Goodbyes and new beginnings

It’s always a special feeling to say good bye to a year and welcome a new one. When you look back, you realize how fast a year passes by, but also how much you’ve done and been through. 

For us, New Year’s Eve 2024 will be extra special. Not only are we saying good bye to the year 2024, we are also saying good bye to our apartment which we have lived in for 4 years. This has been the first home for two of our three children. So many memories have been made here, and I will forever be thankful for everything that we have gotten to experience between these walls. But, this place also holds lots of frustration. We outgrew it years ago, but it’s only now that we have been able to sell it. I’m beyond thankful for that. I almost start crying when I think about the fact that our kids will be able to grow up in a house after all. We will have a garden in which our boys will run free, there will be friends on the street, a small school. We will have a green house, we’ll be able to organize our things in a way that we want. But most of all, we will have more space and we won’t need to plan every day to get out of the house. We will just be able to open the door and be out. I still can’t believe it. 

So, needless to say, 2025 will be very exciting for us. And 2024 has been too. In April we welcomed our third son to the world, Noah. We now have three beautiful boys with endless energy. I would lie if I said that I haven’t had my hands full, but oh boy how lovely it has been. It has been chaos, love and laughter. I have put myself and my own needs at the bottom of my to do list and this autumn it got the best of me, to be honest.

It has been stomach flu on and off at the kids’ preschool so I’ve had the kids home with mw most of the time which has been both amazing and exhausting given the fact that we live in a 2 bedroom apartment and need to leave the house for hours every day so the boys can play outside and burn energy. We’ve been on hikes and probably at every playground in the city. It has required a lot of planning, and for the first time since becoming a mom I really felt that I wasn’t enough. Luckily I’ve made a lot of mom friends this year and we’ve been in the same situation so having this community has been a lifesaver. My husband has had a lot at work so we’ve been stressed out in different ways. Need I say that this Christmas vacation was much needed? 

We’ve been taking turns these days. One of us has taken the kids out to playgrounds, while the other one has gotten some well deserved alone time at home. It has only been an hour or two, but it has been enough. Both of us have already felt a difference. We are heading into 2025 feeling good. 

My head is full of ideas and plans for the new year. 2025 will be the first year with a house and a garden and I really look forward to share more about this over the year. I can’t wait to start growing tomatoes, cucumbers and to pick apples from our own apple tree. I want to fill the freezer with blueberries from the forest next door. Finally, we can start to fully live the life we want to live.

I will keep taking care of myself, and sort of find my way back and get to know myself again, if that makes any sense? I hope to bring some more calm into my life, find moments to just be and breathe. It’s not that easy with three kids 5 and under, but it’s possible. Another thing I want to work on is becoming even more mindful when it comes to using my phone. A few things I’m working on:

• stop taking photos only for Instagram stories
  I don’t want 10.000 photos on my phone. It makes me stressed and that is not the point, right? I want to become more mindful when it comes to taking photos. Do we really need to take photos of everything that is nice/cute/beautiful/funny? I think we do because we can, not neccessarily because we really want to. Can you feel like this too? 
• Less scrolling on Instagram – it’s mostly promoted content of which 95% is junk entertainment? I don’t spend much time on social media, but I think I could spend even less. 
• Less checking the news. It’s not that I don’t care about what’s happening in the world, but seeing all this misery and devastating happenings just makes me sad and drained. I donate money to help every month, so I know that I do what I can to help. Seeing all the terrible things that happen brings me nothing but sadness and I don’t feel like I have room for that. I don’t need to know about everything, it’s ok anyway. 

With that being said, I guess the lead words for 2025 will be calm, present, organized and mindful. I’m ready, are you? <3 

Sofia