Ruby Recap: 0-3 Months

I love being an aunt! Unfortunately, most of my nieces and nephews lived far away, except Christian and Ruby. I'm so grateful to be able to see them several times a week. I love interacting with them and watching them change and grow. Little Ruby turned 3 months old earlier this month, so I thought I'd make a post recapping her first three months of life, mostly with pictures.

Here she is stretched out on the beautiful little quilt my sister Annette made for her:

The pictures below were taken on one of Ruby's first Sundays going to church:

Another week all dressed up for church:

Christian LOVES Ruby, and is always checking on her to see what she's up to. He loves to give her hugs and kisses.

She has been so mellow and happy so far, so I hope that continues:

Ruby also really loves having baths:

This has been one of my favorite outfits that Ruby has worn:

And I just have to include these pictures of "Cool Man" Christian:

My Ancestry DNA Results

Today is my 34th birthday. My sister Chandra gave me an early birthday present just after Mother's Day: an Ancestry DNA kit. She knew that I'd been interested in getting my DNA tested for several years, so when Ancestry ran a Mother's Day special and was selling the kits for $59 (instead of the usual $99), she bought three of them–one for me, one for her, and one for her husband. She was too excited to wait to give it to me for my birthday, so she gave it to me as soon as it arrived. The three of us wasted no time in getting our kits ready. It was super easy; you just register online, spit in the little tube, seal it up, and mail it back to the lab. Your results are ready anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks later.

My results were no real surprise. I knew I largely had European roots, and that's what my results reflected. The one thing that did surprise me is that I didn't have more Irish ancestry–I thought I did. I also found it interesting that the migration portion of the results showed that my people migrated to Pennsylvania. I DID have ancestors in Pennsylvania... in fact, that's where my dad was born.

Europe West 

Primarily located in: Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein

Great Britain

Primarily located in: England, Scotland, Wales

Iberian Peninsula

Primarily located in: Spain, Portugal

Caucasus

Primarily located in: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey

Scandinavia

Primarily located in: Sweden, Norway, Denmark

European Jewish

Primarily located in: Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Israel

Europe East

Primarily located in: Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia

Ireland/Scotland/Wales

Primarily located in: Ireland, Wales, Scotland

Europe South

Primarily located in: Italy, Greece

As excited as I was to get my DNA results, I think I was even more excited to see Chandra's. We obviously aren't biologically related, so hers was much more of mystery to me. Her husband, Joe, is Caucasian, but some of the Coleman family lore is that some of their ancestors were Native American, so I was eager to see if the test would confirm that as fact. Sadly, it did not. Too bad, because that would've been neat.

Here are their results:

It's amazing to me just how much your DNA can tell you about yourself and your ancestors. DNA is your own personal calling card, and it's been used to solve crimes decades after they've been committed. In fact, there is cutting-edge technology that has recently been developed that investigators have utilized where they take the DNA that's been recovered from crime scenes, and they use the different characteristics (that's not the right word, but I can't think of how to describe it) to come up with a composite picture of what the person would look like, based on what your DNA says about your heritage, and what your facial features would look like, etc. It's pretty amazing, and has aided law enforcement in nailing criminals. Don't go committing any crimes, because you never know when your DNA will be your downfall!

Another Royal Wedding

Prince Harry married Meghan Markle just over a week ago, on May 19. I didn't get up at 5 AM to watch, like I did for Prince William's wedding to Kate, but I did record the news coverage of it, and I started watching it as soon as I got up. I was excited to see what Meghan's wedding dress looked like. I expected her to wear a lavish wedding dress, but it was actually quite plain and subdued. I was a little disappointed in the dress, but it grew on me. After all, Meghan is gorgeous, so she really didn't need anything ornate or overly embellished. Prince Harry looked nice, as well, and he looked really happy. It's too bad that his mother, Princess Diana, wasn't alive to see her son get married, but I'm sure she was there in spirit.

Meghan and Harry's love story seems like a bit of a fairytale. She, a beautiful American actress, and he, a famous prince, met after being paired up on a blind date. They fell in love and  decided to get married. Meghan is 36 (the same age that Princess Diana was when she was tragically killed), and is a biracial divorcée. It wasn't long ago that a member of the royal family wouldn't have been allowed to marry a biracial divorcée, so their union is rather remarkable. Meghan's situation seems to parallel Grace Kelly, who was also an American actress who retired from acting after falling in love with and marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

Some people on Facebook were complaining about all of the hype on TV surrounding the royal wedding, and they were saying they couldn't care less. I, personally, much rather hear about Meghan and Harry's wedding, than to hear about corrupt politicians, or the latest idiotic thing President Trump has said or done, or to hear about another school shooting, or another celebrity that has sexually abused women, or terrible natural disasters that are wreaking havoc in people's lives. At least this is happy news!

Here are some pictures from the big day: 

Introducing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex:

Here are Prince Charles and Camilla, along with Doria Ragland, mother of Meghan Markle. I thought Doria looked so pretty at the wedding.

There's nothing cuter than George and Charlotte, who were a page boy and bridesmaid in the wedding party.

Meghan changed into another dress for the reception. Again, not the kind of dress that I expected, but she looks beautiful:

Here are the formal wedding portraits released from Kensington Palace:

I also wanted to mention the happy news that Prince William and Kate had their third child on April 23, a boy named Louis Arthur Charles (Louis pronounced "Looey"). I was so happy when I heard that they were having another child. Here are pictures of Kate leaving the hospital, mere hours after giving birth.

I loved this picture of Charlotte holding her baby brother. 💗