When Jocelyn gets restless, I throw down some blankets and dump a basket of books out for her to pour over. I call it a reading nest. Miles has his Legos and of course his endless crafts, but even he can still be enticed by a reading nest. Today it was Jocelyn who settled in.

Jocelyn has always loved books with babies faces. Here she’s mimicking the emotions of the babies in the books.

Here are some of my family’s favorite books:

Both of these Hondo & Fabian Books have gorgeous and whimsical illustrations and calming and amusing stories that make us giggle and feel warm and snuggly reading them together. We always laugh so hard when Hondo eats the butter out of the dish.

Harry the Dirty Dog is a classic. It’s my favorite book of all time.

Oh Corduroy, he’s such a sweet bear and the story of the little girl loving him just the way he is, but still fixing his shoulder strap because he’ll be more comfortable that way, warms my heart every time.

Amos & Boris is a story that will have you dabbing your teary eyes as you read your kids their bedtime story. It’s seriously so sweet, the vocabulary is rich and it’s beautifully written. (Great pick Uncle Mark!)

The illustrations of Henry in Love are so beautiful (Same illustrator as Hondo and Fabian) and it’s just a sweet and simple story. Oh, and I love anything with bunnies in it.

We Belong Together is a whole family favorite. It’s adorable and my very favorite baby gift to give.

Check out You are my Cupcake as well.

Pat the Bunny is a book we somehow managed to not discover until Jocelyn was born. (Crazy, because it’s a classic as well.) Jocelyn ADORES how interactive this book is, and even big brother likes to join in. Buy the largest version you can find as the mini version that Amazon sells is missing a lot of the original pages.

Peek A Boo Baby Faces is what Joss is reading in this blog post. She loves all the baby’s faces.

My best friend gave me The Velveteen Rabbit when I was grieving the loss of my first husband. The story of becoming real when you are loved still brings tears to my eyes.

I could sit here all night and share books I love. (Haven’t even mentioned the obvious favorites like Dr.Suess or Shell Silverstein! I could go for ages.) I hope to someday pour over these books again with my kids when they are adults and see if they got the same thing I did out of them and what their favorites were/are. No matter how much time you spent with your child that day or what you did, nothing compares with them snuggling into your lap engrossed in a book. It’s just the best thing ever.

I LOVE hearing about people’s favorite children’s books, please comment me with your favorites!