Did anyone get the Steve Miller reference in the title or am I just dating myself? As we’re finally heading into some warmer weather, I was thinking of all the concerts we’ve been to, many in the summer. Growing up in Plattsburgh, I spent much of my time at SPAC and I can’t even count the number of times Steve Miller played there. We have good friends who recently moved to Saratoga and though it’s not a venue for the big names like it use to be, we’re looking forward to reigniting the SPAC tradition!
“Enjoy every minute because it goes by way too fast!” When your kids are very young, you listen to what seems like the hundreds of people who tell you this every day. You agree. You’ve seen it with your nieces, nephews, your friend’s kids. You know time passes quickly. But if you’re like me, you don’t really know. It’s not until the days and months then years begin to fly by that you can truly understand how fleeting it all is. Am I right? Who’s with me on this? I need to know in hopes of easing my own guilt about not keeping up with recording memories for both my kids, but especially my second.
I have a baby book 3/4 full for Brendan plus a second book I bought because the first was so messy and I thought I’d have the time to rewrite everything more neatly (yes, I know, a creative sickness of mine!) I have a baby book for Kyra that I managed to write her name and birth date in. If you’re doing the math, that’s three baby books and not one is completed. I kept a scrapbook for Brendan for a while but every page needed to look perfect (yes, it truly is a sickness!) so that didn’t last, never started one for Kyra. I tried to journal as I felt a loss of control of the days flying by with Brendan, not even a notebok for Kyra. I missed recording so many cute, smart, funny things Brendan said or did, poor Kyra had no chance. I do regret it now. When I’m out with friends who have young babies, I find myself unable to remember so many of those little things I thought I’d never forget! I seriously think this would surprise so many of the people who know me well because I was always such a detailed, organized person.
I do wish I’d made recording memories more of a priority but yet I’m the first to tell every other Mom I know with similar thoughts to give themselves a break. It’s easy to think you could’ve made it a priority to take a few minutes to write something cute your child did down on paper or on the computer. But here’s where hindsight being 20/20 comes into play. Reality is there were probably about 20 other priorities higher on the list at that moment. And not one of them included sleep … which you need to function to complete your list of priorities! I do know some Moms are really good at keeping it all together, tracking every funny things their kids say, the exact dates of every loose tooth, event and happenings, all while spending quality time with family, going to work, keeping up on the laundry, and getting meals on the table every night. Unfortunately, I have never been that Mom. Well, that’s not really true … I was kind of that Mom before I left the corporate world, less the cooking thing. Never the cooking thing. Nope, not at all the cooking thing! But it was also just the three of us. It’s funny how I felt more organized and felt like I spent more quality time with my family when I was working full time. A bit twisted, isn’t it?
Thankfully I have taken thousands of pictures of my kids at all ages and many events! Of course, most of them reside on my computer. Getting them off the computer and onto my walls and into albums is a priority this summer. What? You mean you don’t wait a year and a half after being in a new house to put things on the walls? *chuckle* In our old house, there were pictures everywhere and I do mean everywhere! Here, you’d have no idea I was a photographer if it weren’t for my equipment and desk always a mess in one room or another. The kids look at pictures and albums on the computer or iPad and are happy with that because they are tiny techie people who know more about that kind of stuff than I ever knew well into high school! It is sad when your 3.5 year old is more up on technology than you are. But that is for another post. 😉
I keep reminding myself it’s not too late and nothing has to be perfect. Less than perfect is much better than nothing at all! I now keep little post-its handy and write quick little one liners as I recall them or something new happens, usually with very little detail and I hope to go back and fill in the details later. I have a basket I throw the little notes into and I’ve asked my husband (who somehow recalls the funniest stories out of nowhere) to do the same. At some point, I’ll pull them all together and do something really super, spectacularly awesome with them! Okay, okay, so I probably won’t. But even if I don’t, at least I’ll have them and the kids will have them. And really, that’s what it’s all about for me. Time goes by so fast, some days are great, other days I’m on my kids constantly for one thing or another. But I want them to know when they’re older that no matter what kind of day it was, no matter what kind of mood we were in (even moments I want to run out of the house and never look back), life with them is beyond awesome!
Do you struggle with ways to record memories of your kids or do you have a process in place to keep track of everything? Would love to hear any tips! 🙂
by traci
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