Colton Project life- weeks 1-4!

Here is the rest of the first month of Colton's Project Life Baby Book! 

Week 1-  left and right pictures below. As well as newborn pictures insert (taken this week). 

Week 1 excitement- first trip to grocery store, Mexican and Walmart! 

Again all the cards are either JAC, Kraft or Pocket Pages Baby Boy. (If you have any questions about a specific card let me know I can probably figure it out.) :) 

Week 2- left and right pictures below. 

Week 2 has no inserts. It is just regular week on two pages Project life. :)  Yes I took my 2 week old baby to the lake (we have a houseboat) and he wore a life jacket on the dock! I also took him on a 2 hour car ride to Pigeon Forge. He was perfect on the trip. :) 

Week 3- left and right pictures below. 

Week 3 excitement includes- Purchasing a Moby Wrap, first bottle, and a visit with cousin/uncle. 

Also, no inserts. I actually like it better without inserts but sometimes it can't be avoided because of special events. :) 

Week 4- left and right pictures below. 

Week 4 contains another trip to the lake- this time he actually went out on the water in a boat! :o And also in week 4 is his first trip to church!  

You might notice a common theme in the previous 4 weeks- I use the same font to title the week, and there is a weekly picture of my son in the same spot with the same stuffed animal. I started this for myself when he was a week old and accidentally posted one to Facebook when he was 5 or 6 weeks old and my family and friends went nuts for it. I get messages every Tuesday... Where is the Tuesday picture!? :) 

Thanks for reading hope this helps and/or inspires someone. :) 

A NEW Page!! Sharing Colton's Project Life Baby Book- Birth Week!

I wanted to write a blog post to share the first month of Colton's Project Life Baby Book. I found out about project life back in November or December and decided that it was the perfect way for me to put Colton's baby pictures together in a hardcopy way for him to enjoy later in life! Project Life is perfect for us because I'm a crazy person and had already taken close to a picture a day if him for most if his life. I had also already been taking weekly and monthly pics- yep I'm crazy!! You can find a million (ok probably a few thousand) pictures of my child here: http://Colton.ismysweet.com

Anyway, let's jump into this baby book business.  Under each picture will be a description of what I used (to the best of my ability) and maybe a story about what is happening in the picture. :) Here we go! 

The very first thing when you open his baby book is this 6x12 envelope (Becky Higgins brand) that holds his hospital hat, a newborn diaper and the extra hospital bracelets that aren't on another page. What I love about these pockets is the slip envelope on the front so you can journal about what is in the envelope! 

Next is the cover page. (Becky Higgins Just Add Color (JAC) Kit- from HSN). All letters you see in his book are made using a Mickey Mouse Font Cartridge in my Cricut machine. 

The first part of his book I have dubbed "birth week" because how do you only use one 2 page spread for the birth, and first few days of a baby's life!? So there are LOTS of inserts- hopefully I can make this make sense. 

Page 1- A few momentos and a few waiting for baby pics.  The selfie pic in the top left corner is our one year Aniversery pic- when we were admitted to the hospital to start the induction. He was born two days later. 

The opposite side is an insert- (12x10 Becky Higgins) both sides below.  

These are his first pictures in the world and first family pictures.  In the second picture you can see how it's an insert- it fits "in between" the 2 12x12 pages without sticking out all of the way.

Next is an 8x10 insert that holds some hospital paraphernalia. You might notice this insert is shorter than the regular pages (10 inches instead of 12). 

The next page is a full page- basically because I had lots of pics- this is still birth week though. Front and back of it follow. 

Again this is a full page "insert of course" within his birth week. The back side is his professional hospital pictures. :) 

Still in birth week is another insert- front and back below.

This is a Becky Higgins Design H- I think insert. The front is pictures of his hospital visitors. The "visitors" card is from the Pocket Pages brand Baby Boy kit (Michaels). All of the other cards I've shown so far are from either JAC or Kraft. I've mixed the two together.  

The back is pictures from bringing him home from the hospital- it was also his dads birthday (thus the caption). 

The next insert is below, front and back: 

The front side is cuddling in the hospital pictures. The back is a visit with his grand parents at their house (my in-laws). 

The next page is the rest of his birth week:  

This is a regular 12x12 project life page. You may notice I put a small piece of washi on each picture and label the date the picture was taken. This is just how I like to keep track in case a picture doesn't have journaling to correspond with it. 

I think I will stop this post and do another for the other 3 weeks in his first month (don't worry there aren't as many pages for each week!). 

The Ides of January!?

January 15th... To some people today is just another day. Not so long ago to me it was just an average day. On Jan 15th almost one year ago. I got up, I believe I rode with my parents from Loyall to Clear Creek and I went to work at Frakes. It was an average January day. My kiddos were wild- but who wouldn't be when we couldn't go outside because it was so cold? School got out and I started down the hill to meet my parents and ride home with them.

This is the turning point... Right here... Where my January 15 went from average to unforgettable. I was stuck behind an obnoxiously slow red car.  As I was passing Mason's farm I receive a phone call from my brother. I answer the phone and he doesn't say hello the first thing he says is, "are you going to Knoxville with mom and dad?" I say,"noooo... Mom and dad aren't going to Knoxville!?" He says,"haven't you talked to dad?" "No" "oh...ok" insert awkward I've stuck my foot in my mouth pause here "bub what's going on, tell me!" "Sis, they found it in her brain" his voice cracked and I remember nothing else from our conversation. The next thing I remember is sobbing as I keep my eyes on this now not so obnoxiously slow red cars tail lights. I cryed loud sobbing tears, screamed at God, why my mom!? She's done so much for God!? At some point I called my husband.  I'm not sure anything I said was coherent. I sobbed to him-and likely scared the baJesus out of him. I reached Clear Creek and pulled my car in the parking place beside mom and dads Prius, like I always did. I couldn't move. I saw dad get out of the car and walk around to me. I slowly got out- I'm not sure what the complete verbal exchange was outside that car but I let him know I knew and I was coming to Knoxville. He told me mom was really disoriented and that she was confused and that we shouldn't talk about it in the car. I said ok and we got in. That ride to Knoxville I sent a lot of text messages. My boss and classroom aid letting them know I wasn't going to be coming to work the next day. My husband telling him where I was going. Friends asking them to pray for me. I really knew very very little at this point. But I knew a few things: I would never forget January 15th, the news we had received a few short weeks earlier that my moms pet scans had come back completely clear and she was cancer free wasn't true, and that my life was about to change and never be the same.