Why I Am Writing A “Dear Baby Book”

Why I am writing a “Dear Baby Book”

& why you may consider writing one too.

A different kind of journal.

After we transitioned our home office into a nursery, I sat in my new rocking chair that we debated buying. We had an old one but wanting it to be perfect, we splurged. I looked around at all the preparations we had done for a little person we had yet to meet. And truth be told, at this point in time, we still thought our baby was a girl – which later turned out to not be the case, but I digress.

So many thoughts and feelings swirled through my head. What would our baby be like? What would they want to be when they grew up?

But most importantly, would they have any idea how much they were loved before even coming into the world?

I decided I wanted to share my thoughts and feeling with our baby, so I started a “Dear Baby” book.

What started out as a journal of my thoughts and feelings for our baby to read one day down the line, grew into a book I brought to all the events leading up to his birth.

We brought it to our gender reveal party – where everyone congratulated us on our baby girl – something that will likely be very funny for our little boy to read down the line.

To our baby shower, where family and friends expressed their excitement to meet our little one.

On our baby moon, where we travelled through France and told our baby about all the adventures, he had been on inside my tummy.

But most importantly, we told him how excited we were to have him join us and how much we plan to support him through his entire life.

I would be remiss if I didn’t explain where this idea really came from.

When I was 15 years old, my grade 8 elementary school did a retreat for the graduating class. To our surprise, they had reached out to our parents and asked them to write us a letter that we could open while on the retreat. When I opened my letter that my dad wrote to me, I was filled with emotion. It was one of the most beautiful letters I have ever read in my life. My family was going through a lot at this time, and this letter reminded me of the special place I held in my dad’s heart.

Fast forward a few years later, and my dad passed away.

But the letter remained.

I have kept this letter safe for nearly 20 years. I read it whenever I miss my dad or need to hear his voice inside my head. We displayed this letter at our wedding, in an effort to include him – something I know he would have appreciated. It was the most precious gift he could have ever given me; my only wish was that I had more.

I am so incredibly excited to watch our baby grow, to see where our future with him leads. But I am also very much aware that each day is a gift.

No matter what stage of life your kids are at, writing to them is always a good idea. In addition to this letter, I have beautiful  cards from my mom and my second dad Paul, my sister, my husband and my grandparents. We take card writing and expressing ourselves as an opportunity to really share words of love with our family, and for that I am so grateful.

So while we have a little extra time, and while uncertainty fills our daily life right now. This may be a fun project to start. This was something I didn’t even consider before starting to try for our  baby. But I am so glad I do it. Let me know if you do. <3

Resources: We bought our journal from Indigo