How did you document your pregnancy/baby for posterity?

[HSSweethearts]

I'm a bit overwhelmed by all of the ways you can document your pregnancy these days... a family website, blogs, paper journals, scrapbooks, simple photoalbums, ofoto albums, pre-bought baby books that you fill in, etc. The options seem endless.

How are you documenting your pregnancy (or even baby's first year) in order to have something to look back and show them later? What kinds of things are you keeping to show baby? How did you organize it? Were you able to maintain it? Did anyone do anything super creative?

[Sinclair319]

I'm not pregnant yet, but my mom kept a handwritten journal (in just a spiral bound notebook) to me while she was pregnant with me. It was all about her excitement and how much she loved being pregnant with me. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever read.
I'll probably do something similar (for my child) as well as a scrapbook (for me).

[BTB]

Pregnancy: kept my WC journal, saved email updates I sent regularly to friends and family, and took belly shots every couple weeks.

Baby: we have a memory box where we've stored "objects", like the candle lit at her baptism, her hospital bracelet, etc. DH made an online website for photos, I've continued an online written journal, and we're planning to take professional pictures every two months. We take photos at home all the time, and it's fun to take them with the same props (her Boppy, for instance, which is a prop in more ways than one) :) because then you really see the growth compared to the background. When we have the camcorder out, we make sure to record her in her swing at some point, for the same reason - she looks so much bigger in it now. I use an inkless footprint kit every two months as well, it's intended to be a birth announcement kit. What I'll do with all those footprints time will tell! The hospital does the first ones for you, minutes after birth, so it seemed a natural thing to collect to document growth compared to their birthday. My favorite keepsake, though, is a calendar I started the day she was born. I write the big stuff - first smile, etc - and the little stuff - took a great nap with mom in the recliner. I try to write something on there that we did, most days of the week. It's already fun to look back on. When she has dr. appts I note her weight and length on her calendar too.

We're pretty good at keeping up everything but the online website. It doesn't help that we take an average of 125 pictures per week! :o

[BooeyJ2]

I logged all of my stuff through WC and LJ. Just last week I went through them and copied and pasted the entries and photos I wanted and printed them out.

Although I think that handwritten would be awesome, my arm would have fallen off by just 15 weeks of pregnancy LOL.


I think it ended up printing out to about 1" thick :)

[Katie]

As far as documenting my pregnancy I wrote in my journal. I mainly did about 3 major entries where I wrote about my experiences/thoughts/feelings for each trimester. I'm planning to type that up to include with my birth story. I also took belly shots every 4 weeks or so - which I have put in his scrapbook.

I am in the process of typing up his birth story. I really want to remember this and want my son to know this too - so I am taking my time trying to recall each detail - it's almost 10 pages right now!

I also got a baby calendar that is blank - the first month is the month your baby is born - I write down all of his major and minor milestones on this. It's easier than keeping up a journal at this point!

The amount of pictures we (well, I) take is ridiculous. My husband jokes that we have documented every single moment of my son's life for the past 4 months!

[usafwife]

Pregnancy ~ I had a journal on WC, a pregnancy journal that I hand wrote things in, took belly shots regular (at least once a month), wrote letters/notes to the baby.

Baby ~ We have two calendars that I am going to keep track of milestones/happenings, baby book, scrapbook (that will include the pregnancy as well), journal, letters/notes, pictures, videos, hand and foot prints, lock of hair, first tooth, etc.

And we will see what other things we do as time goes on.

[AusAshMommy]

Let's see each of them was similar but different ya know?

With Austin I started a written notebook/scrapbook of handwritten thoughts about once a week, OB appt updates, clips from newspapers I thought were interesting, photos/cards from his baby shower, and part of a print-out from my online WC journal. It's a tradition in our house to have professional pics done for the b-day, like the ones done in the hospital. We've taken Austin to have his pics done @ Target and will do the same for Ashley. I've also kept a "memory box" of misc items I wanted to hold onto from his life, like the outfit he came home from the hospital in, the candle from his baptism, and negatives from pictures we took. I also have 3 photo albums full of pics of Austin. A baby book w/his mesh cap from the hospital (both of them, the one they put on him right after birth, and the one he wore the whole time he was in the hospital) The piece of paper he laid down on for his weight (it's got the nurses notes on it w/his weight/length); a sock from his 1st year. Our pediatrician gives us a print-out @ every well baby visit w/updates on where they should be and what they should be doing, we have those in his baby book and Ashley's are in hers. I've been pretty good @ keeping up with their baby books. Austin's baby book came w/one of those calendars and we have that as well w/all of his major milestones from his 1st year. Oh and for their B-Days I'm keeping a scrapbook of headlines from the newspaper on their B-Day. I have them for Austin for 2004 (1st B-Day) and 2005 (2nd B-Day) and will continue this for him until he's an adult and has moved out. I also write a letter to him on his B-day expressing my thoughts of the last year.

Ashley has the same type of notebook as Austin w/all of her OB appt updates, ultrasound pics, cards from her baby shower, and thoughts from me to her. She also has a memory box w/her coming home outfit, her 1st dress and other memento's from her 6 mos. She also has a baby book that I keep basically the same stuff in as Austin's. She'll also get the annual photo shoot @ Target and the scrapbook of headlines. This way they can track themselves and what was happening in the world and around us.

I also have kept my online WC journal printed in a word document in a notebook for them as well!

I think it's all kind of neat!

[LeslieR]

Pregnancy: I kept a journal at WC which I have since saved to cd. I've also taken belly shots.

Baby: We bought a baby book. I plan to start a scrapbook. I also started a baby web site at www.babysites.com to share pictures and updates with friends and family.

[Mystikal]

Not pregnant yet, but I'm one of those obsessive ones so during the pregnancy I plan on taking weekly belly shots. Also, one of my friends wrote a letter to her baby every week on Thursdays while she was pregnant and her daughter is almost 3 now and she is still writing the letters. Every year for her birthday she uploads the letters to cafepress and has a book made with every letter for the year. I would love to do something like that as well.
After the pregnancy I am planning on taking a bajillion pictures and putting them into albums and scrapbooks, as well as keeping mementos in memory boxes.

[twinnyme]

I've always been a sentimental type, plus a journaler. So I'm doing a few things:

1) keeping a baby journal. DD was born on 1/14 and I'm already on my second one. It's called "The Mommy Journal: Letters to Your Child." I probably would have used a regular notebook, which is what I usually do for my regular journals (and which I did for my pregnancy journal) but my sister gave me the journal as a gift, because she knows how much I love to journal.

ETA link to amazon: The Mommy Journal (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0740727303/ref=wl_it_dp/103-1026152-2460627?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=I1JSG1C34087XP&v=glance&colid=VBAIKGO08B8C)

2) kept a pregnancy journal.

ETA 2.5) Copied over all my posts to my group thread (Jan 05 mommies) on WC to a Word document.

3) first-year calendar that has room for a photo per month. I thought I'd fall off on this, and not write on it much, but so far it's pretty full!

4) I keep a book calendar, too - one of my showers had a book theme and my sister gave me a calendar of children's books. I write on there whenever I read a book to DD. I think books are SO important and I want her to know what we read to her in the beginning.

5) Yahoo photo albums that I send to my family once or twice a week. I also copy all the photos we take of her (1000+ in 6 months!! :rolleyes: ) onto CD.

6) Each Christmas, one of us sisters tends to make a calendar on Shutterfly (or a site like it) of the (now-)three granchildren. I made it last year; my sister made it the year before; and I'll probably do it again this year, because I'm excited to include DD.

7) Memory book - I pretty much had this completed (as much as I could) the first week home from the hospital, while my parents were still here to help, and I've updated it since.

8) I'd love to do a scrapbook, too, but with being back to work now, it hasn't happened. Eventually....

[Mystikal]

I also copy all the photos we take of her (1000+ in 6 months!!)
I have to show my DH this because I tell him all the time that I'm going to take hundreds of pictures of our children and he tells me that nobody takes that many. :p

[twinnyme]

I have to show my DH this because I tell him all the time that I'm going to take hundreds of pictures of our children and he tells me that nobody takes that many. :p

Yup, that's me... but I think it's even more, I just didn't want to put 2000+!! My in-laws think I'm crazy, I think, but part of the reason is that my whole side of the family lives 4 hours away from us and we don't see them that often, so I take lots of photos to send them an ongoing record of her.

Oh, and I came back to add something else we do:

#9 - we take a photo of DD on each month's birthday (14th of each month) with a stuffed panda bear we have (DH's first gift to me) so we can see how she grows compared to the stuffed animal. I plan to frame these in one frame after 1 years old. A friend suggested this, and I thought it was a little hokey at first, but now I love it and I look forward to taking the photo each month.

[amtaylor]

I'm working on a scrapbook/journal for my daughter. I'm documenting the pregnancy week by week and then adding pages for big events like ultrasounds, hearing her heartbeat, showers, etc. It's coming along and I'm happy with it. I'm writing it to her and then plan on giving it to her at a later date... not sure at what age though! :confused:

Here's a few pictures of the pages:
http://images.snapfish.com/3443559523232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E2328%3D868%3D766%3DXRO QDF%3E2323943%3A8%3B3%3B%3Aot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3443559523232%7Ffp58%3Dot%3E2328%3D868%3D766%3DXRO QDF%3E2323943%3A8%3B3%3A%3Aot1lsi
http://images.snapfish.com/3443559523232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E2328%3D868%3D766%3DXRO QDF%3E2323943%3A8%3B398ot1lsi

[pgbg]

That scrapbook is amazing! I would love to do something like that -- I have all these random mementos lying around.

I was wondering, has anyone used www.babysites.com or would be willing to share their page? I looked at it and it seems great but you can't see any examples close up.

Thanks!

[LMG462]

Liza!!!! OMG, Your pregnant!? Wow, I know we haven't interacted much over the years on the WC boards, but I remember you from when you were planning your wedding. I'm so happy for you, I hope to join you soon. HH 9 months.
Liza

[HSSweethearts]

Thanks Liza! We are very excited. I hope you do join me soon. :)

Ladies, I love all of these ideas. I especially loved seeing your pics amtaylor - you've done such a great job.

Keep the ideas, suggestions and pics coming! :)

[amtaylor]

Thanks! It was really easy... just some card stock and a cheap little bound album from Wal-Mart :)

[jess&dan]

I got this beautiful book...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0971893802.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Each month is asks you pointed questions and you also document your symptoms, feelings, etc. It also has a place for your belly shot each month. The last section is all about your labor and what happened after you came home.

I filled that out while also just writing in my journal.

[Jodi AKA BostonTeacher]

We created a website for family and friends that included:


a journal/blog
photos
registry info
the story of how I told DH as well as how we told everyone else (with pics)
the nursery
a link to one of those lilipie tickers titled, "how pregnant is she"


I've also kept a scrapbook throughout the pregnancy. I plan to print out my online blog and scrapbook it as well.

[ShannonGH]

What a great thread. *subscribing*

[marchfamily]

Pg: Journal (mostly through WC - I copied it before I deleted my journal), complete with pictures of my maternity clothes and belly shots, parents/siblings received baby letters (told from the baby's point of view) on development and changes with mommy

Delivery: kept detailed log and attached it with the pg journal

Baby: Yahoo photos (well over 1000+ here), had a blog (deleted it and opened a LJ account due to security), email updates when we have WBV, DVD footage, I gave my sister a snap-book (photo book) as a thank you for babysitting one evening, baby book (places for pictures, firsts, etc)

We are planning on doing a DVD for Christmas gifts- Baby's first year (my DD will be 1 in January).

[kimthebride]

I saved everything for when I *finally* had some downtime after having the baby, and am now making scrapbooks. I've got belly pics, u/s, the +HPTs, hospital bracelets, a WC journal, etc.

For pregnancy, I am doing a page per month of pregnancy. Each month includes belly pic, u/s pics, baby development info, OB appointment notes, what was going on in life, etc. Then on 'big' occasions, I am writing that up and putting it on it's own page next to the month it happened in. Like how we told everyone we were pg, the baby shower, etc.

[Kristeen]

Pregnancy: belly shots every month

First year: professional pictures each month for first 12 months (major pita but glad i did it in the end), put into a nice album. Baby book (has lots of journaling space). TONS of snapshots. videotaped big moments.