Easy Baby Memory Keeping Ideas
Preserve Memories of Your Baby With Photos, Hand Prints, a Journal
Jun 29, 2007
New parents will be amazed at how quickly their baby grows. With minimal effort, you can commemorate those early days and beyond. Following are some ideas to keep your memories alive.
You’re sure to be taking scads of photos, but it’s just as important to keep them organized. Keep a small photo album, sometimes called a “brag book,” and insert photos chronologically inside of it. After it fills up, either start a new album, or move the photos to a larger album. If you keep up with them from the start, it’ll save you from a mountain of time and frustration in the future.
It’s a good idea to take a picture with your baby in the same place (such as in a chair or on a blanket) every month on his or her birth date. You’ll be able to look back and see how much your baby has changed and grown for each month he or she’s been with you.
Hand prints are a common way to commemorate your baby’s tiny hands. Kits are available at craft stores with clay molds, or you can simply take a sheet of paper and trace your baby’s hand. Each month, trace the hand again but in a different color of ink or pencil so that there are concentric hand prints on the same sheet.
A journal or diary can be a good way to record your thoughts and the details of the day. Every night, try to jot down notes on what the day was like, what your baby did or what you did with him or her, etc. You can make it as short or detailed as time allows. You’ll be amazed to read it and see the progress you’ve both made after just a few weeks!
Or, if you’re technically savvy, keep a video diary. Make sure to set the recorder to show the date, or note the date and your child’s age yourself, then speak into the microphone while you record video.
A blog, website or regularly sent e-mail messages is also a good idea, especially if you have family out of town. Make sure to update the site a few times a week with new photos and notes. Print out a copy or save an electronic copy for the future as well.
Start a growth chart. Even if your baby isn’t quite ready to stand up, you can still mark his or her length on a yardstick or with pencil marks on the wall.
A keepsake box can hold all those hard-to-throw-out items, such as hospital bracelets, greeting cards and (for those really sentimental parents) that umbilical cord stump. Toss them in a box and make sure to mark the year on it. After your child’s first birthday, start a new box for the next year.
Hold onto those outgrown clothes. It’s amazing how quickly babies grow out of things, but with a little craftiness you could turn those onesies into an adorable keepsake blanket. Or take clothespins and a piece of string and hang up the outfits on a makeshift clothesline in the nursery.
Babies grow quickly, but with a few minutes each day you can preserve those early memories of your baby, and all the new memories to come.
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