Page Toppers

Cute - and not so Cute!

The Light of My Life

Busy as a Bee

Bed Time

Crawling and Walking

Happy/Sad Good/Bad

A Gift From God

• The angels danced on the day your were born
• A baby is a bit of stardust blown from the hand of God!
• Babies are a gift from God
• Babies are blessings from above
  that fill our hearts with lots of love
• Babies are blessings sent from above.
• Babies are bundles from Heaven.
• Babies are God's opinion that the world should go on.
• Babies are life's most precious gifts.
• A Baby is a touch of God's love
• A Blessing from Heaven
• Children are a gift of God (Psalms 127).
• Small blessings make life a joy
• Tiny blessings make life a joy
• Undeniably a gift from God
• We are Blessed

Page Ideas

• I used a 12 x 12 portrait page in my daughter's baby album to hold her tiny t-shirt the hospital gave her. I used photo tape to secure it inside the portrait page.
• Another cute way to display baby clothes is to take individual pictures of each one, cut them out and "Hang them " on a clothesline drawn with our pens! I also saw it done by cutting out the clothes and adding little tabs and making it like a 'paper doll' page! (Stef)
• Title for a baby/toddler page: "Watch me grow". Make the 'W' very small and each letter a little larger - finishing with a very large 'W'. There are other ideas about growing in the Watch Me Grow file.
• I kept my sons "stump" from his umbilical cord. I let it air dry fully for months before putting it in his scrapbook. What I wrote on the page was "This umbilical cord kept us connected for nine months and although it was cut at birth, I still feel our connection". (Maria)

Baby's "Firsts"

Calendar pages and ruled pages are a good way to record the first time your baby does something. You can also use journaling boxes with lists of similar "firsts". Some things you will be able to get photos of like the first bath, first solid food, etc. The others you could take a photo on the day it happened or just journal it. Some people scatter the "firsts" throughout a baby album at the time they happened. Others group them on a page or double-page spread.

Here are some "firsts" you might want to take note of:

• Large Muscle Development - turns head, holds head up, holds head steady, lifts head when on stomach, uses arms to lift head and chest, sits alone briefly, holds head level when raised to sitting, rolls from tummy to back, rolls from back to tummy, rolls across room, sits alone well
• Locomotion - scoots, holds self in standing position, crawls, pulls up to standing, stands alone, cruises (walks holding on to furniture), walks with help, walks alone, climbs up/down stairs
• Eye/Hand Coordination - eyes follow moving object, reaches for objects, holds toy, reaches for small objects, bangs things, transfers objects from one hand to the other, plays with hands/feet, sucks toes, rolls ball, can pick up small object, waves bye-bye
• Communication - coos, squeals, babbles, does raspberries, says mama/dada, understands the word no, responds to simple commands
• Food - first formula/cereal/fruit/vegetable/meal, feeds self cracker, can drink from a cup, uses a spoon
• Sensory Development - focuses on faces, recognizes mother/father, turns toward sound
• Emotion - tears, smiles, laughs, smiles at/plays with baby in the mirror, first shows stranger anxiety
• Miscellaneous - sucks thumb/hand, clipping fingernails, bath, special visitors, sleeps through the night, stays with a baby-sitter, plays peek-a-boo, claps hands (plays pat-a-cake), knows object permanence (can find toy if he watches you hide it), feels grass or sand on their bare feet, pets a cat or dog

Baby's Favorites

This can include any of baby's favorite things - such as music, position, person, bottle, pacifier, blanket, toy, food, animal, game, book, etc. You can do a favorites page each year or a page that spans the years so you can more easily observe changes.