It's officially been 1 week since our appointment at the U.S. Embassy... but just under a week of waiting for the Visa. The slight difference has to do with our paperwork not being sent to Manilla until Saturday, 5/28 so we'll be counting our waiting weeks from then. They gave us a tracking number but we hadn't checked on it until last night – by Tuesday the documents were in Guam and by Wednesday they'd been received in Manilla. This is faster than I'd expected but we've also heard most of the wait happens while the case is waiting to be adjudicated and/or during the delivery on the way back. Basically, this tracking information tells us nothing about the speed with which Grace's Visa will arrive in Majuro but at least we know they received our paperwork.
The day started out early (for island time) with a plan to make the most use of the Simmons' car. Since Greg and Madi are leaving Friday, they were returning it at the end of the day so I hopped on board while Jeff chilled in our rooms with Grace. My mission, find more diapers and formula. Yes, we realized a few days ago that we were going to run out and last night calculated just how soon. Should be out of both in about a week and a half! Either we (and by “we”, I mean me) seriously underestimated the amount of each a 2 month old would go through or Grace is an overachiever in the food transformation process. I will say her ability to group the processing into single incidents is an opportunity for her so maybe we're going through more diapers just trying to keep her dry.
On our excursion I located the correct sized Huggies diapers for a price comparable to home but the formula is presenting a bit of a problem. Seems they've been out of American formula for a while so no Similac or Enfamil on island at the moment. There is, however, a brand called Morinaga that one of the women at the front desk says is very good so we've decided to give it a try – kids here are pretty hearty and seem to adjust well to changes in their diet. Most likely Grace has already experienced multiple changes: nursing, Kirkland formula, nursing, other formula, nursing, Up & Up formula... we'll try it and if it doesn't go well, we'll get someone from home to send us more Up & Up by Express Mail. We're told it takes 5 days to get here and 2 weeks for the Priority Mail service. However, the Wilsons received something by Priority Mail in a week and that was including Memorial Day. FYI – the post office here is the regular USPS so theoretically service should be reliable.
Greg hasn't been feeling well and since he and Madi have to fly tomorrow, we headed home around lunchtime. I had a few more things I wanted to do so I left Jeff again at the hotel and headed off on a walk to some of the closer stores – both to check out diaper and formula selection and also to get a few groceries. We watched the first two episodes of Modern Family and they laid out a platter of cheese and crackers... I'd been obsessed since. I bought some pepper-jack cheese and cheddar cheese along with the last box of crackers on the shelf at Payless and headed home. We were meeting the Wilsons and Simmmons for dinner around 6:00 so it was a nice afternoon snack :)
Around 6:00 we headed down for dinner and some conversation. Thanks to Heather we finally found a beer here that is, well, actually beer. They have plenty of Budweiser and Bud Light... I just can't do it though. We ordered a couple of Spring Tides (a New Zealand beer) and enjoyed every sip. Food was a little more difficult to obtain – I had to order 3 different dishes to finally get something they actually had in supply. I've learned that I can't set my hopes on one thing or it will invariably be the one thing they don't have. So I go prepared to order a few different things. We've been to the Enra so many times I don't really need a menu anymore!
Everyone fed and the babies either sleeping or starting to fuss, we adjourned for the evening. Another couple episodes of Modern Family back in the room and it was bedtime. Tomorrow will be pretty much the same with the exception of saying goodbye to Greg and Madi.
A quick addition: for those of you who wanted some video, I'm giving it my first try. The video I plan to upload is a short one that starts with Grace's sister Destiny (age 5) then moves to Emi holding Grace with Bertha (age 2) peeking over her shoulder. I hope it works:
It worked! Grace is so cute and expressive already =)Hopefully the formula goes well, but it sounds like she's definitely very adaptable. Do they have Kirkland brand down there or is it just called the same thing?
ReplyDeleteI just love Grace's hair! It makes me smile every time I see it =)
ReplyDelete@Jen: They do have the same Kirland brand - I think it's Costco, right? We'll see how it goes :)
ReplyDelete@Teresa: I know! It's it amazing! When it's wet it's slightly curly so I'm guessing it'll get wavier the longer it gets. She's only 2 months old and her hair goes below the "collar" of her shirt. If she were in the military she'd have to cut it or put it up ;)