I wrote a few things in my first borns baby book. I have not yet purchased a baby book for my almost three -year -old second born and was getting ready to buy one for her and our yet to be born third and last child.
I ask this question because in reality, I have a great 11 x 14" storage box where I keep art work and print outs from the dr.s office on growth. My husband and I also keep a shared document journal for funny things our kids say. In addition, we have hours of digital videos and thousands of pictures to pass on . What really is left to put in a baby book? I feel like its a formality you just have to do, but I prefer my loose scrap box and digital storage instead. I feel the baby book is a bulky item that will have all of 3 things written in it. What do you all think? Did any of you intentionally skip the baby book? What method are you using instead to keep track and pass on facts and fun things about your kids' childhood?
I have them for my kids as well but to be honest all the good information and written accounts of their first couple years are on my calendars! So I have those saved in the hopes of one day transferring them...but I bet that will never happen, they will just have calendars, Ha!
I have no baby books.
I have no method of passing things on. I suck.
One o the funniest things I remember was a mom coming into the gift shop and saying she needed 2 baby books, photo corners fancy pens.. Etc..
She was going to finally do baby books for her children. I asked how old are your children? She laughed and said... They are actually in college, but I am bout to have a hysterectomy and will be layer up for about 4 weeks.. It was the first time since they were born she was going to have time to work on them..
the pretty boxes are just as good as a baby book and in reality better because they hold more. you can put photo's, bracelets etc.
I have a baby book for both of my kids who are 8 and 5 now. I STILL just updated it recently too. I have one that my mom made me and there is only a few things in it and not many pictures. I'm kind of bummed about it. I want my kids to be able to look at it when they are grown up and even show their kids one day.
No not a think of the past. It is just nice to have all I do in one place nearly done. I always kept up my baby books. It documented their first seven years. I have the box, and more pictures then you can imagine, but I just love pulling out those books. When my kids ask how big they were at a certain time (because they have kids now and want to compare), it takes me one mi ute to walk in living room and give them an answer. Everything is in chronological order. I will give a baby books part of a shower gift.
I made one for each of my kids on line. I did a digital scrapbook that chronicled each milestone, etc. In the back I have places to write when they walked, their growth statistics for each year, hospital visits, etc.
Surprisingly, my second child's is better (I think!) than my first child's book! I think by the time number 2 came along I knew what I was doing better and so I like the layout much more! But, at least they both have something that mommy created special for them!
I think if you like your system then there is nothing wrong with it. You are still keeping stuff for them so it's no biggie!
This is totally if fine if you are ok with it. And if you aren't really going to fill it out anyway, then what is the point I agree.
That said, I personally love my kids' baby books. I do have tons of pics, video, a place to keep artwork, etc. But with all of that, I wouldn't have written down when each tooth came in, and all the other stuff a nice baby book has you keep track of. Plus, grandparents and others like to look at it when they visit, and they don't want to go through my digital picture files, video files, etc, on my computer. They want to sit in the living room for 15 min and look at a book. And, I remember that I loved to look at my own baby book as a kid, and I still have that. I'm not sure I would have ever taken the time to go through a bin or look at digital pics, either as a kid or now. So I appreciate the book.
Skip the baby book.
Buy a blank book & write down stages, moments or my favorite.....cute things they did.
I write little notes to him.
Stories.
Lessons.
Things he did
Cute sayings.
Things to be aware of in life.
I'll add some tickets to a kid's play we went to etc.
I included his first craft, his first picture he drew etc.
Much more fun
I'm a scrapbooker. I LOVE scrapbooking. I don't have actual "baby books", but I have scrapbooks with tons of pictures and journaling to tell about important stuff.
But I'm gonna be honest. I have a five year old daughter, a one year old son, and I am a foster parent, so I am busy all the freaking time! My son's scrapbook is probably half done. I have the pictures for my daughters, but have yet to start it. To my credit, my daughter didn't come live with us until she was 2 and a half and was adopted at four, so hers won't have a lot of baby stuff in it. We only have a handful of pictures.
I got baby books for both of my kids but barely filled out the pages. The first few years were kind of a blur! I had a box where I would put important things to post when I had time. My son was a high school senior when I started to dig through that box. Now I have taken the early pictures and important info and scrapbooked the pages. I journal the important--first haircut (picture & hair sample along with the details). I love keeping pictures on my computer organized by month (along with back up) or event. Then I can print out just the ones I want to scrapbook. Sure beats the old days of taking pictures, getting them developed, etc, etc. Someday I will go through the scrapbook and show his daughter what her daddy looked like and enjoyed when he was her age. Good luck!
We have them for both my kids. But.. my MIL is filling it out. Every little milestone we have , I text or tell her and she puts it in the book. She goes back to my husbands book and looks to see what milestones my kids made before or after him..
She also does a very nice scrap book, Her third grand child was just born about 3 weeks ago and she is making sure all the books are the same.
My son was in preschool this year and last, so I am doing a hardcover book from his pictures that his teacher took of him through the year, I will also have his kindergarten teacher send me pics as well. If my daughter does not go to this preschool (her home daycare does preschool things, so she might just go to kindergarten) I will have her daycare send me the pics.
It is up to you, I know that my brothers book was filled out, mine was empty. So my MIL filling it out is awesome.
I have one for each of my 3. It's really funny what I managed to put in for some and not for others. I did my best to fill in as much as I could though. They all have the same exact book too.
But, like you, the bulk of the stuff is digital or in memory boxes we have for each of them. Family things are put in a binder in page protectors or special photo pages made for 3 ring binders.
I made my son's baby book. I typed it up in a word document (Leaving blank lines for the answers). I like it because it has all of the "questions" that I like but leaves out the stuff from typical baby books that I usually roll my eyes at (Hence, there is no "spot" for first curls or first tooth). I then had it printed out through a "self-publishing" site and only had to pay for the shipping. I plan to do another one when we get pregnant with baby number 2
