Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Announcement:  If you live in Louisville, you won't want to miss the last bullet of today's post.

Here we are... Day three of our baby shower.  A couple of fun points before we get down to the business of today.  Yesterday was a "snow" day in Dallas.  Not only was there no snow, there was no ice either.  Just a cold and miserable day stuck in the house with three boys - all of whom suffered a terrible case of cabin fever.

At 2:00 p.m. I finally decided I had to get out of the house - for the sake of all of us!  I went to the post office to mail your Chinese New Year winnings.  The post office worker asked me if I wanted heart stamps for my envelopes.  The envelopes were red (China).  The stamps were red (hearts), so it seemed like a match made in heaven.  On our way out of the post office we began talking about how nice it would be to use the heart stamps to mail our valentines this year.  So how about it?  How about valentines made out of thumb prints?  I'm thinking my boys and I will make love bugs, using each of their thumb prints.  What are some other Valentine related shapes we could make?

One more nice point from yesterday.  I mentioned Kristen won the biggest jackpot yesterday by choosing the Chinese envelope named "Alexis."  She promptly sent me an email asking that I not send her the $20.00 and instead that I use it for the baby shower.  The generosity of readers like Kristen is just one of the things that makes this community so remarkable.  I will use Kristen's money as requested and when I do I will let you know.  

Now today.

"Remember three months from this date!  Your lucky star is shining."  That was Matthew's fortune from the cookie he ate on Monday night in celebration of the Chinese New Year.  Keep it or throw it away?  That is the question.  Keep it and your house is overrun with scraps of paper.  Toss it it and miss the chance to capture, albeit, a small moment of time in his life.  

Scrap booking, journaling, archiving....  Whatever you want to call it, that is the source of today's post.  Lots to cover and only a limited amount of your attention.  Let's get going.

Moments in Time:  When Kristen and I spoke on the phone in preparation of this week's baby shower, she told me of a baby book she received as a gift.  It required her to capture lots of fun information soon after Jennifer was born.  Here are some examples.  Document the prices of a: gallon of gas, house in your neighborhood, car, computer, movie tickets, package of diapers, postage stamp, and babysitting rates.  I love the idea of this and though our kids will always be able to find it on the internet, it's so much more fun to see it in your handwriting.  So come up with your own list of notable things and then set out to start documenting them.

Extra! Extra!:  Make your phone calls now and put your friends, family and relatives on notice.  Ask them save the front page from their city's newspaper on the day your child is born.  It will be fun for your kids to look through them and to use them for class projects when they get older.  Line your people up now, because it won't be the first thing on your mind when you're in labor and delivery.  

Time Capsule:  Saving newspapers is one thing - kind of one dimensional, but a time capsule...?  A time capsule is 3-D.  How about gathering items such as advertisements from local papers, CDs with popular music, photographs of your house, car, pets, or anything else you might want your kids to see first hand when they get older.  You could either bury your capsule somewhere in your yard or simply tuck it away in the attic until his/her... 21st birthday?!?!?!   

Snap Shot in Time:  Mind you, I've never done this. I've just heard about other disciplined people doing it and I think it is a great idea.  During your baby's first year, each month on the same date, take a picture of your baby sitting in the same place and possibly holding the same stuffed animal.  By reusing the seat and the stuffed animal, your baby's growth will become even more apparent.  Heather told me she recently saw a Baby's First Birthday invitation bordered with a series of photographs similar to those described above.  Another example of a great idea, but one you have to be ready for from the get-go.  By the time most of us come out of our post pregnancy fog, months have passed and it's too late.  

Scrap Journaling:  On Highlowaha.com we try never to repeat the same idea twice.  If ever I was tempted, it would be today.  Months ago I shared my "strategy" for keeping and organizing my children's keepsakes.  Many of my friends and some of our readers have begun using the system.  I am not at all into scrap booking (too costly and time consuming), but I love the idea of documenting the lives of my children.  I want them to look back and be able to find out things such as: funny phrases they used, favorite foods, least favorite foods, their favorite toys, who their teachers were, what car we were driving, what weather was like on Inauguration Day, who won the Super Bowl, and a million other mundane facts.  I do all of this (and more) in a system I refer to as Scrap Journaling.  Following are links to days dedicated to this topic.  If you are interested, check them out (to really understand, you must check out each day).  http://www.highlowaha.com/2008/07/kiss-keep-it-simple-system.html.  http://www.highlowaha.com/2008/07/kiss-step-three-of-four.html.  http://www.highlowaha.com/2008/07/kiss-step-four-of-four.html.

If you live in Louisville, you're going to LOVE this:  What better way to document the lives of your children than PHOTOGRAPHS!  Today we present Louisvillians with the chance to win a free one-hour photo shoot, along with a CD of photos.  The photo shoot is with Laura Kline, a local woman who is actively building her clientele.  You can see Laura's work by visiting her flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurakline/ or visiting her blog at www.lkkphotos.blogspot.com.   Let's get on with it.  The winner's name will be selected from a drawing.  How do you assure a spot in the drawing? Easy.  Get a pregnant woman to join our party by making a post in today's comment section.  Your name will be entered one time for each pregnant woman you get to make a post. 

Don't win?  Don't worry.  Laura is focused on building her portfolio, so her rates by industry standards, are reasonable.  If you live in Louisville, I am sure she would welcome the chance to photograph your family... and you'd be supporting another Highlowaha reader. 

Have an idea related to something we've already covered today?  Share it with the rest of us. 

As for me...signing off until tomorrow.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

One thing I have found important in my short time as a parent is to document who your children "really" are and what their real reactions are to things instead of always trying to get the pleasant or smiling face. Some of my favorite photos of Lily are those which capture a moment in time when she wasn't happy. I have the best shot of her in our backyard in Louisville. She was TERRIFIED of grass and when we sat her in it barefoot she screamed in horror while lifting up both hands and feet. I snapped a few pictures (cruel mom that I am) before I rescued her. To this day I have one of those pictures in my office and not a person who takes the time to look at my pictures doesn't comment about what a great picture it is.

Also..I'm a HORRIBLE scrapbooker (and scrapjournaler) if you give me blank space in which to write I never quite know what is important enough to put to page. So...today's photographer, Laura Kline, got me an album that is all fill in the blanks to use for Lily's first years. It is perfect because it doesn't require a lot of effort or energy but it documents all the important things for posterity sake.

Anonymous said...

No time to comment on today's post...but I wanted to let you all know that there is a SNOW DAY here in Cleveland. We probably got about 8-10 inches last night and about 6 more are expected today. It's also a lovely 22 degrees right now! This weather doesn't usually give us a snow day, but it came so fast. Treye, as an administrator has to work...as do I. Back for more later!

Anonymous said...

yep, another snow day here in southern IN and louisville! yesterday was full of ice, and overnight, it rain, and froze. a ton of trees have broken fall over due to the weight, and have taken out power lines in the process. I am still stuck at my house (OH DARN) but we have power. at least for now... but now it is snowing, and we are supposed to get another 3-6inches today! WOO! Have a great day everyone, from here in kentuckiana and the ICE STORM of 2009!

Julie said...

Hi HLA :) I've been reading every day, but haven't been commenting recently.

Valentine's Day images: a quick search on google images revealed:
~ mickey and minnie mouse: heads made from thumb prints, ears from pinkie prints)
~ long stemmed roses: flower made from thumb print, stems made from side of pinkie print.

As for snow and cold weather goes: I hope everyone is staying warm and safe. I recognize how intense of a winter this has been when one of my best friends, who loves all things snow, commented to me that she's even getting sick of it. She said she's got no where to put it anymore!

Anonymous said...

For all those wondering...we have 1/2 a "snow" day here in Dallas.
UTA opens at 12 noon.

Anonymous said...

Happy Baby Shower Everyone! And I apologize beforehand for the length of my comment.

A time capsule is a great idea. I remeber when I got engaged Claudia herself gave me a wedding day time capsule. Brent and I filled out the book and one of the things that it asked us to do was write a letter to each other. While I'm the only one who got around to writing a letter it's still a pretty good idea. So when Dalton was born and was spending a month in the NICU I wrote a letter to him telling him of our hopes, dreams and extreme worries about him in the hospital along with his day to day growth.

I had also planned to take a picture of him on the 16th of every month. While in the hospital we took a picture of Dalton and his very first stuffed animal. When the picture was developed we realized that the stuffed bear was actually BIGGER than Dalton, so that's when we decided that his monthly pics would be taken with that bear. Dalton's baby book also asked for information about how my husband and I met, who we first told about being pregnant. Another thing that I have been pretty good about is keeping track of funny pronounciations of words Dalton would say along with funny stories about him. Now if only I could get my favorite pics of him in an actual album instead of being on my computer.

Another thing I found while looking for a school memory book (Claudia you will LOVE this)is a Birthday Book. This is very cool because I LOVE birthdays especially my son's. It chronicles every birthday up to 18. Each year it has you interview your child with the exact same questions like what do you want to be when you grow up, what was the last thing that made you sad, what makes you happy, do you like your name and have you been kissed. I only got this book that past summer and have been working on filling it out for Dalton's first five birthdays and can't wait to do the first official interview this March.

Ok I've taken up enough space on someone else's blog - sorry - so I'll part with this one last thing if you're able to write a letter to your spouse and have them write one to you. To this day I wish Brent, who died five years ago, had written his letter to me but Dalton will still have mine to read when he grows up.

Have a happy day!

maureen said...

Hello from snowy New York. We have had over 5 inches fall here since last night and my kids still had school. There are a lot of schools closed just not the ones my kids go to. Oh how I love their schools!!!

I hate the saying "been there done that" but unfortunately it fits my life right now. All of my friends have preteen kids and I dont know anyone who is pregnant (except my sister in law) and I have directed her to HLA and she hasnt come out of lurking!

I just wanted to stop by and say hello HLA! Have a great day and I hope everyone stays warm!

Kristen Giger said...

My hometown is ifficially creeping into the top 15 snowiest of all winters...we're somewhere around 120 inches of snow on the season...and it is snwing right now.

Back on topic of baby stuff:

I went back and read the post from July that CKB put in today's post. What a genius idea! I HATE clutter...it is so oncredibly easy to accumulate yet so difficult to get rid of.

HEATHER: Thanks for helping me realize that I am not the only mom who gets a kick out of "other than smiling" pics.

I am really happy that Julie has volunteered to do a scrapbook of Jennifer's first year, as Lord knows I would never do it!

CHERYL: you posted that you were going ot try that system...how's that working? Does it work as well as it sounds?

Kristen Giger said...

I also like the idea of a time capsule. Maybe I will put oe together for Jennifer's first birthday and she can open it on her wedding day, when she becomes pregnant, or someother milestone life mark...if I can keep track of it that long!

MOMENTS IN TIME: I'm sure many of you pregnany ladies have baby books for the forthcoming bundle in your lives. I cannot stress enough how much time you will save yourself if you take care of filling that stuff in right away. Better yet, give that list to a mother, sister, to-be-Godmother or otherwise and have THEM get that info for YOU.

Kristen Giger said...

please excuse my horrible typos!

Anonymous said...

Good morning HLA! It is cold here in texas but we are making the most of the "ICED" in day...big breakfast, staying in our robes and fuzzy socks and time to make a pot of coffee at home this morning. My girls are watching the Santa Clause movie in honor of the cold weather..and so I can type this in peace..HEHE.

As for moments in time...I take lots of pictures and write down alot of moments in my girls life but I must say I don't have them organized and I wish I did. I guess there is no better time than now!!! School starts this year for my oldest and I hear it only gets busier. I love the idea of taking the pictures every month at the same place and day.

My wish for those of you whom we are celebrating this week is that you don't get lost in the day to day "stuff" of your new beautiful gift..Diaper changes, feedings, lack of sleep, etc. (Crying) They do grow SOOO fast and capturing the moments cannot be replaced!!

Cheryl Houston said...

Kristen- thanks for pointing out that I'm working on ScrapJournaling. Uh- how's that working? I have the books by my nightstand and I did write in them for a while... I guess I need to move them because I haven't written in them in a while. I have some paper trinkets that need to be glued in. I never did find photo albums to put their photos in.

I'm awful at taking photos too. This past weekend we went to my friend Cassie's in Houston and we had a monumental moment. My boys roasted marshmellows for the first time ever! I of course did not have my camera but Cassie took photos for me.

Her husband works for a Portrait Studio called One to One and they are about to roll out a new club that creates an online scrapbook. It looks really cool. I don't have all the details handy but will pass them along when I do.

I need to do a better job of taking pictures and preserving their memories. (sigh)

Anonymous said...

Up here in Montana we have snow adn ice and below zero temperatures, but we still have school and work...

As a new Mom and soon to be Mom again, I have been trying to keep up in the baby book for my daughter. I journaled while I was pregnant and have included things she has done along the way. I can't say I have been excellent at it but I have made the attempt. I feel however that in doing this also for the 2nd child that I'm not finding all the time to do this or just not doing a good job. But that is my new years resolution and I am going to work on it-

AS far as handprint crafts or footprint ideas- my daughter has made the ghost at daycare with her foot and some thanksgiving napkin holders with her hand being the feathers of the turkey. I have kept all her crafts in a scrapbook and plan do the same for the next baby.

Anonymous said...

Good Afternoon HLA! Day two of my snowed-in nesting fest. This morning I've been scrubbing my house, top to bottom.
I love the cost of living record for the baby book! Kristen, what else was on that list of items??

Zalonia said...

The newspaper thing sounds like a great idea!

Katie said...

No snow day here today! We did have a 2 hour delay, though. Campus was a HUGE sheet of ice last night when I went over to a friend's apt to watch a movie...like one giant ice skating rink!

As a kid, I remember have one of those "school" books where life was tracked by the school years. It started in Pre-K and went through 8th grade. Each year, there was a spot for my school picture and then it had some questions like, what is your favorite subject this year? What sports did you play this year? Who was my teacher this year? What do you want to be when you grow up? And then there was a folder type of contraption where I could put all of my report cards, my honors/awards I got at school and I could put pictures from the years I was in school. For some reason, I remember filling most of it out for myself, but I know my mom did the first few years. I guess that's always been the "archiver" in me!

Anonymous said...

Hi...reporting again from cold, snowy, un-plowed Cleveland. I guess the Mayor just shut down the city. You know it's bad when Cleveland, a place used to get a lot of snow, shuts down.

I'm home from work and have to be there again tomorrow at 7:30 (I work retail part time). I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get out of my parking lot/driveway if the snow keeps falling like this!

All of this mother-to-be talk is not helping me with my baby fever...

Julie...I know you're doing Jennifer's scrap book for year 1...can I put you on duty for my kids too? You know you'll be their favorite aunt!

Brian K. Root said...

When I have a child, I've given thought to doing something along the lines of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B26asyGKDo&feature=channel_page

Anonymous said...

Where are the Louisvillians? I would be clamoring to get a free photo shoot of my kids, children, pets, family, whatever.

Katie said...

I know a lot of folks in Louisville are without power. Everyone I have called to tell them about this offer do not have computer access right no because they have no power...darn ice storm!

Julie said...

I'll take on that request, Tera :) ... You aren't trying to tell people something, are you?!?!

Kristen Giger said...

Tera: You and treye are going to have the cutest babies ever! Why wait...Jennifer wants a playmate!! Besides, why wait until you have a job just to go out on maternity leave?

CHERYL: Leave them on your nightstand...every time you dust around them, write something in them.

MELANIE: I think CKB mentioned most of the ones I missed...other ones are prices of movie tickets; current movies, world, national, local leaders and news.

Anonymous said...

NOOOOOO.....Julie...get those thoughts out of your mind. You've gotta wait a few years :)

Anonymous said...

I was without power shortly after I posted this morning, until around 1p. But I have no reason to win a photo shoot with LK because I dont have kids. Yes, I have brothers, but I dont want pictures of them! I was leavin the prize for someone else, honestly...

AND I have another day off from classes tomorrow. Which means I am done for the week because I dont currently have anything on Fridays. So I went to one 1 1/2 hour class on Monday, and thats all!!! HAHA, YES!

I love scrapbooking actually. Its nice to relax and turn my pictures into fun pages...but when I have kids, I probably wont have time. So maybe this scrapjournaling will come in handy some day.

eknoxuk said...

I'm enjoying my snow day! My mom was flying through DFW and is stuck with us for a day or so:)