Life's Documentarian

A while back a friend was looking at our baby books for the kids and commented on how impressed they were at how kept up they were. I was somewhat shocked that people didn't keep baby books up to date but soon found out that I was actually the one in the minority. I get it though. We are all crazy busy and time flies to fast. Shoot, it's hard to even find time to shower on certain days, right?! So remembering to write down when that first tooth came in, or what the first foods their babies ate were seems to fall on the totem pole of priorities.

But not for me.

Documenting life, taking pictures, blogging. That's who I am. It's literally in my DNA. That's probably why I adore Instagram and why I think TimeHop is one of the greatest apps ever. But ultimately, I do it for future generations. It's the coolest thing to know my mom wrote down everything in my baby book and I can compare to my children. I love that my mom and dad have thousands of pictures printed and organized in annual boxes for my brother and I to have someday. Our lives were documented on paper, in books and through pictures and for that I'm thankful.

So here are some ways that I like to document our lives that perhaps you could do as well!

Photography - Take pictures people. Plain and simple. I know it's hard to find time to get the 'nice' camera out and snap some shots, but do it. And if you absolutely can't get the camera out, just take them with your phone. And take pictures of everyday activities, and not just the special moments. You'll want to remember someday how your son brushed his teeth or how your daughter had to sit when putting on her shoes.

Annual Album - All of those pictures you took with the camera and/or phone HAVE to go somewhere. One thing I do each year is an annual album through shutterfly. Remember the days of printing pictures and sliding the copies into an album slot? Those days are over and life is so much easier now! There are tons of sites to use, but I have been with shutterfly forever and feel the most comfortable with it. I just keep it updated and saved on their server throughout the year.

External Hard Drive - On top of the album, I store our pictures on an external hard drive that I update once every 4-6 months and keep in our fire/water proof safe.

Videos - Just like pictures, take them. Take them with a video camera or your DSLR or your phone. It doesn't matter, but just take videos. someday you'll want to look back on these memories.

Annual Disc - Just like with photography, you need to actually DO something with the video files rather than keeping them on your phone/computer. Kinda like with  my pictures, I put all videos from the year on an annual disc. I ordered nice disc folders with our name and 'family album' and the years from etsy a few years back and burn these each January. Again, these are stored in our safe.

Baby Books - Update them!!! Mine were updated. Derek's were not. (Sorry Lesa!!) Neither mom can remember how many teeth we had by 9 months if you ask them, but at least I can easily find out by looking in my book. Someday you'll forget these little quirks and your children will thank you for writing them all down.

Letters - This is something else Derek and I started with Drew and have continued with Ady. We wrote a letter to them when they were born and then write one every year on their birthday. It's includes tidbits about the year, how we feel as parents, our dreams for our kids and any other general notes. We plan to continue this until they are 18 and then hand them all over.

Blog - I'm assuming the majority of you who read this are bloggers, but if you're not, maybe you should join us in the fun! I assume that this hosting site will never go away but even if it does, the url pages should still exist. I started this baby in 2008 and have never stopped. Although it might take them months, someday my kids will read this and they'll know exactly what life was like! I do have friends that print all their posts and put them in an album, but since I document so many other ways I've never felt a need to do that. Doesn't mean it's not a great idea though!

I'm sure there are other small things that we do here and there to document life, but those are the main ones for us!

What do you do that makes you a life documentarian?!