The Keeper of Memories

Cali 012314As a soon-to-be mom of twin boys, I had grand plans for documenting their lives. I bought coordinating baby books (which, two years later, are still in their boxes with nary a word written in them). I created a Shutterfly Share Site (which was last updated eighteen months ago) and we bought an expensive camera and Flip recorder. I even took a photography class! All this prep work, only to discover that MOST of my photos and videos would be taken on our phones and that posting them to Facebook and Instagram would be as close as I would come to keeping a “baby book.”

In the 2 1/2 years I have been a mom, I have made exactly four photo books, compliments of Shutterfly and their frequent 40% coupons. Two of those were for grandparents.

Suffice it to say, I’m failing as the keeper of memories for my family.

However … there are a couple of products I have found that make keeping track of these fleeting years a little easier. First up:

One Line A Day: A Five Year Memory Book
A friend shared this little gem with me shortly before the boys were born, and I immediately ordered one. I love it! It’s short, sweet, and to the point. It forces me to pause and reflect at the end of each day (or each week, if I’ve fallen behind) and write down funny, silly, sweet, touching things that my boys do and say. The other thing I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE about it – because it’s a five year journal, every day, I also take a moment to read what we were doing on any given day last year, or the year before. I love reading about how Mackey said his first word, or Drue slept through the night. It reminds me how far we’ve come, and how quickly my little guys have grown. This book has quickly become a go-to gift for moms-to-be, and everyone I’ve gifted it to, has loved it!

My second memory-keeping cheat was actually a gift from a dear friend on the boys’ first birthday:

Your Birthday Book: A Keepsake Journal
I love this! I have a book for each child, and after their birthday each year, I take time to fill out the pages for that particular birthday. I’ve included pictures of them on their birthday and journaled about what we did to celebrate them for that year. Best of all, it fits my theme of short, sweet, and to-the-point!

Recently, a friend pointed me in the direction of another “cheat” for memory keeping: My Social Book. Because we have lots of family out of state, I often use Facebook as a way to keep everyone up to date on our lives. While I’ve yet to fully explore this option, I am super excited to see what it has to offer.

Project Life is another phrase I see popping up over and over again. I don’t know much about this one, either, but I have a couple of friends participating this year. From what I understand, it’s meant to be an easy way to document a year by creating weekly pages for a scrapbook. For me, that’s a daunting task – but maybe someday … 😉

Shutterfly, Snapfish, Mixbook, iPhotobooks … the list goes on and on. There are a million and one ways to be the memory keeper for your family! I’d love to hear what you moms are doing to keep track of all the moments you don’t want to forget!

Cali
I'm Cali. I'm a wife, co-parent, and mom of twin boys who are soon-to-be 6, as well as brand new step-mom to 3 young adults who are 19, 16, and 14. I was born and raised in the Northland, and I can't imagine living anywhere else...unless you were to offer me a beach house, or a villa on the coast of Italy or France. I have been a public educator for 21 years, and I currently teach middle school, which I truly believe is the very best age in all the world. I enjoy reading, cooking, and traveling, and I believe ice cream is an acceptable meal any time of the day. I drink entirely too much diet coke, and my floors are rarely clean. I joined the mommy-club later in life after an 8 year struggle with infertility. I've decided being an "old mom" is a pretty great gig.

1 COMMENT

  1. Cali,

    I love these ideas. They seem so attainable! I have just been snapping pictures with the thought that I’ll scrapbook them once the kids are all in school and I have more free time. (To people ever actually get free time?)

    Here’s one other idea, and a great Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day gift (hint, hint, hubby), — Make your Facebook photos and status updates into a coffee table book. Check out all the options at http://mashable.com/2011/06/24/facebook-printing-book/#_

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