'baby booking'

Norah's baby book

Many people joke that they were the second child and their baby book was never finished.  I vowed not to do that with my kids!  Then I had my own kid… I failed to even get a baby book until a month or two after she was already born.  Wow, was I behind!  I thought all my pictures and my note on my iPhone would help me out when filling it out but there are things in it that I didn’t even think about! 

I picked out a baby book online because it was the only one with turtles and that was the theme I had chosen for Norah’s room.  It was super cute and I was excited when it came!  Then I opened it and started flipping through the pages… I am definitely not up to date with current affairs or headlines and that was an entire page of the book.  Ugh!  Boy, was I in trouble.  (I think I’ll have Nathan fill out that page for me.)

For those new parents or moms/dads-to-be here are some tips for baby booking:

1) If you can, buy your baby book before your baby is born.  It’s important to know what sections there are and what milestones they have to fill in.  You can make your own if you’d like.  I might do that if I have another child and keep track of it in a photo book or something.  (I made a “Welcome Norah!” book of Norah’s first month of life already and plan on making a 1 year book of Norah’s first year also.  They make great presents for grandparents and family!)

2) I heard the joke that once you have a baby your Facebook becomes “baby book.”  Well, there you go - use social media to your advantage!  If you are posting highlights and milestones on Facebook whether it’s public or “only me” under privacy (if I posted every picture I loved of my baby I would be posting every 5 minutes), you have the dates documented of when things happened!  This is also true if you use an iPhone or other phone that records dates and times of when photos were taken, however the nice thing about actually writing a post is that you have a caption to go with the photo (I didn't do this but I kind of wish I did so I'm passing the tip on to you!).  Hooray!  Now you just need to make time to fill out the book…

Perhaps you already had your baby and didn’t get a book yet or maybe you’re pregnant and don’t have one yet or aren’t going to get one until afterward.  Here are some of the things that they ask for in mine so that you can keep track on your phone or on a piece of paper as your baby grows:

3) Fill out as much as you can before they are born/before you get your book so you can just transfer it later when you get one/when you get time:

Current gas/grocery store item prices & current events/famous people: if I were to redo (or have a second child) I would fill out the current events and keep an eye out at grocery stores for prices while I was still pregnant because once your baby is born, it’s a whole new ball game!  For me, I didn’t get enough sleep and still don’t, much less have lots of extra time to put together Norah’s baby book.  (I’m surprised I am awake to write this blog!)  Fill them out before hand if you can to save yourself the trouble of trying to Google them or fill them in later (I definitely googled a few prices of 2014 vehicles since I had no clue and the book asked for it!).

Family: you can fill out your family tree as soon as you get the book since the only new addition should be the baby in the next few weeks!  If you don't know all of your grandparents' names, that's okay! I didn't either (all of my passed before I was born :( ).  I had to ask both my mom and mother-in-law.

Showers/gifts: my awesome friends and family made me lists of which guests brought what gifts so it would be easier for me to write thank you cards.  I wrote them all!  …now getting them to everyone is another topic but I digress.  That same list can be copied into your baby book for the showers and gifts that baby received.  :)

4) Keep notes for the rest of the sections  – About mom/dad: the book I got for Norah has sections to write about myself and my husband.  Mine is filled out but his is not.  Hopefully he will remember what he was thinking before she was born/when she was born! (You could fill out the about yourself stuff prior and then your thoughts about the baby coming but need to fill out what you thought after she/he was born later.)

Norah's 6 month wellness visit

Things to keep: hospital bracelet, copy of birth certificate, birth announcement, a grocery receipt and a copy of the paper with the birth announcements – we don’t get the paper so I had to go to the Knoxville News Sentinel building and get one.  Luckily they print birth announcements at the end of the month (usually Saturday or Sunday depending on your paper) and keep copies of them till the end of the month… and lucky for me since I went in   (I was able to do a search online to find out which dates her name was in the paper before I went.)

June they reprint the May birth announcements the first week of June so I got the June 2 paper with her birth announcement in it even though they had gotten rid of all of the May papers by then.

Milestones to be aware of/write down/post on social media: slept through the night, smiled, found my hands and feet, laughed out loud, clapped my hands, rolled over, sat up alone, crawled, ate solid food, stood by myself, took my first step, waved bye-bye, danced, and spoke my first word.

Other things to write down/keep mementos of: visitors - who visited baby in the hospital and the first few weeks at home.  For doctor’s well check-ups – write down both length, weight and percentiles for both.  If you forget you can always ask your provider to print a beautiful growth chart for you at a later date since we have EMR (electronic medical records) now.  When teeth broke through gums/showed up.  Favorite toys, best friends, colors, songs, stories, etc.  Each month ‘birthday’ write down a few memories of what happened over the last month, baby’s likes, dislikes, etc. Also some books include: first time traveling, holiday celebrations, first hair cut, etc.

Norah's first trip to the zoo! First exhibit: the Red Panda

I’ve talked to friends who wished they wrote more down or kept a journal when their baby was born.  If you would like to do that, great!  If not, you don’t have to.  I figure for me, it’s better to write down more notes than I think I might need because I can always delete it/recycle the paper but that whole “mommy brain” thing people talk about is totally real so you should try to make notes to help yourself remember all of these wonderful times!  I personally have not found time to journal but it sounds like a nifty idea if you can.

The most important thing to remember is that you’re there for your baby and doing your best.  Even if you don't have the most put-together baby book or don't even make one, it's nice to take a few pictures to see how much your baby has grown!

Baby book on friends!

-run for life