hi all.....

scrapandtell

June 28, 2004

Not knowing your situation, I can offer this list as a list of possible topics:

Life before Baby/Child

--type of work you do

--places you've lived

--hobbies

--pets

--what a typical weekend would be like "before baby"

Adoption Process

--story of how you decided to adopt (and why)

--how you chose country (if International)

--how long the process took - steps involved

--photos of homestudy and agency personnel

--description of talks with birthmother (pictures if possible)

--home study

--referral picture and docs that arrived with picture

--referral call, what you were doing when you got it

Birth and Foster Families

--socio-economic background of the birth mother

--names (and photos if possible) of the birth mother, father, grandparents

--names (and photos if possible) of the foster mother and family

--a birth and adopted family tree

Legal Section

--place of birth

--places where the child has lived (foster families, orphanages, reasons for moves)

--birth certificate

--social security card

--citizenship copy

--court petition (readopt) and decree

The Name Game

--a description on how you arrived at baby's name

--what the name means

--a list of your top choices

--child's name written in their language

The Nursery

--photos of fixing up the nursery

--descriptions of why you purchased what you did

--what was the most popular theme at the time

Travel Section

--airplane ticket stubs

--money from the country

--maps

--a local newspaper from the birth town/country

--brochures from museums and theatres that were visited

--a little bit of the orphanage (a stone from outside, a small handful of dirt, etc.)

--their name written in their language

--pictures of orphanage, caretakers, homestay families, drivers, interpreters, judge, sightseeing, airport and everything else that happens on your Int'l journey.

--for domestic--pictures of the hospital, birthmom (if possible), hotel you stayed in, and everything else that was a part of the "travel" experience.

--what you were doing when you got the call saying it was time to travel

Baby Showers

--baby shower(s) invitation

--photos of baby shower(s)

--piece of gift paper and card for each baby gift (this could get big, so maybe a small collage)

--names of people who were in attendance

Arrival Section

--first family photo after joining the child

--photos of arrival (the plane)

--date, time, airlines and place of arrival

--description of travel with child

--photos of passport/visa

--if child was escorted, escort information & photos, write any comments escort made regarding the trip with your child

--photos of people meeting you at the airport

--pictures of your house if someone decorated it before you got home

--pictures of family/friends holding the baby with huge smiles

--short personal handwritten notes from family/friends welcoming the baby

Personal Section

--baby's favorite food, toy, book, etc.

--list sleep and nap patterns (incl. picture)

--describe how they like bathing (incl. picture)

Medical Section

--report of each physical including updated measurements at each doctor visit

--immunization record

--full physical, history and clearance for adoption

--hand and foot imprints

--birth statistics (height, weight, head circumference, etc.)

--pictures of the doctors at the orphanage, Embassy and home pediatrician

Political & Current Affairs Section

--who was in office

--anything that you find interesting about the current state of affairs

--International adoptions could include: political picture of country, people in office, economic picture and any state of affairs you find interesting about that country.

--International adoption can include flag of country

--list the current hot sports stars and teams

--list the current hot actors, actresses and movies

--what food was chic--what restaurants

--what fashion was hot

Cost of things

--cost of movies

--price of diapers, formula, Big Mac, etc.

--average annual income for the nation

--average home price for your region

The Adoption Announcement

--include the adoption announcement

--describe why you picked that particular one

Customs/Holidays

--pictures of all the child's "first" holidays with your family

--describe the feelings of having your child present for these special occasions

--a list of holidays from the home country and a description of how they are celebrated

Christening/Dedication Ceremonies

--pictures of ceremonies

--copy of invitation to ceremony

Ceremonies

--naturalization/citizenship pictures and any documents received

--visa appointment

--readoption court appearance

Gotcha Day Celebration

--for International adoptees, pictures of the family celebrating gotcha day

--description for any particular reason you chose to celebrate the way you did

Poetry

--You can either have a section of adoption poems that you love or space favorite poems throughout the book. Perhaps put one at the beginning of each chapter?

Year 2, 3, 4 and so on

--Collage of photos with captions and momentos of the year. At the end of each section is a handwritten summary of the year's events.

Drawings by child, school work, stories, report cards

Does that help any? :)