Shutterfly Books

Thoughts on making some Shutterfly Books recently:

• It was on my Christmas list to have time to do so
• I had coupons that were about to expire and I’ve let too many of those slip away in the past
• I only had two baby books for Michael, and none for Noah, and none to finish out Michael’s first year
• Created 2 for Noah's first year, and one more to finish out Michael's first year
• I missed out on creating books in 2014-2016 because I knew I'd come across pictures leading up to Michael's diagnosis.  Looking at pictures was painful—too close to Michael's diagnosis.  Too weighty for me to think that I missed out on life because I was so scared
• Even looking at the books now makes me wonder if I realized how much a treasure the time was and did I fully enjoy my children
• “babies don’t keep”
• Makes me want to fully envelope myself in Avery’s baby stages so that I can truly feel like I cherished them and relished in the moments
• Once all 3 kids have a set of books chronicling their first year, I’ll make combined books and I’ll just print extra copies so each kid can have one  (UPDATE:  I actually have now successfully made a "family book" for 2014-2015)
• I gave myself grace and accepted the good dose of reality that I don’t have as much time as I did when Michael was my only baby, so I didn’t add text boxes and cute sayings to the most recent books and that’s okay
• Making these books for us to look at is such a treasure.  Michael LOVES looking at his books.  Noah isn't really into looking at his yet, but I know he will want to look one day. 
• Next on the list:  making a family book for 2015-2016, and then chronicling Avery's first year.  

Until Next Time, 

Much love, Reba