August 16, 2012

How do you organize your child's memories?

I have a couple of different ways to document my children's memories and records.
Do you use any of the same?
Or what else do you use?

Maternity Books

I used maternity books for both pregnancies to document how I was feeling, what I was eating, how I was sleeping, and how I was growing. They are all laid out a bit different but have the same idea.
  


Here is the maternity album I used with Reagan. 
(I got it at Babies 'R Us in 2009).
I loved the set-up of the book and throughout this pregnancy I looked back to see how I was feeling and showing each week with Reagan.


Here is a glimpse at one of the pages in Reagan's book.




Here is the maternity book I'm using for the twins.
(I got it at Buy Buy Baby in 2012).
(I'm not as crazy about it but I had a hard time finding one this year!)




Here is a glimpse at one of the pages from the twins' maternity book.


Baby Books


I got Reagan's baby book from Barnes and Noble in 2009 and loved it.
I have gotten it for a few friends as baby gifts and got one for Harper and Hudson as well.




There are areas for photos, your family tree, firsts, etc.
It's a great book! I promise!



Here is a glimpse of a page from Reagan's book.



Here is a glimpse of a page from Hudson's book.
(That empty box is for a picture of him!)

Baby's First Year Calendars

My Aunt gave me a calendar for Reagan's first year and it was great to document what he did that was exciting or fun each day. It's really fun to look back and see who visited him on which day, when he first smiled, when he first stayed alone with daddy, etc.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of Reagan's because my sister currently has it.
I know you shouldn't "compare" kids, but she likes to see what Reagan was doing each week compared to her little girl Charlotte.


Here are the calendars my Aunt got Hudson and Harper at my shower.


Here is a glimpse of the inside of the calendar.
Each month has a spot for a photo and lots of room to write notes.
The calendars also come with great "first" stickers.

Photo Books


I make Reagan photo books for each year of his life as well as each birthday party.  I also made a couple random ones like the "Welcome Reagan" album which is about his first week of life. (He is currently obsessed with this one.... I think because the babies are coming, he likes to see who came to visit him in the hospital and what he looked like as a newborn.) I have all of these photos in my albums, but created these books for him to take with him when he , tear, grows up and leaves us. 

PS- the birthday book was an idea that I stole from a movie. A scary but awesome movie to be exact. Have you seen "Taken" with Liam Nielson? He has a birthday book for his daughter when he puts one photo from each of her birthdays in in. He often looks back at her growing up in the movie. So we started this tradition as well.  


The book starts with the 3 of us in the delivery room - his "birth" day.


Then goes to the 3 of us at his 1st Birthday.


Next goes to the 3 of us at his 2nd Birthday.


Then goes to the 3 of us at his 3rd Birthday.

Clearly I LOVE photos and documenting our little one's lives.
I would love to hear what you do!

2 comments:

Mrs. Ruby said...

What great ideas! I honestly don't have any kind of "baby book". And I'm honestly one of the most sentimental people of all time. Should probably get on that.

And P.S. You look absolutely AMAZING!

Marlene McGarrity said...

I love how you are documenting your children's lives. That book is set up nicely!