Journaling about your baby experiences creates a treasured keepsake for both you and your child, and the 21st century allows you new and exciting media to explore. A journal — whether it be on videotape, online or in an old-fashioned, physical scrapbook — captures moments from your baby’s life. You can preserve and discuss big events like her first steps as well as everyday activities that you may otherwise forget in a rich and enjoyable record of her progress and family ties.
Journal to Your Baby
A journal written directly to your baby makes a personalized keepsake journal that captures events and emotions you felt in those early weeks and months. Write each journal entry as a letter to your baby to record things like daily activities, milestones, friends you spent time with, places you went, baby’s clothing size, sleeping habits and things she eats. Even the small details are interesting to read down the road. Start the journal during the pregnancy to capture even earlier memories of your baby.
Video Journal
A video journal gives you a way to convey your emotions and little clips of your baby. Set up a video camera and sit in front of it to record your thoughts, memories and events of your baby’s daily life. Record interactions between yourself and your baby. If your video journal includes updates on milestones, try to capture your baby doing those things. For example, when he starts to crawl, record a few minutes of him moving around on all fours. The video journal allows you to watch as a family to relive those moments. As they grow, kids often enjoy seeing their younger selves preserved onscreen, as well as their more youthful parents and siblings.
Scrapbook Journal
Scrapbooks are a traditional choice for baby memories. Combine your journal with scrapbooking techniques to create a memory book for your baby. A book with blank pages works well for this style of journal. Paste a copy of your baby’s birth announcement from the paper next to an entry about his birth or a photo next to a description of his first birthday party or pony ride.
Blog
To share your memories online, create a baby blog. Free blog platforms make this an inexpensive option for capturing your baby’s first years. Most blogging applications allow you to post accompanying photos, audio and video clips. You can even sync your baby journal blog with your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts, so you can plug in your parenting insight anywhere you post. Most blogging sites also allow you to set your blog to private status, so only people you approve have access to the information, allowing you to protect your family’s privacy. Since technology has glitches, back up your blog entries by saving them somewhere else in case the blogging system loses some of your entries. Blog owners also have the option of turning blogs into books through various self-publishing companies to print hard copies for your family.
