baby book :(

[bookwise]

i gave birth to our first baby, a perfect little girl, in april, almost ten months ago. i really regret that i haven't kept a baby book for her. we received one for our shower from my mom but didn't feel very comfortable with it (more my guy than me, but me also to an extent) as there were entire pages we wouldn't have used (i.e. baptism).

i've off-and-on kept a journal and there are two forums i was active in during the first 6 months or so, so i could kinda of reconstrue stuff if/when she asks me about her babyhood. i think i feel guilty mostly because i know how much it bothered me that i didn't have one as a kid, and here i am, making the same situation for my daughter. ;( granted, we have tons of video and photos, which is way more than i ever had. that reassures me. but i can't believe how much i've already forgotten - like when she first rolled over, etc.

should i maybe try to find a more neutral baby book and fill it in now, before i truly forget everything? or should i just let it go?

thanks for reading. as always, it's surprising how much better i feel just typing it out. ;)

[katelove]

If you can reconstruct some of it from your forum post. photos, memories etc then that's what I'd do.

How is the book you were given bound? Can you remove pages. If you really, really don't like it then I'd either get a book with removable pages (this is the one we use) or just get a plain journal and write in the things which are important to you. You could use the book you were given as a guide if you wanted to.

[Blanca78]

I'm there with you! DD is nine months old. I have a box of stuff I've saved--footprints from hospital, doctor's records, cards, etc. And I have jotted down notes here and there. But I feel guilty that I haven't started to assemble it into any sort of detailed narrative. I have the baby book my mom made for me and it is insanely thorough--letters to me, photos, long entries about what I did and when, cards, etc. It's a high bar. I keep saying I'll put everything together when I have the time, but it's hard when I'm still so frigging tired all the time.

[bookwise]

katelove, the book we were given is a hardbound almost-board-book like thing, with cut-outs on the pages for pictures and so on. it's super cute and i feel bad not using it since it was from my mom but we've talked a lot about it and.. we just don't feel comfortable using it. and i don't think i can really re-purpose it, not even some pages here or there. :(  maybe i'll just get a blank book (god knows i'm constantly buying pretty blank journals!) and fill that in. i did keep a pregnancy journal, so there's that at least.

blanca78, yes the guilt! i see other people writing monthly letters to their kids and though i really thought i'd remember so much more, i'm already forgetting so much stuff! thank goodness i wrote down the birth story a few months ago, because now i can barely remember so many of the details i swore up and down i'd never forget. ha!

[katelove]

I think a blank journal sounds lovely.

[alerixon]

I plan on starting our soon, and I just bought a bound set of watercolor paper (really thick nice papers). I'm planning on gluing in photos and writing stuff in there to go with it. It won't be a really traditional baby book, but then, we're not really traditional people ;-)

A couple things to help me with this. I bought a small notebook to keep out, and every few nights I try to jot down a couple thoughts with dates, so I have stuff to put into the book. We also set up an email account for DD, and I send quick emails to her. Since I'm on the computer so much anyway, it's a much easier way for me to drop her notes / letters for her to read when she's older, rather than handwriting them out.

[Blanca78]

Yeah, I plan to use a blank book approach too. One word of advice from my mom: "Make sure the binding is thick enough that it can handle all the stuff you paste in! And use good glue!" (Lots of stuff is falling out of my baby book.)

Originally Posted by alerixon 

I plan on starting our soon, and I just bought a bound set of watercolor paper (really thick nice papers). I'm planning on gluing in photos and writing stuff in there to go with it. It won't be a really traditional baby book, but then, we're not really traditional people ;-)

A couple things to help me with this. I bought a small notebook to keep out, and every few nights I try to jot down a couple thoughts with dates, so I have stuff to put into the book. We also set up an email account for DD, and I send quick emails to her. Since I'm on the computer so much anyway, it's a much easier way for me to drop her notes / letters for her to read when she's older, rather than handwriting them out.

[bookwise]

Originally Posted by alerixon 
 

We also set up an email account for DD, and I send quick emails to her. Since I'm on the computer so much anyway, it's a much easier way for me to drop her notes / letters for her to read when she's older, rather than handwriting them out.

 ah! what a great idea.

i'm slighly ocd enough that i think oh i can't start that now, she's almost 10 months old! (i.e. i have to start new yearly planners on the first, or else i don't have one for the rest of  the year. ha! one of my sister's is worse though, she writes everything in pencil, then goes over it in ink and then erases the pencil. well, in her daily running log at least. :D ) anyhow, maybe that's something we could do.. i have thought of getting her a gmail account so that her name's not taken when she's older but 1) her name is pretty unique, even for gmail, 2) i doubt (and hope) that google will not be the be-all-end-all it is now when she's a teenager.

blanca78 and katelove, i think that i'll also have a paper equivalent though - nothing super organized, but in my handwriting, and somewhat linear, and just for her to look through when she's older. we're not very traditional either but these moments with her as a baby are so so precious to us, i want her to get a glimpse of it -- though thank goodness, we do have the video and photos galore.

i think also a lot of it is for me, really - like a cathartic thing since i never had a baby book, but also as a place to just pour out some of my experiences of being a new mom. it's been the toughest year of my life, but also the best. anyhow, thanks ladies for all the suggestions. we hope to have more kids (lots!) and what i do with the first, i'd like to do with the rest, so it's a big step to have (somewhat) decided. :)

[livacreature]

I love my First 1000 Days baby journal.  It's really flexible and open ended, but has some loose structure to it.  I'm trying really hard to keep up with that since I dropped the ball on monthly comparision pics.

[Glimmersnaps]

I've been meaning to preserve our DS memories for a year now... I say do something-- anything-- now. I want to make a few photo collages and slideshows (maybe iMovie?) of special events and photos with friends and family. I also have a box of cards and stuff and a calender I scribbled a few notes on. 

Thanks for this post because it reminded me to get my act together!

[bookwise]

@livacreature, i look nikki mcclure's books and calendars - so so beautiful! it's hard to get her stuff here in south america so i keep putting them on wish lists hoping my family will get the hint. maybe it's time i just order it myself ;) or i might be waiting forever.

@glimmersnaps -  iMovie is pretty easy in my opinion, as long as you don't get too caught up in all the options available ;), that's a great idea.

time is of the essence right now, though it's hard to imagine squeezing in any more projects (we're about to start building our own house, yay/arrgh!), i gotta make the time. i'm forgetting so much already and .. well sooner than later, we wanna get started on baby #2 and then there really will be no time at all.

[amama2011]

Here is a beautiful idea, and it does not require to have a gallery of "firsts" - it goes month by month which is easier to reconstruct than many typical baby book events. IMO looks very creative and lovely. 

http://blog.hannamac.com/2011/04/28/mias-baby-book/

[MsDolphin]

I didn't do a baby book and now wish I had. I did do a photobook via Mixbook.com that I totally love. I made it for the first year of DS' life. I like it so much, I plan to do another.

[gumshoegirl007]

We have a baby book that's okay and I've filled out some of it.  I've actually had to go back through my fa.cebook status updates to get the dates of certain milestones.  I'm an avid photographer and sorta videographer.  I put together a video of conception to 4 months (basically her first year, of which most was inutero) and then I had the best of intentions to produce a new video quarterly.  Her 1st birthday is less than a month away and I haven't produced a single video...GULP.  I'm going to try to pull something together for her first year.  But there is SO much video to go through. 

For those of you who want to do photo/video, I'm using software on my computer but I also HIGHLY recommend Animoto.  You just upload your photo/video, pick some music, and it puts it all together for you.  So very simple and no special skills required.

I also purchased a gr.oupon for photobook and I've done monthly shots.  I'm going to put month by month shots of her in it, and then somehow pull together little updates or memories in text.  I got better at this later on, but it's going to be grasping for the first six months or so.

[amama2011]

Hi gumshoefirl007, 

just wondering what video editing software you use. I want to edit my videos (cut pieces from different videos and put them together) but I've never done something like that before, and don't know what software could do that. I know I could find something free on the Internet but afraid of viruses that often come with free software. 

[gumshoegirl007]

I have a PC and it comes with Windows Movie Maker installed.  That's what I've been using for these video projects.  You can also use animoto (google it) and you don't have to download anything.  It allows you to use pics and film clips.

[schoonersam]

I was in a similar situation to the one you're in...DD was 8 months old, just had notes and a blank book (no prompts at all) and a near-miss on MIL getting us a super-girly one that I would have not wanted to use but would have felt obligated (luckily we talked her out of it by saying we already had one).

Anyway, I found this wonderful journal style book and I'm am slowly filling it in and not even worrying about how my handwriting looks.  It's called "The First 1000 Days" by Nikki McClure and the artwork is simple but lovely.

Here is the link to buy it online.

Good luck!

[amberskyfire]

I got a baby book and hated mine, too. Instead, I made my own several months after my baby was born and I LOVE it.

I bought a sturdy blank journal with unlined pages and write in it journal-style. It's sort of like a scrapbook. I don't write the usual baby stuff in it. I don't care about when what teeth came in and I'm sure my daughter won't care either. I only put the important things in it. I write funny things she said, entries about really great days we had together, photos of birthdays and special events, stories about our family and ancestors, ancestry information, family tree, favorite family recipes (so she can one day recreate favorite meals from her childhood), lyrics to songs and lullabies I sang to her, poetry I have written or found, scrap clippings, drawings I have made, entries about how much I love her and how I felt about her and what I wanted for her future and I also write down life lessons and advice for her to read when she's grown up. I feel like I have to put myself down as a mother in a book in case I'm not here someday so she can read it and look back and know how much I loved her. I almost feel like I can go on being there for her some day after I'm gone just by being in that book.

[tanyato]

I'm soooo not anything close to a scrapbooker so I haven't even opened the baby book I was given. What I did instead was start a blog that's completely private so it's more of a journal. I can easily add photos right from my computer. It's so easy and convenient I do a little something on it several times a week. I know it's not something tangible but for me, it's the best option because otherwise there would be nothing...