Collecting Moments

Full disclosure: I am a sentimental person. If I could save every drawing, worksheet, craft that my kids bring home, I would. My mom was the same way when my sisters and I were growing up so I guess I come by it honestly. She STILL has totes upon totes full of mementos from our childhood.

I have found a few different ways to collect moments for my children, while avoiding being featured on a season of hoarders :P.

Email addresses

Something I did as soon as my children were born was set up an email account for them. I try to make it a habit to send them a letter every few months, just talking about my feelings about being their mom at that time, challenges and wins, what's going on in their life, etc. I also send them any cute or inspirational poems/stories I have seen (usually on social media). For example, I saw a great post that was to your kindergartner on their night before their first day or school. I copied, pasted and sent that to Zoey.

Lately, I have also been sending them information on the global pandemic we are all facing. While I know it isn't a positive thing, the reality is, this will be in our history books. Our children's children and grandchildren will ask them about it one day. I want my kids to have resources outside just text books to be able to speak what life was like for them. On top of writing to them using my personal narrative, I also send them news articles and pictures (especially ones of empty seasons during the height of quarantine). I make sure to include worldwide and countrywide information, but also include local info, as well. I sent them a timeline of events (that I need to send again and update) that focused on our county and state. I hope they appreciate someday that I took the time to do so!

Notes in phone

I know I'm biased but my kids are hilarious. Especially my boy. Like he could have his own sitcom. His dry and sarcastic humor is my favorite and his one-liners are priceless. He's the main reason I started keeping a running note in my phone of all the funny/smart/embarrassing things my kids say, as well as milestones. I always have my phone, so it's easy just to pop in my notes app, jot down the date and the memory. Eventually I'll transfer all of these to their baby books and "quote books" (more on that next), but this is a quick and practical way to capture those hilarious moments before I forget.

Notebooks - Quotes

Every once in a while (not as much as I should), I take my phone and write down all the quotes each kid has said in their quote book. I bought smaller, hard cover notebooks from Walmart and each kid has their own. It's nothing fancy. Just a tangible item that I can write in and has all their memories in one place. I can't imagine how funny it will be to read them back one day.

Chatbooks

I often post a funny quote or picture on social media, which is where Chatbooks comes from. Chatbooks links directly to your Facebook and/or Instagram. Every 60 (I believe) pictures, it makes a book. You can go in and make changes to not include certain pictures. This is a great way to look back on all your memories. I have books printed from when my husband and I first started dating and the kids LOVE looking at them (evidence below)! It’s a big upfront cost to get that many books at once, so I just do 1-2 a month and eventually I’ll get caught up.

App for Baby Book

My husband is one of four children and his youngest brother ALWAYS complains and mopes because he doesn't have a baby book (fourth child problems!). I understand! It is HARD to maintain a baby book. I myself have some catching up to do (one of my many winter projects). There is a company I have seen advertised lately called Qeepsake. It will text you questions on a regular basis that you can respond to with either text or photos. It compiles all the information and then you can order a book with all of the memories in it. I think it's a great option because you don't have to remember to do anything; it does the work by texting you! There are also a ton of other baby book apps out there!

Art Projects

This is the hard one for me. My six year old is an artist. Like that's all she wants to do. And if she finds out I threw away one of her creations, she takes it VERY personally. I have to wait until she goes to bed to throw anything out. If not, I have to hide it under trash so she doesn’t see it. Sweet mom hack I know…

I can’t save every toothpick house or cotton ball snowman, so I have begun taking pictures of the projects instead. I still save the really good/sentimental ones, but for the most part, I snap a picture which captures the memory without having to hold on to EVERYTHING.

I’ve also researched a company called Artkive. For this, you actually send in your child’s artwork and they compose a book for you. You can choose to have the artwork sent back to you (for a fee), as well. I haven’t done this year but think I’m going to do one for her birthday or Christmas. I can’t imagine the look on her face when she sees she has her very own published book!

I hope this gives you a few ideas on how to collect moments for your children (and yourself) to remember as they get older. I realize I’m extreme and most people probably don’t do as much as I do, but I just don’t ever want to forget these years, as tiring, frustrating and draining they can be!

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