Finished.

I finally finished Thomas's baby scrapbook tonight -- tying it together with the timeline of "conception through his first month". It felt so good to upload the last pages for printing, and to know that it's all done!

I think one of my favorite pages is this one...with Grandma Ski's blanket. The template is from Ali Edwards' Layered Template No. 12. When I opened it, and found the quote that she had used on it -- I knew it was the perfect one to finish his book with.

I changed the quote to match the font throughout the rest of the book...and finished it with papers from the Photo Shoot by Christy Lyle. I used an 8x8 silk Pioneer Album - in the dark sage-y green that complements the pages throughout.



I also loved this page with Mike, Kristine and Avila. The brush is from This is the Day Word Art by Ali as well.


I scrapped four pages from his birth story found here. You can find them and the rest of the book here.

What did I learn from creating this book? How important it is to journal. To be able to process what you're going through, to be able to share the journey with others (especially if you share it on the web), and to be able to recall it later.

I'll be honest - it's only been two and a half months since his week in the NICU, and the details are so much hazier now. Looking back and reading through brought me back to the beginning, to how far he's come, and to exactly what we were feeling at that time.

And I am so grateful for this blog. To scrap many of these memories, just 10 or 11 weeks later, was so much easier since I could pull the journaling from the pages directly from the blog.

I love seeing his first photos in the womb, through the maternity photos, to his birth, and finally to one month old. His development. Our development. How life changes.

And to read through the journey -- with the journaling taken from here -- from my health struggles to our changing world to his birth to coming home -- it pulls everything together.

Finishing the book gives me the chance to find closure on his first rocky moments, to be grateful once again for the incredible angels at Providence St. Peter's, for our family and loved ones who were there for us...and for the incredible little boy who is sleeping in his crib right now.

Onto the next adventure!