DNA

This year as part of all of our Christmas gifts, Christopher, Stella, and I did 23andMe's ancestry and health DNA tests! We sent our samples off before we left the states in the hope that they'd beat the Christmas gift rush and they did!

I got my results first

And there were no surprises there.  Pretty much as white as you can possibly get. The one bit of good news is that I'm super British which makes me unreasonably happy, I'm not going to lie!

I am not a genetic carrier for anything (which we already knew... we had DNA tests run when we did IVF and found out everything was copacetic and Christopher and I were genetically compatible), I don't have the BRCA1/BRCA2 (breast cancer) markers, late set Alzheimer's, or Parkinson's. I do have one marker for Macular Degeneration so I'm at an elevated risk, but my Nana had it so thats not terribly surprising.

My traits were pretty accurate...I can match musical pitch, smell asparagus pee, taste bitterness, have an aversion to cilantro, have green eyes, lighter skin, move a lot in my sleep, and am likely to consume more caffeine.

Stella's came next

All of hers was a surprise, obviously. We have very little information about her biological family so we wanted to do this for her for sure. We also found out that she isn't a genetic carrier for anything scary, not a carrier for the BRCA1/BRCA2, late set Alzheimer's, or Parkinson's. I would still like to do more in depth testing for her later on with blood work and not just spit and a commercial DNA kit, but having some answers now is a great start!

A lot of her traits were spot on (brown eyes, likely to have a lot of freckles-which her birth mom does and Stella's are coming in, dark hair, little baby hair, big toe longest, no dimples) She's predisposed to weigh less than average, has muscle composition common in power athletes (have you seen this girls delts?), is likely to consume less caffeine (obviously...her insane energy levels don't need caffeine), and isn't likely to be a deep sleeper (duh).

And finally, Christopher's results came... and his map is lit up like a Christmas tree... (and theres so much of his that it takes three screen shots to get it all)!

Not much of his was a great surprise. His grandmother was really into ancestry and had delved into their genealogy so he knew quite a bit about his Dads side. The amount of African ancestry was a bit of a surprise but the Puerto Rican didn't come through as strong as we thought it would (his grandpa was born and raised in PR).

The only thing he's a genetic carrier for is Cystic Fibrosis (and I can't remember if we knew that or not when we got our DNA stuff done for IVF... it seems like we did but its been so long I can't remember) but nothing else. He also has a marker for Macular Degeneration, both markers for Celiac. But no markers for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or Breast Cancer.

His wellness and traits were pretty accurate... lactose intolerant, likely to consume more caffeine, moves more in his sleep, asparagus smell, brown eyes, and wavy, thick, dark hair.

The really big surprise in his DNA, however, was that he and Stella share DNA!!! Not much, but enough that 23andMe suspects that they're 5th cousins!

It obviously hasn't ever mattered to us that we aren't biologically related to her, but to know they share DNA, even a minuscule amount, is just a beautiful thing. It gives her a tangible connection to us as a family and I think, future Stella will really love that and it will mean a lot to her.

This has been really fun and has set Christopher specifically on a deeper hunt through his ancestry. We both want to do the ancestry.com kits and compare the results and see if anything different shows up.

Christmas in the land of sand...

Its no secret that Christmas last year wasn't the jolliest of days for Stella. We weren't sure how she'd do with another Christmas away, but after traveling to the states and celebrating there, she was just fine, thank goodness!!!

Christmas Eve brought with it drama of a different sort. Right as I set everything out on the counter to start my Christmas baking the water shut off. There was a leak and while the terrible, temporary rigging that had been done to it a few weeks ago seemed to be holding perfectly fine, apparently Christmas Eve was the prime time to try and actually fix it. Just for transparencies sake... none of us had showered yet and we had a sink full of dirty dishes and plans for the evening. So...that was fun. The entire morning and afternoon was spent with the watchman coming in and out of the house, not being able to wash dishes, flush the toilets, shower, or cook (because I didn't need or want any more dirty dishes).

Finally, around 5 the water came back on and I at least got our goodies for dinner fixed. Some friends were coming over to decorate cookies and have a dinner of Christmassy snacks so I made stuffed mushrooms and sausage balls and they brought a cheese plate and homemade chips and salsa. We played games, ate food, and had a "snowball" fight!

They left and headed home and we set out milk and cookies for Santa.

And the rest of the Christmas Eve happenings happened and Santa came!

Christmas morning had me awake before anyone else (as usual on Christmas morning!) and I laid around just buzzing with excitement (and the sore throat I finally succumbed to) waiting on the other fools in this house to wake up! Finally at 6:30 Stella came in and we woke Christopher up!

He and I headed downstairs and turned the Christmas lights on and then let Stella come downstairs!

She was so excited to see her Jurassic Park LEGO set! She has begged for that thing for months! Santa also brought a LEGO Friends set, a digital microscope that magnifies 1000x, Atlas Obscura's Worlds Most Adventurous Kid book, headphones, and a stocking full of goodies.

Somehow all of that fit in her stocking...Santa magic!

The raptor claw lollipop was a hit

Christopher got his favorite books signed by the author, face socks with Stella on one pair, Angus and Lumee on the other, cologne, a neck massager thing, and a socking full of goodies (which I have decided is my favorite thing... both to dump out and to fill!)

His stocking goodies

Christopher outdid himself this year and got me my new phone, a quartz cluster ring, a wireless charging pod, wireless ear pods, a Nespresso milk frother, an infrared thermometer for cooking, and a cookbook I've wanted- Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat! And of course, my stocking (which had three gourmet salts!)! And the best gift of all, of course... I finally came down with the cold that Christopher and Stella had.

Stella played with her new toys and watched Christmas movies and I took some cold medicine and slept through the Christmas movies on the couch and tried to feel better. After far too short a nap, we got up and got ready, all decked out in our Christmas finery and we headed to the Art Rotana in Amwaj to enjoy their Christmas brunch!

The Fagg's joined us and we ate, drank, and were merry all afternoon! We even took Christmas crackers and the kids brought gifts for each other!

After we ate the guys had a couple of drinks and Ashley and I took the kids and headed outside for some of the random activities they had scheduled...like a "train"ride...which was a four wheeler pulling little kid train cars (think shopping mall trains). Despite the weird events, we were treated to this gorgeous sunset...

One last shot in front of the big Christmas tree...I love doing life with this man.

We came back home and FaceTime'd the family and Stella told them all about our day and what Santa had brought (and we got to see everyone else's Santa loot) and then we all headed to bed early... exhausted but happy! It was a far different Christmas than we've ever had before and I can't say that I'd ever go out to eat again on Christmas, but it was really good and really happy and there were no tears and minimal sadness at missing our family, and I call that a giant win!

I did realize that while I love Christmas. Obviously...if you've met me you know this. But what I really, truly love is Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is my absolute favorite! I think its the anticipation and build up of the next day... and the staying up late and preparing everything and the Mom side of things... just all of it. There's so much to look forward to on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day happens so fast and then its just over and theres nothing left to look forward to.

The next morning we woke up and I had barely any voice and felt like hot garbage and we ended up having to cancel our Boxing Day party. I slept on and off and lounged on the couch trying to feel better the whole day. Luckily the kids in the compound are all on Christmas break and out of school so Stella spent the entire day playing outside with them!

All in all, our second Christmas in the land of sand was really great! It definitely helped to have visited NC and celebrated with the family beforehand. It was just the balance we needed this year after the Christmas morning tears from last.

Merry Everything and Happy Always to everyone!

Back in the land of sand...

Landing back in Bahrain brought Christopher back to work and Christmas prep in full swing.

We had lots, and I do mean LOTS of mail to get when we returned... (in my defense this isn't all mine...lol)

We got Lumee back from the friend who was taking care of her for us

We trimmed up Stella's hair!

We finished decorating the house for Christmas and I wrapped gifts... doing a mix of paper and fabric!

Stella got her ears pierced! We had them done in San Diego by a friend of ours who is a piercer like 3 years ago, but the jewelry he used didn't work and fell out day two and I had to push them back in and then her ears got infected and she refused to let me clean them so the earrings had to come out and her holes closed up. I've asked her and asked her if she wanted them redone and she's always firmly said "no". Something changed her mind though and day one in Paris she started talking about getting her ears pierced (seriously. Paris day 1...she couldn't have had this epiphany two days before when we could have done them in NC). After a week of nonstop ear piercing talk, I relented and we headed to the pharmacy and got her ears done. I would much rather have waited and had them done in the states with a needle and not the gun, but I literally couldn't take anymore begging and talking about it so I relented.

And we went to the USO Christmas show on base!

Every year the USO brings a group of celebrities to deployed military members to spread some Christmas cheer. They range from comedians to singers to actors to motivational speakers to whoever wants to come along. This year their second stop was Bahrain and once I saw that Milo Ventimiglia (Jack from "This is Us") was going to be there, I knew we had to go!

Our Friends, the DeJoy's were there so we camped out on the ground right in front of the stage and had a great view!

Wilmer Valderama (Fez from that '70's Show) was the host for the night and a DJ named DJ J.Dayz was the DJ

Jessiemae Peluso (a comedian and MTV star) did a short stand up routine (that wasn't the most appropriate given the small children sitting at the foot of the stage...)

Shaun White (Olympian and X-games winner) spoke

Milo Ventimiglia (actor) did a scene from "This is Us" with one of the active duty service members-- and it was so cute! It was funny and so good!

Lindsey and I were obviously excited about Milo!

Matt Fraser (CrossFit champion) gave a motivational speech about his life and accomplishments

Kellie Pickler (country music singer and American Idol contestant AND Dancing With the Stars winner!) closed the show out and sang a few songs.

At the end she had everyone come on stage and the crowd come up close and we all sang Christmas songs together... we were SO close up to the stage...at one point I could have reached out and touched Milo Ventimiglia- I refrained, however, and respected his personal space.

After the show they lined up on stage and we all got to go up and take photos and say hi. 

Everyone was so, so nice! Kellie Pickler is the sweetest! She was so kind to Stella and super excited when she found out we were from NC like her. We told her we had loved her on Dancing with the Stars and she was so excited we had watched and cheered her on! Stella didn't realize at the time who she was but once I said DWTS she got it...lol!

Before we were ushered off the stage for the next group to come up, I beelined for Milo Ventimiglia.

No, not for the reasons you might think, although, full disclosure- he looks exactly the same in person as he does on TV... so all that handsomeness is real and not makeup. I walked up to him and told him that Stella was adopted and as an adoptive family we don't see enough good representation on TV and that what they were doing on "This is Us" was incredible and raw and real and we were so very grateful for that. He asked me my name and then shook my hand and told me his. He was incredibly kind and humble and I am so glad I got to thank him. Because representation is important and seeing families onscreen struggle with some of the same things we struggle or will struggle with when it comes to adoption (and miscarriage and infertility) is so helpful in knowing that we aren't alone. And thats a big human thing, isn't it? Knowing we're not in this alone.