made: pre-baby-book for Gracie

Did you think I'd stopped making things? I didn't! I've just been terrible about blogging about them. I just realized I have to catch up on all my record-keeping of things I made, though, because it's time for the new word of the year and I want to get going on that. :)

If you've been with us from the start, you know that we wrote baby-blogs for both our kids during their respective pregnancies. When we started Gracie's blog (almost exactly four years ago!) I knew I wanted to make it into a book one day--but those blog books are expensive! Luckily at the beginning of the year a Groupon popped up for a Blurb book (one of the companies that will make your blog into a book), so I snatched up two of them and got to work!

Blurb has software you use to design the book, so I had full control over how it looked. I chose a photo of Gracie and Steve in Encinitas for the cover. I'm almost positive this was her first trip to the beach, at about 6 or 8 weeks old.

Steve started our blog on New Year's Day, 2008--the day we found out we were expecting! To celebrate we went to Ruby's and got vanilla Coke and fried zucchini to go, and enjoyed them at La Jolla Cove. We also kissed and made faces. And I bought a copy of What to Expect.

I did my best to take weekly pictures once my belly was big enough to look pregnant. For some reason I decided to wear the same (grungy) clothes every time for the first while. Guess I wasn't really thinking that I would have to look at these photos forever. Still, I love having these pictures of my belly growing.

We wrote about everything we did, anything baby-related, during the wait for our little bun to finish baking. Like going on a "Babymoon" (we did this *before* it was the big thing, FYI).

The caption of this one just says, "These two are going to be parents." Steve has q-tips in his ears.

Our friend Lani took some maternity photos for us (for free--what a sweetie) at the beach--we LOVE these pictures. I wish we had done some with Charlie's pregnancy. Oh, also, Steve graduated AND sliced his finger open and had to go to the ER. He needed some attention.

This is one of my favorites BECAUSE it was taken at the spot where Steve proposed to me! The EXACT spot--except there used to be a bench! We thought it would be so cute to take a picture there for this shoot, but when we got there it was just a cement slab--bench was gone. It cracked us up.

I carry... big.

I added a photo of the house we brought Gracie home to--we moved in with Steve's cousin a week before Grace was born. Her room was a large alcove by the stairs with no door (which is why she sleeps so well--accidental genius). I know that sounds like Harry Potter, but we actually made it very cute and cozy.

And of course I blogged from labor--also before it was cool. It was all done via old-school texting. Pretty fun. Oh how things have changed in only a couple years! This page has our first two family photos--the one I like best is on the right, but it had to be small because it is low-res--my dad took it on his phone. :)

And since it took me so long to publish her little book, she got a bonus letter from Mama with tons of mini-photos of her first three years (up to the point I got the book printed). It was really hard to choose the perfect photos!

Couldn't resist a full-page spread of the kiddos. They are best friends; I LOVE IT.

And her closing page. What a cutie.

If you want to see the whole thing (or read it--watch out, its long), you can check out the book preview here.

(p.s. I loved Blurb! The book came out looking lovely, high quality--couldn't have wished for better!)