Book of memories {giveaway}
Lots of fun little projects have been going on lately, including:
the Pinterest-inspired photo wall for upstairs
(collecting frames in various textures, all in the same color family and picking up photo orders from Walgreens)
and Liv’s baby book.
It took me a LONG time to order a baby book, because I couldn’t find the one I created in my mind (don’t you hate when that happens?). I didn’t want it to all be entirely digital, then clicking “publish/save” and having it sent to the house. I wanted it to be more personal, organized so I wouldn’t have to scrapbook the entire thing, enable me to write (in my own, messy chicken scratch) and attach photos.
This is exactly the baby book I had in mind:
I ordered the book from Ruby Love on Etsy (they also have a website) and was able to pick out the cover fabric, color scheme and what features I wanted the book to include.
It’s perfect.
All of the basic info is there, plus unique questions for the parents to fill out
the ability to attach photos (with 24 photo-mounting sheets included)
Lots of room to write
calendar pages with stickers for milestones
and an entire back section of blank scrapbook pages.
It’s perfect.
I add a little bit to it every day, and can’t wait to start filling up the blank pages in the back. A scrapbook project I can actually look forward to… before, the only scrapbook pages I’ve made have been for my husband and the single guys deploying.
I ordered and paid for the book, but after receiving it and discovering how truly amazing it is, I contacted the seller to see if she would be interested in offering a giveaway. I was so excited when she said yes- this would be perfect for an expecting mama or as a gift.
One lucky winner will receive a custom Ruby Love baby book of their choice. All you have to do is leave a heartfelt or funny memory from when you were a child. I can’t wait to read these 🙂
I’ll pick the winner Friday night (11:59pm EST) and announce it in Saturday’s family post.
xoxo
Gina
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What a fun give away! Love the baby bookn& reading everyone’s memories. One of my favorite childhood memories was just hanging with my mom. As a little girl, I thought she was the prettiest, kindest person ever… And now I know that’s true :). I still think of her when I smell chanel no. 5, even though she doesn’t wear it that much anymore!
That baby book seems perfect! I am having a baby at the end of June and have just started looking for the “perfect book”…this could be it 🙂 One of my earliest memories was when my little brother was born. I was three years old and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. My dad picked me from my grandparents that night to bring me to the hospital, it was dark out and the ten minute ride seemed endless! I remember once I got in the room they gave me this little gown to wear (I was beyond excited) before I could hold him and I hopped on the bed with my mom waiting for him to get brought back in the room by the nurse. Once I got to hold him I was in heaven <3 and I spent the rest of the night laying on the bed with my mom and my new baby brother more content and happy than any little kid in the world!
One of my favorite childhood memories is playing in the back yard with my older brother Phil. He would give me one of his old army camouflage t shirts to put on and we would play for hours making cubbys, mud pies and climbing trees. So simple but I miss those days!
Okay funny moment. While my mom was potty training me I had “big girl” panties on and we were at the store. She said we were walking down the aisle, she looked back and saw a big pile of “number 2” in the middle of the aisle. Apparently I had an accident and it fell right out. She said she just turned around and kept on walking. Lol!
hmmm. Not particularly funny but pretty cute: When I was little I told my uncle “I could be the President if I wanted to, but I think that sounds boring. I think I’ll be a writer instead.” 🙂
One of my favorite memories as a kid was growing up on our ranch. It was awesome being able to run around without a care in the world.
What a cute baby book Gina! Also I love the Pinterest inspired picture wall idea. So I’d like to share a heartfelt childhood memory. As a kid I used to visit my aunt in Pennsylvania every summer. She owned a farmhouse surrounded my acres of beautiful farmland. I remember playing in the barn and among the fields with my cousins all day long from sun up to sundown. One Halloween we had a party for the local kids and there were mini cheesecakes for dessert. Well I ate about 20 of those in one sitting & have hated cheesecake ever since! Each of those summers have a special place in my heart. I have a 10 week old son now & I hope someday I can provide an experience like that for him.
Love the picture wall idea – I’ve started working on a mini version of pictures from our wedding.
When I was about 5 years old, I let my little brother’s stroller go down the driveway (with him in it). The stroller only made it about half way down the driveway, so he wasn’t hurt, but it was my first time getting in big trouble. My mom told me that I was grounded, and I took her very literally – I expected her to start digging a hole in the ground for me to stand in. I’m not sure which would be worse – staying inside on a beautiful summer day, or standing in a hole in the ground!
my first memorable “big sister” moment is caught on film. i was trying to help my little sister out of her exersaucer by essentially strangling her and lifting her out by her neck. of course, since my parents were close by (with camera in hand) no damage was done–but the photos really show JUST HOW MUCH i loved my new baby sister. 😉
Apparently the first time I met my best friend (she was a newborn and I was about 9 months old), I “punched” her in the face. She likes to tell that story to get sympathy lol
I don’t know what’s cuter- the baby book or the giveaway entry criteria! Love them both. When I was small and living in NYC, my mother used to dress me in this purple snowsuit that I hated so much that I would take it off in the dead of winter so as not to have to wear it out. We soon moved to Florida, so the next time I had to really own a coat was when I moved north after college. I had SUCH a difficult time finding a winter coat that I actually liked as an adult, so I assume this hatred of winter wear is nature rather than nurture. My mom still loves to tease me about the purple snowsuit though.
When I was a child, I was a little bit of a stinker 🙂 . One memory I have is when I must have been 4 or 5 years old. We were driving down the busy freeway headed home for the evening; my mom was driving and I was sitting in the back seat with my sister. My mom had just bought me a nice brand new pair of sneakers. I apparently thought it would be a good idea to take one of my new shoes off and toss it out the open car window! You better believe my mom was mortified and was not going to surrender that easily. She actually pulled the car over and ran out into the busy road to retrieve my shoe! She was/is a good mom :0). I have a feeling I am in store for some similar behavior from my daughter who is now 8 months old. Last weekend for Mother’s Day, my mom and I completed a 5K and I pushed my daughter in her jogging stroller. About halfway into the course, I looked down to find that she had kicked off one of her brand new sandals somewhere along the race course! When I looked down at her she had the tiniest little smirk on her face and looked so satisfied with herself. Can’t wait to see what future mishaps and adventures are in store for me with that little one! :).
What a great giveaway! One great memory of my childhood was when my parents took us to Prince Edward Island where Anne of Green Gables took place. I loved that book and it was so magical to see where they filmed the movie. I remember playing on the beach there and not having a care in the world. I can’t wait to take our little guy on some amazing family vacations. 🙂
That’s awesome I’m from PEI, now living in New Brunswick (across the bridge). I will definitely be taking our son to see the play Anne of Green Gables. It’s part of his heritiage lol.
What an adorable baby book! My favorite memory from when I was little is driving my pink barbie car around the neighborhood and picking up all the little neighbor boys along the way. Of course I only had one extra seat and there was a weight limit that we definitely went over quite a few times. 🙂
A lot of my favorite memories as a child involve my grandma who just recently passed away. I remember going to the pick and save to get ice cream, where she also bought me a teddy bear I have to this day, her reading to me, and going to the park to play and have picnics. I love looking back at the memories and time spent with her. <3
What a beautiful book Gina – though I’ve been reading your blog for a long time it is your family page which has become a special focus since welcoming our son into the world 8 weeks ago! Even though I am so caught up in the precious day-to-day moments, I know it is already slipping by too fast and I should really start collating the memories – particularly since one of my earliest childhood memories is my mother writing her “diaries”. Do you know since I was born 32 years ago, my mother has religiously kept a diary; there are now volumes and volumes describing her accounts of all the events which have ocurred throughout the lives of me and my 3 siblings – how we have grown, changed, our highpoints and our sadnesses. Although I didn’t really understand or appreciate this when I was younger, I now see what a beautiful gift this is, an historical account from the days before smartphones etc which can now so easily capture events in today’s society – something truly to be treasured in years to come.
This is a fantastic giveaway and what a fabulous book! Such a clever idea and so cute 🙂 My most heartfelt/funny memory is an afternoon “cooking” with my mum. My mum would always be trying to dream up fun things for us to do during the school breaks to keep me entertained. I’d been reading my way through the Roald Dahl books and that week had just finished reading George’s Marvellous Medicine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%27s_Marvellous_Medicine). My mum declared that we would be “cooking” in the style of George and we could serve our delicious concoction to my dad for dinner. We spent hours collecting our ingredients from around the house and garden – soil from the garden, mouldy apples from the tree, out of date tins of goodness-knows-what and so on. We through it all in an old pot and let it simmer away on the stove for hours. My dad came home la short time later after a long hard day at the office. My mum and I had already set the table and the “stew” was waiting in a bowl for him. I remember waiting with anticipation to see if he would actually try some – just as he was about to take a sip my mum pulled a roast chicken out of the oven that she’d cleverly popped in while I had been busy with the “stew”. Of course my dad knew about the joke – I’m pretty sure my mum had given him the heads up but I just remember it being a fun time with my family. We were always playing pranks on each other but also we were always laughing. Anyway I’ve waffled on far too much now!! Thanks for reading 🙂 xx
That baby book looks awesome! Even if I don’t win I’ll have to keep it in mind for our October baby 🙂
For some reason when I think of favorite childhood memories, I automatically think of my grandfather. He used to watch my sister and I for a little while after my dad went to work and before my mom got home (they worked opposite shifts). He had an old record player and a whole bunch of records in his living room. I remember going through the records with him and playing them and dancing to them, and the ones I remember the most were all Mitch Miller. When we were really little we would stand on his feet and he would dance with us, and as we got a little older he would teach us how to dance. He passed away a few years ago, but I actually bought an mp3 album of Mitch Miller because it always makes me smile and think of my grandpa.
When I was a little kid, my dad told me that car bras were put on cars because their fronts weren’t finished. I totally believed him. The sad part is that I believed him until I was 16! One day a car drove by with a car bra and all of a sudden it hit me- there is no way they don’t have front ends! I was pretty embarassed. 😉
I love that book, it’s so awesome!
One of the most speical memories for me when I was a child is the day me and my father went fishing when I was 3-4 years old. I can still remember the fog that was around the bridge we were at, getting my line caught in the rocks and my father having to go down to the rocks to get it unhooked. I’m pretty sure I didn’t catch anything but my father did and when we got home he told mom that I caught it. He told me it was “our little secret”. The reason this is so special is because my father passed away a couple of months before my 5th birthday and I have few memories of him but this one is still very strong and vivid in my mind 🙂
I have several friends who are expecting their first baby this summer, and I would love to give them such a meaningful gift! Heartfelt memory from when I was a child: I remember “falling asleep” in the car on the way home from church Wednesday nights and my Dad would carry me inside and tuck me into bed. I think of that often. Funny memory: when I COULD NOT WAIT to take a bath and jumped in–clothes, shoes, and all. My Mom thought it was hilarious! 🙂 Thanks for the giveaway! Livi has the most beautiful eyes–so pretty!
My best moments were at my grandmother’s house dressed in her heels and sequin dresses, walking around with an unlit cigarette and bright red lipstick pretending to be her.
I love this idea, like you I have been searching for just the right thing for my daughter’s baby book. One really neat thing my Mother-in-law did for all her sons was to make a book for their future wives. So when I got married to my husband she handed me a book filled with a copy of most of his baby pictures, even family photos from generations before. No easy task for my MIL, she has four boys with my husband being the youngest. Such a forward thinking, generous woman.
Lets see, I have a lot of wonderful memories of my childhood. I was lucky enough to grow up on a farm with my paternal grandmother and grandfather next door and my maternal grandparents and great grandparents two miles down the road. In between were my aunts and uncles ( great and otherwise), cousins, and the land my Daddy farmed. I have many memories of riding in my Parent’s Caprice Classic Chevy from my Grandmama’s to my parents house. This one night stands out for no particular reason. We step outside and the sky is filled, just filled with stars. Me and my Mama and my little sister, Korry hop in the car to head back up to our house for the night. I am sticky with sweat from playing outside with my cousins all day, my knees are probably scratch as they usually were. We roll down all the windows and Mama cranks up the car. My favorite song at the time, The lion sleeps tonight by the Tokens is playing. My Mama starts singing first, then me and my sister. The summer night is filled with the sound of us singing, ” Ah wimoweh, ah wimoweh, ah wimoweh….” and stars and warm breezes. As we drive by the Patterson’s lake you can hear all the peepers and smell the wisteria. I wanted that car ride home to never end. Even now when I hear that song it takes me back to my childhood, if only we could bottle it and take it out every now and again. If only for a little while.
It makes you wonder what will stand out in your child’s mind. I hope my little girl, Mallory has a lot of wonderful memories to think back on.
I gotta say, that is a great book your MIL made, I will definitely be making one for my son’s future wife!
I am glad you are going to do that, it means a lot to a new daughter-in-law to get it. It makes you think, wow she has been preparing for me to be a part of this family since my husband was born! Also she included copies of family photos of grandparents and great grandparents (all deceased), which was a really nice idea as well.
This book is beautiful!
My sister just found out Tuesday that she is pregnant and I was the first person (after her husband of course) that she told. They have been trying to get pregnant for awhile and this is huge for her! Most of my favorite memories are with my sister but the top one would have to be her dressing me in my crib sheet and her in my mom’s old prom dress and directing me in an elaborately choreographed routine to Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” Embarrassingly enough, we later recreated this dance at her wedding 🙂
My little guy is turning 1 on Sunday and I have been on the hunt for a book. I have piles of pictures and items from his first year and have yet to find the perfect book. But this one looks so great!
Oh and funny childhood memory, to this day my father will never let me forget our first family trip to the beach when I was able to walk. Long story short, I was looking at the ocean through the balcony and got my head stuck. After my sister and cousin using a tub of butter and my father tugging I was free. Yes it was kind of like the episode on full house, but with a beach view 🙂
One of my earliest (and only) memories of my grandfather is flying kites with him when I was little!
I’m so excited to make a proper baby book for baby #2 this summer! I had bought a book for my first daughter and filled it out the best I could, but her prematurity screwed up so many of the normal baby book questions (she lived in the hospital for 3.5 months, didn’t teethe until after she was 1, and none of her milestones line up to her actual age). I ended up just making a scrapbook myself.
My first though is always of playing by myself outside. We used to live next to this big expansive land area and I would just go out exploring on my own for hours and hours! Loved the freedom!
So weird – My husband and I were JUST looking through my baby book the other day, and we definitely want to do one for our little gal that’s due in August! As a kiddo, my sister, my best friend and I would play Barbies pretty much all the time. We had this big Tupperware bin full of all the clothes, and every time we’d play, we would undress our dolls and they’d “go to the mall” (the bin of clothes) completely naked to pick out their outfits for the day. Ha! We also used to love making our own radio shows, back when you could record your voice on a tape cassette player simply by sticking in a blank tape and hitting “record.” We’d DJ our own little radio shows and then record songs we liked straight from the radio.
What an amazing giveaway! I have been looking for the perfect baby book since my daughter was born on Valentine’s Day this year and this seems like a perfect fit. My favorite childhood memory was spending Saturday morning cooking with my Grandma while she made the big family dinner for the day. My Grandma taught me everything I know about cooking and really has had such an impact on why I love cooking so much. She is one of the greatest people I know and is why I named my daughter after her. Congratulations on your little one!
I love that book! I wish I had done that for Julian — he’s now 15 months and I cannot remember so much of those early milestones. I’m now 11 weeks pregnant with #2, and hoping to be a bit more on top of things this time!
As far as early memories go — I have lots of memories of riding around the neighborhood on a bike with my two younger brothers. We’d ride all night until my Mom called us in for bed! I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately because I’m currently on vacation with my husband and son, and we’ve been doing lots of bike riding. It’s a little different now, though:)
When I was little I went out to lunch before my first day of kindergarten. Instead of following my mom, I followed a nice stranger right onto the elevator leaving my poor mom in a panic. I was late for my first day of kindergarten.
I have a second cousin who I always thought was the coolest (she was about 10 years older than me, but took time to hang out with me). I saw her for the first time in nearly 10 years yesterday, and I reminded her of one of my favorite memories with her as a 6 year old. She & her mom came back from a trip to Carowinds (an amusement park in NC) and I was totally jealous before she left. They brought my brothers & I a souvenir – those old-fashioned swirly lollipops as big as my face. I loved that thing – it lasted for weeks until my mom finally had to throw it away. My 2nd cousin Pam always brought extra fun and smiles to our house every time she visited!
I’m writing this for my daughter Kelly. She too put off buying a baby book until she found just the right one. This one is it!
Kelly was my first and what a gift she was! Her mind was always busy trying to figure out this world she landed in. Thank goodness I wrote down some of our exchanges in her book. Here is a sample:
Kelly: (as she saw a family with a lot of children) Mama why do some kids grow like grapes?
Mama: What do you mean like grapes?
Kelly: You know; in bunches.. like grapes.
Another conversation:
Kelly: I can’t find my cloe.
Mama: What’s a cloe?
Kelly: You know Mama, One clothes,my shirt is a cloe.
And one of my favorite:
Kelly: I wish people wount say ain’t. It ain’t a word an’t it Mama?
Now Kelly has her own sweet baby girl. I just hope she will give her the joy Kelly has given me. I wish I had written more of her musings and encourage her to record every little thing. One day she can look back and enjoy those sweet days all over again.
Mama! Thank you for posting this for me, to help me win this memory book for Mallory. It means so much that you documented all my little sayings and measurements and took as many photos as you could (it was the 80s photography isn’t what it is today). I just hope I do the same for Mallory. I love you!
Thanks for the giveaway!
Growing up, we used to take looooong (at least from my perspective as a kid) road trips up to Bal Harbour, Maine each summer. We would take crusty loaves of bread to the ocean and feed the seagulls, trying to avoid having them poop on our heads. 🙂 That, and lots of fresh lobster, are some of my fondest memories of those trips.
what an amazing giveaway!! i’ve been looking for a lovely place to gather all these moments while expecting and for after the baby comes. and this looks like such a beautiful way capture everything in an organized and cute way! thanks so much for the recommendation and giveaway!
oh! apparently i can’t read directions :/ the earlier memories i have as a child were having tea parties with my best friend in the back yard and picking green onions (weird i know!) along the creek in our neighborhood. such special memories & happy thoughts!
I have the same baby book for Ella! I’ve be awful about using the calendar, but I love filling it out.
One of my favorite childhood memories is of going out to dinner every Friday night with my Mom and Dad, before the divorce. We would eat at this delicious burger joint (Roll n’ Roaster), where I still go once in a while . After dinner, we would walk along the dock and look at all the boats and go to the flea market thast was over there. I remember getting a tshirt that said “SomeBunny in New York Loves Me” with a bunny on it. I loved that shirt. 🙂
I was always afraid of witches! But, who wouldn’t be?? The big hat, the broom, and the fact that they could fly was terrifying. When I was around 2 years old my mom put up a big picture of a witch for Halloween outside of my room. (Why she did that, I still have no clue) Every morning I would wake up and scream because I couldn’t leave the room or the witch would take me away. My mom would run to my room and carry me down the hall and assure me that the witch would not hurt me, she is just a picture. Finally one morning, I put on my big girl pants and walked right up to the picture. I told the witch in my baby voice, “You can’t hurt me, you’re just a picture!” My mom heard this and still laughs to this day. Ever since I have not been afraid of witches, but I don’t think I will be posting a picture of a witch outside of my children’s rooms anytime soon hahaha.
i have a lot of great memories with my little brother…one of my favorites is when we would dress up and make music videos with friends. we video recorded all of them! they are halarious to watch
That book looks awesome – and would be so useful. Baby’s supposed to be arriving next week!
When I was little I use to watch my daddy shave. For safety, he stored his razor on top of the medicine cabinet b/c there was no way I could ever reach it. Right? Wrong! When I was barely 2, I snuck away from my parents, climbed onto the toilet, then onto the counter, onto the sink faucet, and shimmied my way up the medicine cabinet. My parents heard me screaming and came running in to find me holding the razor in one hand and holding onto the swinging medicine cabinet door for dear life.
What a great book!!! I have a vivid memory of laying on the couch singing with my Dad when I was 2 years old or so. I would beg, “again…again.” And we would sing the song again. Growing up music wasn’t a huge part of my family, so this memory is so special because it seems so out of character of my Dad.
When I was little, my uncle came home from a successful hunting trip, and showed me the deer he had shot. Well, I had just seen Bambi, and I was devastated. I told him that he had killed the King of the Forest. He hasn’t hunted deer since, and that was well over twenty years ago!
One of my favorite childhood memories was our trips to Disney World. We would save all year to go and take a couple of weeks off work/school to head down and enjoy some family time. Both my brother and I could never sleep the night before. Usually we would take a really early flight to get a full day of fun in. One year as we were getting ready to go, my parents picked up my brother’s stroller and a mouse popped out. My brother and I started screaming – not because we were scared, but because we thought the mouse was Mickey Mouse….
I am expecting my first baby anytime in the next 4 weeks! 🙂
My favorite childhood memories all involve me and my brother. But we used to pretend we were on a long journey, pack a backpack full of snacks and other “necessities” and explore the woods behind my parents house for hours. I feel like kids these days play outside far less than we used to, so I cherish those memories.
One of my favorite memories as a child is when my mother would put my younger sister down for a nap, and she and I would “lunch” together, so it was special time between the two of us.
Love your blog! Very inspiring.
Even when I was really young, I was an early riser. When I was a toddler, I quickly figured out how to get out of my crib and start my day earlier than my parents would have wished. One morning, my mom and dad found me sitting at the kitchen table with a chocolate mess – I had actually taken a half empty container of Nesquik powder and poured milk INTO the contained and was eating it with a spoon. Now the thought of that kinda makes me gag!
I love this book! It’s make a great gift for my sister (if she ever decides to have a baby, hurry up sis!).
When I was not yet two, my dad and I were on a ferris wheel and they were stopping and letting passengers off at the bottom while we were stopped up top. My dad said, “Courtney, are you ready to get off?” And I replied, “Not way up here!”
What a precious giveaway. I remember the worst punishment ever was being told I had to stand in the corner facing he wall. I was a very nosey child, and alway needed to know what was going on so this was by far the worst. I remember the feeling, te smell, and how many stains there were in each cOrner of not only my house but my grandmas as well. The good ole days. 🙂
Every year when I was a kid, my Dad’s extended family would spend a week at the beach over July 4th. I have very fond and FUNNY memories of making up dances with my cousins and performing them for the entire family. We have home videos of these performances and they are hilarious to watch now!
That baby book does seem perfect! I still treasure the baby book my mom filled out for me and I pulled it out as soon as I got pregnant to see what she experienced during her pregnancy and birth. My childhood memory is actually one my parents have told me- I was too little to remember! 🙂 Apparently I was a little baby but had a wicked scream (usually when my parents were trying to eat dinner). My given name is Katie but my dad nicknamed me Pierce as a baby because of my piercing scream. 😉