Happy New Year, friends! I just went back and read my first post of 2024 and honestly I just want to go back and give that version of myself a big hug! 2024 was not a universally positive year in our family (does such a thing exist?) but it was a year I feel like we found some footing as parents after having babies in 2019, 2021, and 2022 and are heading into the new year with more we find ourselves looking forward to than we have hanging over our heads if that makes sense.
Most of all we are beyond excited to be welcoming our fourth baby in March of this coming year and while I know the transition will not be without its hiccups and hurdles, I really feel ready in a way I didn’t when we had our third baby 16.5 months after our second! It’s definitely a different experience being pregnant with five- and almost four-year-olds who have a better idea of what’s coming and can share in the excitement of feeling baby kicks etc. At the same time I am more worried about clipping back into sleepless nights and around-the-clock breastfeeding after some time “off” (ha!) — I can’t say yet whether we’ll prefer the 1.5 or 2.5 year age gap but I am trying to appreciate the positives for sure!
I wrote this time last year that having three under three often felt like drinking out of a firehose, but I feel like we’re maybe now removed enough from some of the biggest growing pains of having babies so close in age to be able to look the future with tremendous excitement about all the pros of having actual kids close in age, plus an overwhelming gratitude that we get to experience it all over again in a new way with a little more breathing room between our third and our fourth. I feel confident we can handle whatever is coming our way in a way I didn’t or couldn’t have felt with our first, second, and even third babies, and that confidence feels like something we’ve really worked for these past couple years as our little family has taken shape.
I have so many hopes and dreams for this season of life with little kids and it makes me giddy to think about this new little guy filling in a picture of my own family of six that I’ve envisioned for most of my life. Thank you for being here, following along, and navigating your own new chapters alongside mine! I’m excited to see what 2025 has in store for us all and hope it’s one of our collective favorite years yet.
Before you go, a few memories and blog posts that encapsulate the year that was!
January
shared my best purchases of 2023, started needlepointing a big project for my mom (still a work in progress but I can see the finish line in sight!), and did a January Q&A answering questions like what I love about being a boy mom, handling body image during pregnancy, and navigating the transitions from 1-2 and 2-3 children
April
spent Easter in Rosemary Beach with Will’s parents, took Teddy and Peter to Paris and London, and reflected on traveling with little kids!
August + September
