Baby Book Ideas

I'm looking for some ideas for a baby book for a girl who recently married one of my nephew's. She is 18 and due in late April. She knows that the baby is going to be a boy and has already picked out the name Ezra Michael.

I want to do something REALLY nice and special for her because I know that her mom and stepdad won't be able to be with her when she has their grandson, they won't be a part of his life at all except for pictures and stories the mom will tell him. The reason why is because both were killed in a traffic accident the first week of October. I know she's missing them very much and I just want to do something nice and special for her.

Does anyone have any ideas for such an album besides going with a specific theme like Winnie the Pooh, Disney babies, etc. I'd prefer to keep it a bit more "generic" because that would enable me to use more of what I already have on hand and thus have to buy less. Is there a good standard size for a baby book? I have a binding machine, so technically I could make it in any size but I would prefer to not make one larger than 8.5x11.

I've just googled "baby book pages",
and clicked on "Images", and there are a lot of ideas.
Pages are mostly white with cute borders.
Size is letter (8.5 x 11).
That's also the size of all of my kids baby albums and it's really great, easy to handle when you are writing on it, and to carry when you're going to visit friends and want to brag about your baby growth and milestones.

I wish the best to the mom to be. What a sad story.
My mom was there for my first, but passed away, at 60, before my other two kids were born and I missed her tremendously.
It's so thoughtful of you to think of such a nice present.
Happy New Year to you and yours.

• flhomeschoolmom Said:

I've made three baby albums for a friend of mine, without specific themes (the most recent one relied a lot on a specific DCWV baby girl stack, but I also used a lot of stashy stuff that happened to coordinate with it). They're each about 30 pages. I do things like relatives meeting the new baby, pages for all four seasons and Mother's and Father's Day, bath time, sleepy time, playing, usually a Six Months page, 10 Things I Love About You, pages for listing the baby's milestones or likes and dislikes, first birthday, a few pages for just generic cute baby pics, sometimes some pages with journaling cards for each month of the first year, and always just lots and lots of spaces for journaling. The last page in each of them is a journaling-heavy page with space for one photo, called "My Dreams For You."

I try to stay away from pages that were very specific like FIRST smile, FIRST steps, because I felt like that would place undue pressure on her to capture specific moments. Instead I just do general pages about baby smiles, and a two-pager called "Baby on the Move" which lends itself to crawling, standing, walking, whatever.

someone ( i don;t remember who) is making a really cute one using all the letters of the alphabet.

Hmm, the alphabet could be a something with a fun twist that I hadn't thought of.

I love the idea of pages like "Baby on the Move", I'm not sure about the relative related things though...I mean it's a fantastic idea...I'm just not sure that it might not cause pain. I'm thinking on a page about how his name was chosen.

I know that the dad to be is leaving for Basic Training in 16 days and may or may not be here for the birth. It will depend on whether or not she goes into labor during his 10 day leave between basic and other schooling.

The best idea is don't have babies, then you don't need a baby book ... and then there's a whole lot of other things you won't need.

I did an album for a baby that used first word, first tooth, first steps, and other generic baby firsts ending with baby's first birthday. I did it that way because the parents were different ethnic backgrounds and I didn't want to do anything that could offend either of them. It was well received. I also included an acid free pen and a tape runner so mom could journal on the tags and mount the photos.

I have done a few baby albums and I have included pages for pregnancy pictures; delivery room pictures, all the holidays; mommy and me; daddy girl ad the last one I did for my granddaughter I added a two page layout with six squares on page so she can put monthly pictures of the first year. Babies change a lot one month to the next.

Good luck with your project.

I just finished an ABC album for a 2 year old. I tired to use unusually words for the letters, especially if you have a picture that will fit the letter...

• flhomeschoolmom Said:

I totally understand, I was just giving a list of all the types of pages I did, in case someone else comes to this topic looking for baby album page ideas.

Right now the ideas going through my mind for this book are:

1). Primary colors---Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, White, and Brown. I think I want to stay away from pastels.

2). Boy Toys--Balls, Cars, Trucks, Trains, Teddy Bears and general baby toys like key rings, stackers, etc.

3). We're Expecting-- Our first reactions, First people we told, Ultrasound pictures with something like " Love at First Sight", the baby shower...these will consist of atleast 3 two page spreads

4). Your Arrival--- Date, Time, Hospital, Doctor, Length, Weight, etc and add a place for 1 or two pictures, the bassinet card, hand print, foot print, baby bracelet.

5). Your First Visitors-- This *might* just be a journaling page and then add a "Baby's Family Tree" to the opposite page.

6). Holidays--- two page spread for Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, still debating about Halloween.

7). Mommy and Me-- 1 two page spread

8). Daddy and Me-- 1 two page spread

9). Feeding Time

10. Sleepy Time or Sweet Dreams

11. Baby on the Move-- I really like that.

• Sewflake Said:

I'm not sure what pictures she will end up with because I plan on giving her the book before the baby is born. I do know that the baby will have 1 Aunt that is only 3 years older than him, that could be a cute idea to play with.

Aha so that's who did the ABC book...sorry my memory is all shot to hades

• don1 Said:

But who will take care of you in your old age. oops.......

Here's another idea, Ali. I once did a baby album for a lady who was expecting her first great grandchild. Everything was Horton Hears a Who, so we customized the story book into a baby's first year album. I only uploaded two of the photos here. I have a ton more because I took photos of every page. It was labor intensive but I just loved the end result and so did they!
http://www.scrapbook.com/myplace/index.php?mod=gallerie...

• Joanie R Said:

I tried leaving a comment in the gallery on this, but it didn't post.

That is so totally cool. And what a great idea to turn a storybook into a baby book. It is also a fantastic idea for a book cover. And the storybook going through my head is "Guess How Much I Love You". That would make an awesome baby book cover.

And I saw in the gallery here and on YouTube where people used smash books for baby books. I'm not sure if this girl is into scrapbooking, but I do know she loves to color. And smash books are easy. That format would also give her space, pockets and envelopes to add whatever she wished besides the titled pages I make for her. I could end at 12 months, but have extra pages for her to continue the book on her own.

Ali, I love your ideas! A smashbook would be fun and interactive. I'm glad you liked the idea. It was a lot of fun to put it together. The wonderful lady I worked with had so many ideas on how to personalize it though, I had to stop her! I told her the binding was only so big! LOL! She loved it and said it was the talk of the shower. That made my day, that something I created brought happiness was awesome! Let us know what you decide and post pics if you can.