Influencer Lizzie Kieffer is opening up about the difficult holiday season following the death of her 12-month-old daughter Lily.
“We imagine His birthday party was glorious this year up in heaven. Mia is convinced Jesus and Lily shared an Elsa birthday cake…and Lily had frosting all over her face,” Kieffer wrote via Instagram on Saturday, December 27, alongside a slew of pictures featuring her late daughter.
“I knew the holidays would be tough, but they have been so much harder than I thought,” she continued. “When everyone is around we see so much of the beauty that we have, but also so much of what is missing. The holidays have a way of magnifying absence. The lights feel brighter, the rooms feel louder… and the quiet moments feel heavier.”
In April, the physical therapist and influencer revealed that her and husband Matt’s daughter had died at just 12 months old. At the time, Lizzie noted that the family had “come to learn” that Lily had a “large mass on her brain,” adding that they “could have never known about” the mass “as she never showed signs.”
Pregnant influencer Lizzie Kieffer reflected on parenthood days before the death of her 12-month-old daughter, Lily. In a Wednesday, April 23, Instagram video, Kieffer shared a series of clips with Lily and daughter Mia. In the snippets, Kieffer and her daughters are seen embracing, stretching alongside each other and going for a walk outside. “Never […]
“We won’t know more answers with many of these things for months until further testing is done,” Lizzie added. “Lilybug, you are our angel. And we know you’ll always be with us. Daddy, Mommy, Mia & new baby love you so damn much and we miss you every single second.”
She continued, “We are shattered. You taught us more in 1 year than most can in their life, Lily. We feel you with us. And we feel your spirit already in this new baby. You will always, always be a part of us and although the hole will never be filled, speaking your name will sing through our days bringing joy into the moments. You’re our light in this darkness and we know Gold is holding you in an extra special place. Please keep our family deep in your prayers. We know they work and we feel them and the support. We appreciate it more than you know.”
Months later, the pair welcomed their third child. (Lizzie and Matt also share daughter Mia, born in June 2022.)
“Grief isn’t tidy. It doesn’t move in a straight line,” Lizzie continued on Saturday. “Some moments I’m laughing, present, soaking in joy — and the next my chest tightens because she should be here too. We miss Lily so deeply.”
The influencer added, “Not just who she was, but who she would be. The traditions she would’ve been part of. The matching outfit she would be running around in. The Anna to Mia’s Elsa. The stocking that doesn’t hold a doll but a remembrance. C.S. Lewis wrote that grief is ‘the price we pay for love.’ And that rings true — because the pain exists only because the love was, and still is, so real.”
The mom went on to add that the holiday season “isn’t about pretending it doesn’t hurt,” but instead it’s about “holding both” grief and hope.
Influencer Lizzie Kieffer has welcomed a baby months after the death of 12-month-old daughter, Lily. “Hello world,” Kieffer wrote via her Instagram Story on Sunday, September 14, alongside an image of the newborn tucked in a blanket. The physical therapist and her husband, Matt, revealed in March that they were expecting a third child after […]
“The ache of missing her AND the hope we have in heaven,” she continued in the post’s caption. “The joy of watching Mia and Isla experience the magic AND the quiet, persistent pain of Lily’s absence. The sorrow of now AND the promise that this isn’t the end of her story — or ours.”
She added, “If you’re walking through the holidays with grief beside you, you’re not doing it wrong. And you are not alone. Love makes space for joy and sorrow to sit at the same table. You are on our minds every moment of every day, Lilybug.”
