Baby Project Life, the First Month - Part 1

I mentioned a few posts ago that I got a crazy idea to go back and put together a Baby Project Life Album documenting Dean's First Year. I started working on this a few weeks ago, admittedly with a mixture of anxiety and dread - but I'm so glad I'm doing this! It's going together rather quickly and I love it. I'm keeping things super simple, mostly using the Baby Edition For Him Core Kit, hand writing my journaling, and adding a minimum of embellishments. The hardest part of the project has been sorting through the TONS of photos on my computer and deciding which to use. I probably shouldn't even include as many as I have been so far, but it's my album and I just couldn't narrow it down any more than I did. Anyway, I thought I would share some of my progress. I actually have all of his first month done, but I'll divide it up into 2 posts so you're not overwhelmed with too many photos.

Cover Page (sorry for the squishy newborn pics, but well, it is a baby album!):

 

Between the first set of pages, I included "The Birth Story" typed out (I had journaled this a few weeks after Dean was born...luckily I kept a really good journal that first year, so I do at least have the details, I've just never taken the time to get a complete album done). I used one of Ali Edward's 6x12 Words and Photos Layered Templates, but resized it to print on 8.5x11 because I don't have a large format printer and I'm printing most of this at home. I slid it into a 8.5x11 page protector, cut off the excess plastic and then used my sewing machine to sew up the side. You can see poking out under that insert (which has some really special photos of Dean and I snuggling on the back side), the keepsake hospital birth certificate also slid into a trimmed down page protector.

 

Below are closer looks at both the left and right sides of these pages - all photos still in the hospital, some immediately after his birth, and some from the next day when we had a few special visitors.

 

 The next set of pages document our discharge from the hospital and taking Dean home for the first time. I used some of the prompted journal cards from the Baby Kit to help with my journaling. I was surprised that I actually remembered our old address at the condo we lived in when Dean was born (we sold that condo and bought our current house when Dean was 11 months old). I even remembered our old land line phone number (we haven't had a land line since then either!). Funny the things that stick.

 

 These pages document our first few days home - that really stressful time as new parents with a newborn when you're excited and scared and exhausted all at the same time.  I also included an enlarged 5x7 of one of my favorite early photos of Dean and I together in his room inside a horizontal 5x7 page protector as an extra insert here with some special journaling on the back. And dude. Check out how HUMONGOUS my boobs were! I mean really. Brings back memories of how majorly uncomfortable I was right after my milk came in (and how much more challenging breastfeeding was than I expected! Took what seemed like forever for us to get the hang of it and settle into a groove).

 

And still more of those first few weeks.

And that's it for now. So glad I'm tackling this project. It's good to get these photos off the computer and into an album where we can actually look at them! I didn't have a great camera back in 2006, so not many of my photos are good quality, but you know what? It doesn't even matter. Hasn't bothered me one bit. So if there's interest, I'll continue to share more of this album every now and then.