I was in Battle of the Books in 6th grade, but there is no battle like Blair vs. Pooh Bear baby books.
ahhh, the “baby book.” Is there any psychosis in third tri (other than a Labor Watch) quite like discovering the perfect baby book? I think not. It was sometime in July that the thought came upon me over burritos lunch at my desk — OH MY GOD, I DON’T HAVE A BABY BOOK!!
In my creative daydreams where I’m a wicked combination of Rachael Ray & Martha Stewart (minus the hard time), I lovingly sit down every evening, putting together the most beautiful scrapbook, full of keepsakes & photos of professional quality. Then that dream comes to a screeching halt as I remember the half-finished Senior Year scrapbook that is stuffed in a rubber bin in my attic & the quilt of sorority tshirts I never got around to sewing (as a confession, I cannot even sew. so first step to that process would be, learn to sew. then make tshirt quilt. I failed at both). PRE-MADE, Blair. Just suck it up & admit that your destiny shall always, always be relying on someone else’s creative genius. So I began tearing through websites, Googling “baby book” at wild abandon, & making a beeline for Hallmark on my lunch break. Only to come up completely disheartened. Truly, it’s no offense to personal taste, but I don’t do characters like Pooh or Superman. Or anything boasting a baby monkey wearing a diaper while swinging from a smiling pear tree. It’s just not my taste. & even though the practical side of me says that my son in all of his grunting testosterone may never give two flying cahoots about his baby book, I know that a fuzzy panda on the front would ensure that he never takes a peek down memory lane. Not to mention that those books never have enough space past how much the baby weighed, his name, & a few places to Elmer a picture down to the page. There needs to be a major overhaul in the mass-produced baby book industry, in my opinion.
Then, thanks ever to a few e-friends, I was referred to ednamae on Etsy. (OH MY GOD, if you don’t know Etsy, then RUN. It’s as dangerous as a meth addiction, but you get to keep your teeth). Her work is gorgeous. It’s modern. It’s personalized. It doesn’t have any diapered jungle creatures or Pooh pigging out on the cover. IT WAS JUST WHAT I WANTED.
I picked out my cover, the inserts, & even added a few extras – “Preggers” to record the pregnancy, extra photo sleeves, & the extended memory pack for holidays & birthdays. It’s a little pricey (I admittedly dropped a cool $90.00) but I kept telling myself, “THIS IS HIS BABY BOOK.” This is what I’ll pull out 30 years from now on his birthday, remembering how far we’ve come. It’s where I will record his first smile, how we celebrated his first year of life, & what I felt that first week we came home. A few emails between the owner/designer allowed me to customize a few aspects — being Baptist, we don’t have a “First Communion,” so she graciously allowed me to change that page to read “Baby Dedication.” & when my cover was backordered, she offered to ship the “insides” free so I could get started & then ship the cover when it came in. I declined since there was no definite rush, & she kept me in the loop to ensure it would arrive before Harrison.
It’s perfect. & for those of us that are creatively challenged (to put it nicely), it’s incredibly easy — I just fill in the information, slide in a few photos, & it looks completely classy. & since it’s not bedecked with that silly diaper-wearing monkey, I have no shame in leaving it on our coffee table. Who knows? Maybe he’ll think it’s cool enough to skim over when he’s older.
Filed under: Baby Gear, Stuff I Love
Ohhhh…I love it. Think I may be ordering one soon myself….I’m so sadly uncreative I was afraid this baby might end up with nothing more than a file on the computer as a ‘baby book’…I think even I could handle this!
Thanks so much for sharing! I am expecting twins and have had a difficult finding anything that doesn’t look like the Sunday comic strips.
It looks great!!! Thanks for sharing I just found out 2 weeks ago I am preggo with my 4th and that would be a great idea for the new baby (since my mom has already started scrapbooks for my other 3.
Beautiful! I may buy one myself! Can you show us photos of the preggers section? And / or some of the “my first” sections, if you have them?
I’m an ETSY addict, but at least I’m willing to admit it! Must go.look.now!
It’s beautiful! You hooked me… and I just ordered one for my little guy
I bought 2 – 1 for each girl, but I got them recently so I have a lot to fill in. That was the one drawback to waiting until they were born to find out that they were girls. But I LOVE those books.
Awwww. What a great idea! My mother is the scrapbooking queen, but I certainly am not… this is perfect.
Ok this is the second time I’ve seen this, so I think I may have to order one for my little girl who is on the way. I wish I could look through yours page by page to see it all!!
p.s. I don’t know if I’ve ever left a comment but I’ve been following your blog for a while and I absolutely love reading what you have to say. Always entertaining!
So funny — just found your blog (I think via Jen @ Maybe You Should Just Relax) and I, too, had discovered the joys of Ednamae a few weeks back. I loooooove my baby book — thank goodness for modern (yet adorable) sans cartoonish characters! The idea of Winnie the Pooh on the cover or those saccharine sayings I found on others made me shudder — big time!
Thank you so much for writing about this! I was desperately searching today for a worthy baby book!! I just looked at her sit and dropped $110 for mine. I love Etsy, I don’t know why I never thought to look there. Thanks again!
Is it okay for me to comment on being in Battle of the Books instead of what I’m sure is an awesome baby book? I love reading (I have a reading list in my blog – nothing high brow, just entertaining) and can still recall book titles and authors from my B of the B days in 7th grade back in the early 90′s. I have very fond memories of practice sessions with a favorite teacher and two teammates and even though my team failed miserably on our second question, I still get excited at the mere mention of B of the B (hence my immediate need to comment).
I wonder how many other readers/commenters even got the B of the B reference?
Wow, Blair. This whole blog his Harrison’s baby book!
One day when he’s old enough, he will click onto this website and realize how lucky he is to have a mom who loved & loves him so very much that she created a whole website just for him. 
i got the same one, but with a brown cover…LOVE!
thankyouverymuch! ever since i stumbled upon this post today i’ve spent countless hours on etsy, looking and drooling over these books, rationalizing why i NEED to buy one though i’ve already spent a countless amount of time on my ds’ current book (he’s 4 months and while his current book is “cute” it’s not classy
so… thank you for the very awesome find, and thank you for the time and money that goes into this very awesome find!
Amber
Blair, I hope you see this comment. I just wanted to tell you that I FINALLY ordered a baby book from Edna Mae on Esty and I want to smack myself for not ordering this beautiful magical book sooner! My son is 19 months old and still has no baby book (mother of the year award, right here). I figured since I’m having ANOTHER son in two months I better get on it so I can properly procrastinate with baby #2.
I am so excited to start working on the baby book today especially since it snowed and I’m stuck inside.
Thank you so much for putting this recommendation on your blog. I never would have found this book if it weren’t for you.
Love you, love your show : )