Having a family is something I always dreamed of. Although I would have been happy with either a boy or girl, having a little girl was something I would daydream about. Funny thing is, when I was 15 weeks pregnant I was told we were having a boy. His name would have been Maddox and I was already in love with him. I pictured his face and what it would be like to have a little boy; I even bought a full wardrobe in a week’s time.
Exactly a week later I had another ultrasound and I heard: “here is the vagina, here is the vagina, there is the vagina, this is a vagina!” Haha! It was a girl! The tech had us close our eyes and wrote “Daddy’s Girl” on the image. My mom was with us (who has 3 girls) and her first words were: “What the F*ckkkk!” LOL! Needless to say she was hoping for a grandson (which she denies now). So I took myself back to the stores, got me some pink outfits and shifted gears to the little girl who had been there all along. It wasn’t easy the first day, I came home and cried when I saw the boy clothes hanging in a rack in the baby’s room.
It’s incredible how as mothers we love so incredibly hard. I felt the loss of this boy I imagined, but I quickly told myself to snap out of it. Madison had been growing in my belly for 16 weeks and she was that little girl I had secretly hope for. I started thinking of all the mother/daughter things we would do together and the traditions I wanted our family to begin.
A very special tradition I started when I was pregnant was a journal that I will gift to her when she’s old enough to appreciate it. There is so much that you experience while trying to conceive, throughout your pregnancy, and then through the beautiful rollercoaster of motherhood. So many details that I may inevitably forget, details I want her to live through in this journal.
Madison was so wished for and loved before she even existed. I want her to know how much love surrounds her. I want her to know the joy I felt when I saw my positive pregnancy test, it was like an out of body experience. I want her to experience as much as possible through my words for her in this journal. Her dad and grandma have also written in it for her. I would have loved to know little details about my childhood through my mom’s eyes, so I hope this is something she will cherish and have forever.
I write in her journal every few months, sometimes every few weeks. I like to tell her what she’s been learning, her milestones, all the new things she does that makes us laugh, and all the love we feel that continues to grow. Another idea I have heard is creating an email for your baby and sending them notes, pictures and even videos! I think it’s a really cool idea that I may do as well.
While I was pregnant my husband and I started creating vlogs, video logs where we would talk to her. Now we have her in the videos as well and I think this is something she will enjoy as she gets older. We definitely need to do it more often, so it will be a goal to make some more in 2018. I have always thought that our kids won’t remember the money we spent on their toys or clothes, but they will remember that every Sunday we ate chocolate chip pancakes and that they had dance parties with mom and dad in the living room. Traditions are beautiful things we remember with a smile and can carry from generation to generation. What traditions do you cherish or recommend? I would love to hear about them!
Hope you all are enjoying your Holidays and enjoying some traditions of your very own! XOXO!