2025: A Year in Review
January
We're very lucky that our girls have hardly ever been sick. Last January our lucky streak ended and our year started with back to back sicknesses. The beginning of 2025 was spent staying cozy inside and playing with Christmas toys, watching princess movies, and wearing dress-up clothes until everyone felt better.
A joy for me this year has been taking adult ballet classes, which started in January. It took a little bravery to sign up knee surgeries and babies... but it has turned out wonderfully! It makes me so happy and I'm amazed at what my "old" mid-thirties self can still have fun doing.
February
Grandma and Grandpa traveled to Florida to escape the Wisconsin winter, and we followed. We flew to Naples, Florida on an icy 20 below day and throughly enjoyed a week in the sunshine. Traveling with toddlers is not relaxing, but it was so good for the soul to explore a new place and be outside without getting frostbite.
March
In March, baby Rosalie turned 1.5! It's a little bittersweet to see our baby getting older, but some of my favorite things about 2025 have been watching Rosie's speech take off (she can have very cute full conversations- it's amazing), and watching Magnolia and Rosalie play together more and more. Being close in age gives them a great sister bond and they have so many of the same interests.
April
This was not my favorite month. The same week that my sweet and beloved Grandma Houdek passed away, we found out that the IVF transfer of our final embryo failed. We were very hopeful to add to our family and devastated that it didn't work out (especially after another failed transfer the previous October).
We are obviously still incredibly thankful for what we have, and have hope for both a beautiful life with our 2 amazing daughters and a reunion in the next life with our lost loved ones. Maybe it's for the best that this all happened during the Easter season, because that holiday gives me hope. Little girls in fluffy Easter dresses lift my spirits too.
May
I don't know about you, but I heal by staying busy and distracted. And nothing fills me with more joy than watching the girls have fun. May ended up being full of fun events that really helped heal my broken heart from April.
We visited baby animals, got some new outdoor toys and enjoyed our yard, went on a mini road trip to Iowa, met the girls' favorite celebrities (Disney princesses), went to our town's Memorial Day parade and festival, and stopped in one of our favorite local towns- Port Washington.
It really ended up being an action-packed, happy month.
June
This spring/summer was full of milestones for Magnolia. She got her first haircut, started attending dance class on her own without mom, stopped napping, switched to a big girl bed, and mastered potty training. She turned 3.5 in June and in many ways is so much more grown up and independent.
Change is not easy for my sweet Maggie (I relate). The bigger changes took many months of gradually adapting. Neither of us got much sleep over the summer because the bed switch did not go smoothly. Six months later I can finally say it's mostly a success. She slept perfectly as a baby and continues to be adorable, so we can't complain!
In other news, we spent most of our June free time at parks, and both girls really enjoyed taking a toddler music class together.
July
Celebrating the 4th is a big deal in our house considering David is the most American American there is. We had fun with multiple parades, barbecues, and patriotic outfits.
Cousin time is always exciting for my girls because they adore Finn. This summer cousin time was even more exciting thanks to a long visit from my cousins Henry and George, who stayed with my parents. We enjoyed several outings together. My favorite was the Bookworm Gardens in Sheboygan- it's an adorable place.
August
For the 5th year in a row, we visited Kelley Country Creamery for sunflowers and homemade ice cream.
Our town flooded, which is not something I ever expected to happen. We got over a foot of rain in 24 hours, and feel very lucky to not have damage to our house.
We ended the summer with a few special outings to Holy Hill, a 100 year old trolley, an outdoor concert, and a fun playground in Oconomowoc.
September
We can't believe it, but on September 5th, Rosalie turned TWO!! Rosie has added endless sweetness, cuddles, and giggles to our family. She LOVES to read, loves princesses and jewelry, and is a sensitive little cuddle bug.
Later in the month, we got to make David's patriotic dreams come true and travel to Washington D.C. (thankfully before the shut down!). We loved the museums and beautiful historic places, and the girls loved riding the metro- or as they called it, the "fast train."
October
October is for fall fun! We enjoyed the apple orchard, pumpkin patch, playing in the leaves, and of course- Halloween.
This is the first year that the girls were excited for trick or treating (plus we had pretty nice weather), so we went THREE times. They chose to dress up as Tinkerbell and Wendy and were very cute. Rosie chose to wear her bucket as a hat, which was also very cute.
November
Like April, this is another month I'd rather forget. We thought our IVF journey was done after running out of embryos, but ultimately decided to give it one more try. I spent most of the month giving myself 70 shots and traveling to my clinic in Illinois 10+ times. Thankfully the girls didn't mind or even really notice me being away because they had so much fun playing with Grandma.
We knew it was a long shot for it to work, but unfortunately it went even worse than expected and resulted in zero embryos to even attempt to transfer.
I was feeling pretty down on Thanksgiving, but I ended up with extra snuggles from both girls which made it hard to be sad on the holiday.
I feel guilty being sad because I know I have so much. The years of waiting and loss plus having such amazing kids make me want more so badly it hurts. I'm hoping I can accept it and move on someday, but that hasn't happened yet.
December
Holiday spirit is helpful after such a big disappointment. Most of the month was very cold and snowy, which added to the holiday ambience. It took a few months, but I've finally convinced Rosie to willingly wear a coat so that's great news.
My DIY pictures are getting slightly more elaborate every year.
Beautiful Magnolia turned 4 at the end of the month. We're so proud of her for all of the growing up she's done this year, and are so delighted by her sweet and silly personality. She had her first friend party, and we had a great day celebrating her.
Wishing a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our family and friends!
Past Years:
2024 (Life with 2 toddlers, New Orleans, Ireland, Door County)
2023 (Welcoming Rosalie, Magnolia becoming a toddler)
2022 (Magnolia's first year, Texas, Las Vegas, Utah, Paris)
2021 (Tragedy and joy- losing a child and bringing one home, Charleston and Savannah trip)
2018 (Poland, Sicily, moving back to America, NYC, Hawaii)
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