Storybook Beginning

Ye-gods it’s been so long since I’ve done a proper post, I’m overwhelmed as to what to write. Thus I’m opting for something that doesn’t require any research, design or photography. Also known as a Brain Dump.

Since our return from Italy (Oh, did you not see the pictures? Or perhaps these?) we’ve hit the ground running with work, family activities, and planning for stressing about the Holidays. Between now and 2013 we have the following: roadtrip to CT for a nephew’s confirmation, Daddy & Papa’s 15th Anniversary, Halloween (you can bet there’ll be superheroes involved), Daddy’s chorus retreat, JJ’s third birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas (and all that the season entails), as well as birthdays for 2 brothers, 1 Grandpa, 2 nephews and several close friends.

Somewhere along the way I gave myself a deadline of finishing JJ’s “story” book by his 3rd birthday. “His what?” you ask… The Story of JJ (working title) is a book I’m writing, designing and collecting photos for that will explain to JJ how he came to be, and subsequently how he came to be with us. With more and more adoptions having greater levels of openness, adoptive parents are encouraged to tell their children’s stories to them, pretty much from the get-go. Granted, certain details are saved for later stages of a child’s development, but the main goal is to make sure your kiddo grows up knowing where they came from (just like every child does), how they got to where they are, and that they are infinitely loved. It also helps minimize stigma attached to adoption and make it generally less scary. We’ve really enjoyed showing JJ mine and Papa’s Family Album, so I think this one will be a big hit (and a helpful tool) as well!

Thus far I’ve written the text, gotten Papa’s input/edits, and even ran it by a local adoption social worker who’s been a great resource/sounding board. I’ve also pulled together a bunch of initial photos. Headway is definitely being made.

But the daunting task of actually laying the thing out lies ahead, and I’ve got just over a month — an extremely busy month — to do it. So I’m writing about it (as I did with JJ’s wall mural) to hold myself publicly accountable it gets done. However, unlike the mural, JJ’s story is too personal to blog about, but I did want to share some of the process of my first ever children’s book (so to speak) with my awesome readers!

I’ll keep you posted, sharing what progress (both visual and written) that I can, in the hope that the final product will be wrapped up (and wrapped up) for JJ’s big #3!

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Okay, I know I said no photos, but in looking through what I’d collected, I was all overcome with nostalgia for those first few days of Daddydom. Here’s a favorite I’ve not posted before…