A White Christmas

News reports said it was first White Christmas in Dallas in a hundred years. Truman was more interested in the concept than the reality of snow, but we did get some nice photos. I hope he remembers this Christmas.

Christmas'o'Trains

Truman said over and over that what he wanted from Santa was a big train. Well Santa delivered and so did everyone else. Truman got a train set, a train puzzle, books about trains, a gingerbread train, a small plastic train, train magnets, and more.

Mama's little angel

It took some convincing, but three weeks after he made them, we got Truman to wear the angel wings he made in Sunday School. We even got him to model them in the snow.

Cousins

Truman and his second cousin, Rylie, are about the same size and have a ton of fun together. She's about 14 months younger, and they make a very cute pair.

The North Pole of Texas

On the same day as the historic railroad ride in Grapevine, we headed to East Texas where we celebrated Christmas with our extended family and also got to take a ride on a lighted night-time train out on a farm in Pine Forest, the small community where Truman's Grandmommy is from.

The North Pole Express

Truman was completely obsessed with The Polar Express this Christmas. So, we took a ride on a historic train in Grapevine. The ride was about 40 minutes and Santa visited each car. It was lots of fun.

All I want for Christmas ...

Truman has only been asking for two things for Christmas. When asked what kind of a present he wants, he has said, "school bus toy." When asked what he wants from Santa, he says "choo choo train." Every year, my firm has a children's holiday party. They have a fabulous Santa, and they buy an individual gift for each child based on age and gender for Santa to give that particular child. What did Truman receive last night -- the Little People School bus. He was in heaven.

Also particularly cute was the fact that he was super excited just to receive a gift from Santa and squealed in delight about the wrapped gift without even knowing what was inside. Christmas morning is going to be a lot of fun at our house this year.

Test Results

Apparently I do have a genetic mutation for a clotting disorder called MTHFR, which stands for Methylene-Tetra-Hydro-Folate-Reductase. However, a heightened level of a certain protein called homocysteine has to also be present for clotting to actually occur. In two rounds of tests, I did not have an elevated homocysteine level. I also definitely do not have Factor V Leiden, which is the disorder I was concerned about and which is particularly problematic.

Because the treatment for MTHFR is relatively simple (though not remarkably effective) -- extra folic acid and vitamin B--I will probably do it anyway in a future pregnancy just in case the homocysteine levels, which are somewhat dynamic, do decide to rise in the future.

All this leads us back to knowing that due to the timing of the loss and the good genetic health and development health of the baby, something went wrong with my body on this pregnancy, but we don't know what it was or whether it will happen again. We only know what it's not.

Adolphus Christmas Parade

We braved a morning around freezing to attend the Adophus Children's Parade for the first time. It's comparable to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on about a 50% scale. It was lots of fun. We'll definitely do it again. The man sitting next to us said it was paying for a ticketed bleacher seat (instead of coming out hours early to stake out a curb spot) just to see Truman's reaction to each parade entry as it rounded the corner near our seats.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

This was the first year Truman actually helped decorate the tree. It was really cute to watch how precise he was. However, that meant putting all the ornaments in the same spot. He had a very good time. Notice how the ornaments almost touch the ground.