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!)

Brand	N/A
Rating	4.7 (499 ratings)
Price	$16.95
Category	Adoption

My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families (Susie Ghahremani)