Mum of a 2-year-old says she has a 'lot to make up for' in incredibly honest post

As mums, we try so hard to give our children the best start in life: a loving and happy family structure and plenty of love and laughter.

However, for parents who adopt older children, they are not there for the first few years of their child's life, something Elsie Larson experienced when adopting her daughter Nova.

 

Here's a new photo of our little Nova. We cannot wait to meet her! #thelarsonsadopt

A post shared by elsie larson (@elsielarson) on Sep 17, 2017 at 12:05pm PDT

Explaining how the young girl has lost so much in her first two years, Elsie heartbreaking wrote:

"Nova lost so much in her first two years… her birth parents, her birth name and her birthday (she didn't have a note left with her… sadly, a lot of Chinese orphans have estimated birthdays)."

 

Riding that paperwork train. Today we sent off our second round of documents to get our Visas. Adoption is so so so much work, but we already feel we'd do it 10x over if we had to! #thelarsonsadopt

A post shared by elsie larson (@elsielarson) on Sep 14, 2017 at 6:02pm PDT

And even now, the tot will have to say goodbye to all familiar faces as she leaves the country she was born in to start her new life with the Larsons. 

And yesterday, Elsie realised that she will only ever have one photo of her daughter before the age of two.

"ONE photo in two years."

 

Nova lost so much in her first two years… her birth parents, her birth name and her birthday (she didn't have a note left with her… sadly, a lot of Chinese orphans have estimated birthdays). Soon she'll be losing the place she knows, familiar faces and the country she was born in. Today I realized for the first time that most likely we'll only ever have one photo of her below the age of two- ONE photo in two years. There are so many heartbreaking realities in adoption.  Preparing to give Nova a magical childhood consumes so much of my mind. I feel lucky that's she's young enough to potentially have her first memories with us. We have a lot to try to make up for. Some of it we can't give back to her, but we will still try.  #thelarsonsadopt

A post shared by elsie larson (@elsielarson) on Sep 20, 2017 at 5:08pm PDT

However, as her mum, Elsie is now determined to give her daughter a "magical childhood" and to "to try to make up" for all the things she has lost. 

"I feel lucky that's she's young enough to potentially have her first memories with us. We have a lot to try to make up for. Some of it we can't give back to her, but we will still try."

Such a beautifully written post, that truly highlights the "heartbreaking realities in adoption". 

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