The Best Way to Preserve Your Baby Photos is in an Album or Scrapbook!

Now that the great event has taken place and that little bundle of joy has graced your life. I’m sure like millions of other Mums and Dads around the world you will want to preserve those very special memories by taking lots and lots of baby photos.

When my wife and I had our first son we were just like you snapping away with the camera all day long. If he moved-take photo! Once we had used up all the obvious places to take baby photos like on his cot, on the chairs, on the carpet, I became very inventive in finding new unique places where I could sit him for a photograph.

Believe me there were some weird and wonderful shots I took of him in some very strange places indeed. Like, sat on the hood of the car, he looked like a pea on a drum. Or hiding in bushes he looked really cute, even balanced on the picnic table on his trike, scary.

I once sat him in a tree and darned near had to catch him as he began to fall out of his perch. I was in trouble for that one I can tell you. Anyway the point I am trying to make is that you end up with lots and lots and lots of baby photos. So what are you going to do with them all?

Well the first thing that you need to do is to sort them all out. If you don’t sort them out you end up with bags and boxes of loose baby photos uncategorized or without any method of archiving.

Now the best person to sort them is the wife. Wives seem to remember more dates and places, events and circumstances than we men do. Wives can sort those baby photos out pronto!

Once they are sorted out you need to get them in an album or a scrapbook and then they are absolutely great to take them out once in awhile and sit together and have a good giggle looking at them.

Now let’s get around to the album or scrapbook for those baby photos. The ways you can decorate the albums are endless, so here are just a few ideas on the basics.

You can buy an album or scrapbook from around 5”x5” all the way up to 12”x12” the choice is yours. Myself I would go for the bigger sizes as you can get lots and lots more in them than the little ones, so what’s the point of the little fiddly ones?

Get half a dozen or so because you are going to need lots of room for all those special baby photos. If your wife did a good job sorting them you will have a few different categories or themes in mind. For instance one theme might be baby’s first year or baby photos on holiday, or funny shots etc you get the ‘picture’ eh.

You will probably want to make some kind of comments that you can attach near to each photo. You can use a color printer for this task and make each page look pretty. Comments can be stapled or glued with a glue stick. If you want to make it really personal then you can hand write each comment? It really is a lot of fun when you look back and read those comments.

You’ll also want to decorate the front cover. If you can find an album with a window on the front then you insert a photo in it in line with the theme of the album as well. Covering each baby photo with a transparent sheet will protect them for many years to come and will help keep them in the right place.

Call it a scrapbook or album as plain or as fancy as you like the choice is yours. But go ahead and do it. You won’t be sorry.

For more great ideas about your baby photos visit our website www.yourbabyadvice.com where you will also find more tips and baby advice to help you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Clark_Haroldson

Scrapbook Ideas for Your Baby Album

This is the second part of a two part article about scrapbook page ideas for your baby album. You may also want to read Scrapbook Ideas for Your Baby Album – Part 1.”

Baby’s First Bath

As soon as the "belly button" falls off, it's time for the first real bath. In addition to taking pictures of your baby in the cute, little bathtub, be sure to take one of him/her all swaddled in the hooded towel after the bath is over. And in your journaling you can write about how old your baby was and his/her reaction to the bath.

Baby’s First Trip

Whether it's a day trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house, a weekend getaway or even a full blown vacation, baby’s first trip is a significant milestone to preserve. Regardless of where you go on this first trip, your baby will encounter many new new sights, sounds, smells, people, etc. Journal about how your baby reacts to these new and different surroundings.

Baby’s First Solid Food

The first time your baby tries solid food is a fun event to capture in photos. The facial expressions are priceless. Things to journal about include what the food was, how much your baby ate and your baby's reaction. When your baby is older, take some pictures of him/her feeding himself/herself pasta with tomato sauce. A messy tomato sauce face is quite a sight!

Baby’s First Tooth

Although a toothless grin is absolutely adorable, it is exciting to see that first pearly white poking through. Once it’s visible enough to be seen in photos, take some great close-up shots for your scrapbook album. Note in your journaling the date the tooth first poked through and the date the photos were taken.

Baby’s First Step

While it’s often difficult to capture your baby’s very first step on camera, you’ll certainly get lots of photos of those very early steps. Try putting them in sequential order – from letting go of the furniture to taking those wobbling steps to landing on a diapered bottom – to show your baby’s progress across the floor.

Baby’s First Easter

Depending on how old your baby is for his/her first Easter, here are some ideas for what to include in your scrapbook album: dyeing Easter eggs, visiting the Easter Bunny, going on an egg hunt, opening his/her Easter basket, finding eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny, and preparing/eating Easter dinner.

Baby’s First Mother’s Day/Father’s Day

The first Mother's Day/Father's Day with your baby is, of course, very special. And you'll certainly take lots of photos of Mommy/Daddy with Baby. In addition to journaling about how you spent the day, it's interesting to journal about what you were doing and feeling on the previous Mother's Day/Father's Day. Maybe you were pregnant and received gifts from your baby-to-be. Maybe you didn't have any idea that you would be a parent in a year. Either way, it's fun to reminisce about what a difference a year makes.

Baby’s First Halloween

Depending on how old your baby is for his/her first Halloween, you may or may not put them in a costume. If they're in a costume then of course you'll take lots of pictures of them all dressed-up. If they're very young, putting them next to a very large pumpkin makes for an adorable photo. Remember to include pictures of your pumpkin picking trip, too.

Baby’s First Thanksgiving

On our Thanksgiving pages we often journal about what we're thankful for. Of course, as new Moms we're most thankful for our new babies. Journal about the "little things" you're thankful for – how your baby tightly holds your pinky when you feed him/her, the way your baby smells after a bath, the sound of your baby's giggle when you make funny faces, the peaceful feeling of rocking your baby to sleep, etc. – to make these pages extra special.

Baby’s First Christmas

There are so many memories you'll want to capture in your photos - getting the tree, trimming the tree, Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, favorite gifts and more. I've written another article called “Scrapbooking Your Christmas Memories” that has lots of suggestions for things to include in your scrapbook album.

Baby’s First Snow

If you live in a cold weather climate, your baby's first encounter with snow makes a fun page for the album. Even if your baby isn’t old enough to play in the snow, you can bundle him/her up and go outside so he/she can see the snow and feel it on his/her face. Some things to journal about on this page are the date of the snowstorm, your baby's age, what you did outside (e.g., pulled your baby in a sled, built a snowman), and your baby's reaction to the snow.

Other Photos

Undoubtedly, you have lots of baby pictures that aren't part of a specific event, holiday, milestone, etc. It can be hard to come up with ideas for how to categorize them. Here are some page/title ideas to use for your "every day" photos: Month (e.g., March, August Days), seasons (e.g., Spring Time, Winter Days), Sweet Girl/Boy, Play Time, Having Fun, Silly Sisters/Siblings, Peek-a-Boo, Cute as a Button, Busy as a Bee, Laughing and Smiling, Say "Cheese", Mommy's Little Girl/Boy, Daddy's Little Girl/Boy, Apple of Mommy’s/Daddy's Eye, Memorable Moments, Friends and Fun, "Look at Me!", Miles of Smiles, Precious Moments, and Movie Star (photos wearing different pairs of sunglasses). Also, if you have a nickname for your baby, that can make a cute page title.

Baby’s First Birthday

In addition to the standard pictures – singing Happy Birthday, blowing out the candles, eating the cake, opening the gifts, posing with party guests – take a picture of your baby right after he/she wakes up in the morning on his/her birthday and another one right before going to bed that night. That way you can put just these two pictures on a separate page and focus your journaling on how your baby spent his/her first birthday, from waking until bedtime.

The Perfect Ending

If you still have your baby’s hospital hat (you know, the adorable little hats babies wear right after they’re born), put it on your baby’s head and grab your camera. Although it will look pretty funny stretched out over the head of a one-year old, it makes quite a poignant picture. Put just this photo on the last page of your baby’s first year album, and you’ll have lots of room for journaling about the amazing year that has passed since you welcomed your baby into your life.

If you need a baby album and supplies, visit Scrapbook Town’s online store at http://stores.scrapbooktown.com/storefront.bok.

About The Author

Lisa Fleming is an avid scrapbooker and the owner of Scrapbook Town. Scrapbook Town is a scrapbooking website that has scrapbook supplies, ideas and information. You can visit Scrapbook Town at http://www.scrapbooktown.com.

scrapbooktown@earthlink.net

Sharing Baby Photos Online with Birth Announcements & Baby Photo Album Services

Congratulations! You’re a new parent and you’ve brought your precious, beautiful baby into the world. You want to shout from the rooftops that you have this wonderful bundle of joy and you are so proud! You have seen or heard about online birth announcements before, and realize that they are a quick, easy, and no hassle way of spreading the news of the birth of your precious baby. Below we’ll outline ways you can share your baby photos online or create your own online birth announcements.

The easiest way to create an online birth announcement is to go to a site that already has birth announcement templates for you to choose from. There are free birth announcement websites where all you do is upload a baby photo and some information and you are set to go, and there are other birth announcement websites that present you with the opportunity to create mini-journals of your baby, usually for a fee. There are sites that specialize in birth announcements that spotlight your religious preference or even for your favorite sports teams. From traditional to unique and even humorous, there is a birth announcement service out there for everyone.

Sharing Baby Photos Using a Free Online Photo Album Service

Another method for creating your own birth announcement website is to use one of the free photo album services offered online. For instance, iPhoto for Apple users provides the ability to upload pictures from a digital camera directly onto your own Apple hosted website. Shutterfly.com provides similar capabilities. If you have a digital camera, you can also upload your pictures to Wal-Mart.com where you can view the pictures and even send your baby photos to your local Wal-mart for photo processing in an hour so you can get photo prints for your own offline baby photo album.

Sharing Baby Photos with Your Digital Camera Software

Most of the digital camera manufacturers come with their own software that allows you to share photos also. For instance, HP offers a Share-to-Web software application allows you to upload your photos from your digital camera to a unique website that you can give out to your friends and family. HP’s software also gives you the ability to email the photos without sending them as attachments or sending them as thumbnails attached to the email.

Sharing Baby Photos Over Instant Messenger

If you want instant gratification, the Yahoo! Messenger service now offers the ability to send pictures over your instant messaging program so you can just upload your baby photos and send them instantly! Visit http://messenger.yahoo.com for further information.

About The Author

Christina Khan is a mother of a preschooler and founder of a baby birth announcement website, MyPreciousBaby.com, that offers birth announcements, parenting articles, baby products and more.

MyPreciousBaby.com has online boy and girl birth announcement website templates with several unique designs to choose from. From footballs to butterflies, from dragonflies to teddy bears, there is a unique baby birth announcement for your baby. To visit her website, go to http://www.mypreciousbaby.com.