7/20/2011

Picture book...

I had posted that we were supposed to make a photo book for C that would be sent to her orphanage and the nannies would begin getting her familiar with our home and family.  We ended up making a hard covered photo book through Shutterfly and it turned out A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  I originally wanted to make a board book and although I think that would have been nice, we had too many pictures to fit in a board book.  In the end, the book had about 20 pages and was filled with pictures of Cory, Allie, and me, pictures of all of the rooms of our house with descriptions of what we do in each room, the outside of our house, the backyard, and a prayer for C.  It's our hope that this book will help C (since she'll probably have 4-5 months to look at it) with her transition into our family.

We are also going to buy a Hallmark recordable book and bring it with us when we go to some required toddler adoption classes next weekend at CHSFS.  We are hoping and praying that CHSFS will send it to C's orphanage (we aren't allowed to have contact until we go to India) for us so that she can also hear our voices.

If anyone has any other ideas of things we can do to ease C's transition into our home, please feel free to share!

We hope everyone is surviving the heat!  I've been wanting to take pictures for the past 2 weeks, but the humidity is so high that my camera lens fogs over!!!

5 comments:

No Greater Love said...

What a great picture book idea! I am so glad you found something that would be so sturdy.

I think that Build-A-Bear has voice recorders too, that you can record your voice on, and then put inside the bear. I wonder if they would let you mail that to C.

I think Sarah bought one of those once, for her daughter, and I have a friend in Maine who did! They loved them.

angie said...

wow, that sounds like such a great idea!! i love shutterfly books :)
thanks for your comments....to answer your question, my daughter's dress is from old navy....but i bought it last summer when it was on clearance. my son's shirt i just got at gap outlet though, and sometimes they will have boys & girls outfits with the same color schemes, so maybe you could try there!

Ryan and Ann Schlenner said...

What a great idea!!!!!!!! She will LOVE the book!!!!!!!! You are so talented!! Hoping the steps closer go quickly for you! Our process is definately on the slow boat to China! Hugs!

Brad and Renae said...

Nikki-
Love the idea about the Hallmark card with your voices!! We are working on our photo albumn too - we did a small book with about 20 pages - on there we put pictures of house and family -- and also a picture of our van - airplane pictures - found on the internet (inside and out pics).. and picture of a carseat - we also had Joshua draw a picture for her and placed that inside - then we left one page for our daughter to add stickers, etc.. that we plan to mail along with the book. We also have a very small baby photo album that is all cloth and pics of just us family VERY close up. Our agency said the little ones LOVE to carry these baby albums around, because it's kindof like a toy to them - and it's their new family - plus they can keep them in their crib. I love the photo book - what a treasure to have for years. Best to you and your family. Do you know when you will travel?~Renae

Nikki said...

Hi Renae!
Thanks for your comment! We sent a small photo album for our daughter with her first care package too! It's our hope that she is comforted by our pictures and it can help with her transition to our home.
I like your idea of pictures of an airplane and car seat. I might make another book that we can go through with her for the week or so that we are in India prior to her coming home. That might help her feel at ease without overwhelming her. Thanks for the fun idea!
We don't know when we will travel. Our hope and prayer is that we have C home by the end of the year...however as you know with adoption there really isn't a timeline on anything!!!
How about you? I think you are a little ahead of us paperwork wise...so when's your expected travel month?