Take Me Back: Part Deux!

Yesterday I was talking about how I made a CD as a wedding favor, and how listening to that CD can instantly take me back in time; not only to my wedding day, but to my early days with Larry. Today I wanted to talk about the CDs I made during each of my pregnancies, and the effect they have on me, maybe even on my kiddos.

The first time I was pregnant with Sweetpea (we called him that because we didn't know if he was going to be a girl or a boy, and I still call him that to this day, four years later) we wanted to be Prepared - I capitalized that on purpose, because being Prepared was a huge deal to us. I wanted to try and give birth drug-free, and knew doing so would require me to be relaxed and focused throughout the entire event. So we created an arsenal of tools to this effect. We had massage tools, water bottles, focal points (including a Sweetpea candle my Sister-in-Law painted for our baby shower), a focal point poster, breathing cheat sheets, position cheat sheets, everything you read about in the preparation books - we had it! Included in this arsenal was a custom CD that I made, full of songs to help me relax and focus on the joy of the event. It had a lot of Beatles tunes (my fave), some Coldplay, some Sarah McLachlan, Ray Charles, Judy Garland... a big mix of songs that all meant something to me, or that really relaxed me.

One song, the one song that was my husband's input to the whole project, was "3 is a Magic Number" by Blind Melon. He had originally heard this song when it was on the Schoolhouse Rock kid shows. Then Blind Melon covered it much later, and their version is fantastic! This song became sort of our Family Theme Song throughout the entire pregnancy and even through Logan's first year. There is just something truly magical about the song when you listen to it as first time parents, awaiting your little baby. "A man and a woman, had a little baby. Then there were three, there were three in the family. It's the magic number." All you Moms out there know that there is something indescribable about that time that can never, ever be captured again. You are married to this amazing man, and you are creating a life together. Not just your life as a couple, but an ACTUAL life, another person! And you know that everything will be different, nothing will ever be the same again, but in SUCH a good way. As I listened to this song again the other day, for the first time in quite a while, it brought tears to my eyes, just to think about how much has changed, how our lives are SO different than just four years ago, and how they are different in a BETTER way. Yes, we struggle with money, we struggle with time, we struggle with raising our children to be good people, and yes we did not have to worry about any of that five years ago. But would I trade all the worry, the money woes, the exhaustion, for the carefree kid-less days five years ago? Not for all the money and time in the world!

This song really drove that point home to me. In all the chaos of mothering a young family, you really need to stop and remember what a magical time this is. Your children are learning and changing every single day, their lives are so full of wonder and joy. I need to remind myself of that when I am at the end of my rope, try to see things through their eyes and enjoy the beauty of the little things. So what if their faces are grubby and sticky, they got to experience their first ice cream from the neighborhood ice cream truck! Yes, his school pants are covered in dirt and grass stains, but he got to play on his new playstructure in the backyard for the first time today! Remember the magic of being a kid!!

More on Peanut's CD and the effect on us tomorrow!