good parenting begins before birth-16 weeks

So at about 14 weeks, my weekly pregnancy e-mails were telling me that the baby can hear me talking. This has ensued many conversations in which I look like I crazy person talking to myself, when in reality, I'm talking to the baby. I've told the baby all about summer and how it's very hot out, but we get to go to the beach, but then in the winter, it's cold, and we get to play in the snow. I have lots of random conversations with the baby, for the most part.

But once I knew the baby could hear us talking, I became a lot more aware of my language. It's not that I curse a lot because, honestly, I don't. But oddly enough, now that I'm trying not to swear, I'm doing it more. It's terrible! But it's better that I'm wrestling with this issue now than when the baby comes. So pray for me and TJ that we would be able to guard our tongues better!

In church today, I was getting choked up thinking about how our baby could hear us singing worship songs. I realized, in very deep way, that those are the things I want our baby to hear. I want our baby to hear us worshiping God. I want our baby to hear me saying, "I love you" to his/her father. I want our baby to hear us giving encouragement to others and being joyful and optimistic about things.

So I guess being a good parent starts while the baby is still in the womb. It feels like a lot of pressure sometimes, but I'm glad to realize that now while we still have time to change our hearts and correct behaviors like cursing so that we can teach our children by being strong examples ourselves.