7 Ideas for Documenting your Child's Milestones

My 5 year old is going back to school from Christmas break and my 2 year old back to daycare Halleluiah!!!!! My husband is relieved at not feeling the constant pressure of having to keep them alive for 10 hours a day without me. It is a job! If you have kids you know this all too well. He has been off of work with them for over 2 weeks. I will say he got super sad thinking about being away from them and couldn’t wait to rush back home to them and watch Polar Express as soon as he could, on his first day back. He is a big ole softie deep down. My 2 year old, Sawyer, got on a Daddy kick while they were all home together and is now clinging to Aaron’s every move. It’s SOOOOOO sweet and makes me realize how fast they are growing and how quickly this is all going to be a thing of the past. The amount of times in a day that I hear the whiny call of Mommy makes me cringe after a while but it isn’t going to last long. It’s such a short stage of life. They aren’t babies/toddlers for very long at all. And if you are doing it right they have their own responsibilities and individuality early on and can be relatively self-sufficient without you even realizing it. It is mind boggling how they grow and change and it’s so bitter-sweet. In the times when I just want to skip the 5^th bedtime story or not get out the wagon of blocks that will inevitably end up under the couch and stuck in places we will never find again, I try to remember how fast the time goes by and how easily my memories can fade. I actually find myself praying, while I rock Sawyer, that I will remember this feeling and to please sear this into my memory so I can look back on it in 20 years when I miss it all, as I know without a doubt will happen.

So I have listed a few great ways to savor those moments for the future. Ways to look back and get a few more drops of that sweetness that will one day be grown adults that look at us funny and wonder why we always seem to talk about them when they were little. There are 100’s of ideas like this all over Pinterest that super creative people put came up with. So I’m not gonna take credit for any of these. I am just listing my favs so far...Here you go…

1. An awesome idea my husband came across when I was pregnant with Jackson was to start an email address in your child’s name, (save the login credentials and password). Give the email address to everyone in the family and they can send updates and thoughts to them throughout the years until the kids are of the age you want to turn it over to them. They will basically have a book of memories to read as seen through the eyes of their loved ones. It’s a pretty sweet idea. We don’t send the emails as often as we could but we try to when we think about it.

2 Keepsake Baby Impression Kit –These are so easy to use. I did these for both of my boy’s feet and hands before they both turned one. I made extras for all the grandparents as well. They are wonderful Christmas gifts. I definitely got a few tears out of these sweet keepsakes. This one is very similar to what I purchase and I got 2-3 impressions from each box. A lot of them come with ribbons to hang them on the Christmas tree or you can buy the mini easels that you can sit them on (out of reach) throughout the year to enjoy them even longer. I also wrote my kid’s name and the date on each one to make sure I didn’t mix them up and we know how old the impression is.

3. A Physical Baby Book- I am a writer/note taker so I loved keeping up with a baby book. Keeping their birth announcements, first years birthday party invites, our family’s Christmas cards and so on. I have tried to put little notes in each month and continue through year 5. I am not always on time or remember everything but you don’t need to put every little thing in there and there isn’t room for everything anyways. This one isn’t for everyone but for those of you that like to write about your memories and keep up with notes, cards and stationery you should try it out.

4. I LOVE pictures… anyone who knows me will agree. I try to get milestone pictures of the kids every 3-6 months when they are young and a couple times a year after the first few years. A lot of photographers offer a yearly deal on milestone pictures and you can get great deals if you look hard enough. Also you don’t have to have a professional for these pictures. Nowadays with I Phones and all the editing technology out there you can take them yourself or have a friend take them. You can get really creative and save a buck, which is always a good thing! I also love the age or name spelled out in multiple pictures, with a wooden letter, that you can put in a larger multi-photo frame. Like this…Super cute and not a lot of effort.

5. Chalk poster boards are so cute and can be made by you, local artists or you can check out Etsy for some great ones. They can be so personal and detailed and you can frame them and put them in the child’s room or as I have in our kids playroom. These boards are something I will keep forever. These are one of my favorite keepsakes from our kid’s birthday parties… They help you remember all the milestones they were hitting at that time.

6. Shutterfly! I could be a spokesperson for Shutterfly. My Christmas cards come from there, I have made so many gifts from there and I store all my photos on their site. It’s so easy to back up photos using their app. I try to do that monthly. Maybe I’ll do a Shutterfly post soon. I have so many good things to say about them; purchasing tricks, how to get the most bang for your buck and coupon codes galore. They are Awesome! So back to their products and the reason they are on this list. I love their photo books! They are SOOO customizable and you can work on them when you have time, save them and come back to your work. It’s so easy and they have multiple options for difficulty level (AKA the amount of work and time you want to put into it). Any who I have made one for each of my boys first years of life and they both turned out adorable and professional looking. I also had copies made for family members as gifts. Grandparents love them!

7. And to round out this list is a memory box. I haven’t completed this one myself however I have saved all the items that I want to use in them, hospital bracelets, foot prints, gowns, little bonnets/hats, ultrasound pictures… And you don’t have to do this right away. You can save these items and put the box together later on down the line. You know, when you are really feeling sentimental about the kids. So that’s it. That’s what I have done and am planning to do.

Check some of these out or search Pinterest or Google for some that you want to try. I don’t think any Momma is ever gonna say “I wish I hadn’t wasted my time saving and documenting these sweet memories of my kids.” It’s just not gonna happen! Well worth your time and efforts!

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