When I was pregnant with my youngest I kept a little journal for him about how far along I was, what he was doing on the inside (he went through a three-day phase of tumbling over and over - it felt as though I had a load of washing going round in my stomach and it made me feel quite queasy!), what was happening in the world and my general thoughts about him and what life might have in store.
I read through it occasionally and it's amazing how many of the little things you forget unless you write them down somewhere. I love building memory boxes too - I have one for each of the children and it has their birth paper work in it (you know, the forms that midwives fill in and has the Apgar score on etc), their weight measurement cards, locks of first hair and lots of other sentimental things.
I've just come across this Memory Jaridea and I love it!
It's very simple and will be amazing to keep and open up every now and again. You simply get a big jar and every time something happens that you want to remember, or someone says something funny, or something interesting happens that you want to record - write it down on a piece of paper (I'd date it too) and then put it in the jar.
The original idea (found over on ParentHacks and found from somewhere else - I love that place!) suggests reading all the notes as a family at the end of the year, which I think is a lovely idea. You could have memory jars for all sorts of things - holidays or pregnancy being a couple of events that spring to mind.
My eldest son leaves home to take up his post in the British Army in a few weeks time and I think I'm going to create a memory jar for his remaining time at home.
I think it's a stunning idea; simple and cheap and will produce something priceless to keep forever.
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