Shellse, I think everyone has there own way of organizing their albums. What ever works best for you is what you should do. I have 4 albums going at once. I have one album for each of my kids (ages 8, 9, 10) and then one for myself. I started the kids albums with pictures of them on the day they were born and just went from there. I use the three ring albums so I can work on what ever time period I want to. If I want to do a page from when they were babies then all I have to do when finished is put the page in where it goes. That way I can skip around and do a page from way back when and then do a page from a recent event. I sure wish I would have known about scrapbooking back when they were babies so I could have been doing this all along. It is pretty time consuming trying to catch up, but it is so fun to sit and share with my kids, the memories and stories around the pictures I am using as I make a page. Just take a deep breath and dive right in. Happy Scrappin' !

Shellse,
I have an album for each of my two children, and will make more of each of their photos depending on how many I have of each child. I also plan on making an album for each of my 4 brothers, my mom and one for myself. For shots that have all of us in it that I think we would all like a photo of, I either scan and copy it on the computer or if it's a really important shot I take and have it reprinted at the store. As long as you use computer paper the reprints on your computer turn out pretty good, at least good enough for my brother's albums, who by the way are not helping with the costs of their albums since I am making them as gifts for Christmas. This type of reprints might be a possibility for you also for shared child shots, by giving the main child in the photo the orginial and the other the reprint or taking turns giving the reprints to each child. Penny

It isn't so crucial that your albums be perfect, chronological records of your life (or your kids' lives). The important thing is that you were there, and you captured some images for the future, and you preserved them lovingly. Our books are not meant to be judged by others, or against others; they are not FOR others. They are our own.

Shellse, this is one of the few things in life that you cannot do wrong. Relax, make some pages, and enjoy the memories.

I speak from experience. I didn't make my son's baby album until he was 7 years old! So of course some of the shots are out of order, I can't remember exactly how old he was in some of them, etc. But he and I sat and looked at that album this very morning for thirty minutes--and you know what? He never mentioned a thing about it being out of order, or not pretty, or some of the lines aren't straight, or my handwriting is messy, or the colors don't match, or there's no focal point, or my paper/embellishment choices don't enhance the "mood" of the photos, or any of the other things these retailers have gotten us all so hung up on. We just enjoyed looking at US. That's what this craft is about.

Thank you Carla. I think we need to be reminded every once in a while that we do this for fun, for family and for the memories. Relax and enjoy. Hilary :)

Okay, Thank-you. I will take the tips and advice, and jump to it. (although Im sure I will be holding my breath)

once again, Thank-you!

I could have written that original post myself! Sometimes I get so overwhelmed. A friend of mine shared her secret, which was helpful to me. She started a child's album by doing all birthday pics from years 1 - current. Then she started to fill in, maybe inserting all Christmases, then all Halloween's, etc. In any case, it looked as though it was a "completed" album since it included current pictures. I think this approach may work for a lot of folks like me, because even if I get 4 years of pictures done (and could take months!!!), I'll still have 4 more years to go for my 8 year old. Does this make sense? I enjoyed reading all of your responses - thanks for the support!