When Natalee was a baby someone gave me one of those crinkly books where you can insert pictures into a clear sleeve on the page and baby's family would be part of the "story." I loved this idea and we used the book a lot but it only held three pictures. Boo. In one of our many desperate attempts to get Natalee to talk, I printed out 4x6 pictures of all of our immediate family, laminated it, put rings on it and carried it with us everywhere.
One week, Natalee started saying "num, num, num" a LOT. I always thought she was referencing food and would try to give her a snack - which she usually took because she's a kid - but she always seemed like food wasn't what she was referencing when she said "num, num, num."
I distinctly remember the day I put her in the car seat in the van and started to drive away and heard her start shrieking "NUM NUM NUM!" When I got to the stop sign and turned around to see what she was doing she had her little picture book in her hand and was proudly pointing at my mom's photo. When mom would feed Natalee she would tell her "num, num, Natalee." Quite obviously Natalee associated the phrase num num with her Grandma, and thus, Grandma Num was born. The moral of the story? Without the family picture book I probably would have never figured out what she meant.
Xavier used the same picture book as Natalee did because they were so close in age, and I know that the original is still here somewhere though last I saw it it was a bit beat up, creased, and loved. I decided it was time for a new one for Miss Mia and chose pictures of our family to print when I order photos last week. I decided to go with a "tiny hands friendly" size and printed 4x4 pictures this time.
Making the book is kind of a no brainer but here's what I did, just in case you think I'm super cool and want to make one too!
Laminate the pictures. I love my little laminator. Don't ask me if I think contact paper would work just as well because I honestly don't know. Yes, I do think laminating is necessary. Babies are drooly. I was constantly washing spit up, drool, food and other crusty baby things off of our original book. Laminate them. Find a way. You'll be glad you did.
Cut the pictures apart leaving a 1/4" allowance of laminating paper around the edges. Round the corners of the pictures. I have a handy scrapbooking corner rounder (blue thing in picture) but you can easily do this with your scissors. It keeps little eyes from getting poked when baby is chewing on the picture of Auntie.
Take a break. (optional) Show a picture to baby. Watch her wave it around proudly and gaze upon it intently.
Hole punch your photos. My pics were 4x4 so I punch holes at around 1" and 3". After I punched the first one I put the ruler away and used the picture as my guide.
Send the pictures back through the laminator one more time. In my head it seals everything nice and tight after being hole punched and trimmed around the edges. I have no idea if it's actually necessary. None of my laminated books have every come apart. So I keep doing it.
Stop and wave at baby. My, she's sweet!
Assemble pages in the order you wish and insert rings. I put Daddy and I on top because we are spectacular. Because of the rings, however, the book will flip quite easily and we won't remain on top. I could have used smaller rings. I don't have any. I'm not interested in trying to remember to buy any. So there.
Admire your handy work...
You could tie fabric or ribbon to the rings to fancy them up. I started tying ribbon on these and didn't like it so I pulled it off. We'll just go plain Jane.
I like doing these books with the rings because it's easy to change out and add pictures. Not that you substitute family so much (ha) but, for example, Mia's picture is a 3 month picture and she'll change a ton over the next months. So soon I'll pull out the old, order a new and stick it in. Easy and low fuss!
Enjoy "reading" with your little person. Sometimes homemade really is the best!
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