It's so unique since she is older than a newborn. She has been really really good though and very flexible. We have been focusing on attachment for both her and us. Brewerman and my little men left to go back home yesterday and I hated that. Still do. It feels wrong, but I'm glad to spend some much-needed one on one time with my new daughter (!!) so we can get to know each other a little bit.
Of course I'm running on fumes right now, but I thought I would throw some things out for my family and friends who might think we've gone a little missing lately.
- We are an emotional mess right now. I promise we will update and call back most everyone eventually but we all have a pretty powerful adjustment stage to get through. It is going amazing but we still have work to do. We all have a lot to process, her, the boys, and us. Until we do, we are going to really stick together until everyone is secure in their place. I am going through about 1,000,000 differing emotions at the same time, as is she and really all of us. Be patient with us, and please keep the prayers coming.
- We will not be rushing to introduce her to people, family and friends alike. We have to be extremely sensitive to her needs, and I will be gauging this as we go. Right now, things are still too new and raw to throw another dozen people in the mix. While we do introduce her to people, we will keep the groups small. Please don't get offended if we don't reach out right away. This is difficult for us as well, we want to show her to the world and shout from the roof top, but she is our first priority here.
- Well will not be introducing her to very many people the first few weeks, even months. If you do see me out with her at the park or store, ask me before doing anything with her. Keep touch to a minimum and let me take care of most of her needs such as helping her on swings, etc. We will be doing lots of walks and that is a great time to catch up if you want to catch a walk with me.
- I will not be available very much via phone or email. I want to keep distractions to a minimum. Our main 100% focus is attaching with her, and that's through a lot of play. As you can imagine, we are going to be pretty exhausted. :)
- Please leave any and all discipline to Brewerman and I until we say it's okay otherwise. Do not reprimand her, if she is doing something that needs it, please come and get us. Please also don't judge our reactions or how we handle discipline with her. We are working on a different goal here.
- Be careful not to force her to hug, kiss, hold, or say hello to you. If she says no, please respect that as she learns to trust you. She might ignore you, if so, remember to not let your feelings get hurt. Let her be independent, if you want to feel close to her then get on her level and play with her. Attachment at this age is mainly through play so if you want to feel close to her, then play with her! And boy, does she LOVE to play.
When we do introduce her to you, due to attachment purposes, until we say otherwise, we would love it if you would please only let Brewerman and I do the following:
- Any and all feeding or drinking. If she asks you for a drink, please come and get either her dad or I and we will get her what she needs. THIS IS A MUST.
- Diaper changes of any sort. I know, I know, this is a huge sacrifice for some of you. Ha!
- Please keep tight holds or over affection to a minimum. I'm not saying ignore her, but don't hold her for a long time either. If she asks you to or you want, please just put her down after a short hug and if she wants more, redirect her to us. This will be hard, especially for my family, but please know that it won't be forever. We just have to establish our core relationship first, then we can all crazy love on her like we do all of them.
For everyone who is asking what we might need, if you would really like to help, below is a short list of things that we will be needing in the upcoming month or so. Please don't feel like you must do any of these, but if you do feel inclined we would adore:
- Your love and prayers first and foremost. God is all up in this in so SO many ways.
- Your understanding for all the points above.
- Play ideas for a two year old! Projects that we can do, ideas with a how-to attached to them, or even just...maybe drop off everything we would need to do a fun project? That would be amazing. She loves to color and do projects, and we will need ones for just her and ones that we could do with boys to get them all involved in play as well.
- Oh my...meals...snacks...lunches. Even just the items we need to make it with a recipe (I do love to cook but finding the time and energy to put together recipes...ugh...Nat-o-planner will NOT be making herself known for a while). Or even just ideas for easy snacks and recipes and lunches. As we said, our focus is going to be 100% on her and our kids. We are going to be focusing all our time on attachment, but we don't just have her to think about, our boys are going to be going through the same thing as well.
- Play dates for my boys without us, especially during the weekends for an hour or so, separately and/or together. They are going to be pretty sick of being home and not seeing friends they are so used to being around.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying and thinking about us. We are so happy with her. She is beautiful inside and out. I am not going to lie though, the days ahead of us are sort of daunting to us. It's a tad overwhelming to think about. It isn't always going to be easy, but it can and will not only work out but it is going to be amazing. We know that if we give this everything we have and really really develop the strong attachment early, it will make everything so much easier and sweeter for all of us in the long run.
