rediscovering the library

I remember reading Charlotte's Web in one day when I was 8 years old. Man I loved that book. Some of my other favorites included the books in the American Girls series (there were only 4 girls when I was young). I remember reading Jane Eyre and Grapes of Wrath before my freshman year in high school and absolutely loving both (especially Grapes of Wrath, surprisingly). I read Emma while I was pregnant with Emma...that probably played a part in how she got her name.

I remember when Emma was a baby and I had no friends and very few commitments, I would spend hours a day reading to her. She loved every second of it, and I think the reason she loves books so much now is that we spent so much time with our noses in all her little board books. I read to Tyler quite a bit but not nearly as much as Emma...I guess there's nothing like that first baby, and having all the time in the world. Over the last year I haven't been nearly as good and faithful at reading to them. When Emma had homework to read or be read to, I would struggle in remembering to write down the books. I also didn't like doing it just because it was "homework."

I used to take the kids to the library every single Tuesday. This was about 2 years ago (ironically, during the time I was last pregnant). They loved it and I looked forward to new books, and to getting out. Our library trips abruptly ended when Macie died, my life halted, and I lost a library book somewhere in the house, and then things just seemed to be crazy for a while. The habit died after that.

Yesterday, realizing the kids seriously needed an outing, and understanding that I am now quite limited in what I can do, we headed to the library. When I told them they could each get their own library cards, instead of just using mine, they were thrilled. (I don't know why I never did this before.) I loved watching them write their names on the back of their shiny new cards, and we walked down the hall to the children's area. Emma went crazy and picked as many as she could carry (10). She is SO my child. Tyler looked around for a minute and declared, "I don't want any." That kinda pricked me...so I took him over and showed him how sometimes you can tell if you want to read a book by the pictures you see on the outside. I think the amount of books there was a little overwhelming. He found one that was familiar to him and chose it. I had to prod him to pick out more than just that one, and after he had 6 in his pile he was good to go.

We came home, went in on Emma's bed - like we used to do so often - and read about 9 of the ones they chose. It's just so much more personal being in on her queen bed - no distractions. And there is something different, so refreshing, about new books. I was just as excited as they were. We got giggling at one of the sillier books and I realized that this is precious time I need to spend with them. In a few weeks their lives will change a lot. It's been just the two of them for a long time, and I need to take full advantage of this short amount of time I have left to give everything I have to just them. I realized this while I spent several hours in the hospital on Wednesday, as the nurses had to stop my contractions. And while that meant I had to miss some fun pre-wedding things going on in my only sister's life this weekend (bigtime bummer!), I get to spend some extra quality time with my little munchkins. I can handle that.