project life | april

These days, I'm using Project Life as a baby album for Owen. I'm taking a pretty loose approach to Project Life with this album, breaking it up by month and allowing myself to document as much or as little as I want each month rather than sticking to a week-by-week format, which I did for Ben's baby album.

I loved documenting that way, but it's just not realistic for me these days. I shared the start of the album HERE in case you missed it, which includes the "title page" for April. These layouts document the first three weeks of his life, beginning April 1. 

For the first week home from the hospital, I used Design F and portrait-style pictures of everyone holding Owen.

I forced myself to experiment in these layouts by using a couple of strictly handwritten journaling cards, but I can't promise I won't go back and change them. I'm such a sucker for typed text in my albums.

Here's the next layout, which documents two weekends and a week.

The left side documents one weekend: our first at home, just the four of us.

I love the mix of handwriting and typed text. I'm using Aleo and Avenir Next.

The right side documents Owen's second week. I spent most of this week in the hospital, which was a total bummer. I don't have any pictures of Owen that week except for this one of me holding him while I was hooked up to IV antibiotics. He wasn't allowed in my hospital room, but my sister snuck him in one night so I could snuggle with him for a couple hours.

Months earlier, Nick bought tickets to Wicked. Fortunately, I got home with a few days to rest up and I felt like going that Sunday. My mom stayed with the boys and we got to have our first date post-baby.

Details from the right side:

The next page documents the following week, up to Easter morning. Long story short: we drove up to San Francisco to spend Easter at my sister's house; I got sick the first night; we headed back home; I was readmitted to the hospital. What a mess. My mom came down and stayed with Ben so that Nick and Owen could hang out with me all day Saturday. This time, I was on a maternity floor, so it wasn't a problem having the baby with me.

Thank goodness for that. 

I love the pictures of both of my nephews meeting Owen for the first time, but this one of Owen and George (aka "Little G") is just priceless. One of my faves, for sure.

These pages came together quickly. I didn't have to stick to a strict "one photo per day" format, so I used the photos that best told the stories from those first three weeks. The same is true for the journaling cards. I love inserting a little patterned card to add some interest here and there. And both the Midnight and Baby Editions have great stand-alone cards, which add a little something without being distracting. 

Journaling card sources: polka dot, "you" heart and "now" card are all from the Midnight Edition core kit; "life" card is from the Baby Edition core kit; woodgrain card and April 2014 text are both by Paislee Press.

I don't print my photos at home, so I'm never exactly sure how layouts will turn out until I pick up my stack of photos and start filling in the pockets. I love how these pages are looking. I think the photos really tell a story, and the journaling cards are a good mix of things I like. 

You can learn more about Project Life HERE, or check out this amazing post by Kelsey describing how to get started with Project Life. Questions? Leave them in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them!