Email for Babies

Like many well-meaning new parents, we had every intention of documenting the milestones of our LittleOne's first year in a beautiful homemade scrapbook -- each page personalized to her story, artfully laid out and filled with photographer-caliber images of those first twelve months. I even omitted registering for the traditional "Baby Book" because I was so confident that I would create my own.

And perhaps I will.............................someday (oh, that infamous word..)

In addition to the standard new-parent haze, concurrent to our LittleOne's first year was a seven month work assignment across the country for The Husband.. a new time-consuming job for yours truly.. and a myriad of other things that kept my scrapbooking ambitions stifled like wine glasses at a baby shower.

If you are reading this and think, "Oh.. how sad.. I finished my baby book concurrent to each milestone in my child's life!" I have two things to say to you: #1. Shush. and #2. My child enjoys sitting on anything she knows I am intent to work on. Like, sitting right on top of it.  Reading a magazine? PLOP. Not anymore, says LittleOne. Folding Laundry? PLOP. Organizing something? Oooh.. My favorite!! PLOP, tear paper, PLOP.

I first attempted to keep shorthand in a spiral bound notebook -- Easy, I thought! --once I got around to that baby book, I could just reference important dates and such from this wonderful little time capsule. Alas, we traveled quite a bit those first seven months, back and forth to visit The Husband.. back and forth to visit my parents.. back and forth to visit anywhere that kept us out of the house that desperately needed dusting (but I digress..). So we were traveling, and that trusty little notebook never seemed to be in the place I needed it when a story, new tooth, or milestone needed to be recorded. Hmm...

Then, it hit me one day -- she must have an email address! Why, my husband queried, must a four month old possess such a thing? Well, I explained - anyone can contribute. From anywhere. Grandma, Grandpa, Other Grandma, Other Grandpa, Aunts, Uncle, Friends.. they can send photos and stories and we can email her when things happen in her life.

Currently, she receives emails regularly from her mom and dad - occasionally just a short "New tooth today!" message, and about once a month a quick chronicle about what is going on in all of our lives. Also, LittleOne's grandparents send messages every month or so, and some playmates we met while traveling like to keep in touch as well .

Additional ways we have found this useful: 

• Sending 'Hello' and 'Thank You' messages from LittleOne to cherished babysitters and little friends.
• Photos: Whenever emailing photos to others, I cc:LittleOne as a virtual photo album
• Forward birth announcements and virtual holiday greetings from friends with children of similar ages
• News: Cut and pasted articles from local and national newspapers when big events happen (links likely will no longer be active when their little fingers learn qwerty) 

Added bonus: if gmail still exists when she is old enough to type, she has rights to her very own name and won't need to be highschoolnickname-plus-year-of-graduation at hotmail dot com. 


Oh, and if "someday" ever comes and I decide to create that baby book, we will have a quick dated reference with a plethora of information and photos.. and if that someday never comes (gasp!) as the very least she'll have a chronological record of her early days, as well as a couple of emails to catch up on! May as well start her off like the rest of us -- with a full email box and people we haven't replied to in ages!

What have you done in lieu of a traditional baby book?