"Dad has to come clean with you Arabella..."
"It's not easy for me to say this but...umm...there's another woman in my life. And I'm in love with her too."
"Oh! Dad, how could you!?" 😮
Everyone, please allow me to introduce Lilianna.
Lilianna's almost four years old. Her likes include afternoon trips to the park, Paw Patrol, a plain pepperoni pizza, juice, cuddles on the couch, and lots of ice cream cones 😊
Kiera and I are fortunate enough to be her Godparents.
When Lilianna was born, she slowly sparked something inside me. She made me realize how much I want to be a father.
I began to see a different side of Kiera, too.
There's something so beautiful and authentic about children. Lilianna brought us both so much joy and laughter. We were absolutely head over heels for her.
She stole my heart. Simple and plain. And essentially, she was like the daughter we never had.
As Lilianna grew up over the years, she showed me how amazing a father-daughter relationship could be.
She opened my eyes. I saw a new perspective I had never seen before.
She was so sweet, too.
Lilianna helped me around the house...
She fed me at the pool when I was hungry... 😂
We'd watch movies and cartoons together...
Go swim in lakes...
We'd go on all kinds of adventures...
We'd even share our ice cream (well, uncle Dan's portion anyway) 😄
And today my ice cream princess came to visit once again. An ice cream cone was had, of course, but more importantly, she finally got to see and meet her baby cousin Arabella.
Lilianna waited six months to meet Bella (she would sometimes refer to Arabella as "Baby Cinderella")
During Arabella's time in the hospital, children were never allowed inside the NICU doors (unless they were your own). In general, kids under 14 were asked to wait in the lobby. There were strict rules.
It was always a let-down to our younger family members who traveled a distance to see Belle.
Now that we're home, we've started to introduce Arabella to some of her younger family members like Lilianna. It's still not exactly perfect, since we're told to keep children at a distance, but we're getting closer to the end-goal.
Cold and flu season during the school year might mean some more missed opportunities for family time too, so there are still some roadblocks we'll have to work around as a family. But what can you do?
We have to be apart for a little bit of time, but it means that we can be much closer when Arabella's stronger.
We can get through this!
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