I need printing advice (kind of long)

I'm having a dilemma about printing and I need your feedback! I'm tired and i'm sure I'm overthinking this but I need some reassurance.

When I started scrapping I had a 5 y/o, a cruddy camera, no good old photos of Nathan, and I was incredibly sick and pregnant with Naomi. So, I barely captured my pregnancy of Naomi and obviously none of Nathan's.

For this and many reasons, I have chosen to not be a chronological scraper. I just do Shutterfly books and label them Vol I, and so forth. Some are 20 pages because they've been free and I've been otherwise broke, others are 50-70 pages because I've ordered when I had more play money. I have 6 volumes, and 230 pages printed so far, and am pretty much caught up with my children and family layouts. The kids don't have their own albums, it's just whoever on whatever page.

That led to confusion recently because I did a whole bunch of pages of baby Nathan while I was pregnant with Parker and when I was on vacation a few weeks ago and my family was looking at my albums they kept thinking Nathan was Parker. I kept having to remindd all of them that I haven't printed since Parker was born so that they were ALL of Nathan, LOL. (I just ordered a 50 page book so NOW I have some of Parker ) I have a special folder for layouts of me, David, and me and David...I'll print those one day but right now it's not a priority.

Since I knew Parker's was my last pregnancy I really wanted to capture it well and I did weekly layouts from week 4 to week 37. It was the only album I planned on doing separate from our normal family albums.

I was getting ready to print his book and the guilt set in. That he'll be the only one with a pregnancy album. I KNOW with my head they all won't have the exact same memorykeeping from me but this seems excessive....I looked...ONE pregnancy layout of Nathan, like 3 of Naomi (was too sick to care even though I WAS scrapping then) and....ummm...33 of Parker?

But then I got to thinking about it and the pregnancy album is really more for me than him anyway.

So I go looking through my stash. Just a few months ago I had 25 rolls of APS film put on CD and obtained 600 old photos that I didn't have before. These are from 2000-2004 so Nathan's first 4 years of life. Looking through them, there are atleast 8-10 pregnancy layouts I could eek out for Nathan using those old photos, even though they are poor quality.

Looking through my Naomi stash, I see atleast 10-12 layouts that I could create using photos that were taken but I didn't have the oomph to scrap.

I still don't have enough layouts of Nathan or Naomi to do a 20 page album for either of them.

But would it be okay to do a pregnancy album in general, doing a page to divide the sections between the children. Yes, Nathan will have abut 10 pages, and Naomi will have about 12 and Parker will still have 33...but do you think it would be okay to do it that way? I'll make sure they each have a page documenting the start of the pregnancy, each have a page explaining how I chose their name, each have a page of their birth story...so there will be some equality there but it won't be perfect.

Is it weird to combine them? I can't give the album to any of them, though I suppose I could print more if it really became an issue. That would be well into the future so I'm not worried about that at all. Mostly I did want it for me anyway but I'm just not sure what to do.

If you've made it through that long ramble, bless you! Now give me some advice!

I have the same problem -- well not the pregnancy pics -- because I refused to have those taken. But the mommy guilt over overdoing for one and not enough for the other 2. Mind you, one of the three is not "technically" mine but I have been in her life since she was 2 and I love her very much like my own. My problem is the here and now photos and what to scrap. My 12 year old is my (lovely) nightmare. He is giving me the worst trouble and won't take pics and when he does, he wants them to be silly or he is just stone faced. Occasionally, I will get a good one of him smiling but - it is rare. So I make pages with my stepdaughter and my little guy. And then I feel the guilt. That even though he is giving me no choice, I feel like I should be scrapping more of him. So then I scan older pics of him to do, but still not recent. It's frustrating. But in the end, I think they will all just be glad that we took the time to make these precious pages for all of them.
Do your album however you are most comfortable. Personally, I would do a whole album of the pregnancy I kept up with and then maybe another later with a handful of each of the kids. But that's just me. Right now I do way more with Colton than Lane, but Lane just doesn't give me anything to work with.

Hope that helps, but I totally understand if it doesn't. I'm a little bit of a rambler.

I think I would do a combination album.

Unfortunately I was not scrapping when I was preggo with Derrick so I don't have ANY pages of me preggo with him. In fact, I think I only have 2 photos me be preggo back then and they were either done with a crappy 2.0px digi camera or with a disposable camera. They are sooooo bad. With Rhett I took self pictures a couple of times but they aren't that good either. So, really neither of my boys will have my pregnancy pages about them.

I was going to do one of those beautiful photo shoots of my big ol' belly with Rhetty but then I started feeling guilty that Derrick wouldn't have the same pages so I didn't have them done... and now I'm regretting that.

No matter what - don't feel guilty! You did and are doing the best you can! Here's what I would do (and have DONE in a case similar to this one...) I made a disclaimer page in my album explaining why some months were documented heavily and why others were barely represented. For me, my albums and all these layouts are for my children and grandchildren and general posterity, and I felt better "explaining" myself and my album. That way no one thinks I was just a crazy lady scrapping here there and everywhere. Does that make sense? Probably not because I'm rambling. But my advice is do a disclaimer page, either in the front or in the back.

ETA: I'm a chronological scrapper, too...

I think I would do a combination album the way you've described. I think when the kids are older they will understand that times as well as technology change so much from year to year and they'll be okay with the differences in the number of pages for each of them. I'll have a similar situation when I do something similar for my kids since they are 6, 4 and 16 months and I had a different camera during each of the pregnancies and took varying numbers of photos as well.

My sister keeps telling my life isnt fair so stop trying to make that way.

I have step sons and my son.

The oldest step son is 17. I am planning a 18 year old book. When my son is 18 there will be so many pages that it may be a coffee table not sit on one.

Have you thought about adding pages that can increase the size. Pages of memories, places you visited, your feelings.............................foods the baby ate. I am also asking family for their photos. I might also think about limiting the number of pages. Nothing says you have to use every page. I have the hardest time making things to fit...........

Good luck

Yes, that's an idea, if you decide to do separate books... You can make layouts without pics just journaling to tell a story about anything during pregnancy - cravings, funny little things that happened, how you felt, all kinds of things! I'm planning that for some non photo layouts since I have no pics of me pregnant

I don't think it's weird at all to combine them, Lena. I think it's a great idea and will make a wonderful album.

arenee said:

My sister keeps telling my life isnt fair so stop trying to make that way.

Click to expand...

A woman from my own heart!

Try not to stress about it Lena! Stressing about scrapping make it's no fun at all! Do what you can, when you can. If it'll take a while to get some layouts done of Nathan and Natalie, then relax and take your time with it. It'll come when it comes. Your children will cherish the time you've taken to document the wonderful memories of their childhood, regardless of which one has more layouts done than the other.

And if it'll ease your conscience, print the pregnancy album for Parker and keep it away from the other ones until the kids are older and will understand better.

I would do the combination book, but that is just my opinion.

I'd do one of 2 things. Either I'd do the combination album of all the pregnancies or I'd make 3 separate albums but have Parker's be all pregnancy and the other 2 be a combination of pregnancy and first year. That way each child has one special early album, and Parker's first year LOs could just continue to go in your mixed albums.

Go ahead and do the combo album!! I think that's a great idea, it totally is more for you then the kids. Now, if you looked through what you did after all and saw that you had one with a photo of you pregnant, one about choosing their name, and one about their birthstory... those are things I think your kids might appreciate having some day, so you could throw those into a book for them, if you wanted to.
I don't really scrap chronologically either, but mine are still all loose pages. However, I am working on a baby book for each of my kids (probably we will only have two...) which will be for them to keep. I have only one pregnancy page on each. Don't feel bad. I'm sure your kids won't feel cheated!!