Today’s guest post is from MummyK. MummyK is mum to one, wife to one, a journalist, a photographer, a mad knitter, wannabe seamstress, zombie movie lover, and hard liquor lover. She blogs at http://mummyk.com and tweets as @themummyk
On her blog at the moment MummyK is running an amazing series on her life as a journalist. You can find the first part here – My life as a journalist Part 1
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As a journalist, I’ve written for several publications both locally and internationally, in various topics ranging from women’s health to ultra capacitors, to earthmoving equipment. Working in an industry that wants to document everything has led me to find new ways to document my own life. We’ve all grown up with journals and diaries hidden at the bottom of dressers or beds to hide from our parents and siblings. Blogging, I guess, was just a natural transition from our little locked journals.
After having MiniMe, I have created even newer ways to document everything, trying to make sure it can get preserved no matter how much technology changes in the future.
So here are my little ideas on how to have a well documented life:
- Write on a Word document when you blog. How many times have you written on Blogger or WordPress only to have it deleted by some glitch or another? Eight years ago, after having been victimised by untrustworthy platforms, I decided to write on a Word document first before copying and pasting it on my blog. Ctrl S/Apple S while writing is your best friend too.
- Keep a journal. Although I blog constantly, there are things that I don’t feel that comfortable putting out there in the world wide web, as I’m sure a lot of you feel too. Those intimate things I want my daughter to know about I write in this really beautiful journal my husband gave me as a present (because he knows I’m addicted to all forms of paper).
- Bind your blog entries into a book (see picture). I searched for several self-publishing companies and found Blurb. They print books for a very affordable price and so I printed my first lot of blog entries. I’m currently in the process of finishing the second one. I am hoping to give it to her when she’s old enough.
- Write your kids a letter each year. When she turned one, I decided to write her a letter. I’m going to do this every year on her birthday for as long as I can. One day, I’m going to compile them into a little book as well and give it to her as a present.
- Use several external hard drives. I’m a paranoid little writer, which always works to my advantage. I save my files in three different external hard drives. Back up, back up, and back up. They are so much cheaper nowadays and come in such tiny sizes, there is no excuse not to have one. Computers are just hardware, they can crash anytime. I especially love Mac’s Time Machine, it makes backing up so much easier.
- Print photo books. Gone are the days of the photo album. Because I’m a photographer, I tend to go shutter crazy (especially after buying my new lens). I have a gazillion of photos that I used to print until I realised it is much better to make photo books instead. They are easier to send to relatives too, and make fantastic presents. These days you can print photo books for a very cheap price online (BigW, Snapfish to name a few). I usually wait until they have a sale before buying in bulk. I’ve sent several photo books to my in-laws and family overseas (birthdays, Christmas and New Year, random photo selections etc)
- Mash your videos together. I’m sure your collection of videos is as plenty as your collection of photos. That’s just how we humans are. It will take ages to mash them together (and what if you don’t have the skills?), so I found a cheap small business who does video editing and sent all my files to them to edit and burn into a DVD (or whatever format you prefer).
- Turn your favourite story into a book. I have a favourite bedtime story that Mama used to tell us when we were young. It was a story she’d tell us over and over again – the type that kids remember and argue about when parents miss some details. So I decided to turn it into a book. I wrote what I remember, I got an illustrator (for free because he’s a good friend) and I plan to hard bind it for my daughter. Hopefully, one day she’ll pass it onto her own kids. That way, Mama’s story will always stay alive.
It’s a dream of mine to know that even after I’m gone I’ve left a piece of myself through my daughter. I may not be the smartest of them all but I have some nuggets of wisdom I want to impart, like I’m sure others do as well. Hopefully, I’ve documented our life enough for her to know about what her parents were really like, and learn from our experiences.
Do you document your family life?
18 comments...read them below or add one
These are great ideas. I love the photobook idea especially as we live away from all the grandparents and cousins. I also love the idea of binding letters and blog entries into a book. Yesterday I read this blog about interviewing your kids to record them “in the moment” how they looked and spoke when they were 4, what was their favourite colour etc. Another great way to keep a record of your family’s life and growth http://www.adventuroo.com/2011/07/how-to-capture-the-everyday-the-kid-interview/
There’s some really lovely ideas here. I love the idea of turning your favourite story into a book. What a beautiful thing to do. We make up stories often, so it would be nice to have one of these stories put into book form for the girls to remember always.
Such a great reminder for everyone. As a photographer I too I have that part covered. I made a photo book for each child’s first 5 years & now I do a big family album book for every year. I also do separate ones for holidays or bigger occasions.I also back up a few different ways as I have had computers crash and an external hard drive die on me. I do need to improve on the journal or letter writing though. Always start them but not very good at continuing the process! Thanks for motivating me again!
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As well as backing up to an external hard drive regularly, make sure that you store one of the backups “off site” e.g. at Gran’s place, or in a safety-deposit box, or at a friends house. That way if there is a disaster, at least you’ll be able to get back your pictures and videos of your kids, etc.
Fantastic idea! Thanks for that. Didn’t even think of that.
There are some great ideas here!
I will definitely be looking into Blurb in the future.
I use Movie Maker to put digital photos & videos together into slide shows – often with a number of ‘title slides’, and backing music. I do this a couple of times a year – sometimes they will be of special occasions (Christmas, family holiday), others are just documenting our year together. Then I burn them onto DVDs and post them to the grandparents… they love to get them, and it also means I have backup copies ‘off site’.
I also keep meaning to scan some of the children’s artwork, and then put together collages of their work, and have them printed out in large format, to display on the wall, but haven’t quite gotten around to that. In the past I have scanned their artwork and then used them in photo calendars (like those you can make through Snapfish etc), to give as Christmas presents.
These are such great ideas. I love these and am going to make an effort to do some of them. I really wanted to write a letter to my daughter every year and I just never sat my butt down to do it. i am kicking myself for it. I think I am going to do it from now on, it is such a beautiful gesture to do for your children. Do you think it would be bad to write one now to catch up for the past two years I missed?
These are absolutely great ideas! And I love these ideas the most “Bind your blog entries into a book ” and “Print photo books.” Thank you for sharing this post!
This is a passion of mine!
* I make a photobook each year for our family showing what we did from the memorable moments and snapshots of everyday life. I’ve done a few on Momento and just got my 2010 book done through Shutterfly (US company). It takes a few months to do when I have scraps of spare time, but is so worthwhile since we print very few actual photos. I imagine these will be a treasure in years to come.
* I use an undated diary called ‘One Line a Day’, which you write a snapshot of each day in – five years on one page! What a treat it will be to look back over a few years of history each day in a glance! I feel this helps me to feel like i’ve made every day count.
* I use a Word document for recording cute/memorable things my daughters do – will intersperse these snippets with key photos to make Age 0 – 5 photobooks.
* Have Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s ‘Your Birthday Book’ for each daughter – a journal for recording birthdays, storing keepsakes and capturing what each child is like at that age & stage.
* Write a letter to each child on their birthday… this is as much a memory-maker for me as them!
* Am completing ‘A Mother’s Legacy: Your Life Story in Your Own Words’ – a guided journal by Thomas Nelson publishers to help me pass on my history. (note: this is a Christian book but there are plenty of alternatives available)
* Each year I make a ‘family ornament’ to hang up at Christmas time. One one side is a family photo depicting something important that happened during the year. On the other side is a brief summary of the year’s highlights. I’ve made them on paper until now but aim to remake them on craft-wood for a longer life.
* I’ve used pregnancy journals, and am now using ‘Baby of Mine: A Mother’s Memory Album for Baby’s First Year’ – a guided journal to help me recall these first months of my baby’s life (a book for Mums, not a baby-book per se).
* Baby record books for the children
* We also backup, backup, backup, including an off-site drive at my mother’s house… and have set up a monthly reminder in Outlook to swap it so we don’t forget!
It all takes time but I so want to remember these precious moments before the memories start to fade! Its an investment in our family heritage
Thanks for taking the time to share your ideas Lyndall – they are fantastic and have really got me thinking about what I can do for my family.
My pleasure – it is the least I can do to give something back to you! Your blog has been one of my key inspiration points this year managing life with two young children. I just finished reading your book yesterday – and have your slow cooker spaghetti bolognaise bubbling away for dinner right now! Thank you!
I really need to do this! And you would think, as a fellow journalist, that I would love writing them. But Dolly’s diary has about five entries in the last year… I think I’m going to regret that one day!
I’ve began to use the first blog hint- to type in a document first and I love the idea of blog entries becoming a book- especially for an important journey in life. Thanks for sharing.
Great ideas. I make:
- photo books at least a year particularly on family trip.
- blogging about my kid’s growing moment and activities. Would also want to print out the blog posts in future.
- keep kid’s artwork that made at day dare in the box and partner disaproved it. He thinks is ‘rubbish’. Thinking to take a photo of each artwork and put a description on it.
- making a review book lists that my kid enjoys.
- planning to make a story book for my kid.
- and of course, back-up, back-up and back-up the hard disk.
Hi MummyK!
Love your post! And yes, yes, YES – Love what you say about writing to your daughter as a gift! YAY!
Great to see that so many of you are keen to keep family records… it makes me feel all warm and gooey (and justified) inside!
As your kids get older, don’t forget to get them involved too. One of my favourite ideas is to create a family magazine – using Blurb or similar, in which you all contribute articles – fashion, food, pets, decor, interviews etc etc. Added together, this will create a great snapshot of your family life, plus you can include lots of great photos – not all of which have to be yours, to make it look pretty.
Enjoy your journal journeys everyone… your kids will thank you for it in years to come.