My awesome sister, Jen came to meet Hazel and took some pictures of our family last Sunday afternoon. I wanted to capture our family right now….right when Hazel joined us, out in the snow. I’m really happy that she was able to get one picture when BOTH Anya and Hazel were looking at the camera. Pretty amazing that happened. We love it!
I love this one of the 5 littlest, too. Looks like they jumped into a wardrobe and ended up in Narnia, doesn’t it?
There’s something I want to talk about.
What you see in these photos and in the video are happy, loving faces. It makes us look like heroes, and that life is blissful for us all of the time. The good news is that we ARE happy. Those smiles are genuine.
I’ve been very public with our adoption story. But I just want people to know that my intention isn’t to paint a glorious picture of our family. I’ve only done it to be a voice for those who don’t have one, and to show people what a blessing it can be to adopt a waiting child.
Everyone has their own ways of contributing to the world. Just having and raising children at all during these perilous times is heroic, if you ask me. I stand in awe of all my friends and sisters and sisters-in-law who live in the trenches of Motherhood, raising such amazing children. It's a hard job. Period.
Some days Jeremy and I mourn for the “easier” life that we may have had, had we not taken this responsibility upon ourselves. But that doesn’t mean we think that other people’s lives are easy! We ALL have our own trials, and most of them aren’t known or seen by others.
I just want to say I’m sorry if I have ever made anyone feel like less of a person because they don’t feel led to help with the cause of orphans. It’s become something that we're passionate about, but thankfully, we all have different things we’re passionate about, and that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.
Second...I’ll be the first to declare that the Fillmore Family is as average as it gets. Every one of our kids has something that they struggle with. They argue, they usually have messy rooms, and they spend too much time on electronics. I have let many things go that I used to be really good at managing. I also have to put forth a concentrated effort to find contentment in the present because, by nature, I’m not one that relishes in playing with or teaching children. I’m sure all of our kids’ teachers would agree with this. My first grader, Bennett is a little behind in his reading skills. Why? Because his mom doesn’t make him read for 20 minutes every day like she’s supposed to.
I tell you all this because I know very well that most parents feel inadequate, and I want you to know that we are just like most parents. We’re overwhelmed many days with the task we have at hand…making sure that all of our children grow up to be good, responsible, God-loving, moral adults. We make many mistakes. We struggle with some things and we’re pretty good at others.
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Sorry, I don’t mean to be all serious. Now…for the good stuff…an update on our new daughter, Hazel!
Considering the fact that her whole world has completely changed in the past two weeks, she is doing amazing.
The harder things:
As you can see by the picture above, she’s still not keen to cold weather.
She still rocks forward and back and sucks on her tongue to soothe herself. I know this will get better with time, so I’m not worried.
She comes into the kitchen and cries whenever anyone is eating anything, and also cries many times when she finishes her meals. I think she’s worried she won’t always get enough to eat. I know it will take time for her to figure out that food will always be there, and that there will be plenty.
She’s also had a runny nose since the day we got her out of the orphanage, and it’s gotten worse the last two days. I’ve had to wipe it every couple of minutes. Almost everyone in the family has had this flu garbage. I’m hoping this runny nose will be the extent of Hazel’s sickness. The others had fevers and coughs as well.
Here’s a picture of her lovely snot. And Anya’s chapped, red face that resulted from all of hers. Just keeping it real. Ha ha!
The wonderful things:
Hazel sleeps all night and takes 3 hour naps! Yay for that! Right now, she’s sleeping in a Pack-N-Play in our master bedroom. We’ll move her into Anya’s room when we feel like she’s ready.
She eats like a champion! I’m amazed at the things she’ll eat: raw vegetables of every kind, spicy foods…you name it! The only thing she won’t eat are hard things like vitamins. I’m not complaining!
She’s soooo sweet. She loves to cuddle, and takes every opportunity to do so. She reaches up to be held and will usually let you snuggle her as much as you want to. Her siblings still adore her, and her Dad says many times a day, “She’s just so amazing.” Totally melts my heart.
She potties in her little potty chair and stays dry most of the day. It’s obvious that she has been time-trained, though. If we go too long without taking her to the potty, she’ll have an accident. I’m wondering how to take this to the next level. Any advice?
She’s exploring her new world with curiosity and discovering all the things that toddlers (like her cousin, pictured here) discover: Some things are hot, toilet paper is fun to pull off the roll, and baths are fun, for example.
All in all, things are going beautifully. It’s probably a good thing that it’s super cold outside right now, because it’s forcing us to stay home and lay low these first few weeks. She’s learning that we’re her forever family and that this is her home. This is what we want.
OK, I just wrote all that during Hazel’s naptime/Eli’s preschool time. Now, the kiddos will all be filing in from from school! Thanks for listening to my ramblings. It’s really therapeutic for me to write. If no one reads what I write, that’s great! I’m just glad I have a place to do it.
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