Early on we began to track our baby’s progress. My wife kept a daily journal of his sleep schedule until he was two (not really sure why!) but she also made notes about things he accomplished that day. For me this has less value, but I was able to piece together some interesting trends about his language development through signs and spoken words. However, this really isn’t the point I’m trying to make.
Time flies, so be sure to capture as much as possible in the early months and years of life. Things happen really fast with children under two. If your baby is doing something cute that gives you joy, capture it today because tomorrow he may not do it any longer. Baby brains are fast evolving and ever changing. Your baby will slow down once he reaches 3-5 years old and there-on, and in this timeframe you might still capture his progress, but might do so at greater intervals. At the start though, capture stuff weekly at a minimum and daily if possible for at least the first few weeks. Get what’s new and changing.
Thankfully most still cameras have video capturing abilities and so make handy additions. If you’re thinking about investing in a camera, look for something where you can get video and audio along with good quality still photos.
And finally, always be sure to back-up your electronic files. All hard drives eventually fail – every single one of them! I’ve personally have had three drives fail on me in about 5 years. After the second it was no big deal, because I learned to keep a “bad day box” at the ready with all my software and operating system ready to go. Now I just swap out a drive and I can get back going in a matter of hours. Burn all your stuff to disk, use external hard drives and if you have multiple drives keep it all off your main drive (the one that runs your operating system) as this is the one which will burn out fastest. Finally, be sure to select and print hard copies of all your best photos and keep a photo album current. If you’re really paranoid, you can even rent storage online for all your data and photos. These are typically stored on multiple drives to prevent lose.
If you have videos or photos to share give us a ring, we’d be delighted to enjoy them too!