A Baby Journal

When Caroline was just a few weeks old I started something that I wish I had started long before she arrived.  A Baby Journal.  It’s nothing fancy, but I love it.  It is so fun for me to look back in it and remember when she was just a tiny peanut who snuggled in my arms while we napped.  In my journal, I write down everything about her and our relationship.  From the mundane to the extraordinary, and with her everything is extraordinary.  :)  Everything from her sweet little giggles to the “firsts”...the first time she crawled, when she first clapped her hands, and the very first steps she took at ten months old.  It’s a great way to track her milestones.  But what I really love about it is that I can write down what she did, how I felt about it, and it instantly takes me back.

Do you have a baby journal?  Lots of parents start these when they’re pregnant—and that’s GREAT!  I wish I had, but time just slipped away from me.  Now, I am so glad I started one when Caroline was a baby.  I will never forget the first time Caroline crawled over to me and put her face on my chest, and fell asleep.  Oh, it was so perfect.  It makes me so happy just thinking about it.  I wrote it down, and I love to go back and read about that day. 

The perk for me is that writing everything down helps me realize how quickly time slips by and how I need to cherish these moments.  Live in the present, indeed!  But I also have the journal for Caroline.  I never want her to question how much I love her, and this way, she’ll always have my words with her.  Maybe I’ll give it to her when she heads off to college, or maybe I’ll save it for her first baby shower.  Either way, it’s something special we will always share. 

Do any of you keep journals?  What do you like about them…anything special you’d like to share?

Have a great Monday!
Ellie

i have baby books for both of my kids and i fill everything out in it and then some.  i also have a family blog where i document the big things we do like holidays, trips, playdates, etc. pictures included and then even some of the ‘every day’ type things that my kids do that make me laugh and smile.  what i love about the blog is that i can share it with family and friends as well.

another thing i did with both of my kids, is take a picture of them each month in the same chair from one month to 12 months and then every year thereafter.  i put it infront of our “chalkboard” wall and wrote on it how old they were.  it’s really neat to see the pictures in order and how they’ve grown.

something else that i’ve always wanted to do is write letters to them to open on different occasions such as graduation from high school, on their wedding day, first big job interview, the day the first baby is born, etc.

as you can tell, i LOVE to journal in many ways!

~cena
http://www.realmomsrock.com

Sounds like a great scrapbooking project to me!!! (I think Julia would agree)

I don’t really have a journal, but I have many scrapbooks, a baby book and a baby calendar.  I have noted all of his firsts and special things that he has done since he was born.  Since I was a high risk pregnancy they also took many ultrasound pictures and I have ever single one of them scrapbooked along with my thoughts of each doctor visit and ultrasound pic.  It is great to go back and look at those and remember those first kicks in my belly, talking to him, reading to him and forming that relationship with him long before he was born.  Cameron and I have a wonderful relationship.  I truly can’t say how important it is to remember all of those wonderful things about him and his journey into this world.  It keeps getting better every day and for that I am so blessed!!  Another great thing that I do with the MANY GAZILLION PICTURES that I take is that I put them all into a photoshow, add some music, clipart and add a few things here and there.  Once I am done I turn it into a DVD by burning it on my computer.  I have quite a few DVD movies of Cameron, but they will last forever…  What a great keepsake!!  I made one especially for his 1st Birthday Party and played it for all to see.  Everyone loved the pics of me being pregnant all the way up to his 1st Birthday.  Hopefully he will enjoy them as he gets older!!

I have a baby journal as well, but have been lax over the past few months of writing things down :(

You just inspired me to work on it again :)

To keep it out in the living room so I see it, which will remind me to write in it.

Like the 1 hour and 15 min temper tantrum she threw a few days ago. I have never seen her like that!! All because she didn’t want to sit in her high chair!!

I am going to go write that down now! LOL