The Baby Book

In this day and age of scrapbooking (or "scrapping", to true connoisseurs), creating a baby book for your baby is a must. If you are a creative "scrapper", you can make your own, complete with hand-written headings, scallop-edged photos, and cute stickers.

For those of us with a little less of an artistic bent (or a little less time!), there are beautiful pre-designed books where you simply fill in the blanks and tape in the occasional memento, like baby's hospital bracelet or a lock of hair from that first haircut.

But for me, the most exciting part of Ryan's baby book is the "page of the month". Each month, I get to think back about everything new that he's learned to do in the past few weeks! I look at the previous month's page and realize that just one month ago, he wasn't laughing on a regular basis, he wasn't able to grab his toys yet, or he hadn't begun to make any attempts at sitting up. I realize how much he's grown and changed in those few short weeks. Most of the changes he's undergoing right now are so gradual that it's hard to notice them, since I see him every day. But looking back at my own written record of one month ago reminds me of how far he's come.

So I may not be using my fancy scissors to edge photos each month, and I may not have a collection of stickers in the shape of baby bottles or rattles or teddy bears, but I look forward to each new page of Ryan's baby book every month anyway. It reminds me that my baby's come a long way, baby!