Hello, dear friends!
I recently wrote an update on Felix’s latest big change: hearing aids. And while I wrote it, I found myself reflecting on how much I want to share about Felix’s life from now on.
When Felix was first diagnosed with a life-threatening disease and we found ourselves living in the hospital, I needed you. I needed you to know what we were going through. I needed you to pray for our family. And you all needed to know what was going on, too. I couldn’t just leave you hanging while we embarked on one of the most difficult journeys of our lives.
You supported our family financially, emotionally, and spiritually as we sat at our sick child’s bedside, separated from our daughter and miles from our home. You encouraged us as we traveled across the continent to get a life-saving experimental treatment for him.
And I continued to provide regular, detailed updates as he miraculously improved.
Now that Felix is two years old and doing well, I’m starting to become more aware of how his story is becoming less my story and more his own.
I want to respect him as his own person with his own future. And that’s why I think that from now on, I will be sharing less about his growth and development in this public space. I will probably share fewer close-up pictures, too, than I have been sharing.
You can be sure that I will let you all know if anything really dramatic changes in his health. But otherwise, I think most of the details will stay in our family.
I’ll continue to share about some of our family experiences, which will involve both kids, of course. And my monthly What I’m Into posts will likely often involve my kids’ interests, just because I love sharing the things we’re loving together.
I still haven’t 100% figured out how this will work, but I just wanted to let you know I intend to keep Felix’s life a little more private from now on.
I am so grateful for all the ways you’ve supported our family over the years. You people are the best. Thank you so much for your ongoing support.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Kathleen. I once heard it described as this: Most of us have experienced that embarrassing moment when our parents pulled out the dreaded photo album of all our childhood pictures to show to whoever was company and willing to see them. We dreaded it because it wasn’t our choice to show these moments to someone else. Social media takes this rather insignificant albeit cringe-worthy moment and amplifies it.
I love your blog and am so happy for this post of yours. I only wish more parents got on board with this; it disturbs me a bit to see so many pictures/stories of tantrums/etc. of my friend’s children on social media. I wonder how those same children will feel about it when they’re older.
That is a good idea. You sound like a loving and respectful mother. I am so happy that your darling child lives, and out and about now!
I am sorry that you are still struggling so with lack of sleep, are there folks nearby that can help you oh-so-gently teach him to sleep more, professionals and/or good loving family or friends?
I have appreciated quite a number of things that you have brought to my attention, things like the play silks (played with very often since they were opened) and the Toys Go Out series of books we are currently reading aloud (sans the axe murderer bit, thanks for the heads up on that), movies and show reviews.
I’d be glad to hear more book reviews, especially for children!
Totally understandable that you would want to keep your kids lives more private! My family was formed by adoption and this is an issue we’ve faced as well, people are curious and we have to decide how much information to share. Always glad to read your posts, I’ve been a longtime reader! :)
I admire this decision. I hear your words and can feel their meaning. As an outsider, I wouldn’t have thought of it this way.
I will miss Felix. Thank you for sharing what you have. He’s such a bright and shining star.