NOVARENA Keepsake Memory Book for Baby Boy or Girl Timeless First 5 Year Baby Book A Milestone Baby Book from Birth to Age 5 Gender Neutral Journal Scrapbook Photo Album Stickers Baby Ink Pad

Thankful for Amazon Prime which allowed me to get a variety of baby books to look through with free returns. Finally decided on this one (non-picture cover)! I previously used the Tiny Gifts, My Tiny Adventures First 5 Years Baby Memory Book + Ink Pad + Gift Box for my daughter (which I also recommend) but wanted a different book for kiddo #2 (boy, planning animal theme) for the sake of variety. Let me say that all of the books below are cute in their own way and I don’t think that there is one single perfect baby book out there that suits every single person (unless you scrapbook and have all the time in the world with a newborn, in which case, are you a robot? haha). Even this one was not perfect for what I wanted but lots of ways to make certain pages better or fit my preferences. All of the books have similar weight and quality of pages in my opinion so that was not really a factor. The other ones I purchased which I felt were comparable after reading reviews: 1. C.R. Gibson Grey ‘Linen Tree’ Loose Leaf First Five Years Memory Baby Book 2. C.R. Gibson Elephant ‘Hello World’ First Five Years Memory Baby Book 3. Carter’s by C.R. Gibson Hello World Animal Themed Bound Baby Memory Book 4. Ronica Brand Baby Boy Gift Set with Baby Memory Book, Monthly Stickers 5. Itty-Bitty Gifts My Adventures, A Book About the Precious Firsts, First 5 Years Baby Memory Book + Ink Pad + Gift Box 6. Co Little Baby Memory Book, The Story of Me, Baby’s First Moments and Firsts (A Book Full of Love and Adventures) + Ink Pad 7. Lucy Darling Little Animal Lover Memory Book Why I ultimately chose this one: - Book shipped and arrived in good quality with cute full box cover with clear front window to see the front of the book (Ronica Brand came with front book cover completed bowed in the middle, C.R.G. Hello World book came with a back keepsake box but no front, just plastic cover) - Comes with monthly, yearly, and milestone stickers as well as ink pad for handprints/footprints (what I thought was lacking about the C.R. Gibson books, especially for how much you pay for the loose leaf one) - Pictures are all either 4x6 or 5x7 and have clearly delineated lines for the photos (C.R.G. books have some oddly shaped photos without clear measurements I’d have to cut and would end up covering up some of the cute illustrations; Itty-Bitty Gifts was all 3.5x5; Co Little has some 3.5x5 and 4x4 in spaces thrown in at random; Lucy Darling is all 4x4 or 3x3 in (square Instagram type photos), which I originally thought would be fun but quickly realized I definitely won’t have time for that!) - Monthly pages have minimal lines to fill in. This could be considered a pro or con, but for me, definitely a pro so I don’t feel the need to wrack my brain for additional info that I can’t remember. In comparison, the Tiny Adventures book we used with my daughter has several more lines than this book has and I found myself putting the same types of “milestones” for several of the months or just leaving lines blank in that book. This one is perfect for us. (The C.R.G. loose leaf had a LOT of space for writing, which ultimately was a major factor for me). - Rare spelling/grammar errors, only main one I have noticed is “I learnt those new things” on the monthly pages, learnt being more commonly used outside U.S. but to me it should be “Learnt THESE new things” but I'm probably just being too picky (incorrect spelling/grammar in a publication is a pet peeve of mine; Co Little has some interesting ones you can read on its reviews, my husband and I are still chuckling at “My First Doctor’s VISTIT”) - Has pages for pretty much all the possible holidays you could want or take pictures of your little one celebrating, plus a random page in the back of the book for “My Other Special Holidays" (would have put this after the other holiday pages, but it’s cute and thoughtful regardless; I was shocked to find that the C.R.G. loose leaf book had one SINGLE spread for “my special Holidays”) - Has a Table of Contents. This is the only book of the ones above that had this. Would be more helpful if it had correlating page numbers, but it at least shows you the general layout to get to a certain page easier. - Has multiple spreads for Mommy, Daddy, and family, including letters from Mommy and Daddy. This could also be a con (especially for LGBTQ+ or single parent families), but I really liked this setup for me personally as family is so important to us. I think these pages could be easily repurposed. - Has a Keepsake envelope in the back. This is where I am most likely to keep things like the hospital bracelet (though this book has a page for that) and extra ultrasound or other photos. (None of the C.R.G. books above have this pocket, but if you got the loose leaf 3-ring binder style you can obviously very easily add a pocket in for keepsakes). - Can choose cover with picture and footprint slot or plain cover (our preference) as well as the gray unisex or pink color. Nice to have options! - Last but certainly not least, as stated in their description, the book is printed with eco-friendly, soy-based inks, and the company is a black-owned business, owned and founded by a woman and mother (because Mama entrepreneurs are AMAZING!!). Possible cons: - Brighter colored, cartoon-like illustrations. We liked this because it was similar to my daughter’s book, but if you’re going for a more classy/sophisticated toned-down style, I would probably do the C.R.G. books. - Bound book vs. loose leaf. This didn’t matter to us since I feel like this particular book has all the pages I would want and then some. The C.R.G. loose leaf is the only one I really found like it, so if you want the freedom to add additional pages or pictures, definitely look for more loose leaf. - Two full spreads for baby showers. Obviously pre-COVID this was probably helpful, but not great if this is not your first kid rodeo or you just didn’t have a shower (especially prevalent nowadays). The nice thing about this book is that you could actually just take out one of the baby shower pages because the baby shower title page is on the left and baby shower photos on the right. I actually plan to use the extra spread as a maternity/family photos session spread instead and just print and paste my own title page, I think you could turn it into whatever you want. - Full spread for hospital visitors + pictures AND separate spread for home visitors + pictures, with guest and gift list. I must just not be that popular or something…haha Again, pages can be repurposed easily I think. - Order of pages. It seems strange to me that the monthly pages are between some of the “My First” pages and My First Holiday pages, but not a deal-breaker, plus again, Table of Contents is helpful! Hope this helps!

Love love love this for new baby journey. Great organizer for baby’s memories. Has things like the price of gas, a gallon of milk, price of a stamp etc. I don’t like that some of the picture squares are only vertical but overall good starter memory book! Easy to use. Highlights growth, activities such as walking and crawling, holidays etc. all baby’s firsts..

Grand Son and his fiance loved this, bright beautiful colors, lots of neat pockets to put little keepsakes in. Nicely made and definitely a purchase well worth the cost!

I love that it comes with so many different things! I love the little ink pad and the milestone stickers.

Disappointed that the book didn’t come in new condition had sticky stuff and water marks like a cup was set on it.

I bought this for my grandson. The parents really liked it.

Excellent present for baby shower, nice colors nice record keeping for new baby!

This record for baby is just about as perfect as it can get. The illustrations are adorable and the titles are easily read. I bought this book for my Granddaughter who is giving us our first Greatgrand daughter. So happy with my purchase and have no problem recommending your product. Thank you