Love Mommy: Writing Love Letters To Your Baby

Tips on Journaling Love Letters to Your Children as They Grow

You know the way your babies smiles and their faces light up? Or the way they take those first few steps? Or how they laugh with delight when they fly through the air on a swing for the first time? For most us yummy mummies| those moments are priceless and we want to hold onto them forever.

Well| I couldn't get over the kaleidoscope of emotions I was feeling when my first child| Max was born and then my daughter Lily| two years later. And because I'm a writer| I began writing about everything. At first it was just the hormonal words of a new mom in love. But the more I wrote| trying to make sense of this incredible thing called motherhood| the emotional ramblings started to become love letters.

I remember putting four month old Max into his playpen while Kenny Loggin's Return to Pooh Corner played. I started to write| and couldn't stop. I had notes and letters and bits of papers in shoe boxes and envelopes bursting at the seams with stories and fragments of memories and anecdotes for each child. So I wrote all the stories down| and bound them into two separate books| one for each of them.

It felt so good that I wanted other people to experience the same thing. I knew this was something my children would appreciate forever. I also knew it wasn't only the greatest gift for them| but it was for me too. Because one day| when they go off to college or get married| I can re-read these letters and relive some of the happiest moments of my life.

Before I had children| I was living a lifestyle. Once I had them| I began living my life. That felt like something worth writing about.

SOME YUMMY TIPS TO GET STARTED WRITING LOVE LETTERS TO YOUR CHILDREN:

Start to Write Your Letters
You don't have to strive for perfection in the first telling. Just let it out| like a sculptor does when they first craft a piece of art. You can go back to add finishing touches later.

Keep Going
Make a writing date with yourself and keep the appointment.

Create a Space of Your Own
Find a yummy space all your own| even if it's just putting up a screen in your bedroom to create a little writing nook. Find the time during the day when you are at your best and just do it! You won't regret it.

Use Your Senses
Use all of your senses when writing. This is particularly helpful when you are stuck| or can't fully remember a particular event or story.

The Little Things
It's not always the big events that we remember| but the little daily things that made us smile along the way. Make lists of some of your favourite things your children do and document them.

Imagine the look on your children's face when you hand them a series of memories of their childhood| as remembered by you. It would be absolutely priceless to them.

So| go find a pen that works and a pretty piece of paper or sit down at your computer. Pour yourself a glass of wine, or a cup of your fave herbal tea, and start reminiscing and writing love letters to your children.

Judy Siblin-Librach is a columnist, author, television broadcaster and Adler-trained Life Coach, who loves to help people find their bliss and their purpose in life. When she is not coaching, speaking and writing, she loves to perform in musicals, and singing is her true passion. But her most important career of all is being a mother, and teaching other moms and dads how to write love letters to their children. Judy is also the author of The Toronto Wedding Handbook. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their two children.

Love Mommy: Writing Love Letters To Your Baby,was published by ECW Press.

Judy can be reached at findingyourbliss.ccom or email her at [email protected]