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My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families
May 8th, 2010 | 
Author: 
- ISBN13: 9780811857376
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
For the growing audience of adoptive families, Chronicle Books is proud to offer a baby book that suits the wide array of experiences and choices that bring a family and their new child together. This lovely keepsake album contains sections to record all the joyful milestones and cherished family moments that mark a new baby’s life, pages to chart the adopted child’s unique journey, as well as a sturdy pocket in which to store important documents and memorabilia. Inside the pocket are over 60 stickers you can use to customize the family tree pages. As the pages of the journal fill with memories, My Family, My Journey will stand as a lasting testament of love for the entire family.
My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families
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We recently purchased this album for our adopted son, mostly because it had excellent reviews and was one of the few adoption-specific baby albums available. While it’s not a bad album, and I’m glad we have it, I wish that I’d been able to look at it before the purchase, but was unable to find a copy in the local bookstore that wasn’t sealed. So for the benefit of those looking, here’s what is on the inside, in order of appearance. Most of the pages include about half a page of space to fill in the story, as well as places to put photographs, with pre-printed or blank captions
–Before You Were Born (The story of us and how we came to be a family); includes space for family photos before and after placement
–The Story of Your Adoption; includes sections for “Why we chose to adopt” (only two lines for text!), “how we found you”, and “our hopes and dreams for you”
–People Who Helped Us Find You; includes space for four pictures, names, and “how they helped us find you”.
–Waiting; includes sections for “plans and preparations we made”
–The Match!; includes sections for “how we found out” and “how we celebrated”
–A Baby Shower!, includes sections for shower invitation, “favorite shower memories”, “special guests”, and “special gifts”
–Our Journey to You; includes sections on “where you were”, “how we got to you”, and “joyful memories”
–Our Very First Meeting; includes space for photograph and sections on “our first impression of you” and “your first impression of us”
–All About Your Name; includes sections on “why we chose your name” and “what it means and where it came from”
–All About Your Birthday; includes sections on “your astrological sign” and “what we know about your birthdate”
–Our Family; includes space for four family individuals: names, relationship, favorite foods, color and animal, and some space for text (no photo space, although you could improvise pretty easily)
–Coming Home; includes sections on “your trip home” and “you wore”
–Your New Home; includes space for a photo of baby’s room and sections on “what you thought of your new home” and “what we did on your first day home”
–Introductions and Celebrations; includes sections on “some of the first people you met”, “favorite stories” and “favorite presents”
–Your Announcement; includes space for announcement
–Your Adoption Buddies; includes space for four individuals, including photograph, child’s name, parents’ names, and favorite memories
–Page for four photos of your choice
–Twelve pages marked for months one, two, etc, meant to be the “first year with us” (so not necessarily 1 month of age, 2 months of age, etc). Each page has space for a photograph, and sections for height, weight, and memorable moments & milestones
–First and Favorites; includes sections on first word, favorite toys, first night slept all the way through, favorite foods, first step, favorite songs, other firsts & favorites
–Your Adoption Day; includes sections on judge’s name, special people who were there, “how we celebrated”, and one full page for a photograph
–Your First Birthday With Us; includes sections on “on your birthday you wore”, “all about your birthday cake”, “the special people who attended”, “gifts you received”, and one full page for a photograph
–”Things that Make You Smile”, “Things That Make You Cry”
–One full page for “What We Know About Your Birth Family and Where You Came From”
–Two family trees, each on a page opposite each other. One is marked with aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. The other is blank. There are stickers in a back pocket of the book so that you can fill in other branches/relationships as necessary, and it’s up to you if you want the trees to be biological or adoptive families, or one of each.
–Two pages for Notes
While it’s a good book, and I would probably buy it again, I was surprised to find out that there are just as many pages here that I’m going to find difficult to fill out as I would have in a traditional baby book, where obviously I can’t fill any of the pregnancy bits out. Adoption Buddies? Maybe that’s good if you’re adopting your child in a group from overseas, with other families, but not for a private adoption from an agency. People Who Helped Us Find You? I’m guessing that would be our adoption agency, but I don’t really see the need to give them a full two pages of my son’s adoption book or to ask for their photographs.
All in all, a good book for the money. It’s seriously durable, with reinforced, good-quality pages, and the cover is slightly padded. It doesn’t lie quite flat now, but I suspect it will over time and as I begin to really fill it out. (Kind of need the baby to nap for that!)
Rating: 5 / 5
This book s absolutely adorable. It is more than a baby book with spots for height and weight. It is a book that documents your babies life from before you knew them. There are sections to note your child’s caretakers, orphanage buddies, referral pictures, etc. It truly is a keepsake and has gorgeous illustrations. Oh, and while the description says the book is a soft cover, it is more like a padded hardcover. I thought I was going to get a floppy book and it wasn’t at all to my surprise (better than I thought).
Rating: 5 / 5
We brought our son home from the hospital as a foster child and bought this book to preserve those special memories. While the book is appropriate for our situation 90% of the time, the other 10% leaves many blank entries and sad omittances. The book is beautifully done and will be a nice companion to our son’s lifebook, scrapbook and photo album. I wish it were just a little more accessible to the less traditional adoptive family.
Rating: 4 / 5
this little book is such a treasure to our family, it is so nice to have something to fit our unique situation and turn it into a fun story for our new son to look back on! It shows him he is a prize to us, and thats exactly what he is! Anyone searching for a baby book for a child adopted or fostered, look no further, this one is great!
Rating: 5 / 5
My husband and I recently adopted two children from Uganda, East Africa. Chloe and Noah have been home just six weeks. A friend of mine gave us a copy of “my family, my journey” at their welcome party, and amidst our new, busy life, I have found it easy and enjoyable to use this resource to recount Noah and Chloe’s adoption story. Initially, it looks like a baby book, albeit not too cutesy or frilly. But each page quickly reveals the unique story of adoption. The creators clearly have a sincere grasp of adoption while allowing flexibility for each story’s unique details and quality. Overall, this resource is an excellent way to share the details of an adoption. Some headings include “The Match,” “A Baby Shower” and “What We Know About Your Birth Family and Where You Came From.” My mother teared up while reading the headings before I had begun to fill the blanks! My favorite pages include “People Who Helped Us Find You” and “Adoption Buddies,” celebrating some of the other faces in their story. Some of the headings gave us trouble though. The “Waiting” page offered no space for photos and only six lines for text. We waited five months to be matched and another 17 months before Chloe and Noah came home. We could have used more room. Also, the spaces left for photos throughout the book are of non-standard size and have borders that make it difficult to either mount photos inside of them or cover the borders completely with the photo. A clip art image to mark the center of the photo location would have made mounting easier. In any case, I would definitely give this resource to other adoptive families and hope that Noah and Chloe will treasure their adoption story as much as we treasure them.
Rating: 4 / 5