Anna's Baby Book | Thoughts, Images, & A Video Walk-Through

PLEASE NOTE: Most of my Memory Keeping Q&A posts are being presented on my main blog. I decided to put this post here on the Projects blog as it feels more at home here with the images and the video.

ANDI | I know Anna is 2 now but I was wondering if you ever did a baby book for her, you talked about it. I know that she will have her own set of books like Simon but I remember you saying that you didn’t like the “pre-made” ones that you find at the store. I didn’t buy one of those either and I was wondering what you scrapped and how you did it.

AE | I'm so glad you asked about this as it spurred me to pull out her album and see exactly what I had done with it.

It's been awhile since I've looked through this album - I've added layouts here and there but have not actually taken the time to see what I have and what I don't have.

Here's the original post from April 2009 where I talked about my approach to this album. I mention that there is no master plan and there really wasn't - which resulted in what I have here - a collection of stories from her first year of life along with some other bits and pieces I saved along the way.

Here's some things that came to mind as I looked at what's in the album right now:

1. I know if I go back to my 2009 and 2010 photo folders I'll find more stories I'd like to tell about Anna's first year.

2. I'm seriously thankful that I have stories told. I'm not upset that I don't have every little thing documented. Many of the most detailed stories came from posts I did on my blog that document all the little things that were happening with her from month to month (not on a specific schedule necessarily, but enough to get a good picture of specific points during her first year).

3. I like that I kept the well-baby visit handouts that include her weight and height.

4. The pages are going to be re-organized in chronological order. For this post and video I just took pictures and did the walk-through "as-is" so you could see it just how it is off the shelf without being fixed up.

5. I actually kinda like that I haven't looked at it in awhile. Looking at it again over the last couple of days I have a new sense of excitement about getting some more pages done specifically for this book to round out the project. It's a nice reminder that things can sit for awhile and all is not lost (and part of the reason it's not totally lost is that I've got content to pull from in the form of stories I've posted on my blog).

MOVING FORWARD

After looking at what I have, here's a list of layouts/elements I'd still like to add:

1. A layout (or more than one) about our childcare and the relationship both my kids have with the people who make a big difference in our lives.

2. Maybe a month-at-a-glance. Using a multi-photo layered template (like this one or this one or this one) I could easily go back into my monthly photo archives and grab photos from each month of her first year. I'll share these as I do them.

3. Title page/album intro.

4. Gather up additional journaling I did on my blog and either create layouts or simply print out journaling pages similar to what I've done in Project Life using the Long Journalers. This shouldn't take too long as the posts about her are tagged as Anna (oh how I love that simple little organizational tool).

5. I also found, as I was looking through my Designer Digitals gallery and putting this post together, that I have quite a few other pages completed that belong in this album (both paper and digital). I need to see if I printed the digital pages already (which I think I did) and either get them printed or move them from the 2009 or 2010 family albums. Pages like this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one.

Here's a video where I walk you through what's currently inside the album:

Ali Edwards | Anna Baby Book Walk-Through from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO

• Crop In Style page protector

• Project Holder | Cropper Hopper Page Planner

• Reflections Journal/Mini Book

• Simple Celebrations 5x7 Baby Photo Books

Here's a look at the inside of this album via the lens of my camera with links to more information about specific layouts when available.

A divided page protector opens the album and includes the notice of her birth from the local paper, our bracelets, the hospital photos, her newborn hat, etc.

BIRTH STORY. A few of these pages were featured in my Studio A column in Creating Keepsakes magazine in November 2009 (and other Studio A columns throughout the second half of 2009). The theme of the article was using your own past pages as inspiration for new pages. I used a bunch of page designs I had created that told stories about Simon's first few months as jumping off points for these pages about Anna.

The photo opens up to reveal her birth story.

DAD AND DAUGHTER. Details about this digital layout can be found here. First featured in Creating Keepsakes Studio A column July 2009.

FIRST SEVEN DAYS | THE JOURNEY BEGINS. I love this one. One of my favorites.

I LOVE YOU.

YOU = LOVE. Details about this layout can be found here. Words came from a blog post here.

COMING HOME.

HOSPITAL PAPERS. There's a bunch of these sprinkled throughout the book.

WAITING FOR BABY. This one will be moved forward in the album.

DOCUMENTING THE TUNES. Details on the layout can be found here. The opposite image was the photo my Mom printed out for Simon to take to school to share the story of his new baby sister. Story blogged here.

SIX WEEKS.

THE STORY OF CLOTH. Content taken from this blog post.

GENERATIONS. One of my favorite kind of layouts that shows photos from now and then. A photo of me and a photo of her and then one of us. I shared the Me & Her image on my blog here.

THE ONESIE. The binder clip is working just right at keeping it in place.

SWEET BABY. Details on this layout can be found here.

AND THE GREATEST OF THESE. From a Studio A column in 2009.

A4.

WELL BABY VISITS.

US.

HELLO YOU. Photos of Grandparents first meeting Anna and Simon being so excited to have a sister.

REMEMBER THIS. More details on this layout available here.

PLANNING. DREAMING. Another page about getting ready for her arrival.

READY TO GO.

WELCOME.

A3.

WELL BABY VISIT.

3 MONTHS.

ANNA AT 11 MONTHS. Details on this layout can be found here.

THANKING GOD. More details on this layout available here.

At the back of the album right now I've got some additional notes and things I'd like to include either on layouts or simply just included in the album inside a page protector.

Wow. This has been quite a little journey for me and I'm feeling really thankful for the question that spurred me to take a closer look at this album. I also really have to emphasize how thankful I feel tonight that I've captured so many stories on my blog in the moment. Those are the stories I love so much - the ones that talk about what she's doing, what I love about her at a certain stage, etc. Those are the kind of memories that are just that much more difficult to recollect as times passes.

Products | Photos | Inspiration | Motivation & Time | Anna's Baby Album