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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Baby Blurb

Over the holidays, my Mom pulled out my baby book to compare my growth to Emi’s. I discovered that there are actually many similarities between us, even if she doesn’t look like me. We were both born with a ton of hair, we were both (or still are) in the 75%+ percentile for weight, and we both walked around the same time. While it’s always fun to look at old pictures of yourself, I found it even more interesting to see the artifacts my mother has saved. My baby book includes hair from my first haircut, my first tooth, and, brace yourself people, my post-birth umbilical cord. Why? Is it because I was the first-born or is "Granny Janny" just crazy? (I’m kidding Mom...well, kind of.)

I had a hunch early on that my attempts to maintain a baby book would not be successful, so I created a blog for Emi when she was a month old. No one read her blog except for her dad and me. I blogged every Sunday and included photos and any fun stories from the previous week. This worked well because it was very low maintenance and essentially all I could handle at the time.

Here is an excerpt from Emi’s blog:

Week 18…A Fire truck and 2 Police cars

This week, your mom officially went loopy. She wore her shirt inside out one day to work and left a size sticker on her sweater the next. To top it off, she locked you inside the car and had to call 911 to come and rescue you! It was slightly embarrassing since it happened on a very busy street in San Francisco. First, I had to run into a hair salon to use their phone since my cell phone was locked in the car. When I called 911, I figured they would send one police car or a small fire truck. Even when I heard the sirens blaring, I assumed another fire was happening somewhere nearby. Why would they need the sirens on to help me? Moments later I discovered that, NO, it was indeed for us.

The sirens naturally brought more attention to us. Soon, all of the merchants on the street stepped out of their shops to see where the fire was. No fire, though, just a Mom that has officially lost her mind. After about 20 minutes, you were rescued and remained completely unphased because you had slept through the ENTIRE event!

Other than that fun filled day, your week was pretty mellow. You had the sniffles on Monday, so Dad stayed home with you. Friday, he stayed home with you again to take you to your four-month appointment. Dr. Wright said you are in the 50th percentile for weight and height. You now weigh about 13.5 pounds and have grown to 24.5 inches long! You are still sleeping really well at night, but during the day you are quite the cat napper. You are laughing much more and you like to look around a lot. You are reaching for many more things and slowly learning to sleep without being swaddled. Hooray!

Recently, I came across the company Blurb. Blurb lets you turn your blog into a published book. Perfect! They have many samples of other types of books you can create.

It looks simple and the prices seem reasonable. If you are one of those annoyingly creative and crafty people, you can sell your books through blurb as well. They have a lot of great examples on their site and, if you ever considered creating a hard copy of your blog, this could be an option. Just imagine: you could share your blog with your kids or read it again and again when you are old and want to relive your wild and crazy blogging days. The possibilities are endless!

I haven’t created Emi’s book yet because I’m still debating if I will keep her blog going until she turns two. I wonder how many blackmail photos I can put into her baby blog book?

How do you document your kiddos' childhood? Do share!

Also, for any new moms reading this post, there is NO need to keep your child's umbilical cord. Really, throw it away.

-Kacey

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41 comments:

B said...

I can not get over her cuteness factor.

Love the idea of getting the blog printed in book format. Makes me think I should have done the same thing as you.

Anonymous said...

Your daughter is adorable!! I love the blog idea. I use Blurb books to. I create them for each of my girls from birthday to birthday- and fill them with pictures and memories. Now they know what they did @ age 1, 2, 3, etc... They love them- but I am behind!

Unknown said...

I just have to say Emi is PRECIOUS!
I was never good about keeping up the baby books...the blurp site looks cool

seriously? said...

OMG...really? The umbilical cord? That thing that looks like a giant scab? That is funny.

from the desk of ....me said...

i learn so much from reading your blog. first, i love the idea of a blog for emi. i have a son and created a scrapbook called 52 weeks of lee where i journaled about him each week. however, now in the age of technology, how cool is it to create a blog just for your child or special someone. i didn't think it could get any better than you introduce blurb. OMGoodness, i love it!!!! thanks for sharing.

Shupe said...

I tossed that as soon as the black curled up piece fell off!!! I was just dumb enough to think- YAY he can have a bath now!!! SO he and I jumped in- forgetting I had to wait 6 weeks!
Yay...painful for me in the long run!!!!
Your daughter is Beautiful!
I can just imagine being stuck on any street there going through that!

Jo said...

She is oh so very cute! Yummy looking. I will have to check out Blurb, eventually I want to print my blog out for my kids.

Grand Pooba said...

I can't believe your mom kept your umbilical cord! That just makes me giggle!

I love blurb, but haven't used it yet. Since I don't keep a journal, it's a fun way to capture memories to keep forever.

Awwwwww.

You've got a good idea going on with the blog because it's not a permanent thing, you can always change it up and print it how you want it.

And lets face it, writing is hard! Makes my hand hurt.

Unknown said...

I wanted to keep the little plastic ring from my son's circumcision, so I could give it to hi on his 18th b-day, or when ever he needed to be brought down a notch, but my mom threw it away!

Organize with Sandy said...

Oh my gosh...how cute!! You should be proud.
I scrapbooked my first 4 boys..but did fall behind with last one. He is 16 and I think I am on like age 10. Now with 4 more kids (remarried) I am just keeping digital pictures. I wish I had the time to do the whole scrapbooking..but I just haven't or the $$ it takes to do.
But I think I look at the pictures more often on the computer than I do in their scrapbooks.

Lara Neves said...

I have been working on my blurb book for ever. I really should get a move on. Yours looks wonderful!

Me (aka Danielle) said...

Genious! I wish I had thought to keep a baby book via blog! How creative are you? Your little one is a cutie!

Deb said...

What a wonderful idea! I need to start documenting more of my kids' exploits...

Tulip Row said...

She is so cute! That same key in car story happened to a friend of mine in front of me, immediately after that I put a key in a magnet holder under my car!I wonder if it still there...
Also, I have been trying to print out my blogs to put in a binder for the kids to read one day, but I also just write in each of their journal books to document stuff.

Barbaloot said...

Love the blog idea. I'm gonna hang onto that one for my future offspring:)

Becky said...

What a good idea - I'm sure Emi will love it!

The book, not the umbilical cord... :)

Kathy said...

Thanks for the Blurb book tip. I loved the firetruck and 2 police car story. I locked my then-13 month old daughter in the car once. I tried unlocking the car myself with a hire hanger and actually got close a few times. Then my daugher would grab the other end of the hanger, because she thought it was a game. Ultimately she was rescued by a policeman. She survived the trauma and has since given me two granddaughters.

Lady of Perpetual Chaos said...

I've been wanting to print out my blog as a scrapbook (cuz that's the only scrapbooking I do!) but didn't know where to go. My blog documents our entire family life, but for each of my girls I keep a journal on the computer and write in it whenever I get the chance and print it out yearly...in theory. It's easiest for me to type it because I'm on the computer everyday anyway...doing important stuff! ;o)

Nancy said...

Your daughter is so cute! and what a great story... she'll laugh with you about that one day. :)
Thanks for the blurb book idea, I'll need to look into that.

My oldest son has a baby book with his first 5 years done. My second son has a baby book with his first year. My youngest son, who is 21 months has nada... nothing... zip. Poor kid! I need to do something for him or he won't know how very much I love him!

Julie said...

I have a scrapbook for my oldest, but I started my blog just before he was born. I like it WAY better...looking back on old posts just brings back so many memories. I'd definitely want to turn it into a book later for both my boys.

That Girl said...

Thanks for the Blurb tip! I've been hoping to turn my site into a book - it's essentially my journal. (Although my subject matter is severely limited by the fact that my mother reads it every day.)

I'm an avid scrapbooker. Each of my three kids has a scrapbook per year ... I think the number of kids we have will be determined by my ability to keep it up.

I'm not kidding.

Counselormama said...

Wow, that is cool! I just document on the computer, I have ongoing logs and most of their pics are saved (hopefully safely) in cyberworld. One day I will put it all together. And, OK, here it goes...please don't stop commenting on my blog, or think I am a big weirdo...I saved both my kids umbilical chords, my husband thinks it's gross too, but I couldn't bear to throw them away!

Hccm said...

Blurb sound like a cool idea!

Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha

Grand Pooba said...

You are so funny, not offended at all here! I'm not sarcastic at all so everything I say in my comments is factual (If you can't tell I'm being sarcastic right now!)

I think we need a sarcastic smile sign. you know, theres the wink ;) the smile :) The angry :< but wheres the sarcastic smily face?

Anonymous said...

I have really wanted to do a blurb book...and while the CONCEPT is quite easy, it is really, REALLY time consuming, unfortunately. And I can't afford to pay someone to do it for me :( One other bummer: my pictures on my site are really low-resolution, so they won't transfer to the book.

I scrapped my first attempt and when I have more time (HA!) I'll try again, because I'd love to have a book to show my future daughters-in-law.

PS My mom locked my sister in the car when she was a baby, but fortunately, it was a small town so there wasn't as much commotion:)

Debbie said...

We are supposed to document our children's lives? Holy , procrastination Batman. I am waaaaay behind.

Train Wreck said...

Oh she is beautiful!! Umbilical cord? Gah! Never even thought of keeping it? lol. Love the story of the Rescue!! Makes a great story now. My 18 year old son thought he would be funny and sent me a picture of me my senior year(He found an old year book)He made some comment about "cool hair" then "lol" thinking he really got me. Weeeellll, I quickly found a his "baby book" and proceeded to take and send him pictures of him, as a baby!! You know the ones, climbing in the tub, cake all over his face. His first play, when he was wearing a sombrero!Needless to say I WON!!! lol Who do these children think we are? So take lots of pictures, they Will come in handy someday!!! (evil laugh)!! Thanks btw for entering my Give away! I can't wait tilll Wed! Good luck!

The Blonde Duck said...

What a great tip! I'm checking this out!

Fran, Gisele is phenomenal. Patient, brilliant and so talented for how cheap she works. E-mail me and I'll gush for days.

And I went through three different designers, so you know I'm not just being nice.

forever folding laundry said...

No you do NOT call your mom Granny Janny!! Too funny. Emi is as cute as ever and her hair is so long now! I haven't decided when to do the Blurb thing either....

Just SO said...

How fun! I love that Blurb site. I bad at keeping written stuff of the things my kids do but I have a ton of pictures. I have scrapbooks for the older three but we went digital with the youngest and therefore I have no scrapbook.

Paging Doctor Mommy said...

I too recently discovered Blurb... I plan to one day turn my blog into a scrapbook for my daughter!

Live.Love.Eat said...

I have heard about this Blurb thing a lot now. Question - do you have the option of not including some posts. Like, if I want only my recipes in there?

Anonymous said...

Amazing facts! That blurb idea is great, love to read you guys's blog!

Jane Anne said...

Oh, this is perfect! I created my Owen Home blog for almost the same reason that you created Emi's blog! I never made time to write in my kids' baby books. On that blog, I document cute things they say, milestones, and tons of pictures. I am going to have to check this out. Thanks for passing it on!

Anonymous said...

I admit I kept those for a while. Not in a baby book though. They were just in the tray of the changing table where they fell off. Eventually I realized the error of my ways and threw it away but not without the slightest tinge of regret.

tiarastantrums said...

I didn't keep the cord - but I DID keep the cord clip for each baby . . . . I scrapbook - religiously 1st baby - and also fro 2nd baby up to 2 years (then we moved out of the country and I didn't have the space to bring all my stuff) 3rd baby - about 50% of what I did for the others.

AND you poor dear for locking the baby up - I am SO afraid of doing that very thing!!!!!!!

Nana said...

I love the making your blog into a book. Perfect for your little one. I want to do it w/ mine. haha I'm lauging becuase my kids will be like "What the?.... do we want this for? Anyway I'm doing it. I have had lovely mom moments w/ firemen too. It is embarrasing. I have my kids umbilical cords hanging on the front porch. Darling decorations, blowing in the wind.

Jennifer said...

Your daughter is a doll! She is so beautiful!

I still have my son's dried up umbilical chord wrapped in a paper towel on my dresser... I can't bring myself to throw it away! Eek!

Sarah J. said...

I love BLURB...I just found it recently too! Now if only I could find the time to actually compile it...that's a new issue.
And my mom kept my umbilical cord too! GROSS! It's in an envelope in my baby book with my name on it. Your baby is so cute. My baby is in like the 30th percentile for her weight...it would be so much more mind settling if she was on the chubbier side. I am obsessed with making sure my kids get enough nutrients in them!

Tina Michelle said...

I have a baby book for each of my 3 kiddos. I also wrote in a baby calendar every day until they were each a year.

I write in a journal to each child too. I just write random cute stories, milestones, and goings on in the family.

I keep their school work and cute art papers in organized binders with page covers.

Emi is so adorable! I like the printed blog book. I will have to look into it.

Melissa said...

Wow! I love the idea of getting a hard copy of my blog one day! I am bookmarking that site! Thanks for sharing!