It’s been a while. One of those strange in-between feelings—like it’s been forever since I wrote here, but also like I just shared our heartbreak on this blog yesterday.

Kyle and I have had such an amazing year: celebrating new career opportunities for Kyle, me falling more and more in love with my job, welcoming a sweet new niece into the world, soaking up quality time with family, listening to a lot of Taylor Swift (I Can Do It With A Broken Heart). And through it all, we’ve just… healed.

Over the past year, we explored so many different paths to grow our family. At one point, we even found ourselves at an RV show preparing to live in a fifth-wheel in New Hampshire (long story—we’ll explain sometime, promise). It feels like a fever dream now. But in all of that searching, we couldn’t ignore that our hearts were really telling us to go back to EmbryoLab.

So we emailed Marietta—our amazing midwife and IVF coordinator—and said, “We’re coming back.” Soon enough, we were on a call with Dr. K, talking about next steps.

This time, we’ve decided on the DuoStim protocol, which means we’ll do two egg retrievals before we transfer. The goal is to increase our chances by having more embryos to work with. It also means my time in Greece will be extended from 3 weeks to 5. How terrible, right? 😉

But if I’m being honest (which I’ve promised to be, since I started this blog), it’s a little daunting. While I’m full of hope for what this could mean for our family, the idea of being away from home for five weeks is… a lot. Kyle will be with me for the first three weeks, and then my mom will trade places with him for the final two. Kyle and I have never been apart for that long. And I’ve definitely never been away from Demy and Dusie that long either. So yeah, I’m anxious.

I think this time Kyle and I are going to try to really immerse ourselves in Thessaloniki. It’s truly a magical city and we can’t wait to get to know it even more. Having my mom come over those last two weeks will be really great too. She’s one of my best friends and I can’t wait to see her experience the place that’s become so close to our hearts.

There’s not much more to share right now, but you know I’ll keep updating you as we go. Oh—and did I mention—we leave in TWO DAYS?! I kept meaning to post an update, but there was always “more time.” And now… here we are.

So, consider this your update. 💌

Please keep sending your prayers, positive vibes, and kind words our way. They truly mean more than I can say. Just like last time, we’ll have our phones and laptops, so we’re never really far.

With love,
J & K