S First interview!

S went for her first visa interview today. My little baby is all grown up. We are planning a visit to the US in April (badly need a holiday, keeping fingers crossed since boss has still not okayed my leave-as per him, my maternity leave last year was a big holiday!!!) and the hubby and I both already have US visas. We have got a separate passport for S so needed a separate visa.
Hats off to the hubby – he did everything for her visa himself- from applying for the time slot online, to getting the DD for the visa fees made, to taking her photo (on our digicam, let me tell you getting her to stand still even for a second is a big accomplishment), to getting all the docs organized to finally taking her for the visa interview. Ajji (hubby’s mom) also accompanied them to the US consulate and patiently waited outside and then brought S back home. It seems the interview officer was a jolly guy who told S that Daddy had to go outside while she had her interview, then gave a big laugh, and then asked some questions on what Mummy does and Daddy does and Bua (hubby;s sister in the US whom we are going to meet) does and then said visa would be available tomorrow. S on her part kept looking at the dividers and saying Up! Now for the next 5 days (I cannot promise longer than that) I will not nag the hubby about not looking after S enough.
Looking forward to our US holiday. I was getting a bit apprehensive about taking S on a holiday- we plan to go to three places in the US and all far away from each other so bulk of the holiday would consist of airports and flights, and even in each place we want to travel out as much as possible- S is not used to a car seat and her meal times at home are a long drawn out affair with at least 2 peopls required and tons of entertainment- how to manage during a holiday when lunches and many dinners would have to be given outside by only Mummy (since Daddy’s patience in entertaining S and feeding her lasts all of 3 mins) and without much entertainment. But just last night I read this interesting article by a couple who love to travel and trek and how they continued to do all of that even after their baby was born. They actually took their baby for a holiday in the mountains when he was only 11/2 months and for a trek in the hills (by holding him in a front sling) when he was 5 months old, and he enjoyed it. The key is to be well prepared and I would add not be too fussy- if she has only half her meal, its ok I guess she would get hungry later. As for the plane travel, I had kept 1 year as the cut off to start doing our normal activities (movies, restaurant, pubs, travel) and including S in them, so will just have to manage the plane travel..