I have a confession to make.
Ever since about 15 weeks, I have added a new morning ritual to my day before getting ready for work. I feed the pets, eat my breakfast, then go upstairs into Sammy's nursery. Sometimes Oscar and/or the cats follow me. We (me, Sammy, and whichever pets have joined along) pick out a book from her growing book collection and I sit into the glider next to her crib with one hand on my belly and one on the book. Then I read the chosen book out loud! Every single morning. And I LOVE IT.
At first, it felt ridiculous. It felt like I was talking to myself and any fly on the wall would think I was losing my mind. But now it's something I look forward to so much! We've already read lots of books, and we (I guess I) already have some clear favorites. Obviously Sammy has no idea what I'm saying and won't for a very long time. But I hope she feels a growing connection between us already. My mom loved to read to us, and some of my most treasured memories with her were when she read to us at night. It thrills me to no end to look into Sammy's little bookcase and think of the memories we will make when we get to meet her this Summer.
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| Underpants Thunderpants, Lamb-a-roo, and Princess Baby are some of my favorites so far! |
sounds like a very sweet ritual! I want B to start reading to the babies because they obviously know my voice - they need to learn his!
ReplyDeleteI should have Kevin start to do this soon too! :)
DeleteI love this idea!! Reading with my mom was such an important part of my childhood!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to start reading to the babies too! I love this!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful!? I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
DeleteYou're so awesome.
ReplyDeleteLOL too sweet. :)
DeleteI love your ritual! I would do this for my son when I was pregnant with him. I also sang to him every single day, one certain song that my grandmother used to sing in church before she died. I sang that song to him to comfort him when he was in the hospital, and believe it or not, it was the one song that calmed him. So yes, you are certainly building a connection with your sweet girl by reading to her now. You are going to make a wonderful mother!
ReplyDeleteI've heard this before! Amazing! You're very sweet, thank you.
DeleteI think that is so sweet! :) I have some book recommendations that my little nieces love, if you're interested:
ReplyDelete"Little Pea" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
"A Book of Sleep" by Il Sung Na
"Little Owl's Night" by Divya Srinivasan
All of the little board books by Leslie Patricelli
Thank you! I'll check these out - they sound great.
DeleteI love it!!! I did something similar when I was pg with Maddie. :)
ReplyDeleteAww, i didn't know that! So cute. :)
DeleteMy mum bought my little boy a book by Nancy Tillman called "On the night you were born". It's beautiful! My boy is only 10 weeks old but I read it to him every night before bed. I think she bought it from Amazon UK but your US Amazon may have it.
ReplyDeleteAw I love this! I put it on my registry. So sweet!
DeleteI cried the other night when I read my babies a book. :) I love it too!
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling I'm going to cry sometimes too. :)
DeleteYou are so cute! I always tried to talk and read and sing to my belly but couldn't for whatever reason. I talked to my belly in my thoughts a lot though... does that count!?
ReplyDeleteI think so! :) I couldn't talk to my belly for a while, but I made myself and now it's normal. At least when I'm alone. lol
Delete"Guess how much I love you" is a lovely book, I cant read it without feeling tearful!!
ReplyDeleteAww! I love this kind of thing! I'll check it out.
DeleteThis is so sweet, I love it!! "You are my I love you" is one of my favorites. But now I have to get Underpants Thunderpants. If only for the name! <3
ReplyDeleteIll check it out! yeah, Underpants Thunderpants is my kind of book. Hilarious. :) I love silly stuff.
DeleteAw this is so sweet! What a great ritual! Sammy already loves her time with Mommy!
ReplyDeleteI hope so! I definitely love the time with her. :) Thank you!
DeleteI really love this!
ReplyDeleteThanks! me too!
DeleteWonderful. That's a great ritual!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI did the same thing with Muppet. I felt like it was a way to bond when I was trying not to because being PgAL scared me to death. It's such a sweet way to work around that. Plus, it gets you in the habit for when that little girl gets here. :)
ReplyDeleteI struggled with PgAL for a while but I think this kind of thing is working. I'm trying to make myself believe it is WHEN i meet her, not if. it's working. :) So glad you did this with your little muppet too.
DeleteLove this! You know what's even better- when your daughter is big enough to start "reading" the stories back to you! Kaylee has parts of her books memorized and I love to hear her tell the stories.
ReplyDeleteHave you looked into Dolly's Parton's Imagination Library program? It isn't in all areas of the country but they send a free book to your child each month until they're 5. Some of our favorite books have come through there!
By the way, on the I Wished For You adoption book, there is one page where it talks about another mommy carrying the baby bear so I'm not sure if you would want to invest in it or not. Maybe you could change the wording around or something? That's really the only part that wouldn't apply to snowflake adoption.
Aww just thinking about it makes me smile! I love that! Based on your comment, I checked to see on The Imagination Library and unfortunately it looks like it's not in my area yet. Too bad because it sounds wonderful! Thanks for the tips. :)
DeleteWhat a great morning ritual!
ReplyDelete