Easy and Expandable “Who Loves Baby” Book

Since we’ve lived in Utah for the majority of Jack’s life, we don’t live near a lot of family. While we love everyone that lives nearby (and the time we’ve been able to spend in North Carolina and Colorado this summer with family,) it makes me sad sometimes that he doesn’t get to see all of our family members on a regular basis. However, it’s always been important to me to help Jack recognize his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, even when he isn’t able to see them very often.

I thought a good way to do this was to create a “Who loves Jack” book, as I had seen other people have over the years. However, I wanted one that I could easily update, rather than just creating one on Blurb or Shutterfly, since they wouldn’t be able to be updated with new family members. After a little bit of thinking, I came up with this idea, and we’ve loved it ever since. It’s super simple, affordable, and you can switch out pictures whenever you want!

Materials:

• 5×7 pictures (not glossy print)
• Lamination paper (or get photos professionally laminated)
• Loose Leaf Rings, 1 inch or larger (like this)

First, I edited all the pictures I wanted in PicMonkey, and added the names of everyone in the photo.

I tried to choose pictures of the person holding Jack, though if there were several people in the family, I just used a recent family picture.

Then, I had them printed at Costco, in the 5×7 format. Obviously, you can make them whatever size you want, but I felt like this was an easy size to work with. Also, it’s important not to have them printed glossy. When I went to have them laminated at Office Max, the lady had to actually recopy all of them in a matte format because they would have smeared otherwise. Who would have thought! So, save yourself some time and money by printing in matte.

As I mentioned, I had them laminated at Office Max, and it was fairly inexpensive. If you have a laminator at home, or want to purchase the lamination sheets at the store (that don’t require a laminator) that is totally fine too.

After getting all the photos laminated, and trimming off the excess of lamination plastic, I organized them with the cover on the front, then photos of Forrest and I, then the grandparents, and then organized the remaining pictures from oldest to youngest. I used pictures that were both horizontal and vertical, so that made it look less like a book, so if you want the edges to all line up perfectly, keep that in mind.

When I had the pictures in the order I wanted, I punched a hole in the top left corner of each photo. I put it together using a 1 inch loose leaf paper ring, and it was done. Jack loves looking through it, and pointing at all the people who he recognizes. We often take it to church, or just look through it when we’re missing our family! And, since our family is ever-expanding, I love that I can update this book as the years go on. It also didn’t cost very much, and I think it will last a very long time.