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Hi everyone.... I was wondering if anyone has found a great memory book to record all of their adopted children's milestones in. I am having a hard time finding one that I like. For my first child, I purchased a regular memory book and modified it, but there is so much missing and many sections that I can not fill in, such as the pregnancy and foods that were craved. For my second child, I just purchased a memory book called "Our Chosen Child". I am very disappointed with it. No where in the book do they have anything about recording the birthfamily history. One part, that is always confusing is the family tree. How does everyone handle this; especially those of us in open adoptions? Has anyone found a book that they are happy with? If so, please share with me where you found it.
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We looked at a variety of them and didn't like any. Not only were we dealing with adoption, but also being a same-sex couple. All the books had references to Mother and Father, so this just didn't work for us. So we made our own! I've been bitten by the scrapbooking bug. You can customize the whole thing then. I have a page about teeth coming in, first time he rolled over, first airplane ride and sorts of other things you wouldn't find in a regular baby book. We were even able to put in papers from the adoption agency, letters we got from family etc. A much better way to go IMHO.
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I haven't found a good memory book, but I love my adoption calendars! I highly recommend the Beautiful Blessings adoption calendar. It's just like the first year calendars with little milestone stickers. Some stickers include filing clearances, homestudy visits, ** prenatals, etc, etc.. It is appropriate for both international and domestic adoptions. With four babies through the miracle of adoption, I absolutely treasure our calendars! I have even bought them for friends starting their adoption journeys! The website on the back of one of my calendar reads: beautifulkeepsakes.com Hope that helps and the link works! Chrissi mom to six- four by adoption
We found a great one at the Hallmark store! It even had pages in it to replace those very pages that you mentioned Amom2Two in the case that it was an adoptive family purchasing the book. I'm very impressed with it. It is Classic Pooh though so don't know how you'd feel about that. The cover is very classy not cutesy. Judy
I knew I could depend on everyone here to help me! I loved the idea of the adoption calendars and the Pooh Book by Hallmark. Thank you for sharing that with us. I have started a lifebook for my first daughter but most of the important details are not included in there such as immunizations, illness, firsts even though I have pictures, and the history of how my dh and I meet. I would like to put her hand prints and lockett of her hair in there also. I'll check out the Hallmark store. Thank you everyone for helping me! Bye;)
One plus for a scrapbook versus a baby book or adoption book is that you can keep going with it...vacations etc. Some craft-type stores (Michale's here) have aisles of scrapbook stuff, pagers, stickers, books, paper, TONS of stuff. I think once I recover from my Christmas spending, I am going to get started on a couple scrap books. I think they also let you go at your own pace, whereas the first couple years, you have to kind of keep on top of things with a baby book to get, like you said, the dates and details. Ress
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AMom2Two, Here's some additional info on the Pooh Album... Classic Pooh- Hallmark Stories Album...BBA3647 It covers the first year very throughly then I plan to make my own memory book for the rest of the years. I figure in that first year I probably won't have a lot of time to get too creative so I'm glad I got the first year covered where all I have to do is fill it in and put in pictures. Judy
One of the other lists I am on had a posting (which I have permission to repost) about a list of possible pages for an adoption scrapbook/lifebook, etc. It was compiled by those affiliated with Guatemala adoptions but is not specific to Guatemala. The list is comprehensive enough that is could cover domestic and international (from any country). If you think it might help, check out the list on my website. Jennifer
I use both a babybook and a scrapbook for J, and will also for baby #2. I agree about the Chosen Child book, plus I can't stand the name of it. My babybook, which my mom did, has lots of blank spaces and photos to cover the pages of things no one actually gets around to filling in, so I guess I just don't feel the pressure to fill in each and every line either. The babybook I bought for the baby we're waiting for has lots of pages to write or add whatever you want, which I think is nice. I'll just fill the inapplicable pages/areas with darling photos. I've now filled 3 1/2 scrapbooks for J, who is 2 1/2, and something tells me I won't be able to keep up that pace for #2...
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