While many in the Southland ushered in the new year with celebrations and fireworks, a few couples celebrated by welcoming the area’s first babies of 2025 into the world.
Tiara and Curtis Harris II welcomed their son, Curtis Lee Harris III, at 9:43 a.m. at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, laying claim as the first baby born at the hospital in Olympia Fields in 2025.
Tiara Harris wasn’t due until Jan. 13 and certainly wasn’t expecting to give birth to her 6-pound, 3-ounce son on New Year’s Day. But for Tiara and Curtis Harris, who celebrated their first wedding anniversary Jan. 2, the arrival on New Year’s Day held an ironic twist — they had originally hoped to be the first couple married in 2024.
“I’ve been joking. I was like, you know, it’ll be just our luck. I’m like, the little baby will tell us, ‘Yeah, you know what? Hold my pacifier. I got your mom and dad, I’ll be the first baby boy.’” Curtis said.
He said the couple missed out on being the first to marry in Chicago in 2024 due to a drawing they were unaware of, despite having been the first to marry by a judge. However, the arrival of their son on the first day of 2025 turned out to be even more special.
Curtis is the first child for the couple, who live in Lynwood. Tiara said the two chose not to find out their son’s gender until birth, wanting to keep it a surprise. But his birth Jan. 1 was a decision she said her newborn son made himself.
“I felt like, just like his mom, he does what he wants to do.” she said. “I just knew he was going to come on the 31st and I feel like he literally came, like, the very next day, just because I wanted him to come on the 31st.”
Curtis Harris II, said he got his name from his father, and wanted to keep the tradition alive with his first son.
“Well before I had met my wife, I always had the idea that, if I had a son, I wanted to name him after me and my father, just because I feel like my dad is one of the greatest men I’ve ever known,” he said. “I just wanted to kind of keep the name tradition going. Name them after somebody who’s great.”
The personification of the new year as a baby dates back to ancient Greece, where an infant in a basket was paraded to symbolize the yearly rebirth of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility, according to History.com. Over the centuries, Baby New Year has also appeared alongside Father Time in various forms, from banners and cartoons to posters and greeting cards, the website states.
Also born shortly into the new year was Julia Abdedeen, a 6-pound, 13-ounce girl arriving at 1:20 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn to Shuroug and Mahmoud Abdedeen, of Hickory Hills.
At Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, Hazel Josephine Vonderheide, a 7-pound, 2-ounce girl, was born at 1:52 a.m. to parents Lindsay and Kyle Vonderheide, laying claim as the first baby delivered at Silver Cross in the new year.
Other area hospitals delivered newborns shortly after New Year’s Day, including Nema Naomi-Ann Williams, a 7-pound, 13-ounce girl born at 4 a.m. Jan. 2 at OSF HealthCare Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park to Normajean Sims and Clarence Williams.
Kyle Vonderheide said they expected Hazel to arrive New Year’s Eve, as induction was scheduled for Dec. 30, but a New Year’s Eve delivery wasn’t meant to be.
“We literally had the New Year’s Eve TV stuff on in the background to watch the ball drop, but obviously, it took a little bit longer,” he said. “As things progressed on New Year’s Eve, that was kind of like, ‘Oh, we might actually have an actual countdown here.’”
Vonderheide said the couple already decided on Hazel for the first name, while her middle name was chosen to honor her grandmother.
Although the couple didn’t expect the early arrival, with the due date initially set for Jan. 14, Vonderheide said the timing would be a cherished memory and a special story to share with their daughter.
“It’s something where it’s kind of cool for her to call herself the first baby born in a hospital, and then having a birthday in New Years, because the whole world basically celebrates your birthday,” he said.
