Time's Up

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Our time in the DC area was even more hectic than we thought. After three hours of consultations with the team who was supposed to help with Aiden's cleft palate, we found out that the surgeon we wanted to work with doesn't take any insurance. I haven't the foggiest idea why the receptionist couldn't mention that when we asked about insurance (apparently the clinic takes it, but not all of the doctors). So we're back to square one. Fortunately, we had the same surgeon recommended by the team in San Antonio and Aiden's pediatricians so we feel comfortable with this one as well.

When I got to San Antonio, the two months with Aiden seemed like a a nice long time, but it's amazing how fast the time has slipped away. It's already time to head back to Tajikistan for the remainder of my tour. I know it's only a month, but I've seen how much he can change in a month and know I will miss a lot. He's already starting to push himself up on his hands and is working on turning over. Thank goodness for skype.

It looks like I'm going to be pretty busy, so the time should go quickly. Then it's back to the U.S. and our adventure in New York City. I think Aiden is really going to like it. We visited friends in Reston, VA who had a baby shortly after Aiden was born. Aiden was fascinated by the tall buildings and we had to hold him lying down so he wouldn't hurt his neck trying to look up at them. I can't wait to see what he thinks of Times Square.

But for now... Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to the Doosh I go...

Family Frenzy

After the 4th of July, we went back to Maryland to stay with my parents for awhile and Aiden got to start meeting his extended family. Great Aunts and Uncles, Great-Great Aunts, cousins, second cousins, second cousins once removed, first cousins twice removed... it's a lot to keep track of, but everyone was so excited to meet him.

Aiden's Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother (from my mom's side) even came all the way from Alabama to meet Aiden, which was very special. His Great Grandmother would barely put him down to eat dinner. But it was neat having four generations of family in one room, like in this picture.

We were having so many family get-togethers that there wasn't time to do much else except rest. That didn't really bother us though, since as anyone on the east coast knows, we've been dealing with an unbearable heat wave. We didn't really want to go outside anyway. The only positive with heat waves is that they invariably bring thunderstorms, which can leave beautiful sunsets to enjoy.

After enjoying time with my parents, it was time for Stephanie's baby shower. I guess it isn't often that the baby gets to be at his or her shower, but Aiden did. It seems that everyone had a good time. We've been really blessed to have so many generous friends and family who care so much about Aiden.

Just as exciting is that the day after Stephanie's shower, she went to my cousin's (and Aiden's Godmother's) shower. She's due the beginning of August, so Aiden will have a second cousin just his age to play with as he gets older.

After the shower, we decided to stay at my Aunt's house near Annapolis for a quiet getaway. She has a lovely house overlooking a river and we couldn't have asked for a nicer setting.

We even got to take advantage of the location by going kayaking while Aiden stayed with my Aunt. Early in the morning, it wasn't too hot and we got to see some blue heron and osprey on the way. No camera on that trip because I was worried I'd tip and lose it.

That afternoon I got to go out with my uncle and some of his friendly neighbors on their sailboat. I even got to pilot the boat to where the river meets the Chesapeake Bay.

On the way back, I somehow got the boat spun around and decided to spend the rest of the trip taking in the beautiful scenery.

There's no better place to be during a heat wave than on the water.

We had a little bit of a scare towards the end of our stay when we thought Aiden might have caught my sister's strep throat. He was almost inconsolable, wouldn't sleep, and wouldn't eat, but didn't have a temperature. We talked to a nurse at the doctor's office and after a few short questions, she felt that he might be teething. We thought three months sounded early, but she said it wasn't unheard of. We took her advice and got a homeopathic remedy made from chamomile, and that seems to do the trick when he's fussy. No teeth yet, but he likes to chew on our fingers and seems to have some promising bumps on his gums. Aiden has a check-up later this week, so we should be able to learn more then.

Other than that, Aiden is having smooth sailing as he approaches his three month birthday. He's smiling, even laughing at times, and continues to be very curious.

In celebration of his pending milestone, our friends even made a special pot pie for dinner last night!

Time seems to be speeding up now that August is approaching. I can't believe there are less than two weeks before I have to return to Tajikistan. Hopefully it will go fast so I can get back to having more adventures with Aiden.

Aiden's Adventures

We've been having a wonderful time over the past few weeks, introducing Aiden to our family and friends. There are so many people who want to meet him, we're lucky that he doesn't mind being passed around. Aiden has continued to thrive and it's so exciting seeing him grow. Now he's smiling, grasping, cooing, and turning his head to watch us as we move through the room. He's also letting us get a fair amount of sleep - we have to wake him up for his late night feedings.

Of course, a lot of what we like to do is introduce him to the world around us. This has included chasing snapping turtles at my parent's house...

Touring the first winery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (we even got Aiden a children's book about grapes who aspire to becoming wine)...

Touring Pennsylvania Dutch country near Stephanie's parents'...

Visiting a petting zoo (there was no petting, but the llama came to greet Aiden)...

And just being berry happy together in Intercourse...

We also go for walks together...

And Aiden was there to celebrate his Grandfather's (on Steph's side) 70th birthday!

Aiden even got to celebrate his first 4th of July in our nation's capital. His godparents (my cousins) have a place overlooking the National Mall, so we had a great view of the monuments and the fireworks show...

As they say, time flies when you're having fun. It's hard to believe I have to go back to Tajikistan in less than a month. But we have a lot more fun planned between now and then.

Catching Up

Parenthood is wonderful, and so is Aiden. But neither leave as much time to keep up with blogging, so expect updates at a slower pace for some time.

We spent the rest of our time in San Antonio getting used to being parents in general. Lucky for us, Aiden is a very patient baby. He's also a great eater and a decent sleeper, so we were able to quickly get the hang of things and then make the most of our time together.

Even with getting used to Aiden's schedule and requirements, we were able to get out and about quite a bit and enjoyed a lot of what San Antonio had to offer. Of course, to do this, we had to overcome Stephanie's fear of the Shamu poster on the elevator door. Since it was floor to ceiling it looked very much as though Shamu's tank was inside the elevator. Stephanie felt strongly that Shamu was looking at her and refused to look back. I tried really hard to get her to face Shamu, but she just wouldn't do it.

The weather was terribly hot - over 100 degrees every day - with high humidity so for Aiden's sake (and ours) we limited ourselves to outings first thing in the morning or in the late evening. We particularly enjoyed our journeys along the river walk. Our hotel was located right downtown, so it was convenient to walk. We put Aiden in his carrier and then just strolled along.

It was a little cooler along the river under the trees, but still pretty hot. After awhile, Aiden reached his limit and we got some takeout to bring back to the hotel.

On another day, we toured the Spanish missions, the oldest of which date back almost 400 years. They were built to help Spanish missionaries convert the indigenous populations. The Alamo is the most famous of these, but we saved that for another day and went to the other four: Concepcion, San Juan, San Jose, and La Espada.

Near the La Espada mission, we also got to see some of the famous aqueducts that were built over 300 years ago and still irrigate some of the surrounding farmland today.

It was hot out, so at some places we took turns staying in the car with Aiden, but we got a few pictures of him at some of the big attractions in his home town.

On our last day, we went to San Fernando Cathedral, the oldest in the United States (over 300 years),

And then to see the Alamo itself.

Everything was accessible from the River Walk, so we made a nice morning of it. We certainly don't keep the pace we usually do now that we have Aiden, but it's nice to know that, even at the age of 5 weeks, we're able to get out and do things we enjoy. Hopefully by starting at a young age, Aiden will grow up to enjoy our sightseeing as well.

So our time in San Antonio came to an end. This left us with our biggest adventure yet - flying halfway across the country with a newborn! Luckily, people at the San Antonio airport were very nice. They even let us take our luggage cart all the way to the gate.

So while we moved much slower than normal, it went without a hitch. Stephanie had thought to call the TSA to ask about what we could bring on the plane and that turned out to be very useful. When we were in line for the security screening, a woman in front of us kept telling us we needed to throw away the water we brought with us.

Now, this was not a woman who worked for the TSA, just another passenger. I guess she meant well, but it was a little annoying that after Stephanie told her she had already spoken with the TSA, the woman kept telling us to get rid of the water. We let her go through ahead of us to get rid of her and the TSA agents at the checkpoint gave us no issues about the water.

That left the flight itself, and believe it or not, Aiden slept the entire time. It was wonderful and the other passengers were so impressed. There was another baby on the flight who cried a bit, and I have to say, we felt a little superior.

Since we arrived in DC, we've been hopping around going to doctors appointments and introducing Aiden to his wide base of family and friends. Everyone is so thrilled to meet him and he seems to like being passed around, or doesn't mind at least. His pediatrician says he's fine and healthy and we're having a great time with him.

We'll mostly be doing the same from now until I go back for a short stint in Tajikistan in August, but I'll still try to provide an occasional update.

Suddenly A Dad

A lot's happened in the last few days, but I guess that's the way it is with new babies. On Tuesday morning, the hospital told us that he was doing so well that they wanted to release him soon. Before that, they wanted us to spend about 48 hours in a private room in the hospital with him. This way we could take care of him, but have the nurses nearby in case we had questions. This was just as well since we were starting to have doubts about going back to the Ronald McDonald House with him.

On Monday night, we were at the hospital late with Aiden and when we got back, we practically had to step over a man who was passed out on the lawn. This sort of confirmed our initial impression of the neighborhood. While the people at the Ronald McDonald House were perfectly nice and the place was clean, we just wanted a little bit more comfort when we brought Aiden home. So we left the hospital Tuesday afternoon to get all of our things and checked out.

However, as I was loading the car I noticed that there were ants swarming all over the back of the passenger seat. In fact, they were swarming out of the passenger seat. Of course, that wouldn't do for transporting our son, so I helped Stephanie get set up in our room and called Avis. The guy on the phone was very pleasant and apologetic and told me to take the car back right away. It was none too soon as the ants started biting my back as I was driving to the rental location.

Unfortunately, the folks at the actual rental place were not nearly as accommodating. They didn't even apologize. Then they gave me a smaller car, even after I explained we were here to adopt, and then watched as I lugged all of our belongings across the parking lot to the new car. I'm good at packing so I got everything to fit, but I was sweaty and more than a little ticked off by the time I was done. I think it was the indifference more than anything that will make me think twice before renting with Avis again.

So, after wasting an hour and a half, I was back with my family and we settled in for our stay at the hospital. Then I discovered that my workout clothes (which I had hung up to dry in the shower, had been thrown away by the lady who set up our room. Given that I was only allowed 1 suitcase on the flight here, I had limited space for gym clothes so this loss wasn't particularly convenient. But Aiden has a way of calming me down when I hold him, so I was soon over it. I probably need new gym clothes anyway.

Staying in the hospital was kind of nice. We had our privacy and could bring food up when we wanted. Best of all, we got to spend as much time with Aiden as we wanted. One food place we particularly came to like was the Taco Garage. It was just across the street from the hospital and had great food and fast service. One of the waitresses took a liking to us and would let us make any changes we wanted to anything on the menu when we ordered.

While in the hospital, we got to meet with all kinds of specialists who taught us how to care for Aiden, how to do CPR on an infant, and even helped us install our car seat correctly. We were both really impressed. The nurses and specialists seemed to take a genuine interest in Aiden, and one of them even knitted him an afghan.

So yesterday when it was time to bring Aiden home (home to the hotel), we had a lot of people who wanted to say goodbye. It was nice to see how well they cared for him and exciting to finally have him all to ourselves. We spent last night and today getting used to life as parents and it suits us well. Maybe it's the excitement, but we haven't found the late night feedings too exhausting so far.

Today we took Aiden on his first outing, going to the adoption agency to see the folks there and then to Babies R Us for some more necessities. He loves his car seat and falls asleep as soon as we put him in it, so we think he'll be a good traveler. Today he also got his first bath with us and seemed to enjoy that too. In short, things couldn't be better. We're looking forward to a little family vacation here in San Antonio before heading back to the east coast.

Catching Up

Introductory note: This post was supposed to go up before we left Dushanbe. However, in a true Doosh send-off, our internet went down Friday night and we couldn't get online to post blogs, check our flights, contact our families, or anything else that we would typically do before travelling halfway around the world to meet our new son. Anyway, the short story is that we made it and are so excited to be here with Aiden. More on that below, but I have to cover what happened in our last week together in Tajikistan before I get on to the excitement of becoming parents.

ORIGINAL POST:

One thing's for sure, it's been a busy week. Between both of us trying to wrap things up at work, figure out flights, rental cars, doctor's appointments, and packing, there we're both pretty exhausted, but still very excited. And of course, in true Barnett style, we had to squeeze in some last looks at Tajikistan. Fortunately, two high level visits last weekend gave us the chance to get out and about.

First was the visit of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. As with all high-level visits, it kind of threw things into a whirl, but things went off without a hitch. On Saturday, we took the delegation out to see the ancient fort at Hissor.

We'd been before, but it was still nice to go again. The local government is doing some rebuilding, which isn't particularly sensitive to the original architecture so I'm glad we got to see it as it was before.

After touring the fort and the museum, we went out to a really nice restaurant for lunch. One of my local staff suggested the place, but we weren't sure if it would be up to snuff for such an important guest. It turned out to be perfect. There was a nice garden and a covered area next to a stream where we dined on fresh produce and some of the best chicken I've ever had.

The next day, another high level visitor arrived and we went along with him on a group hiking trip. We headed out into the Varzob valley and were only briefly delayed by a goat jam before arriving at our starting point.

The organizer of the trip billed it as an easy to moderate hike, but that was a huge understatement. There were some very tricky parts involving vertical cliffs that seemed to easily exceed the 'moderate' level and some very rickety bridges.

On the other hand, it was one of the more beautiful hikes we've been on.

At the highest point we had crossed the snow line near one of the mountain passes.

There were also some neat experiences, like visiting a goatherd camp,

- crossing a river in a hand-drawn cable trolley,

- visiting a hermit's cottage,

- and negotiating river crossings to avoid collapsing snow bridges.

In addition to being much more difficult than expected, the hike was much longer than expected. We packed enough snacks for a couple of hours, thinking we'd be home by lunch. In the end, we didn't get home until 6pm. Stephanie got separated from the group at one point and took a bit of a spill, but a friendly Bulgarian couple found her and showed her the way back to the car. All in all, I think it was a very appropriate way to spend our last weekend together in Tajikistan.

Here are more pictures for those so inclined.

Dushanbe Hike 052111 JPGS

Of course, all this week, against the background of preparations, we've been nervously eyeing the latest volcanic activity in Iceland. The one last year got very close to disrupting our trip to Italy, so this was much more nerve wracking since the stakes are so much higher. Fortunately, the ash cloud seems to be clearing. All the same, we have back-up reservations on a different route that would get us to the U.S. a couple of days later through a more southerly route. Hopefully we won't need it, but we're going to keep them reserved just in case.

CONTINUED POST:

Well, obviously, the volcano turned out to be a non-issue, although it had us on edge for awhile and that really wasn't necessary. Our last week was a blur as we tried to wrap up all of those loose ends. So Friday night was suddenly upon us and so we started our never-ending journey (at least it seemed that way). So after 6 hours flying from Dushanbe to Frankfurt, a 3 hour layover, an 8 hour flight to Dulles, a 5 hour layover, an hour delay, and a 3 hour flight to San Antonio - that's right, over 26 hours of flying and more than 50 hours without sleep - we finally met Aiden.

Of course, all of that fatigue went away as we held him and fed him for the first time, so it was almost 2am when we reached the Ronald McDonald house, where we're staying while he's in the hospital. What no one bothered to mention is that we had to arrive at the Ronald McDonald house by 8pm. So there we were, ringing the emergency bell, waking up a nice old woman in a wheel chair and begging to be let in. Once they verified who we were (and they were very pleasant considering the hour) we got a bit of sleep.

The past couple of days have been a blur as we try to get over our jet lag, prepare for Aiden's upcoming release (hopefully this week), and generally get ourselves together. Aiden is a very sweet baby and we can barely tear ourselves away when it's time to leave. Even now, visiting hours are about to start again so it's time to wrap this up.

Since this not a private website, we are going to keep pictures of Aiden to a minimum on the blog. But you can imagine how many I'm taking... For now, here's one of us with our new son.