Music and Motherhood: My Story

Before Weston was even born, music was a huge part of his life. Since Eric regularly is playing music throughout the house, Weston-in-utero for sure heard his daddy's playing from the time fetuses are able to hear (about 5 months). In fact, his first ever kicks I felt were when Eric was playing Tony Rice's version of Church Street Blues next to my stomach (and, no joke--he kicked in time! He's always had perfect rhythm, he claps in perfect time!). Music is a huge part of our life, and when we got in the car to go deliver Weston, I chose our soundtrack carefully, The Kruger Brothers' album, Choices.

In the days after Weston was born and came home, the music we had on in the background of our life set the tone for the sweet days we lived. Lots of Doc Watson, The Carrivick Sisters, Norah Jones, and James Taylor. I must have sung Sweet Baby James to him a million times! I created a "lullaby playlist" of songs I'd sing every night to put him to bed, starting with You Are My Sunshine, On Top of Old Smokey (in honor of my Pop-Pop who knew ALL the verses by heart!), The Riddle Song (a must-know song for my in-laws), The Rainbow Connection, and Sweet Baby James. Even now, when I start to sing one of those songs, it calms him down. In the mornings, on our early morning drives to drop Weston at Granna's before work, we listen to a playlist of Elizabeth Mitchell's music. It's become our soundtrack for watching the sun come up, as we drive in the dewy morning mist.

Music is a huge part of parenthood, which is why I'm so excited to introduce a new series we're hosting on Lovely: Music and Motherhood. I've invited a slew of awesome bloggers to tell us how music impacts their parenting, especially in those early days of motherhood when everything is real and not-real at the same time!

We'll be featuring their posts for the next few weeks on Lovely, so stay tuned for some interesting insight into how music and motherhood are so closely intertwined!