Birthday Books!

It's hard to believe Baby L's first birthday is just a few days away! People always say ,"Seems like it was just yesterday..." but it REALLY seems like it was just yesterday that she was born.

As you can imagine, Baby L is definitely getting a couple books for her birthday. Daddy B and I are thinking of making it a tradition to get her some birthday books each year. We'll write a little note in each one so that as she gets older she'll have a birthday book collection. Here's this year's birthday book list:

Where's Baby's Pumpkin by Karen Katz

As you already know from previous posts, Karen Katz is L's favorite author, and has been since L was just a few weeks old! So it only makes sense that Where's Baby's Pumpkin is on our list. L already owns Where's Baby's Birthday Present, or that one would be on the list too! (Side note: L is going to dress up as the baby from WBP? for Halloween-- how cute is that!?)

Birthday Monsters by Sandra Boynton

Baby L also goes by the nickname L-Monster so it was perfect that we found Birthday Monsters for our own little monster!

The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli

Baby L and her nanny checked this book out at the library, and the more times we read it, the more L enjoys it. BUT... L really loves it because the baby in the book is wearing a party hat. She points to the pointy little hat and says "Doo doo..." (which is her "word" for "look, look" or "this...this...") Ever since L's neighborhood birthday party a few weeks ago, she had been obsessed with party hats. Funny, right? What a crazy thing to be obsessed with, but it's true. When she sees the party hat in the book, I say, "L, where are your party hats?" And she crawls over to her toy box and brings one back! (FYI: Where's Baby's Birthday Cake also has party hats).

Do you have some favorite birthday books? What are your birthday traditions? Post a comment and share!

Addendum:

Here are some of the other books Baby L got for her birthday:

On The Day You Were Born, by Debra Frasier, Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin, by Brooklyn Local Tad Hills, and My First Halloween Book published by my fave nonfiction publisher, DK.

Writer's Block

So, you’ve been trying to keep a journal ever since you found out that a baby was on her (or his) way, but whenever you have time to write (which is never), the words just don’t come pouring out the way they ought to.

Here are a few strategies from Writing Workshop to get the writerly juices flowing:

1. Think of just one tiny meaningful moment to write about in great detail, bit by bit, instead of trying to summarize everything that has happened since the last time you wrote. It might even help to start with dialogue to get things rolling. (i.e. "Could you wash the bottles for me?" I asked.)

2. Try writing detailed descriptions of important images. Close your eyes and just picture something important that happened, and remember it as a snapshot. Now write down everything you see.

3. Still not happy with how your writing is going? Topic choice is everything. Continue writing and thinking about your happiest and most joyful moments, but also consider moments of uncertainty, frustration, or fear. If there’s a new baby in your life it shouldn’t be hard to think of moments like these! You may find that it’s not only a huge relief to put these moments down on paper, but it might turn out to be some of your best writing.

Keep writing! Keeping a notebook is one of the best gifts you can give to yourself and your family.

Taking Care of Memories

Everybody always says it goes by so quickly. As children we heard our own parents say it about us, and once you become a parent, everybody reminds you constantly that your baby is becoming older by the minute. "It goes by so fast..." people say. "In the blink of an eye..." "They grow up so quickly..."

I swear that when I come home from a day at work, my four month old baby girl is a little bit bigger than she was when I left in the morning. It’s almost magical. I never thought I would say this, because before Baby L. I just wasn’t much of a baby-person, but I wish she could stay a little tiny baby forever!

Since I can’t slow her down, I do the next best thing. I save everything – from her hospital bracelets, to her first onesie, to her special “My First Thanksgiving” socks. Anything that was a “first” or a favorite gets saved… at least for now, anyway. Eventually I’ll narrow it down to the things that seem most important.

Whenever I come home from one of L.'s doctor’s appointments I dig out her baby book and get everything all caught up. I figure this is as good a routine as any since she gets weighed and measured at the doctor’s, so I can fill in all the latest details while everything is fresh on my mind.

There are a million things that I don’t want to forget when Baby L. gets older, and the baby book doesn’t have spots for everything, so I also keep track of all of L.’s firsts on a baby calendar that my mother-in-law gave us as a shower gift. The calendar came with little stickers for the big events, like Baby’s First Smile and Baby’s First Laugh, and I just write the rest of them in by hand. It’s so cute that I gave one to my friends, A.S. & J.W., when they were expecting their daughter!

On top of the baby book and calendar, nearly every moment of L.'s first few months is captured either in photographs or on video. On Snapfish I even made one of those cool photo albums that come in hardcover, bound like real published books.

Not only that, but I also ordered a baby-safe ink pad so that we could make our own handprints and footprints. I had to hold Lily down and grab her slippery little hands as best I could to try to get a print of each one for the baby book. There are smudges everywhere, but we did it…. eventually.

I’ve become addicted to keepsakes, in the hopes that the more keepsakes we save, the more I’ll remember later on. I smooshed Lily’s hand into a special baby-safe plaster mold to make a handprint ornament. Her little hand print fit right in with the bunch of “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments that we received as gifts, and the personalized pillow from one of Lily’s aunties. Not to mention the special baby picture frames, the digital photo slideshows set to music that I’ve created, the handmade sweaters that people have knitted for her, this very blog… and the list of keepsakes and artifacts goes on.

I can't help feeling a little tight in the throat when I think about my little baby getting bigger and bigger. Since I can’t keep her from growing, at least I can keep some of her things, just for the sake of... well... just keeping.

I guess that’s why they call them keepsakes.