Keeping a baby book during your children's first years of life is a good one. Sure, it's nice to know how much they weighed and how long they were, but past their first few days at the hospital, how often do you remember to actually fill them out? All those blank pages? What do you write? These handmade (and eco-friendly) journals will help prompt the recordings of all those great memories.
Katie of Gadanke Big Cartel store has been hard at work making these guided journals. When you only have a few moments between naps, these small pages encourage you to fill them in instead of leaving them blank and 5 years down the road... wishing you hadn't.
Each journal is handcrafted from Italian patterned papers, American library cards, all sorts of tags, pockets, and envelopes — plus 100% recycled German and American paper. The book ring bindings makes it easy to add photos and postcards, organize to suit your story, and add more pages. You won't ever feel confined to the ideas at hand and each one can be fully customized for each child in your family.
You can pick one up for $18.00 in one of four colors at Gadanke.
Image: Gadanke
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There are so many gorgeous baby books out there now. Unfortunately that still never helped me get around to updating one! To help us save and share our great kid quotes and memories, my husband and I created a website called Kidlee.com. It's free for other parents to use too. We'd love for Ohdeedoh readers to check it out!
I loved babybooks, so I bought one before my son's birth. It now sits unused on a shelf, and I'm about to hand it down to someone who will use it.
I hate to have to fill in the blanks, and to forget about those tiny things I want to write, like those beautiful sunday mornings we spend playing in our bed. So, this one is kinda my style.
However, I simply bought a blank DIY album, without any cover, and I'm writing as my son grows up, printing photos I love (as many as I'd like), forgetting about useless thing like the name of his pediatrician. I had all of his grand-parents, aunts and uncles write a few words. It's both personal and very, very plain and simple. I'm embroidering the cover - ok, not so easy to do, but totally worth it.
I started writing to my baby (currently one day overdue) in a basic large Moleskine journal. I've dropped in some of his U/S photos, photos of my growing belly, cards, etc. And, people have started dropping in their thoughts as well--my close friends, his dad and grandparents...
It's kind of free form, which is how I like it. I actually haven't written in it since May, however!