Scrapbook ideas for your kid's first year

Taking care of new born is one of the most tiring routines in the world. A physically exhausted woman has to take care of herself and her baby, and there is barely any free time in the first few months. So it is a great idea for a new mom to take some time out to prepare for a scrapbook which will chronicle the first year of her baby. Very soon the baby would be crawling all across the house, so why not go camera-crazy and gear-up to make the first year special. 1. Relish the birth experience: Tell the birth story with pictures and anecdotes. Include snaps of entering the hospital, cuddling your baby for the first time, picture with the doctor and nurse (if they have been kind to you) and arriving home from hospital. 2. First outing: After weeks of being holed up in the house taking care of the baby, the first time when parents take the infant out for a short trip is always a special and hectic time. It could be something as grand as a family picnic, or something as mundane as a hospital visit. But don’t let that dampen the spirit of scrapbooking. Take snaps of not just the baby, but of the big bag of supplies you have to carry around, the pram and the surroundings. 3. Special messages: Congratulatory messages and greetings cards are very rare in the time of IMs and emails. So if you do get any such cards, cherish them. Either preserve the entire card in the scrapbook, or if it’s too big then cut out the handwritten message along with flowers or cartoon characters in it to include in the scrapbook’s layout. 4. Do not forget daddy: Let the father also have his share of fun, so don’t forget to include his pictures and comments in the scrapbook. The focus is generally on the baby and mother, so it will make for a refreshing change to include pictures of the baby only with father. Funny pictures with daddy, like him changing the diaper, will add a special touch to the scrapbook. 5. Record world events: An interesting angle would be to record major events and incidents happening around the world in the baby scrapbook. So years later, when they look at the scrapbook as a teenager, your child will get a sense of time and place. For example, write which mobile phones were popular during that year, the actors who won the Oscars, any major sporting event, what was the cost of a box of cereal, how many channels were there on cable et al.