2014 in Review

2014 was BY FAR the best year of my life. I thought 2013 was amazing finally overcoming infertility and successfully becoming pregnant in our second round of IVF but boy - nothing can even compare to bringing your child into this world. I remember the feelings I had last time this year - we were so full of excitement - it was the year we would finally complete our family, the countdown was on and we could not be more excited! Last year one of my favorite blog posts was my 2013 recap so I want to share the same with you all now for 2014!

January 2014

We welcomed the new year by putting together the nursery.  I remember just sitting in there for hours imagining what it would be like when Baby Wik was finally here. We had just reached viability so we felt like we could breath just a little! We were also dealing with our sweet Moe cat having a terrible mouth infection that would lead to him losing 2 of his front fangs. Thank goodness it came back as an infection and not cancer and he's still fat and sassy with us today!

February 2014

February was a huge month for our family! Chris turned 33 and we celebrated with a weeks worth of dinners at new places as part of Chicago's restaurant week. We also had our 3D ultrasound and got to see Baby Wik in a whole different light. After that appointment Chris said it definitely was much more real for him as we saw lots of movement and a tiny little person in there! Then on February 24th we welcomes our sweet niece Savannah Mae into the world. Kristin delivered at Prentice where we could be delivering Baby Wik and the whole experience was very surreal. She's such a sweetie and we can't wait for her and Case to grow up BFFs!

March 2014

March was the month of celebrating Baby Wik! We had a shower at work, a shower in Gas City and a shower in Hinsdale - it was amazing and truly a dream come true. After all we had went through we were in single digit weeks until Baby Wik's arrival and we had all of our family and friends surrounding us and celebrating our miracle - life doesn't get better than that.

April 2014

Hands down - the best month EVER!! Once the calendar turned April1st it was baby time - the countdown was on! Our due date was April 17th and we were in the home stretch. Sunday, April 6th we woke up, ran errands - I was stressed about putting together the big Easter basket for the nurses - just in case. We finished everything up - put the basket together and it was time for my Sunday nap. We turned on the HBO movie "You Don't Know Jack" about Jack Kevorkian and off to dreamland I went. I awoke to my water breaking - it was go time! We couldn't believe it! We called our families, Rita and settled in for the long haul. Long story short - after almost a full day in labor and 3 hours of pushing our sweet miracle Casey was born and he was just perfect. That first month was a wild ride but for sure the most fun, rewarding and memorable month we have ever had!

Very first belly pic at 4 weeks!

Very last belly pic at 38+3

May 2014

We were still settling in as parents, dealing with nursing issues that we fought through and adjusting to our new life and loving every minute!

June 2014

Honestly the first 6 months or so of Casey's life flew by and were kind of a blur. We had nursing issues so we were on a nurse, bottle feed, pump schedule for a long while and we were in pure survival mode. He also was a terrible sleeper so we were sleep deprived - thankfully so!

1st Father's Day!

1st Cubs Game!

July 2014

We took our first vacation! We went with the Wiklund family to Grand Cayman! Casey did great and we had a blast! He will grow up on the island so it was very very special for us to take him for the first time! We also celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with a sweet dinner and lots of reflection on the past 10 years!

1st Plane Ride!

Casey's 1st Concert!

1st time in the ocean!

First visit to Gran and Grandpa's and the petting zoo!

Fist time feeling the sand!

Unimpressed on his first 4th of July!

August 2014

We celebrated my 32nd birthday (man I'm getting old!) and continued to enjoy the Chicago summer! Casey also got his first taste of solid foods (Prunes!) and we visited our RE Dr. Rapisarda who we will be eternally grateful for helping us conceive our precious baby boy!

 Where it all began

Matching for Momma's birthday!

September 2014

I feel like in September things started to get "easier". We were comfortable being parents, we had figured one another out - and now we just enjoyed our time kicking the month off right with the infamous Wiklund Labor Day Party! We also had our first Wiggleworms music class! Casey got his first tooth and we took him to his first Bears game! We spent a week with Daddy in Door County, Wisconsin. It was beautiful and so relaxing!

October 2014

October we celebrated Casey's 1/2 birthday with a little party - just the 3 of us. It was perfect! Casey started sitting all by himself and finally started sleeping through the night. This is when life truly changed for us. We were well rested - all of us - and loving life! We celebrated Casey's first Halloween - he was the cutest monster there ever was!

November 2014

Casey officially says momma! He has 3 teeth now and it was a pretty low key month. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving - unfortunately it wasn't how we planned. Momma got sick with the stomach flu and was quarantined in the basement - lots of skyping and 5 days later we were all healthy and ready for our trip south!

December 2014 

December was our busiest month yet! We kicked off the month with a trip to Disneyworld and Grand Cayman! Casey had so much fun! We were worried he would be scared of the characters but he loved them!! And he actually loved all the rides we took him on too. Cayman was a different ballgame this time - so fun! We were done nursing so I didn't feel like I spent all my time in the bedroom pumping or feeding and Casey was sleeping through the night - it was perfect! We then came home and prepped for Christmas which as I mentioned in my last post was everything I imagined and so much more!

So if you've hung in this far you are a saint - I know this is a long post but these recaps are literally my favorite posts of the year. They are fun for Chris and I to look back on and remember the amazing times. If 2014 taught me anything it's that we have so very much to be thankful for. We have our health, a beautiful baby boy - we have everything we have ever wanted. It's taught me to appreciate and not sweat the small stuff - through nursing struggles, running on zero sleep the bulk of the year, through diaper explosions, hours of crying, and post partum depression woes - we've worked together and had the best year of our lives as a little family of 3. 

I cannot imagine how 2015 could even begin to compare to 2014 - but here's to trying. I wish you all a very Happy New Year - may 2015 be the year all your dreams come true. 

XOXO

K