I’ve had a terrible case of “writter’s block” this past week which lead me to facebook for suggestions for this weeks blog. My cousin Austin (also known as my best-est ever-est cousin in the whole wide world hehe) commented with the idea of writing a letter to Ellyse. A letter of my goals,dreams and hopes I have in mind for her that I want her to know for the future. This letter suggestion inspired me to blog about this weeks topic; Baby Keepsakes!!! There are so many new mommy’s (and soon-to-be-mommy’s) like me that I thought of making this weeks blog fun and beneficial just for you hot mama’s out there! Ever since Ellyse was born I have been obsessed with keepsakes! I would save everything she ever touched! lol. I’m big into scrapbooks but never really find the time to sit down and work on them and kinda find it boring at times. I started looking for better ways to preserve all of Ellyse’s baby Items. I will be sharing 10 fun and unique keepsake Ideas I am currently doing for Ellyse and some cool ideas I’ve come across!!
1. A letter for the future.
I would have posted her letter here on my blog, but I feel it is something close and personal I prefer Ellyse to have all to herself! In my very first blog post, “The Story Of Sweet Ellyse” I mentioned that I did not have any future plans for her (Because she was meant to be a boy) and that I felt guilty about it. I feel this is a great way to redeem myself. I plan on writing a yearly “goal letter” to her as she grows. Writing her letters as she grows, gives me the chance to reflect on many memories I am sure to share with her as she matures into a young woman. This will give me the opportunity to write about her hobbies and whatever sports she was interested in that specific year and I could maybe predict future goals for her in the following years to come. Even if it’s a small prediction of her being a ballerina or the next Misty May (Famous beach volleyball player). Of course she wont be able to read these letters until she’s 18 years old. This ensures that I am able to voice my goals and dreams for her in private, and avoid pressuring her to live by them.
2. Vacation Postcards
This wasn’t a keepsake idea, but I am making it into one. The Idea is to buy a post card when you’re on family vacations or fun trips together, write down the fun activities you did that day, date it and then send it to your home address on that very day. I love this idea because it saves me time from trying to think back after our vacation and then writing about the memories weeks later. Instead, I will have a post card full of fresh memories waiting for me at home! The only place we have been as a family (besides Cali) that we consider a “Vacation” is New Mexico. On our stay in Albuquerque, Ellyse and I were able to witness one of the craziest comeback wins that my husband and the Colorado State football team accomplished over Washington State in the 2013 Gildan New Mexico bowl. After the game, I managed to snag a postcard from the hotel lobby and share my experiences within it. Now when I look back on that day, I can recall many of those same experiences that I’ve shared throughout the postcard.
3. Charm Bracelet
Eli and I creatively thought of an idea of buying Ellyse a charm bracelet. We would buy her Charms that represent a special time in her life. We would be collecting charms as we come across them. One of her 1st charms is a baby Ram with a pink bow. This ram was made by a talented friend of ours who is also a CSU football girlfriend 🙂 This “Rammie” represents the beginning of her life. When Ellyse was born, the guys on the team has dubbed Ellyse the first official girl on the CSU football team lol. What better way to represent CSU than with a Ram!
4. Pappy,Binkie,Dummy
Ellyse lives off of pacifiers! The two things she demands before falling asleep is her toy monkey Kawully and her Pappy “Pacifier”. I’ve collected a variety of pappys and will continue to collet them until she’s done with the whole “pacifier stage”. My plan is to take a picture of Ellyse with a pappy in her mouth, then border the picture with her pacifiers in side a shadow box frame.
5. Ellyse’s Email
I’ve setup a future email account in Ellyse’s name that is linked to mine. That is until Ellyse becomes of age to handle her own email. I have been sending random funny pictures to her account so that when she opens her email, there will be pictures of Ellyse all throughout her childhood. This is one of my favorite ideas, because it really helps me out a lot. How many of you “photo-frenzy” parents have come across this problem before? Sometimes my iPhone has a mind of its own and doesn’t want to connect to my computer, so I can’t back my phone up to save the pictures. I figured, instead of going through the hassle of trying to reconnect my phone, I simply send her pictures to her email where I know she will someday see them. It’s a quick and fast way of sending important pictures to her email when I am at a party or event. Also (pay attention photo-frenzy parents), you can delete it off of your phone for that extra storage space (you know you will need) and not be concerned about losing any of your pictures!
6. Outfit Baggies
I loved all of Ellyse’s outfits when she was just a tiny 6 pound nugget. Her outfits are so small and cute. I always made sure to take a picture of her in her outfits. Now that she has outgrown her outfits I don’t want to put them in storage boxes to collect dust or sell her outfits because they hold sentimental value in each outfit. I pressed her tiny outfits and taped them inside a ziplock bag (so they will remain fresh & clean) along with a picture of Ellyse on the day she wore that outfit.
7.The “AnaLia” Updates
This idea was brought to my attention by a good friend of mine named Emerald and her adorable daughter AnaLia. Emerald takes a monthly photo of AnaLia and lists all of the new things she started to do that month: like how much she weights, if she has started to crawl and some of AnaLia’s favorite things to do. With social media being the greatest leaders of today’s generation, I thought this would be the cutest way of keeping distant relatives updated with your babies new adventures.
8. Birthday Newspaper
I think I seen this idea on Pintrest somewhere… But the concept of this keepsake is to purchase a newspaper every year on your child’s birthday. I thought it would be pretty mind-blowing if my parents did that for me, because I would get to see all the events that happened on my special day. Something historic could on happened on my 7th birthday, yet I was only worried about what flavor my birthday cake was lol. I can only imagine Ellyse’s curiosity as she reads historical events that may occur on her birthday when she was too young to understand. This idea would serve two purposes: it is memorable and educational.
9. Graduation Storybook
A father did this keepsake for his daughter, he took one of his daughters favorite children’s storybooks and had every teacher his daughter ever had (K-12) write on a page. He started from her preschool teacher all the way to her teachers from her senior year. The father had each teacher write a encouraging letter to his daughter that would help motivate her for college. I’m sooooo doing this keepsake for Ellyse when she starts school!
10. Mula Letters
I came across this keepsake on Pintrest when Ellyse was born; it’s my all-time favorite. Every year on Ellyse’s birthday, Eli and I agreed to write her a special letter along with $100 to seal in an envelop (we plan to put more money if we can spare it). We will be storing them away somewhere safe until she prepares for college. These letters and money will be a memorable gift for her as she is “leaving the nest”. It’s a great investment, instead of giving Ellyse the money upfront, it will show her how hard Eli and I strived to save for her future. We want our children to know that education is important for their futures and to show that we (like any other parent) will be supporting them as they mature into the bright adults we know they’ll be . The letters will explain our struggles as a young family and we hope these letters will motivate them to work hard, strive to become great, and never take the price of every dollar for granted.
I hope you enjoyed reading these 10 unique “Baby Keepsake” ideas. I never really paid attention to when parents would say, “Cherish those times because they grow fast!”, but I do now. Ellyse is 7 months old and shes growing entirely way too fast for my liking. Time is impatient and waits for no one, that is why I will do the best I possibly can to KEEP her tiny memories for my own SAKE.
Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think!!
-Ace Mamii
acemamii 