Baby Record Book > Reviews (6)

As alot of you will know, I am pregnant and expecting a baby girl (currently known as Flump) in February 2012. It was a huge shock at first and I found out quite late in my pregnancy (in comparisson to alot of people), and I was much further along then I had realised. Now that I have come to terms with being pregnant and i'm past the 'shock' stage, I have been sorting bits and bobs out for when babies born and although I still have all the big bits to buy such as the pram, cot, etc, I have stocked up on plenty of clothes, toys and books. I had a baby book myself and I still have it, it has my first words, first steps, my eating and sleeping patterns and various other things from the first year or so of my life and I found it fascinating to read back and see my tiny little teeth, strands of hair, etc.. it really is a lovely thing to have which is full of memories and because I know first hand of how informative and also important a baby book is, I decided that I wanted to get one for when my baby is here so that I have plenty of memories of her babyhood!

I looked pretty much everywhere for a unique baby book which wasn't run of the mill, something that reflected my personal taste in design and something that was also nice and girlie so that it reflected the sex of my baby rather than it bein unisex or plain and boring. I had absolutely no luck in finding a decent baby book and found them all to be very samey, as well as already having pre-named headings so that it wasn't really very original and I wasn't really able to choose what information went into the book - yes, the basics such pages for the babies weight chart (weekly) etc were there but I really wanted something more personal and for that reason I enlisted the help of my now ex-boyfriend's mother, who does craft work in her spare time. Together, we made my own little baby book which I absolutely adore! We made a couple but whenever she let me have a go I would mess it up so in the end she did the whole of the physical bit - putting the book together and writing the headings, and I simply decided what headings I would like etc.

I do class this as a baby book. My little girls baby book. To be honest it is probably best described as a scrapbook though, but I suppose all baby books are. It is also a kind of pregnancy journal, with space for my birth story, my baby girl's first pictures, and my scans are already stuck in there with the dates written underneath as well as the feelings that I felt upon having them. I also have a little page near the front labelled 'mummy and daddy' which was meant to be a little page that would have info about me and the babies father, Jack, however now we're seperated it's too painful to think about filling his part of the page in, but i've filled my part of it full of bits and bobs such as my "favourite things", pictures of me with other members of family such as my mum (aka baby's grandma, bless her!) and various other people who will be a large part of my childs life.

I also hope to do a family tree but as I have no idea about a majority of my great grandparent's names etc I really don't know where to start so hopefully I will sit down with my mum sometime soon and get that done.

I also have a little checklist in my baby book on the back page entitled 'things to buy' which was a rather long and detailed list! It's got the usual bits such as different brands of nappies that I want to try, including the cloth ones (which I am not keen on the idea of but it's worth a try!), baby wipes, cotton buds, and of course breast pumps and a maternity bra - lol can't wait to buy that (!)

I also have various other bits and bobs in there, such as Dear 'babys name' - what you are doing today. These pages are blank (apart from the title) and I aim to fill them in each day with what my little girl is up to. I am sure the first few months will be 'sleeping, eating, being sick, crying, trumping, burping, snoring" but I want to cherish every moment with my child and have something to look back on and experience her 'firsts' all over again - this is a book purely for memories. Another section is 'days out'. I don't want to keep my baby huddled up in doors, and I plan to be out and about everyday, either down the local park or perhaps just in town, I want my baby to see and hear new things everyday, I want my baby to get the most out of life even in her first few months - is that mad? Maybe she will be totally oblivious. But eh, nevermind, at least it will keep me busy seeing as I won't have my usual routine of Uni once baba's here.

My baby book is coming along nicely, most of it is planned out but I have alot of blank pages to organise, which I might leave until she is born because then things will probably pop up that I feel I need to record and keep track of which I haven't yet thought of - i'm totally oblivious to most things baby related! As well as my own personal baby book which is more of a scrap book and personal diary of my babies life, I also have a baby book that I bought from Amazon. I bought it purely as a more basic baby book so that I have a mix of different experiences to remember, if that makes sense. The book is entitled 'My Baby Journal: A Keepsake for Baby's First Three Years' and the author is called Alex Lluch. This book is definetly quite unisex but it's very colourful and has plenty of pages to fill out, including things to do with food, height charts, first words, things the baby has learnt and pages for yearly summaries which include what the child looks like, their personality etc and it goes all the way up to 3 years which I find exciting! I can't imagine my little girl being 3. The book has lovely, minimal illustrations and is extremely eye catching and i'm sure my baby will be very interested in it due to how bright and colourful it is - i'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing - I don't want it to be slobbered all over and puked on lol.

The book is a hardcover book and has 100 pages. I paid £13 which is expensive but considering that I will have this book for a substantial amount of time I think it is worth it.

Despite liking this book, I do personally prefer my own, more unique baby book. Overall, I have found this whole 'baby book' business to be really exciting and fun, it's helped me jot down stuff that will probably be fascinating for my baby to read when she's older such as the little bubbly feeling I get when she moves etc. I would definetly reccomend getting a baby book or making one if you're pregnant - it's an amazing way to keep a memoir of both your pregnancy and your babies first year or so of life.