Making memories available

In the era of digital cameras it is rare to find photographs in print. Sure, many people share photos through email or social websites but when was the last time someone handed you a photograph to frame from a family event or social gathering?

When JD was born I went crazy taking photos of him doing everything and nothing, but when people asked to see how he'd grown I could not show them unless I had my camera or computer available. As he was reaching his first birthday I wanted to have something to show him to document how he had changed in his first year of life so I turned to Shutterfly.com and created him a photo book. This is our generations answer to photo albums and the busy mom's or less creative mom's scrap booking alternative. Sure I'd love to get out my stamps, stickers and cutters from my creative memories and stampin' up days but lets face it I barely have time to clean my house between work, family and my kids. This option let me create a photo book complete with stats, memory stories and quotes that JD can have and cherish for his whole life and it was a lot easier than a baby book and you can have as many copies as you want of each book.

After his first birthday I vowed to continue the tradition and so far it has stuck. Each time I load my pictures from my camera to my computer I then log-on to the Shutterfly website and load the pictures of each month or event I want to document into their online photo albums this makes creating those pages of memories building my book throughout the year in increments easy and fun. Everyone has a few minutes a week or month to do this. Shutterfly also has a great app for my iPhone that allows me to upload my iPhone pics so they are also ready in my Shutterfly albums to incorporate into my photo books.

This year I am working on two books simultaneously. One for JD and one for MJ. Some of the pictures are the same as the boys are usually photographed together but many of them are documenting their individual achievements as they are happening.

My advice to anyone out there is to not just capture the moment but to also share those moments in a way that will last a lifetime.