When I was pregnant with Turner, it was vital to me that we find the perfect baby book for him. Adam and I searched store after store for just the right book. I knew that this was the book that I would use to keep track of all of his milestones, cute moments, and baby life accomplishments. I had loved reading through my baby book when I was younger. We were so excited when we found the perfect one and I had visions of all of the things I would fill it with. However, I think I wrote about two milestones in that book and never opened the poor thing again!
Some moms are meticulous record keepers and have beautifully completed baby books and gorgeous scrapbooks for their children. I am not one of those moms. I didn’t even bother buying baby books for the rest of our kids, because I knew that wasn’t my thing. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m not disciplined enough to track moments in a book, but I knew that I wanted to have a record of these moments. Over the course of the past eight years, I’ve come up with a few memory-keeping methods that work for me.
Sorry for all the posts Facebook friends, but I use social media as an online scrapbook of sorts to track the lives and accomplishments of my children. Almost every first is on my Facebook as a picture or a post, and all of my pictures of the boys are organized into Facebook albums! (Don’t worry, we have all the pictures saved on a hard drive, too so I’m okay if Facebook disappears.)
After several years of trying to perfect my system, I’ve finally got one that works for me. Each month, I create a new album and every picture of the kids, our family, etc goes into that album. Miscellaneous pics (food pictures, memes, etc.) go into the mobile upload album. I also have separate albums for each vacation that we go on and for professional photos that we have taken. I have most of the albums hidden from my friends, because I have thousands of pictures stored and no one needs to see my kids that much…even though they are freaking adorable!
Photo-books
When Turner turned 2, I began a photo book for him for each year of his life. I started the same for Camden when he was born. In theory, I should have a bunch of photo books printed and saved for my kiddos, but I’m a tad behind. (And this is where my Facebook albums come in handy!) But some day, my boys should each have a series of books just about them!
Photo-Apps
I’m horrible at remembering to print pictures. I have so many pictures that are stored digitally, but very few that have actually been printed. I finally signed up for a Groovebook subscription. Groovebook is an app that allows you to choose pictures from your camera roll and have them printed each month in a small 100 picture photo book! I know there are several apps that offer a similar service, this is just the one that I enjoy.
Emails
I definitely stole this idea from a friend of mine, but it’s genius so I have to share it! Each of my kids has their own email address. They don’t have access to it yet, but some day they’ll have emails from their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I email them on each birthday with some goals that they’ve reached or ways that they’ve grown through the year. I also email them with stories of cute things they’ve done or with milestones that they’ve reached!
My Planner
My planner is by far my favorite means of keeping track of our lives! I use it to write down appointments, to dos, etc but I also use it as a weekly mini-scrap book! Each week, I add 5-8 pictures to my planner. I also write down any milestones or exciting news on the date that it happened, too. This method is super easy and doesn’t require much effort or supplies. I just add the pictures into my planner with double-sided adhesive.
I’m not proud of the fact that I’m a slacker in the memory recording department, but I am proud that I’ve found solutions that work for me! I don’t know that my kids will love looking back at my old planners or reading old emails, but at least they’ll know that they have that option.
How do you document the lives of your children? We’d love to know.
It sounds to me that you have plenty of good memories stored. Much better than a traditional baby book. Way to go, Sarah!