A discussion started on Twitter last week about Scrapbooking and I had to jump in the conversation to share my experience with this hobby for my first child. It seems that I’m not the only mom who has lived with such guilt over not having the time to do the same special project for my other sons. They deserved it just as much, didn’t they?
When I was home with my first son, I had all the time in the world…he was a fabulous sleeper and during his 2-3 hour afternoon naps, I would drag out the scrapbooking supplies and go to town. I had the cool scissors, spent a fortune on funky papers and I had a mini cutting board just because it was so damn cute!
I spent literally hours upon hours making this amazing scrapbook for him- it was the ultimate labour of love and I was so proud of my scrapbooking prowess. Back then, it was all the rage- it was a time where we actually PRINTED our digital photos. There were scrapbooking parties at my girlfriend’s house (with wine), there were scrapbooking nights at craft stores where we went turbo speed to get as much done in the 3 hour window as we could, and we asked for all the cool new supplies for birthdays and Christmas. I became a bit obsessed to get it finished for his first birthday…
I loved doing that project for my first sweet son. I don’t regret the time that this beloved project took…in fact, when our twins were born, four years later, I bought the books to do their first year but life was not as we had planned it.
What I did instead last year, for a Christmas present, was create photobooks online. I even bought a second copy to give to their grandparents as a gift as well! These books documented the first few years of their lives, shared with them my pregnancy, their birth, birthdays, “firsts” and holiday memories. Again, I spent hours online collecting the best photos, organizing them, designing the backgrounds, laying out the texts and images until they were “perfect”. There were late nights of tweaking and adding and early mornings to get it loaded and ordered in time for the 25th.
I gave the boys their books and as they unwrapped them, they stopped in the middle of the morning craziness and mass of presents to look through their unique book from mommy. They asked questions, laughed and told us the stories behind those photos. I knew in that moment, that it really wasn’t about the fact that the scrapbook might have been a bit “prettier” for my first child…in fact, my guilt about this went away instantly. I knew that my real goal had been to make each child feel special, unique and important. I learn it again each time my little guy packs HIS story in his suitcase to take with us on EVERY vacation.
The TIME and LOVE it took to create something special from their mommy, was the true gift that I gave ALL of my sweet boys.
