Highlights of my year 2023 – part 1

10 min read

So, today I am finally doing a little roundup of 2023. I find that time moves so quickly and it’s so easy to forget what we did when. Looking back every now and then and remembering what life felt like, some of our highlights and the things that were hard is very valuable to me.

Here‘s part one – January to June! Check out part two here.

January

• We greeted the beginning of 2023 in Wales with a group of friends. It was a really lovely time. Afterwards we had a few more days in England together with Edd’s family before we flew home, me going back to work and SJ to nursery.
• Our dear friends Miriam and Nathan visited us for a long weekend and we had a great time together. They were fairly newly pregnant and shared the happy news with us during their stay which felt very special.

February

• In February Edd and I went to a fancy dress ball which is part of the annual events done here for “Fastnacht” which is similar to carneval. It was such a fun date.
• I started my 100 day project at the latter half of the month.
• Edd had his first trip to Sheffield to start his job there. It felt daunting but also pretty exciting.

March

• We had lots of visitors from the UK. Edd and I used to lead a Youth group back in the day. A lot of the teenagers that we got to spend time with have now become friends, such as Esther and Mo who were here for Edd’s birthday.
• Edd’s best friends from childhood, Tim and Tom (SJ called them Mit and Mot) spend a weekend with us and we had a great time together.
• SJ, my mum and I spend a day with a friend who runs a mini-farm in the Black Forest. Seeing SJ get excited over all the animals was really lovely.
• Also, I took SJ to the library for the first time in March 2023. We now go at least once or twice a month and it’s always a little highlight. It makes me so happy that SJ loves books!
• Here’s also a “Life Lately” post that I shared in March with a few more details of what I was reading, eating, feeling, dreaming about … etc. at the time.

April

• In the very beginning of April, I found out I was pregnant. And then, around three or four weeks later that we had lost the baby. The miscarriage was awful, but those weeks of anticipation and joy were still wonderful.
• The weather finally warmed up, and we spend lots of time outside: going on walks, playing in the garden, planting seeds and hanging out at the playground.
• One of my nephews turned six! He invited us to his party at an indoor playground and it was really fun.
• We celebrated Easter!
• Edd and I went on a really nice date for our 7 year anniversary.
• My friend Lisa came to stay with her daughters and it was one of my highlights of 2023.

May

• Again, lots of time outside, which just does wonders for my mind.
• Welcoming Edd back home after a two week stint in the UK with ice creams at our local ice cream parlour was a very happy moment!
• We found out we were pregnant again. This was amazing, but also felt very different. I was so much more worried after the miscarriage. Also, after sharing about our loss here on the blog so so many people told me their heartbreaking stories of failed pregnancies. I feel grateful and humbled to have been told those stories but hearing them during my first trimester was hard. Also, despite taking multiple positive tests I was still unsure whether I was really pregnant or whether my hormones were just tumultuous so close to the previous pregnancy. It was quite the rollercoaster.
• A big highlight was flying to the UK. We had a day down South and then spent a week in Lancaster, where we used to live. It was so nice to be back in this beautiful city and see lots of our friends.

June

• The first week of June we were still in the UK, catching up with friends and family and enjoying lots of classic English food.
• I published my 100th post of my 100 day project which was very
• Back in Germany, the weather had warmed up a lot and we spent lots of time going to playgrounds with water.
• I harvested the first sugar snaps, which was exciting!
• It felt like summer had truly began. I am not a huge fan of 30+ degree weather but I do love summer! The long days, the time outside, all the variety of fruits and vegetables that are available… it’s just such a wonderful time of year.