To answer the slew of questions since the release of {You Are Loved} – the new baby book over at Gadanke:

No we aren’t expecting a baby at our house any time soon.  In fact, I wasn’t expecting that I would design a baby book so soon.  I thought: what do I know about babies?

Well earlier this summer (when Martin and I flew over Grand Tetons National Park), I got to meet the baby bump that is going to be my niece very soon.  We were all soooo excited.

I could see this beautiful relationship that already existed between mother and child.  It choked me up.  I might not know how to change diapers at 2:00 in the morning.  But I do know love and relationships, and the things I witnessed were a huge part of the first portion of this journal.

Over the summer, I have been reflecting a lot on mother + child relationships.  What are the moving experiences worth capturing?  What is the day-to-day like?  What do mothers crave in a baby book?  What is a mother’s sacrifice like?

Martin has been raising an eyebrow when he sees me looking at baby blogs and photos.  “It’s research!” I keep telling him.

“Uh huh.”

Honestly, this research has been some of the most moving and inspiring I’ve ever done.  Even my grandmother (a mother of TEN) and I sat down to talk about mother + child relationships.  We sipped mini cans of Coke through straws.

I’ve listened to this album entirely too much.  (Song #7 is called “Baby Mine”.)  And my parents let me flip through hundreds and hundreds of old photos of generations and generations of parents + babies in our family.  The emotion is so revealing.  I slowly worked on ways to help draw out those stories with writing prompts.

The very best thing I received was an old cassette tape from my first Christmas.  It’s my parents talking, me girgling, and love coming to life.  That inspired this page among many:

I still don’t know anything about diaper rash.  Feedback at places like the Gadanke Facebook page were extremely helpful for this project.  What would you want in a baby book?  Our stories change with a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd child.  I wanted this book to work for all of them.

I also wanted the detail-oriented, meticulous mother to fit in all of the specifics without letting mothers who write when the mood strikes feel out of place. I think this book has the perfect mix of milestone moments and this-is-us-right-now pages.

So if you are my mother-in-law, my grandmother, or the lady down the road who drives an enormous, black and dusty truck, I can’t answer your questions about babies at our house.  So why not ask me about love and stories… and baby books?  I know a lot about baby books.