My children's favourite book - Guess how much I love you

* I have partnered with Walker Books UK for this post to share my favourite classic kids book / AD

With Valentine's fast approaching and my boys getting that little bit older, this year I want to celebrate that special kind of love between a parent and child, one that can even be hard to put into words and one that still to this day takes me by surprise. When I was expecting my first child, my mother bought me the Guess How Much I Love You book by Sam McBrantney and when I became a mum it immediately summed up that feeling of infinite love we have for our children. 

When I was pregnant with my first I thought I knew what was coming (how blissful naivety is), I had read all the books and had a well-written birth plan, that incidentally was thrown out the window when labour actually arrived. The thing is I had never held a baby before until I held my own and that's when it all changed. Yes, it may sound cliche but the love for a child is different to any other and it never lessens as your children grow and this little book has such a simple way of capturing that. 

For those who haven't read this classic children's book, it's a heartwarming story that tells the tale of two hares, a parent and a child and how they try to find the right words to describe how much they love and care for each other but in such a sweet and natural way, with the parent watching over with admiration.  

I don't remember many things that were given to me while pregnant and in those early days but Guess How Much I love You is one of them and sits on my children's bookshelf and is still very much a favourite bedtime read in my household, my youngest especially loves it and I always treasure the simplicity of sitting and reading a book together and it's easy to see why the story of Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare has become such a family classic since its publication in 1994.

It's made me realise that when it comes to things like Valentine's Day, baby showers or maybe you yourself is an expectant mother, it's the sentimental gifts that always mean the most. The small reminders that even when life feels chaotic, messy, tired or sleep-deprived that it's all worth it and books like this are the perfect gift that can be also be handed down from parent to child and who knows, maybe I will be reading this to one of my grandchildren one day.