'Baby Books' - what do you include?

[judet]

I've posted this at DST as well, but as there's such a bunch of friendly people here I'm hoping for a great response cos I'm a bit stuck :)

I'm in the process of gathering together layouts to put into a baby album - although it'll probably include up until she's 4 when she started school. I've got some layouts done, but they're very much based on the photos I happened to take and I'm trying to think of pages with more depth to them.

So, would anyone like to share? Any resources for journalling prompts for baby books? I think I've pretty much covered the milestones, and I guess a 'favourite things' at various ages would be good but my ideas dry up about there!

Thanks!

[jacinda]

I guess if you're scrapping the album in retrospect, it's easier to do a lot of multi-photo layouts. You know, like for the first year, do summaries of each month. Even if you don't have a lot of journalling or monthly stats, at least the photos are included. Here's one I did for my neices:

http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/data/1515/thumbs/09-10-28-Fourteen-weeks-old.jpg (http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=34243&title=14-weeks-old&cat=1515)

I love the Questionnaire/favourites kind of pages:
http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/data/509/thumbs/10-01-08-My-Sweetie.jpg (http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=49003&title=my-sweetie&cat=509)

But mostly I just scrap as I always do - photos that I like and that have a story to go with it. I like to write letters to my girls. Tell them how much they are loved. Maybe describe a bit of what they're like at that age, and what they like to do. Compare them to myself or their daddy at that age, or even their cousins. That adds a little family history info which is always good. Give advice that they'll read when they're older, stuff like that.

[judet]

Thanks Jacinda - like the idea about the comparisons :)

I don't have all that many photos as I wasn't a scrapper back when my eldest was born (and wasn't awake enough ever when my youngest was little!) and a lot of the ones I do have are absolutely rubbish so there probably won't be too many multi-photos. Which I know is unusual for me :)

I like the idea about comparisons with rellies, that'll be really good - particularly as she looked exactly like her Dad when she was younger, and then developed a personality more like mine.

I'm looking for prompts because I'm looking at photos that are nearly 5 years old now and while I can remember lots, I'm sure there are some good things that I'd come up with if I was pointed in the right direction!

[lisataz]

Jude, there are a couple self paced classes at Big Picture Scrapbooking on baby albums. I don't think they're very expensive. I have both Baby's First Year and Don't Blink. Baby's First Year was more of an instruction manual on putting together a paper scrapbook album. She had basically a two page spread for each month and a couple ideas for "extra" pages, but mostly chronological. Don't Blink also had instructions for putting together a paper scrapbook album, but it did include a bonus handout with a checklist of layouts. They were mostly chronological, but had some "deeper" items like relationships, etc.

The two baby books I've completed are basically chronolgical. I took a picture of each of my girls on the quilt my mom made for them each month of their first year. So I just have the quilt picture, then a summary of that month. There are a couple extra pages for holidays. My first two each have a separate baby book. I plan to combine it all into one book for my third and I have a list at home (I'm at work now) of all the pages I'd like to include. I will try and find it and post back later.

[judet]

That would be brilliant - thanks for the tips.

I think the hardest part is the 18 month to 3-ish bit cos we'd already hit most of the milestones and I can't really remember too many details!

[lisataz]

Here's my list, I think they're really all focused on the first year, tho:

Family tree
How we found out we were expecting and sharing the news
Preparing for your arrival
Pregnancy photos
Birth story
How we chose your name
In the hospital (including memorabilia)
Birth announcement
Visitors
Going home
Breastfeeding/special bond
Gifts and thank you notes
Cards from people
Quilt pictures (progression of the pictures on the quilt for all 12 months)
Firsts
Growth chart
Information about us (parents)
Ultrasound pictures
The world around me: Movies, TV shows, how much things cost, etc.
Newspaper from the day she was born
Pictures of my husband and I as babies/toddlers at similar ages
Pictures of us with our parents and grandparents (her grandparents and great grandparents)

Hmmm, not a very enlightening list, but a lot of work ahead for me! :giggle:

Here are my thoughts on 18 months-three years:
more pictures of us (dh and I) as kids at the same age with pictures of her
pictures of her and her two sisters at the same ages (since I've had three girls I've wanted to do pages like this)
everyday stuff about how we spend our days and what she likes/doesn't like
lots of sibling stuff because she's the youngest of three (possibly comparing her to older sisters and/or her relationship with them)
events

That's all I'm coming up with off the top of my head. I'll come back if I think of anything else. Good luck with your project!

[jacinda]

Maybe you could choose the photos you want to scrap, and if they don't already have a story to go with them, assign them each a value or character trait you want her to have. E.g. integrity, honesty, loyalty, kindness, etc. Then journal about why this quality is important and why you want her to have it (or maybe she already has it). You can bet as a teenager in years to come she'll be reading back through her albums, and that kind of advice may strike a chord just when you need it to.

[mshanhun]

I tended to do milestones - Take a look here http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EbsXLZs4ZMnQg - only 1 more month to scrap! :)

Hope that works for you to see my book