Hey friends! Ok, I posted about this on Instagram last week, but I wanted to put this here on my blog as well because these books are SO great and I wanted to encourage you AND give you some additional ways that you can document your kids, even if you aren’t into scrapbooking.
Even if you aren’t a fan of traditional scrapbooking (or even digital scrapbooking), it’s still a good idea to document your kids as they grow because, let’s face it Mamas … they DO grow up way too fast. Time is fleeting and there is something that you can do even if you don’t want to whip out the patterned paper, embellishments and adhesive.
Here are some ideas that I have for you that you can start implementing TODAY and start getting those sweet memories + moments in your kids’ lives documented:
• Q&A books – These types of books are super fun because usually you’re asking your child (or children) one question a day and recording their answer. It’s a fun way to not only interact with your child, but it’s super fun to look back and see what their answers were back when they were a certain age. Some books – like THIS one that Caylin and I are using – contain multiples years worth of questions so that you can look back on a previous year even. It’s so much fun! There are a lot of different kinds of these books out there with all sorts of themes – definitely check them out!
• Just Between Us – This book is super sweet because it’s a book that Caylin and I pass back and forth to one another. This one is specifically for a Mama and her daughter, but just like the book above – there are ones that are for sisters and even one for a Grandmother/Granddaughter. I love this book because it’s very laid back and it’s always a sweet surprise when I see it sitting on my nightstand of desk. I’ve learned some really awesome things about my daughter because of this book and I hope that she’s getting a great insight into her Mama, too. There are questions for both the Mom and then the daughter to answer, free space where you can doodle a note, write a message or draw a picture and even questions where you have to check the boxes and compare. It’s fun, sweet and a simple way to document your kids’ life. I love it. You can find it HERE.
• ME: A Compendium – This book I received to review from a company a couple of years back and I loved it when I thumbed through it then and I knew that I wanted to hold onto it a bit until Jack was the right age and could fill it out completely himself without prompting. Imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago when he saw it, opened it up and began to write and draw in it. The results were priceless, honestly. I just love it so much. The book is SO fun and whimsical. I love the graphics and the questions – they made him giggle and his answers made ME giggle. It’s a treasure for sure. This is great for either boys or girls and Jack is 8 and I think it’s a great age for it. Wee Society hit it out of the park with this book and so this is another great option for you if you’d like to get something that your child can fill out. Sometimes letting your child document their life is even more fun than YOU documenting it. I always love to see what comes of that. You can find that book HERE.
• 1 Second Every Day – If you’re like me and you always have your phone close – then I highly recommend you download the 1 Second Every Day app. The basic premise of this app is that you take a video every day and at the end of the year, you’re left with 365 (more or less) videos all in 1-second increments. It’s a cool way to document your year and pretty easy to do, too. It doesn’t take much work – other than maybe a reminder on your phone or watch to snap a video – and the end result is pretty cool. I’m using this app this year and I’m excited about it. Check out the app HERE.
See. There are totally a lot of ways that you can document without scrapbooking. Even just picking up a notebook or journal and jotting down one thing a day your kid says or does or even taking a photo a week – THAT is something and I know you will definitely treasure whatever you capture however you capture it.
So today I wanted to encourage you to find a way that works for you and DO THAT. It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing – just document your life. Document your kids. Document the every day.
Just document.
