I am slowly catching up on photobooks these days, particularly ones surrounded around our son's first year. Time keeps just passing by and I don't want to forget to capture these memories before some of the details begin to fade. As I try to go through photos and figure out how to organize them all, I knew I wanted to have a book around all the baby bump photos I took.
Surely my one day adult son won't want a million selfies of his pregnant mom in his baby book (a few are definitely okay though!). So I decided to make a separate book just for myself.
As I went through the photos and got the book physically in my hands, I am so glad I went this route. It really is a book that I am so proud of.
To see myself transform - growing our sweet boy inside of me. To remember how I felt throughout each change and to be reminded the miracle my body went through. There is a lot of body image baggage that comes post birth but seeing these photos reminded me to be proud of my body's capabilities and how the experience continues to shape me as a woman.
Surely if and when the time comes to grow another child, I imagine things will be different. That first pregnancy was so special - being able to bond with the process in the quiet of my own heart. This book reminds me of that time and I am so grateful to be able to flip through these photos and be taken back to this simple and sweet moment in life.
I created the book with Blurb and included a few special memories along with the bump photos - like working on my son's quilt and note worthy moments of pregnancy.
I also love that my nephews are in a few of the photos. It seems like so long ago now that I was caring for them. Seeing them in these pictures takes me back to even more nostalgic feelings of what life was like before we moved and before our son arrived.
// Working on the baby book //
// Baby's 7-11 due date //
// Celebrating baby's due date on free Slurpee day // Going to the hospital that night - labor story //
The book is the same size and format of the Instagram books I have made through Blurb. Most of these photos were taken on my phone from a couple of years ago so the quality is lower than those taken on my regular camera.
And my one complaint is that I didn't realize that my cover design started after the binding. If you look at the image below you will see my corner brackets are not centered. If you use the premade layouts in Blurb, you wouldn't have this problem. But I like to be able to customize the covers outside of what is available. So this is just a small lesson learned for future books. As a perfectionist, this could drive me crazy. But I am learning to be okay with it! The book is done which is better than not done. So I am happy.
See more photobook/memory book ideas here.
And yes, we are trying to have another child.
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