Published

I started blogging waaaaayyyy back in 2006. I had 3 reasons: (a) to document Camden's silly 3 year old antics, (b) we were starting the adoption process again for the second time and I wanted a record of what our lives were like when our still unknown child was born, and (3) I really, really wanted to be on a creative team for a designer, and I thought blogging about scrapping was somehow going to help me along.

Several years ago (three, at the very least) I started wondering if backing up my blog might be a good idea. As the years had passed, though I was still scrapping quite a bit, Life as a Lewis had become my main memory-keeping vehicle. I did a bit of research, found some companies who would print a blog, and decided it was time to get serious about making Life as a Lewis permanent.

As I got started, however, it became abundantly clear that I was quite chatty and the cheaper options were just not going to work unless I wanted to break up each blog year into multiple books (which I didn't).

Over the past couple of years, I've started this project at least on 2 other occasions, but a couple of weekends ago, I put on my big girl pants and settled into about 4 hours on a Saturday morning making Life as a Lewis 2006 (or The Year of the Tantrum as I like to call it) into a book.

In the early blog days, most posts consisted of scrapping news and funny Camden stories. Can you believe that in 2006 I did not include one single photo? I did, however, include a whole lot of scrap pages. How I had time to scrap 6-8 layouts a week in addition to working full-time and taking care of a husband and child is beyond me!

I was not a very good blogger. I started off every Monday morning post complaining about the commute to Nashville and how the week was already off to a bad start. I finished up every week with a complaint about Camden's temper tantrums and how I wished I had more time to scrap. Camden apparently threw ALOT of tantrums back in the day.

If we could only go back in time and tell our younger self to just sit back and enjoy the moment. To recognize how easy life was. Because seriously. When my biggest problems were that Brian put Camden in sweat pants instead of denim overalls, life was pretty good.

My 2006 book arrived Monday morning and as I flipped through the book and read a few stories to the kids after supper, I was reminded why I do this: Project 365, blogging, scrapping. Because I want to remember all of it: the good, the bad, the ugly.  I listened to Rory laugh so hard she couldn't even speak and watched Camden blush because he's 9 and gets embarrassed easily. Without my blog, Project 365, and my scrap pages I can guarantee I wouldn't remember 90% of the little things documented here.

While there are too many funny stories documented in 2006 to repeat here, this one made all of us lose control.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Camden: Mommy, will you play with me?

Me: Hang on a second while I dry my hair.

Camden: But why?

Me: So it doesn't stick out everywhere and look ugly.

A few minutes later.

Camden: Mommy, will you play with me?

Me: Hang on a second while I finish my make-up.

Camden: Before your face gets ugly?

And a few details because I've already received emails asking.

I used Blurb. You tell Blurb the dates you want in your book, and the software "slurps" up your blog posts and makes a book, which is fully customizable. For 2006, I started blogging in June and ended up with an 86-page, 8x10, hardcover book. I did not bother replacing my web-sized scrapbook layouts from the blog with full-sized pictures in the book, and they still printed at a very acceptable quality. I would have liked to printed a little larger sized book, but I knew that with 6 years left to print, an 8x10 was just a more economical choice. They do occasionally have coupons, and I will wait to print books until more coupons are available. Even with a 30% coupon, my 2006 book cost about $45 to print. Absolutely worth it, but I'll definitely be spreading out the printing. My goal is to get caught up with 2007 - 2012 and then just print each year's blog at the end of that year.

Another option is Blog2Print, but they have a maximum number of pages and even my smallest blog year (2006) wouldn't fit in one book. The print quality is also not as high and since my blog has become my main memory-keeping vehicle, I wanted a higher print quality for my  photos.

Not that I'm an expert, but if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I'll make sure to get back to you.