Back in spring, I found out that my best friend of 21 years is pregnant. After the shock wore off, I realized I had to do something huge for her. Wellβ¦ not huge; meaningful. I thought about making a baby blanket like I have for a lot of my friendsβ kids. But knowing her family, I expect I wouldnβt be the first to think of that. I donβt have a bunch of money to spend, so I didnβt want to try for a crib or stroller or any of the other big expenses that come with having a baby. And then one day, we were chatting on Marco Polo and she mentioned wanting a scrapbook but not knowing how to start one and joking that maybe I could.
Of course, this is exactly where my head went. I made her and her husband a HUGE scrapbook for their wedding and everything leading up to it. It took a good bit of time and money though, so I knew I had to scale it down. I also had to think about ways that it could be added to in the future. What happens if I get really busy and canβt help her add to the book?? I donβt want to get behind and miss out on important steps in his life. So, I came up with a plan to set things up ahead of time for her along with the ones I can fill in before he is born.
After scouring Pinterest, imagining what I would want if I had a kid, and asking some friends for their thoughts, this is the list I came up with:
- Pregnancy bump pictures
- Sonograms or βLife on the Insideβ
- Gender reveal
- Baby shower
- Maternity pictures
- Hospital stay
- Weight, length, eye color, hair color, labor time, date and time, and location
- Newborn pictures
- Monthly updates for the first year
- First Holidays
- βMy firstsβ page
- Steps, smile, slept through the night, rolled over, sat up, solid food, clapped hands
- First birthday party
To keep the cost down (and hold myself accountable to using what I have before buying more), I scavenged my craft room. I do have a BUNCH of scrapbooking paper that Iβve gotten over the years so I looked through that for paper that would fit what I wanted. Most scrapbook albums are 12βx12β so I couldnβt use normal printer paper. However, I do have some wallpaper sample books that I got for cheap that have made for some really good scrapbook pages. I just cut them to size and decorate on top! Most of my other decorations are paper designs like I tend to revert back to, but there are some other styles Iβve thrown in.
Being that she is only 30 weeks pregnant, I wonβt be able to finish all of these for her before heβs born. We will still be adding to it a lot over the next year. But, like I said, Iβd like to make it easy to add to like a baby book. Just add pictures and write whatever notes you want. So I started chronologically. Iβve got some of her bump pictures, sonograms, and her gender reveal pictures. I made those pages and will be able to finish all of those before I go home in December for Christmas. Now for the stuff they can add to later. My idea is to make cute pages that are easy to add as many pictures and notes to as possible.
You can see in one of my holiday pages for next year that Iβve added decoration so theyβre all cute and themed, but thereβs plenty of room for them to add pictures and notes from the day. Iβm not going to post all of the pages Iβve done because I want it to mostly be a surprise for them. But I think itβll turn out really cute! And best of all, itβll be a good place for memories. What would you like if you had a scrapbook like this? Are there any important steps Iβm missing? π As always, if you take any fun pictures or videos, tag me on Instagram @SmileMakePeopleWonder and use the hashtag #DandelionSmiles. Donβt forget to subscribe so you donβt miss out on the next exciting idea!
Dandelion Smiles 