The Best Baby Books for Adoption

Tell your baby's adoption story with "The Story of Me."

Here at Babysakes.com we understand every child is unique and deserves a special book to document their lives. That’s why we offer a wide selection of baby memory books to fit every family situation. When a child is adopted, there is a unique aspect to their birth story that makes it difficult to use a traditional baby record book. However, there are a number of  adoption baby books designed just to tell the story of the adopted child.

The Story of ME Adoption Baby Memory Books
The Story of ME baby book allows you to customize everything from the cover fabric to an optional embroidered name and photo window for a special first photo. The hand-sewn cover fabric choices are wonderful, but you also have the option of providing your own fabric for an even more special and more personalized touch! With The Story of ME, you get to choose from several different styles of page packs that fit neatly into The Story of Me’s three-ring binder.

The optional adoption page pack include 18 pages to tell the story of your little one’s adoption, whether it was open or closed, domestic or international. Since the baby book is a looseleaf binder, you can easily  customize this book by adding or removing pages at any time. What a great way to tell your child’s story!

This is what Jenna Devereaux from Granite Bay, CA had to say about the Story of ME baby memory book:

“Love the book. I chose it because it was one of the only books I could find for adoptions. It has all the pages for all the information you’ll want to write about your baby. I love the fact that you can add blank pages, religious pages, etc. If you like to scrapbook, this book can be used in that manner. It’s a great book for anyone.”

It's the adoption page packs that make the Tessera Baby Book special!

Adoption Baby Books by Tessera Publishing
Tessera Publishing makes a wonderful adoption baby memory book as well. This album comes in 4 gorgeous cover options and features a post bound binding (screw posts that allow you to add or remove pages). The album includes pages to cover baby’s first three years and offers a huge selection of optional page packs to tailor the album to your family’s story. With the Tessera baby memory book, you can add the Domestic Adoption Page Pack (includes pages such as “Starting The Process,” “About Your Birth Mother,” and “Adoption Documentation”) or the Foreign Adoption Page Pack (includes pages such as “Your Homeland Culture,” “Travel Itineraries,” “Visiting Your Country” and more). Since you can insert just the pages you want, you can choose how much information to include about the adoption process of your baby. Hillary Carter from Ruston, LA raves:

“This album was the only one I could find that was a really great option for adoptions. It is absolutely elegant and beautiful. It has pages for almost anything you can imagine.”

Penny Laine Adoption Baby Books

Penny Laine Adoption Baby Albums
Penny Laine offers a selection of adoption-specific baby books in a choice of four fun fabric covers. Each book contains enough pages to record your baby’s milestones as well as all adoption information. This album also includes a special “Birth Parent’s page pack” that you choose to include in the three-ring binder style album. The Birth Parent’s page pack includes pages such “Things You Might Like to Know About Your Birth Mother,” a “Birth Family Tree” and “Things we talked about with your birth Mom.” Each cover has a photo window for a first photo and includes a color-coordinated satin ribbon.

This gorgeous adoption-specific album has many fans! For example Crystal St. Pierre from McKinney, Texas says:

“Very beautiful book. I adopted my daughter so finding a good adoption book wasn’t easy. This book was what I was looking for.”

And, Peggy Streck from Brook Park, OH said:

“Wonderfully specific to adopted babies, who are special in their own right! Plenty of useful pages to fill with all sorts of personal info. Very well done.”

A page from the "This is Me" adoption baby book.

This is Me!
If you want an album that is more of a comprehensive historical record keeper,  then the This Is Me Memory Book is just for you. This 76-page book has a post binding so pages can be added or removed easily. This book is gender-neutral and is great for domestic as well as international adoptions – there are versions for adoptions that are country specific, including China, Russia, South Korea and Guatemala and more. 

“This is Me” allows you to document your child’s life all they way through age 18. The book is great especially if you are adopting an older child or a child with special needs as well! It includes a huge variety of adoption pag you might not find anywhere else, such as “Places I Lived / Foster Families,” “Health Information About my Parents,” “Why Don’t I Live with My Birth Parents,” and more.

The international adoption versions include a map of the country of adoption as well as a brief history. Andrea Young from Spring Lake, NC had this to say about the China version of the This is Me book:

“My husband and I are in the process of adopting from China and I was looking for an adoption baby book.  This book is perfect!  It has a section on China and also info pages about the adoption as well as information through the years (it goes up to age 18).  The book itself can be taken apart to add or remove pages.  I’m looking forward to filling it out!”

Baby Baby - A Memory Book

Baby Baby – A Memory Book
On the other end of the spectrum is a baby book that doesn’t specifically address the adoption situation, but is designed to eliminate pages that are typically unique to a birth family. So, the Baby Baby  – A Memory Book album looks more like a traditional baby book, but is written in such a way that it works wonderfully for adopted children as well.

Its gender-neutral palate and retro-sixties motifs make it classic and hip all at the same time. It can be personalized with baby’s name and date of birth. The pages are lovely and the verbiage is extremely flexible which makes it an appropriate book for all kinds of families!

For instance, gone are pages detailing pregnancy and references to the hospital. Instead, the album starts with a page titled “First Glimpse” which reads “We found out you were coming on ____” and continues with space for a photograph for an adoption photo. Instead of a “Visitors to the Hospital Page,” there is a page titled “Who Visited You” which works perfectly for any celebration welcoming the adopted baby to the family.

So, this album is absolutely perfect if you do not want to detail the specifics of the adoption, but still want to have a baby book that can be filled out completely without awkward blank pages. The “Baby Baby” Memory Book helps you record childhood memories up to Kindergarten.

Of course, each book is acid-free, archival quality and is appropriate for adoption. And all are ready to be made into a cherished keepsake with those special memories written by a loving parent. You can view the complete selection of adoption baby memory books here.

The Beatrix is Back!

Beatrix Potter Baby Memory Book

The Return of the Beatrix Potter Keepsake Collection
Perhaps we said goodbye too soon! A few months ago we lamented the loss of the Beatrix Potter keepsake collection which was retired by C.R. Gibson.

We are happy to report that the departure was only temporary and if you are a fan of the Beatrix Potter collection, it has beein re-introduced with a “new and improved” design. The new albums feature a flocked cream-colored design with a green velvet ribbon that contibutes to the storybook appearance. It is a timeless classic for your baby and we like the new collection even more than the previous!

A matching photo album, grandma’s brag book and 5×7 deluxe brag book are also available.

BabySakes.com Giveaway
To celebrate, we will give away a full collection that includes the Beatrix Potter baby memory book, photo album, grandma brag book and 5×7 deluxe brag book (a $75 retail value!). All you have to do is leave a comment below on what you like about Beatrix Potter and we will randomly select a winner on August 18th (complete rules here.)

August 18th update. Contest is now closed and winner will be announced on August 19th. Thanks to all for entering!

August 19th update. And the winner is… by random selection… Hope, who wrote comment #5! Hope will receive the entire new Beatrix Potter keepsake collection from BabySakes.com. Thank you to everyone else for entering, please keep your eye out for more baby keepsake giveaways from BabySakes.com.

Filling Out Your Baby Book: What Happened in Your Baby’s World in 2007 (part 2 of 2)

Baby is sleeping, you have your pens and your glue and you have decided that today is the day you are going to tackle that baby book that has been sitting, still in its box, next to that unfolded pile of laundry. You had visions of your baby, as an adult, flipping through the pages of their baby book, and asking you questions about what life was like when they were born. The only problem is…you don’t remember. The past year whizzed by filled with baby showers, doctor visits and then, of course, the blessed event. You were too busy choosing between rubber-duck yellow and sunshine yellow for the nursery to pay attention to current events, much less go to a movie at a theatre.

Don’t fret, we are here to help again with all the important stuff from 2007.  So get out that glitter pen and start writing…

World Leaders:
President George Bush – USA
Prime Minister Tony Blair resigned in June and was replaced by Gordon Brown -UK
President Hu Jintao – China
President Abdul Kalam’s term ended in July and was replaced by Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil- India
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi term ended and was replaced by Yasuo Fukuda- Japan
Dictator Kim Jong-il – North Korea
Prime Minister John Howard – Austrailia
Prime Minister Jacques Chirac replaced by Francois Fillon in May,- France
President Horst Kohler – Germany
President Vladimir Putin replaced by Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev- Russia

Top Stories of 2007

• Nancy Pelosi becomes first female Speaker of the House for the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final installment of the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, arrives in bookstores and into the hands of anxious fans.
• Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s record major league home run record.
• US Commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, tells a joint Congressional Hearing that the 30,000 additional troops deployed could return home by July 2008 but that any additional troop withdrawls would be “premature.”
• The Bush Administration issues tough sanctions against Iran and declared its Revolutionary Guard a proliferator of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
• Tensions with North Korea eased when Pyongyang began to disable its nuclear weapons facilities.
• For their work to bring attention to the issue of global warming Former US Vice President Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change, received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Award.
• The US mortgage meltdown is predicted to take a heavy toll on housing prices in 2008 with an average 7 percent decline and a loss of $1.2 billion in property values. It is believed that the resetting of adjustable rate mortgages written in 2004 and 2005 is to blame.
• Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination caps a year of turmoil in Pakistan.

Top Selling Music Albums of 2007

1. Daughtry – Daughtry

2. Akon – Konvicted

3. Fergie – The Dutchess

4. Hannah Montana Soundtrack

5. Carrie Underwood – Some Hearts

6. Nickleback – All the Right Reasons

7. Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveSounds

8. High School Musical 2 Soundtrack

9. Various Artists – Now 23

source: billboard.com

Top 10 Grossing Movies:
1. Spiderman III

2. Shrek the Third

3. Transformers

4. Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6. I Am Legend

7. The Bourne Ultimatum

8. National Treasure: Book of Secrets

9. Alvin and the Chipmunks

10. 300

source: imdb.com

Top 10 Bestselling Books of 2007

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre

2. The Secret – Rhonda Byrne

3. Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert

4. A Thousand Splendid Suns –  Khaled Hosseini

5. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – Kim Edwards

6. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

7. Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen

8. The Dangerous Book for Boys – Conn Iggulden, Hal Iggulden

9. I Am America (And So Can You!) – Stephen Colbert

10. You: Staying Young – Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet C. Oz

Source: USA Today

Top Actors / Actresses (Highest Paid)

1.Tom Cruise – $67 Million

2. Denzel Washington – $38 Million

3. Johnny Depp – $29 Million

4. Tom Hanks – $29 Million

5. Adam Sandler $29 Million

6. Jodie Foster $27 Million

7. Leonardo DiCaprio – $25 Million

8. Brad Pitt $25 Million

9. Will Smith – $25 Million

10. Kiefer Sutherland – $23 Million

11. Nicole Kidman – $22 Million

12. Renee Zellweger – $21 Million

13. Jim Carrey – $20 Million

14. Jennifer Aniston – $18 Million

15. Halle Berry – $16 Million

16. Scarlett Johansson – $16 Million

17. Cameron Diaz – $15 Million

18. Angelina Jolie – $14 Million

19. Jennifer Lopez – $10 Million

20. Reese Witherspoon – $9 Million

Source: Forbes

Popular Sports Figures (in no particular order)

• Tiger Woods (Golf)
• David Beckham (Soccer)
• Maria Sharapova (Tennis)
• Brett Favre (Football)
• Oscar De La Hoya (Boxing)
• Kobe Bryant (Basketball)
• Derek Jeter (Baseball)
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Racecar driving)
• Barry Bonds (Baseball)

As always, let us know if there is any more information you need in the comments. We are happy to oblige.

Filling Out Your Baby Book – What Things Cost in 2007

Filling Out Your Baby Book   What Things Cost In 2007  Remember last year when you could buy gasoline for the bargain price of $3 a gallon? Those were the days! . And just in case you don’t remember and you haven’t filled out the “what things cost when baby was born” page of your baby book yet, here are some tips that could help you finish that page fast! . And just remember, one day when baby is all grown up, they’ll look back and say “Wow… things sure were cheap back then!” (or maybe even, “What’s gas?”) . Now… on to the national average for the cost of things typically found on the “cost of things” baby book page: . . Gallon of milk: About $3.50 .  Gallon of gas: About $3 .  Loaf of bread: About $2.50 .  Movie Ticket: About $7 .  College Education: Public: $6,185 Private: $23,712 .  House About $300K by year end .  Car: $28,000 new, $13,000 used .  Diaper: 25 cents per disposable diaper .  Babysitter: $12 per hour (over 18) .  Sunday Newspaper: About $1.50 . Postage Stamp: $.41 for a first class stamp .  There you go! Now, it’s the easiest page in the baby book to complete (but you are still on your own for the “dates baby’s teeth first appeared” page!)

 

Baby Book Graveyard – So Long to These Favorites (and not so favorites)

If you’ve ever visited the original Ben & Jerry’s factory in Vermont, you’ve probably come across their “flavor graveyard,” a tribute to flavors that have passed away because they were ill conceived (Peanut Butter & Jelly), fell out of popular favor (Rainforest Crunch), or became to expensive to produce (White Russian). It is truly a mournful sight to behold.

Alas, at the beginning of every year, BabySakes.com struggles with witnessing a similar fate to a number of beloved baby book designs. So, before we announce the new designs, let’s take a few moments to remember some old favorites that are now being retired.

Winnie the Pooh – Dreaming of Hunny

One of C.R. Gibson’s longest active running albums in 2007, this one now heads off to the great 100 acre woods in the sky. The pictures were cute! The matching keepsake box was huge! It had a Spanish version! It came as a double set for twins! No other Gibson keepsake collection had so many items. This Pooh baby book design had a good run, but it’s night night for Dreaming of Hunny.

Funshine Bear – We hardly knew you

When C.R. Gibson introduced the “Bears in Toyland” baby book design as a mid-season entry in 2007, we were excited! Many times over the years customers had asked if there was a Care Bears book on the market and we could finally say, “yes!”

 We though this cute album would have a long run in the Gibson catalog. But imagine our surprise when it was pulled from the production schedule faster than “Caveman” (is that still on?).

It’s all sold out and with only 6 months on the press, is likely going to be hard to find in the future.  

Beatrix Potter’s A Tale of Baby Days – Down the Rabbit Hole

Another C.R. Gibson classic to ride off into the vegetable patch. This charming design with a beautiful embroidered cover had a multi-year run as a customer favorite, but the vintage illustrations perhaps weren’t as popular as they used to be. Unlike the “Pooh” album which has a next generation replacement, it looks like the book is closed on Beatrix Potter for the time being.

But, all things run in cycles and we are sure that the adorable characters will grace the pages of a baby book again in the future.

Say bye bye!

We also wish happy trails to the famous Carter’s onesie baby albums. With adorable little onesies on the covers in tiny little hangers, these were precious designs that just fell out of favor over time.

So, it is with a heavy heart that we commit these baby book designs to the past. BabySakes.com keeps a sample of each preserved in it’s matching keepsake box (if available) as a special memory.

And now, we look to the future!  

A fabulous set of new baby book designs have been released by C.R. Gibson and Pepperpot (Carter’s). And there are more choices than ever before (yes, including new Pooh, too)! So next up, a tribute to the next generation – the 2008 collections! 

The Elusive “All My Life” Baby Book

The All My Life Baby Book was published in 1972 by C.R. Gibson. This beautiful book was illustrated by Vivienne DeMuth and captured baby memories from birth through life. It starts out as a baby book, but it includes graduations, marriage, etc. We frequently have customers ask us about availability of the All My Life Book and unfortunately it is now out of print and quite rare to come across a copy. In fact, the only source where we have seen “All My Life” for sale is eBay. A copy recently sold there for $131.

You can keep an eye out for it by doing an eBay search for All My Life Baby Book. Although BabySakes does not currently have a full life memory book, we do offer The Story of ME baby memory book that includes 80 pages, going up to age 18. In a 3-ring binder format, it allows you to add/remove pages to adjust to your child’s story.

We have been on the lookout for another baby book like “All My Life” that covers the entire life of a person, but we haven’t been able to find one (there was another called “The Life and Times Record Book” which has also been discontinued). If you know of a life record book… please comment below to share with others, and we’d love to know too!

Help! I’m having my baby in 2 days and need a baby book to bring to the hospital!

That’s something we hear quite often as new Moms worry about getting baby footprints at the hospital. It’s ok though! If you don’t have your baby book to bring to the hospital, don’t worry. First of all, we don’t recommend putting baby’s footprints directly into the book anyway – what if they smear on your first attempt, or if you need to remove them from the book in the future?

Your best bet is to put baby’s footprints on a keepsake card and then paste the card onto the page. If you make a mistake the first time… no problem! And if you ever need to remove them from the book (sometimes Moms end up re-doing the baby book) – simple!

Many hospitals  will even give you a keepsake card with baby’s footprints after you have your baby. You can call your hospital to find out.  You can also purchase a footprint stamping kit to bring to the hospital.

So, don’t worry so much about the footprints… you’ve got lots of other things to think about. And, by freeing you from the need to bring the book to the hospital, you can wait to order the baby book until you know baby’s name and birthdate. This gives you the opportunity to order a personalized baby album for the new little bundle with baby’s name embroidered on the cover.

Finally, if you have to wait until you get home before you get baby’s footprints, we’re sure she won’t grow to a size 13 in 3 days… those feet will stay little for a least a while (not as long as we’d like them to)! Still long enough to use impression kits to make some more footprint keepsakes for grandma and family to have too.  

How did you capture your baby’s footprints at the hospital? Comment below to share with others. 

What’s with all those baby book bindings?

Who knew there were so many choices? Tightbound, Post-bound, Loose-Leaf, Spiral… which one is best? Let’s start with a description of each of the binding types and talk about the pros and cons:

Tightbound or Bookbound: This is the standard book binding that we all knew and loved from when we used to read books before we had kids. The pages are stitched into the binding and it looks like a regular book. While this works well for books we read, in my opinion, it is not ideal for keepsake books, where we tend to like to add photos, locks of hair, invitations, hospital keepsakes and other items. In no time at all, you’ve got baby book literally bursting from its seams, and a stuffed tightbound baby book will have a tendancy to begin falling apart all-together. Another problem with tightbound is that they don’t lie flat — many Moms like to have the pages lying flat while working on them for ease-of-use.  Tightbound baby books tend to be the less expensive variety and they also tend to not hold up as well.

Spiral Bound: A spiral bound book is more similar in look to a tightbound book, with the main advantage that it is designed to lie flat. It features a spiral metal wire binding that runs through small holes in the pages. This style is tougher to fill with keepsakes (doesn’t expand as well), but if you are planning on focusing on writing in your memory book, it is very easy to work with a spiral binding. It is also more difficult to add pages to a spiral binder.

Post-Bound: With post-bound books, the expansion problem is solved. The “posts” are screws in the binding that you can lengthen to add more pages and content if the book begins to get overstuffed, so they are much better suited if you tend to do a bit of scrapbooking in your memory book. The posts are usually hidden in the binding so the pages have a nice clean look to them. A valuable feature of post-bound books is that you can remove pages that you don’t want in your memory book. Invariably there are going to be pages that don’t apply to your situation, holidays that you don’t celebrate or things that you simply can’t remember and rather than have blank pages in your album, you can take them out for a nice consistent presentation (try taking a page out of a tightbound book and you could have disasterous results). Many baby book designers now make additional page packs that you can add to your album to better tell your family’s story and post-bound makes it easy.

Looseleaf or 3-Ring: I’m sure you remember the looseleaf notebooks you had in school… that’s exactly what a looseleaf binding is. They’ve got rings down the center that you can pop open to add/remove pages. Looseleaf bindings also provide extra room for an expanding book, although the expansion is limited based on the size of the rings. A 3 ring binder can be hard on the papers, which may start to tear at the holes. Of course, this also depends on the quality and weight of the paper. Typically, we recommend using page protectors for this style of album.  The look may not be as clean as with post-bound, but the 3-ring binder is very easy to use. The pages also lie flat in a 3 ring binder.

There are additional kinds of bindings available for baby books. Many baby book manufacturers feature hand-bound books that may be sewn together or tied with ribbon and these tend to have some of the advantages of a spiral bound book and a much higher quality feel than the typical tight-bound album.

Our recommendation? We prefer the post-bound and 3-ring binders for expandability and longevity.

Which baby book binding do you like best? Comment below to share with others.