dinner' night. So, we walked a couple of blocks to a nearby hotel restaurant.
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| Too bad those tuk-tuks don't have car seats |
While they slept, we ate. It was nice to get away from the hotel for dinner for a change.
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| Guess which dad ordered this meal at a Thai restaurant?? |
Take 2 of the passport photo mission was successful.
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| Here we are again |
The staff remembered us (hard to fathom being two guys with twin babies). It was obvious they had discussed a new strategy because instead of setting the babies down on a table with the backdrop, they draped a white cloth on Chris' lap to take the photos.
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| Not sure Clare's going to be the modeling type |
We learned that babies are what brings people together. Despite the language barrier we all found ways to communicate and worked as a team to get the job done (while I took pictures, of course).
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| Thailand's most wanted family?? |
Now that we are a week post birth, I think it's a good idea to update everyone on our progress and future steps with the exit procedure. We have talked to many of you in the past few months about this part. I'm sure it seems confusing, as it is for us at times. I will do my best to explain what is happening to bring us back home.
On July 19, as soon as the babies were born, the birth certificates were ordered. We were thrilled they were returned to us quickly last week, on Thursday, July 24. They were in Thai, so Chris took them to be translated into English and we have these back now today, July 28. We have an appointment tomorrow, Tuesday, July 29, with the US Embassy to have a doctor perform a DNA test on the twins to confirm the paternal biological link to the kids. The US Embassy already has our DNA sample, taken in Chicago in June, and will take samples of the kids and then ship this quickly back to the US for confirmation. This should take a couple of days before we receive an email confirmation and then a few more days to receive 'official' confirmation. (Looking at these babies, we are not worried about passing this test!!)
As soon as the births occurred, we also set up appointments for both Clare and Luke with the US Embassy to help attain their US citizenship and then order US passports. These will take place this week on Thursday, July 31. Each baby has their own appointment. At the appointment we will be submitting a CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad), this is what declares them US citizens given a genetically related US citizen father, as well as a US passport application. Our surrogate will also attend the appointment and submit a consent form for the babies to leave Thailand. This is what we show to customs when we exit in addition to the twins' passports.
Once these appointments have taken place and the DNA report is received and passports processed and received (phew!), we will be free to leave Thailand! We don't want to estimate the timing of all of this too much, but based on past cases, it seems like it should take around two weeks after we attend this Thursday's US Embassy appointment for everything to happen. We will keep everyone posted as things unfold.
Now that you are probably even more confused than before, LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!! Luke and Clare, the people you are really interested in seeing when we get back, will be in Chicago within the next few weeks! Here are a couple of sleepy photos of the babies taken at one week along with some of our observations as we get to know them.
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| Clare |
Clare: a.k.a. 'Squeaks', cute face, pretty blue eyes, likes to look around while being fed, hands must be up at all times, chugs her bottles down quickly, loves to raise her eyebrows, always chirping and making noise, seems like an old soul, ticklish, starting to smile when tickled and kissed on the face, a little gassy, likes to cuddle with Papa Chris, cries before feeding for attention, a little HIGH MAINTENANCE!
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| Luke |
Luke: a.k.a. 'Bubba' or 'Buddy', chubby chubby cheeks, head seems like 80% of his body weight, HUGE blue eyes, ALWAYS sleeping, adorable little cuddle lump, loves to stick his tongue out when awake, laid back, takes his time while feeding, loves to pee to his right when diaper comes off, seems like a content little boy (except when being bathed!).
