Second Daughter's Baby Book

Years ago now (literally), I asked for suggestions on baby books. A good friend offered to send me a Word document to make my own. I am so pleased at the result I plan to use the same format for Second Son's album. Here's Second Daughter's baby book, started and completed a few weeks ago (at least it was before she was two).

I picked a fun (recycled!) album from a local superstore (the chic one). I played around with the file from my friend, changing fonts, page order and pictures.

Using a binder and writing everything up in Word was fantastic:

• I could just leave out something I didn't record on the blog (like the first time Second Daughter rolled from her tummy to her back).
• I added pictures when I wanted, based on my favorites of Second Daughter, rather than what some baby book author thought I might have photographed.
• I was able to insert pages for pictures First Son colored for her or cards she received.
• I could be as elaborate as I liked (even using some scrap booking materials I picked up on sale), but also very simple.
• I could add as many pages as I wanted, though it's really not very long. I can even insert pages for her second birthday. (In fact, I have every intention of doing that, including some adorable drawings from her cousins.)

I don't make scrap books. I might enjoy it, but I have too much else I enjoy. Usually with pictures I just order prints online once a month and slip them into plain albums with a few comments on dates or where we were. I liked having a little more flexibility for the baby book. Second Daughter is thrilled with the result. She loves to flip through the pages and announce who all the people are in the pictures. As an added bonus, if she tears any of the sheet protectors, I can just slip the original pages into new ones!

You could, of course, make a photo book on any number of online photo sites. This method is less expensive, though, and has the benefit of easily adding extras like the picture from First Son and the bracelets from the birth.