Baby books, life books, and scrapbooks are nesting items that you can start putting together at any time, as long as working on them is not too emotionally painful. For me, working on books for my unborn child was exciting: it was a tangible way to focus on my dream of becoming a parent.

Baby Books

I found a lot of joy in purchasing a baby book for my son. I found a fabulous one at Hallmark that is specifically tailored for the adopted child. The beginning page says, “For [Baby’s Name], who was born on [date] and joined our family on [date].” It includes a section for information about the birthmother. There is a page for the adoption day so you can include a picture of the court proceedings, if applicable, or an adoption ceremony.

Most of the book is similar to any other baby book, but the adaptations for the adopted child were nice. The book also includes some beautiful poetry about adoption.

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A life book is book, such as a photo album, scrapbook, or journal, that provides a child with information about his life, including his life before he joined your family. A life book can even be created on a computer. (See Coley’s post Digital Scrapbooking for information about creating a life book in this manner.)

Some birthmothers put a life book together for their birthchildren so that the child can have a tangible tie to his birthfamily and have a sense of his biological heritage. Adoptive parents can also put one together, using pictures provided by the birthfamily and/or including information about a child’s birth country for international adoptions. In additional to biological ties, information about the adoptive family’s history can be included, such as the letter approving your home study. Anything about your child’s life is fair game.

Scrapbooks

I, personally, am not a big fan of scrapbooking. I love how other people’s scrapbooks look, but I don’t have the talent or patience to put one together myself. I do have a photo album that I spruced up a little bit, but it is a far cry from a true scrapbook.

However, I know many people who thoroughly enjoy scrapbooking. If you are into this, then starting the scrapbook can be a wonderful nesting activity even before you are matched with your child. Since scrapbooking is not my area of expertise, be sure to check out the posts under Related Topics below.

Related Topics:

• How to Make a Lifebook



• Creating a Lifebook



• Digital Scrapbooking



• Life book/ Scrapbooking



• Adoption Scrapbooking