Christmastime in the City...And Beyond

A lot has happened since Aiden's first Thanksgiving, most of it pertaining to his first Christmas. We really enjoyed being in New York City for the holiday season and made sure to take Aiden around to see the decorations and the main attractions. We even managed to make a gingerbread creation. Since we didn't have much of a kitchen and no baking supplies, we decided it would be excusable to use a pre-baked kit, so long as we used it in a creative way. Hence, our gingerbread village:

Of course, we took Aiden to see the tree at Rockefeller Center -

- he was suitably impressed for a 7 month old. We also found a great Santa Clause at the ABC department store. He looked very authentic and best of all, there was a very short line and no one tried to con us into buying overpriced photos.

Aiden wasn't particularly impressed with St. Nick, but he didn't cry either, so I guess that counts as a win.

Work at the UN was busy for me right up to the end and suddenly it was time to leave. We took a break from our packing to have our own little family Christmas (even though it was only the day before Christmas Eve) and even had a special Christmas Dinner of Lobster, Shrimp, Korean Fried Chicken (amazing), and french fries. It was wonderful. Then we had to hunker down and finish packing.

When we drove up to New York, the van was completely packed. Then we got a crib, the exersaucer, more clothes, more toys, etc... Stephanie's parents were nice enough to take some of our things for us when they left after Thanksgiving, but I still had major doubts as to whether it would all fit. Luckily, my car-packing skills were intact after 4 months of disuse and I got it done, although the crib was between Stephanie and Aiden in the back and he didn't particularly like that. Nonetheless, we rolled out before 8 am, leaving the city we love and the only place we've lived continuously for more than a few weeks since the end of May.

The trip down itself was a breeze, no traffic all the way to Washington. That isn't to say it was uneventful or straightforward. We had to stop in Washington to put our things in storage and pick-up a different rental car. My training didn't start for two weeks and there was no way we were going to drive that packed van around for all that time. Anyway, we were making such good time that we called the car rental place to see if we could pick up our next rental earlier and get to Maryland that much sooner. The guy on the phone told us that we better get there fast or they would run out of cars because Avis had not delivered the ones they needed! He told us we should try to switch rental locations, so we called the main line for Avis, where we got no help at all. The representative was very rude and told us that if we changed locations it would cost a lot more because its short notice. Stephanie pointed out that the problem was due to Avis, not us, and asked to speak to a manager, but was left on hold until she was disconnected.

Now we were worried that we wouldn't be able to get to Maryland at all. We called the place where we had our reservation and got a different story, they said they would have a car but not until later. Better, but not great. So we continued on to the self storage location. We called ahead to give an ETA, but when we arrived no one was there or answered the phone. After sitting in the car for about 30 minutes, someone opened the door. When I complained about waiting, I got a shrug and was informed that I had to provide my own lock (info not on the website or in the confirmation e-mail). There were no stores nearby, but lucky me, I could buy one for $16!

So we got everything in storage and called the car rental place one more time. This time they told us to come on over, so at least that worked out. We only hit a little traffic on the way out of DC and it was smooth sailing from there.

Aiden got to celebrate Christmas three more times during our vacation, at my parents, Stephanie's brother's, and Stephanie's parents. It was great for him to spend time with so much of his family, and while he didn't really get the idea of presents, he liked playing with the paper and boxes.

It was a lot of moving around for those few days, but it was fun. Stephanie's dad even made Aiden a special 8-month birthday pancake.

We finally made it back to DC, where we had several appointments to prepare for Aiden's cleft palate repair. We used some down time to take Aiden down to the National Mall for the first time. We went to see the incredible displays and train garden at the National Botanical Garden -

- and then walked down the Mall to see the National Christmas tree. Aiden's stroller was in storage, so we had to take turns carrying him - almost 18 pounds is no joke to lug all over the nation's capital.

The moment we'd been dreading finally arrived and we had to take Aiden in for his surgery. It was very hard to let the anesthesiologist take him away and we couldn't wait to get back to him. The surgery was a big success but Aiden woke up earlier than expected and they weren't ready with his pain medication. It was heartbreaking to see him uncomfortable, but once they gave him the medicine, he quieted down and only needed one more dose after that before he was fine with just Tylenol.

Aiden recovered so well that they released him the next morning instead of the next afternoon, as usual. With some help from Aiden's godfather, I got all of our things out of storage and into our hotel room - I wasn't going to give that place any more business than I had to. It took Stephanie and I the rest of the weekend to figure out where to stash everything.

Aiden's doing well - eating better than ever, actually - and the splints on his arms don't seem to bother him much.

The other day we took advantage of unseasonably warm weather and went on a walk to Theodore Roosevelt Island. It was supposed to be a quick walk so we didn't bring much, but when we tried to leave, we found the only bridge off the island was blocked. There were a lot of fire trucks and police cars across the Potomac, so I asked the police officer who was blocking the bridge for an estimate on how long we'd be stuck since we didn't have any food for Aiden. The answer: "Not all night, but longer than 5 minutes." We eventually learned that it was a bomb threat, and were released after about 45 minutes. At least it forced me to stick around long enough to snap a great shot of the still Potomac.

Today the doctor said that he is healing so well that we don't need to bring him in for another follow up and can resume our normal routine next week.

I've started my training and am devoting most of my free time to getting all of our logistics in order for our move to Moscow. I have a feeling it will be here before we know it...