Photobucket Photobucket  photo M1_zpsmeajs2i9.png  photo hs_zpsjdypdbbd.png Photobucket

6.03.2012

On documentation...

There are times when I feel like I'm standing in the river of time and the current's moving so fast it's about to knock me over.   Last week was one of them.  Thursday was Jude's last day of 1st grade.  His baby days feel simultaneously forever ago and as if they just happened yesterday.  The one thing I keep coming back to when I wax nostalgic is the importance of documentation.




One way we document our kids' stories is through journaling.  I keep my journal in my kitchen.  In it, I jot down the cute (and funny!) things the kids say.  I've learned if I don't write them down right away, I usually forget them, so I try to keep my journal visible.  From the back of the journal, I keep a running list of gratitudes.  I started doing this last year and am up to 1500 now.  I love the practice.  When the two parts of the journal meet in the middle, it's time for a new journal.


I'd like to take more photos of the day to day with our kids rather than mostly birthdays and holidays... or when they're wearing something new I've made.  Dan and I were saying it'd be neat to see what our childhood bedrooms looked like... or snapshots of our favorite toys.   I hope to capture some of these ordinary moments more often.



One thing we don't do much of is video recording.  Outside of Christmas, the video taking is sparse.  Evie is in this adorable stage of talking where she still mixes up her letters on certain words.  She'll say, "nimming" for swimming or "baby's toming" for baby's coming.  While I do try to write these phrases down, I want to be able to go back and listen to them too.   I decided it'd be fun to hear all of the kids, exactly where they're at right now.  So I conducted some video interviews.  The kids loved talking about themselves, their favorite things, their likes and dislikes.  They were happy to be subjected to my thorough vetting.  It made them feel special.  I hope to make interviewing an annual event around here.


Having Instagram on my phone has made capturing moments even easier, too. 



What are your favorite ways to document your days?

3 comments:

  1. Video interviews are an awesome idea!!! I've been trying to catch stuff on my phone camera. Unfortunately, M and/or Ron usually stop doing whatever adorable thing they were doing right when I'm ready to film... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. jenny, i use my iPhone for the interviews too. i'm going to look for a mini tripod because they are a little shaky. but otherwise just fine. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love your interview idea, too! I document so often with pictures and also have keep a journal of sorts on my phone.
    -Jaime

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! I generally respond to comments via email. If your profile does not link to your email account, I try to respond here. :)