When you’re expecting, the talk is all about the tummy. It’s all you can focus on and that growing baby monopolizes all the conversations. Suddenly, when the baby is born, he or she becomes the focus of all the attention (that’s a good thing!) and the tummy memories slowly start to fade (that’s a bad thing). Even if you, like me, took weekly belly shots and kept a pregnancy journal, there’s something lacking about a box of pictures and a book. I even tried to scrapbook my photos but it was too hard to narrow it down and fit everything I wanted to say into one book.

Tummy Talk’s founding partners and best friends Angela Horiuchi-Yvkoff and Karen Vardeny saw a hole in the market and filled it beautifully. They’ve developed the perfect (and I don’t use that term lightly) journal to preserve your pregnancy memories with elegance & style. The book is 10 ½” x 10 ½” and is hard bound with a durable, pewter spiral binding in a suede-like material with four colour choices. Each cover has a Swarovski crystal on it, adding to the understated elegance. Each book contains 105 color pages on acid free and lignin free, heavy-weight paper for pasting memorabilia, inserting photos and journaling your thoughts & experiences. The back of the book contains 3 pieces of coordinating blank letterhead for the first letters to the baby for placement inside the cover pocket. These girls really did think of everything – there are 3 pages of scrapbook cut-outs included for baby’s first love notes that can be pasted on album pages.
The book is separated into 5 sections that include pregnancy stories, doctor’s visits, weekly journaling, baby shower and birth details. The sections are divided with multi-coloured coated tabs for easy navigation and there’s a clever pocket on each tab for those letters & other memorabilia.

As a scrapbooker myself, I understand the aversion some scrappers have to purchasing bundled books that force you to scrap certain things. Tummy Talk is perfect for both the avid scrapper and the scrap-a-phobics among us. It doesn’t fence you in at all and allows for complete creativity but has just enough to guide the scrapping newbie or the expectant mother who has no urge to ever scrapbook but wants to preserve the precious memories of her growing belly. You won’t believe the quality and beauty of the Tummy Talk book until you see it. It’s breathtaking. The perfect gift for the expectant mother and the perfect splurge to treat yourself in your own pregnancy. After all, it’s for the baby.

Tummy Talk is available at several storefront and online retailers or from their online store. For Canadian & International orders, please contact La Mama Maternity. (Be sure to check the Tummy Talk online store for additional pregnancy goodies as well!)

We have a beautiful Tummy Talk pregnancy journal for one lucky TOP reader (value $75 USD). To enter, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with Tummy Talk in the subject header and tell us the name of one of the four beautiful colours that Tummy Talk is available in. Contest closes at midnight MST on 4/18/07. Congratulations Ryan!