First Airplane Ride!

On Sunday, we flew from Kolkata back to New Delhi. Maya enjoyed her plane ride - once she moved past the shock of the loud noise at take-off. I didn't think that her big eyes could get any bigger... but I was wrong! She took it in stride though, and soon settled into the middle seat (thank you to the airline personnel for blocking that seat for us!) and took a nice long nap.
Though she did not seem to have any issues on the plane, I think that the stress of the trip plus possibly issues with her ears not clearing - led to a cranky baby for the remainder of the day. She refused to drink or suck anything during the plane's landing, and I'm sure this was not a good thing. For once she refused even her thumb!
The remainder of Sunday was spent being cranky and needing a lot of attention. Luckily, her new parents were more than happy to give her all the attention she could handle! {Unfortunately, Daddy caught some type of cold this day and has been quite ill}

A side-note: Saturday night was a very difficult one for Maya. She slept thru the night, but she had at least 20 different crying-jags in her sleep. These were very sad cries. We were usually able to console her by patting her back and talking quietly to her. A couple of times we had to pick her up for a minute and then put her back down.
Sunday night - not so bad. Only 2 or 3 of these. She also awakens from daytime naps with these nightmares. You can watch her and see it coming - she is having a bad dream, gets a sad look, then it gets worse, she starts crying in her sleep and then she has to be picked up and consoled. Hopefully these don't last too long - they are so sad. :((

Today was a happier-baby day, though it was the Embassy day. What a horridly tiring day. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated - having heard stories from other people which made me nervous... but was just a looong looong day.

We arrived at the Embassy at 8 am to find that our area did not open until 8:30, and the people we needed were not there until 10 am. So we stood in line (it was early and shaded, so not hot) and listened to our National Anthem played about 100x. :) We then went inside and sat in chairs for a long time. I would guess an hour or so. Someone finally came by and took us to another area of the Embassy to submit our paperwork. We waited another 30 minutes or so in that area... and finally we met with him. Everything was fine, and we then proceeded back to where we began for instructions on the next steps.

We needed to have Maya's Visa photos taken and her Visa medical exam completed. We called our driver and had him run us to a market that had a photo shop. They rushed us through - though they were not very happy about doing so (GO AJ!!) - and we got in/out in maybe 20 minutes. We were then off to the doctor. We found one that was Embassy-approved and very close-by - and were given 10 minutes to get to them before they closed for lunch (which is a 2 hr event in India). Somehow we managed to fly thru crazy traffic and make it ontime! Maya met with the doctor - she weighed/measured Maya, checked her body, and completed the Embassy paperwork. Btw they weighed Maya and she supposedly came out at only 11 lbs. There is just no possible way that is true. Odd.

We then returned to the Embassy with all of our completed paperwork. They were at lunch, so we waited 1 1/2 hrs for them to return. Maya was amazingly good during this time! Once the Embassy re-opened, we were able to meet with the appropriate people and complete everything within 30 minutes. Btw - for those of you who go thru this: If you have to keep running b/t window 17 and the American Citizen Services - do not let the guards who watch the windows make you get into line to wait on window 17. Return to the American Citizen Services room and let them know that this occurred. That line for window 17 could take HOURS. Luckily Aj refused to listen to the guard and went back to the other room - or we would have unnecessarily wasted a ton of time.

We were told to return to the Embassy tomorrow morning to see if Maya's visa was approved and completed. I hope that if we jaunt out there, wait in line, etc - that it IS completed!!! Good lord.

Other than that, not too much excitement.

A couple of firsts for the day:

* First Bath!! And Maya LOVED it! Let's hope that continues! So much fun to splash mommy!!

* First almost-crawl! Does one knee forward and then a huge lunge count? ;)

* Yay! Maya finally conceeded to trying out the Gerber cereal puffs that I brought - instead of only those biscuits. She loves them! Thank god, as the biscuits create a HUGE mess all over her face, clothing, my clothing, burp cloths, chairs, the floor, other people closeby, etc. I'm sure she won't find the puffs as entertaining!