DIY baby book

My “baby” turns two next month! Time flies. I’ve been a little busy these past two years trying to chase after both my boys, but I decided it’s finally time to finish up his baby book. 😉 At least I’ll have it done before he’s off to kindergarten!

I’ve always been a journaler, and I knew that I wanted to be able to keep track of my baby’s milestones in a fun way. Most of the baby keepsake books I found were pretty generic and didn’t leave a ton of room for writing — they just didn’t feel like a good fit for me and my style. So, I decided to go the nontraditional route and create my own version of a baby remembrance book.

I wanted a unique, handmade book with ALL blank pages, so I could fill them up as I wished. (My friend Paige runs an Etsy shop of handmade books, take a look at all the amazing things she’s created! I ordered both my boys’ books from her and loved all the unique pages and hand-stitched binding.)

Baby book interior

That allowed me a nice blank canvas to do what I want. Throughout his first year, I printed out my favorite photos and Instagrams and glued them into the book, in chronological order. The photo pages are interspersed with keepsakes and lots of writing — I kept track of all the little nicknames we used, or cute things his big brother said to him. And, every month during his first year, I wrote him a letter about what was happening in our lives, the milestones he hit, and what he was like as a baby.

six month milestone in the baby book

Like I said, I’m just finishing up some of the photo organization in the book (luckily I got all the journaling done in real time, so no catching up there!) but it’s already so fun to look back and see him as a tiny baby when he’s now a full-fledged, walking, talking toddler. This is one keepsake that our family will treasure forever.

How do you keep records of your kids? Have you used traditional baby books, or taken a different path like me?