I realized something a few weeks back about motherhood and immediately had a cold rush of blood run through my veins. I’m sure every expectant mother goes through days like this where you realize… oh shit. I’m fat because there are small humans inside of me. (or just the one small human which is overwhelming enough really!) So here’s the deal, I’m actually not afraid of breastfeeding, wiping poop off my arm, enduring sleepless nights (Lord knows I hardly slept when I lived in Hilton Head), getting spit up on my favorite shirt, or forgetting the baby wipes. I am also not afraid of the fact that I have not one but two bundles of joy all snuggled up inside me, growing like weeds. (Ask me about this during month 8…)
There is one thing that I can’t quite get out of my head that is totally freaking me out and I’m so ashamed to even admit it. But I will. Mostly because I’m relying heavily on you all to help a mama out.
So here it is…
I don’t know any lullabies.
Okay, that’s not entirely true. I know five.
You Are My Sunshine (but only the first verse)
Mary Had a Little Lamb (Again… I usually wing it on verses 2-?)
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (this one only has one verse anyway, right?)
Rock-a-Bye Baby (which is the most depressing song to sing to your child(ren) that you most definitely do not want to fall from a God damned tree.)
Jesus Loves Me
It seems like a silly thing to be worried about. I mean, they’re new! They won’t know if I miss or word or not, but if they sing it wrong later in life, and someone tells them that… that’s totally on me. Mom Fail.
When I was little, my grandma used to read and sing my sister and me to sleep. It was the number one reason I loved going to her house to spend the night. I was (and still am sometimes) terrified of the dark. The stories and the singing would lull me into peaceful sleeps with happy dreams and I would (usually) wake up in my own bed. A tall feat for someone who usually woke up around 3 am, risked walking through the dark house with blankies and onto the floor of whichever grown up was around. As I’ve gotten older, these lullabies have gotten more sophisticated. As an adult, when I get scared, I usually play some sort of modern soft music to help me fall asleep. (Stuff like Enya, Jack Johnson, Joshua Radin, etc.) I used to have a noise machine but that just freaked me out when I woke up in the middle of the night hearing noises and eventually figured out that they were self inflicted and that it would probably be more worthwhile to just hear the weird creaking noises of the house.
Now, as mommyhood approaches and baby sleepy time draws near… I can’t remember a single word of the songs grandma used to sing. In fact, remembering the words to songs in general (or figuring them out at all) has never been one of my strong abilities. Remember those lyrics by Beyonce “All the women, who independeeeent… throw yo’ hands up at me!”? When it came out I was torn between “Jo Jo is a fat maaaan!” or “Yo Joe is a black maaaaan!” and I am dead serious. I would sing these OUT LOUD in my car, dancing around in my driver’s seat. And then I learned the real lyrics and understood why I didn’t have any friends. (other than the fact that I had just moved to a new town and knew my landlord, the end.)
I really want to sing lullabies to my kids. I loved it as a child and I love the idea of passing that tradition down to mine, even if they’re boys. (And God willing they will be, because any girl of mine is going to be God’s revenge for my teenage years.) This means two things: #1) I need to (somehow) learn some lullabies. And #2) I need to get over my fear of singing in front of other people. My sister happens to know lullabies, I found out after telling her of my fear, but she also knows all 50 states in alphabetical order because of a song she learned in grade school. Hello, I can’t remember the words to Old MacDonald. I’m so screwed.
I’ve Googled (of course) lullabies and the links send you to websites filled with lyrics. That’s all well and good, but I need a sing along book that comes with a CD with someone not irritating singing lullabies. I found a website that has music and lyrics on the same page but the woman’s voice got on my nerves faster than she could sing “all the pretty little horses”. I am lullaby challenged and I don’t want to be.
If you happen to glance across something that looks like a lullaby CD with lyrics… pass me the link!
Do you sing to your kids at night or did someone to sing to you when you were little? What’s your favorite lullaby?
Kallaydoscope is my view of my world. It’s colorful and intriguing and also, kind of a mess, if not always highly entertaining.
Kallay….. you’re going to be an AMAZING momma!!! Whether or not you know 4 lullabys, 100 of them!!!!
xoxoxoxo,
Shelli
http://www.shellisweddingblog.blogspot.com
Oh just steal the ones from Full House. There’s one about a Teddy Bear…lol, yea I don’t know the words!
But reading to your kids is also awesome
Just make some up. That’s what I do when I sing to my cats. It’s as easy as taking a popular song, substituting the baby’s name into it somehow and removing any curse words.
I was giggling b/c I sang all those songs that you listed, to my kids. It’s seriously been a long time and I can’t really remember any other ones, except like Amazing Grace and Every Rose has it’s thorn. Yeah, I sang Poison to my baby girl. Bad ass mama:)
Seriously, they don’t care. As long as you’re rocking them and doing it in sing-song, you could be reciting the Gettysburg Address and they’d fall asleep happily.
Well I didn’t get sung to by anyone as a child and I turned out just fine. For the most part, anyway. I did get read to ALL THE TIME and I think that has really made all the difference. Besides, most moms I know right now just use lullaby CDs…totally acceptable and non-scarring to the child. Also…I would advise against the mockingbird song…it’s all about failure. That doesn’t lull anyone to sleep.
You know, I don’t remember any lullabies from my childhood. But my dad is all over making up songs to sing to his dog, lol.
I think you can download them on torrent. A friend of mine was looking for a lullaby Cd with a lyrics and she just download them for free.
You can always pull a Ross and Rachel and sing “Baby’s Got Back” to the baby!
I’m with Salt…make them up. J sings to me and the dogs all the time and he just makes up some words. The dogs love it because they have no idea what he’s saying. Just that he’s paying attention to them.
I’m sure you are going to do an amazing job…lullabyes or not.
I definitely think making them up works. Or if you’re luck enough to choose baby names that reflect popular songs you can sing them.
They have Cd’s out now that are popular rock/pop songs turned into lullabys. I know they have a U2 version and it’s so adorable. Look into those.
I think it’s sweet you’re concerned about this – it shows how much you care. My mother used to sing to me sometimes but I’ve found humming a tune is just as soothing as actually singing ! oxox
Who says you have to sing the baby a lullabye? I sang regular songs to all of mine while I would rock them to sleep. To this day, my now 4 year old LOVES Joy to the World by 3 Dog Night. She’ll tell ya all about Jeremiah.
1. My favorite lullabies that my mother used to sing were “You Are My Sunshine” (all the verses) and “Bushel & a Peck,” though I’m not sure that’s considered a lullaby. She also used to sing B&aP backwards which was great fun.
2. The “lullabies” I sung to my kids weren’t lullabies. I sang real songs with lyrical meaning. To this day, I still sing “Please Don’t Take the Girl,” “In My Daughter’s Eyes,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to my kids.
3. There is never a voice as beautiful to a child as their mother’s. My mom didn’t have any special musical abilities, but it’s her voice I long for even 20 years after her death. Don’t worry about singing in front of people. They’re not *technically* people until they get a driver’s license, right?