all life lives on if we've ever loved it
I'm generally opposed to winter, but it's especially beautiful this year. Something about the cold clean lines, the clear skies and the crisp colors--my skin prickling and everything moving just a little bit quicker.
We set up the Christmas tree yesterday, and it hit me that this is Alma's first Christmas. Growing up, I LOVED holidays, especially Christmas. In recent years, however, I've begun to dread the inevitable tug-of-war between families. Finances take a hit as we try to buy gifts for everyone, and I miss my extended family (especially my dad's family, as they no longer meet together; I haven't seen any of them in years). But I don't want to pass these stressful associations on to Alma. I want her to have the kind of Christmases that I had growing up: happy and full of love. I'm going to do my best to make that happen.
Speaking of the bear cub, she had her two-month checkup today. She did very well. She weighs a whopping 11.15 pounds (96th percentile), and is 24.5 inches tall (100th percentile!). I guess this explains why she's been outgrowing her clothes left and right. She also got three shots, and although she cried and I was sad, it was over pretty quickly. She's been asleep most of the evening since then and hasn't been feeling very good. I know that there's no evidence to back up the "shots cause autism" rally cry, and we even gave her three injections rather than the standard five, but I can't help being anxious for her to perk up and prove that she's going to be just fine, thank you, and I'm not a horrible mother who injected her with a BIG FAT DOSE OF AUTISM.
I've become very interested in my family history. Between all the old family photos I've been scanning/uploading and the work I've been doing on ancestry.com (the free trial version--because it's an amazing site, but who has $200/yr to spend on a website?), I've found a lot of interesting stuff. My dad's line goes back through Mexico to Spain and Portugal in the 1400s; once it goes into Spain, they start taking their mothers' last names instead of the fathers'. My mom's line goes back to England in the 1600s. With the exception of the French and Indian War, I've found relatives who fought in every American war from WW2 back. I'm interested to see what else I'll find.
The friend front is going especially well. Last night was really fun--we had Cameron, Daniel, Michael, Alex, and Aaron over. We played Loaded Questions for ages, drank (moderately!), and had copious amounts of fun. After the Scholzs went home the rest of us stayed up til 1AM talking. Our new Foundations group is amazing; it makes me feel better about our last group, knowing that we fit in so easily with this one.
I've been all domesticky with the house lately, so I'll probably blog about it soon. Stay tuned!
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