Busy spring in Cairo; aquiring a passport for our baby

We’ve had a lot of things on our plate these past couple of weeks; birthday parties, homeschooling events, sports activities, tax filing, paper work and finally Easter celebration – all this on top of work and everything else that is part of our normal life here in Cairo. I really don’t mind being busy, as long as the boys’ schoolwork doesn’t suffer, and this week, as we’re on Spring break, we have a nice chance to catch our breaths a bit.

Today we went to the embassies to report the birth of our child – finally – and it all went smoothly. The only tricky paperwork was the part at the American embassy where Courtney had to prove that he has lived in the US for more than five years in total. Since he didn’t leave the States until he was 19 years old he doesn’t have any entry or exit stamps, or actually even a passport from when he was young, since he never worked in the US or paid taxes he doesn’t have any paper of such kind either, and the other proof suggestion they gave us – high school transcripts – would take months to get here. As it turned out though, they could check when his first passport was issued, and so this part worked out nicely in the end. Now we have to wait about two weeks and then go back to apply for Karl-Abraham’s passport, which in turn will take an additional two weeks to get. After this he needs an Egyptian entry stamp in his passport (yes, funny, isn’t it?), and then we are free to travel! Which we will. Another little something that has been keeping me busy these past couple of weeks: planning our summer leave. Right now it looks as if we’ll be going to Sweden for midsummer, stay a few weeks, go back to Cairo, and then fly to the US as a family after Courtney finishes summer classes. Last year the boys & I went straight to the US after Sweden, which made the trip a little cheaper, however we were on the road for over two months, and although the boys handled it very well (as did my – at the time - pregnant self), I would really prefer to take a break in between trips this summer.