Nosso Brasileirinho

It's official! Our little Brasileiro has his Brazilian passport. Since he was born in Manaus, he automatically has dual citizenship with the USA. We are going to be traveling this summer to the States, so we need both of his passports before we can leave the country.
We applied for his American one at the consulate here in the city and are expected to receive it next week (4 week process with quite a bit of paperwork). The Brazilian passport is an easier process and typically takes only 6 business days start to finish. We were alas not surprised when we showed up at the scheduled time to pick it up and were told they could not give it to us. After a 30 minute drive to the Policia Federal with a newborn who does not like his car seat, I had the passport in my hand when the lady realized that someone had neglected to do their job, and we were therefore missing some document. She apologized, took my cell phone number, and promised to call us back that afternoon when it was ready.
We drove home disappointed but after so many other so called easy things have gone wrong for us here, we weren't too shocked. Incompetence seems to be a very common occurrence around this town. I proceeded to call the Policia Federal everyday for the rest of the week since no one ever called me back, and was met with lots of ringing and no information. I finally got through at the end of the week and was told that his passport was indeed ready.
While I stayed home with the baby, Jay went by himself to pick it up. Lo and behold, the same exact thing happened to him. He had the passport in his hand when they realized that again no one had done their side of the job, and there was still a document missing. He expressed his growing annoyance to them and came home empty handed. Mind you, it is not that easy to get to the Policia Federal, and everything turns into a bigger chore with a newborn in tow.
Today seems to be our lucky day though because not only did we actually get the Brazilian passport, but we heard that the American one is one its way to Manaus. Nothing like things really happening to lift your spirits!
I don't have a picture to show you of his new passport, but I do have some cute smiley pics from the last few days. Elijah turns into a smiley little guy when he sees me or Jay, and it is just the most adorable thing ever! He also has become fond of lying in his pack and play looking at the shadows and lights around the window or gazing at the giraffes hanging above him. It's so cute cause he makes happy little sounds in there, and we appreciate the free-time to use both of our hands at the same time. As a matter of fact, he is enjoying some pack and play time right now while I write this!

Who wouldn't

LOVE

this boy?!

We are both so infatuated with our little Bubba and every day are amazed by basically everything he does. It's true! We grab the camera so many times during the day or call to each other to come check something out that he's doing. He's already getting so big- 7 weeks, 12 lb 2 oz- and he's outgrown his newborn size clothes now. 

Sounds like pack and play time is done, so I'm off to get our little Brasiliero!