If you are new to scrapbooking, this will hopefully be of benefit to you. My business specializes in adoption scrapbook and lifebook supplies but I have many of the basic supplies too!   If you are totally new to scrapbooking, here is what I would suggest buying. This will make the fastest use of your time and make the best looking pages for the time you spend. I will break the items out into "must-haves", logical add-ons and good suggestions. Following all of that will be suggestions for lifebooks specifically.

MUST HAVES

1. album
2. personal trimmer (to crop unnecessary parts of the photo off)
3. adhesive (to adhere the photos and corners to the page)
4. journaling pen (to add your thoughts and captions and who/what/where to the photos)

LOGICAL ADD-ONS

5. refill pages (the albums come with ten pages and ten page protectors)
6. refill page protectors
7. extender posts (to expand the spine of the album to allow for the additional pages)

GOOD SUGGESTIONS

8. Circle cutter
9. Corner rounder
(both of these are for cropping photos to be a little more stylish than standard rectangles)

Here are my recommendations:
1. http://www.scrapandtell.com/searchid.asp?productid=781
2. http://www.scrapandtell.com/searchid.asp?productid=660
5. http://www.scrapandtell.com/searchid.asp?productid=913 (just plain white 12 x 12 cardstock)
6. http://www.scrapandtell.com/searchid.asp?productid=547
7. http://www.scrapandtell.com/searchid.asp?productid=548 (you would need three for a 12 x 12 album)

I also have pages and page protectors for 8.5 x 11 albums (and the 8.5 x 11 albums themselves).  For this size album, only two extender posts are needed.

(3, 4, 8, 9) I have discontinued selling adhesives and pens, and also most tools, as these can be found at any craft or discount store.  I personally like the Zig glue pen,  Hama tape runner and 3M double-sided tape for adhesives and Zig Millennium detail pens for journaling.  If you like the look and feel of gel pens, Sakura Gelly Roll is my choice.  I really like the Circle Scissor by EK Success for cutting circles from 1" to 9" and also the Creative Memories Cutting System for other shapes.  I also like the corner rounders by Scrap Artistry.  They have a "scrap catcher" which is a receptacle for the little corners that are punched off.

LIFEBOOK-SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS
For pages specific to lifebooks, I'd suggest Beth O'Malley's guide to creating a lifebook. It is very helpful.  Here is the table of contents for her book.

There are all sorts of products available pertaining to adoption and the adoption process (and also for international adoptions if that is your case). This would be a good place to start for just that!

If you need help with content for your lifebook pages, here is a link to the section of my web site that offers help in that regard: http://www.scrapandtell.com/LifebookTips.html

I might also consider joining my Yahoo group, a place where lifebook content is discussed.  Visit that site's page at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scrapandtell/

Let me know if there is any other way I can help.