Map It Out

In what I can only assume is a fit of first-time-mother pre-planning, I have been diligently working on Bimmer's baby book AND first year scrapbook during my down time. We plan to keep the baby book for the typical stuff... all the stats of her birth, info on her shots, and who was at her baby shower and first birthday party. However, since I am an avid scrapbooker (although not a crazy fanatic) I wanted to do something special to document her first year.

 

Since 2008, I have made a scrapbook for each year, rather than printing the thousands of photos I take. I will also make special scrapbooks for special occasions and trips... like Scandinavia or our wedding. So it seemed like a perfectly natural fit for me to create one for Bimmer's first year. (At this point, I don't intend to make one for every year, but rather just stick to the family one.) I've mapped out pages for my bump photos and professional maternity shots. I've started templates for her first photos in the hospital and for her homecoming. I have place-holder notes of where her professional newborn photos will be placed and a running list of other things I want to be sure to capture. (First bath, family visits, etc.)

 

I even sat on the deck one afternoon, traced leaves from our oak tree and ivy and jasmine, and made her a family tree.

 

Then, inspired by a post over at YHL, I also have printed out a page for Puff and I to notate our predictions about Bimmer's future... like her favorite toy, first word, and future occupation.

 

However, this unassuming map is, by far, the thing in her scrapbook I am most giddy over. It's no surprise to any of my friends or avid readers that I am always on a quest to pick up new states, territories, and countries. I'm in a race with my good friend, Anna. (While I am technically "winning" in the states category and am close on the countries, she trumps me hands down because she actually goes and LIVES in some of these places versus pops by on a cruise ship!) So, I figure it was only right to start Bimmer's life off right with a little travel. If all goes according to plan, before she hits 3 months old, she will have been to 7 states. I will gladly stop and get her out of her car seat to take photos for evidence, if you so require. (Anna won't let me count the 8 states I visited while Bimmer was in-utero.)

 

As we inch super closer to her arrival, I am getting more and more anxious to bust out a marker and slowly color in the states as she ticks them off her list. Puff and I fully intend to travel as much as possible with her and any future sibling. Yes, we realize how crazy we sound. But my parents made it work, so I know we can too. Will we be jetting off to Iceland one year and then to Turkey the next? Of course not. But that doesn't mean we don't already talk about the museums in NYC we want her to see, or the monuments in Washington DC we hope to visit with her. We want to cruise the Pacific Coast Highway in California with her in the back of our convertible and hike to natural wonders in Utah. Plus, ya know, take her to Iceland.

 

Anna has graciously offered up her roaming gnome, Alfred, to be the baby's godfather. I don't think there is anyone better suited for our future globetrotter.