baby book? try baby blog
Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.
Our baby girl is almost four months old, and how many times have I written in that fancy baby book we bought? Um... that would be "none," of course. It's not that I don't want to look back and fondly remember all her firsts, it's just that my shorthand? Not so pretty. I can type 120 words per minute, but don't ask me to hand-write a paragraph... my hand will cramp up faster than you can say "carpal tunnel."
This is why Kidmondo.com is my savior. I spend the majority of my day on a computer as it is, so managing Elspeth's online baby book is as easy as posting new photos and videos to Flickr, or writing a quick blog entry--two things I do on a semi-regular basis anyway.
That's right. My kid is barely out of the womb and she already has her own blog. But given her parentage, is that really so surprising?
I can also chart her height and weight (kidmondo calculates the percentiles automatically and plots them on a nifty line graph, which I love--I'm such a nerd), keep notes about dental and medical records, tag my posts with specific "firsts," and invite friends and family to follow along as she grows. I can jot down quick drafts about milestones and other amusing anecdotes to be written about in more detail when I have time--there will be no unsightly scribbles or cross-outs or sleep-deprived misspellings in my baby's book! There are even options for journaling about pregnancy, if you wanted to start from the very beginning. And all updates and posts are summarized in a tidy timeline format, which satisfies the OCD nitpick in me.
And the best part: at the end of the year, I can purchase a hardcover, professionally-bound book of Ellie's adventures, complete with several pages of color photos. As someone who's scrapbooking-stupid, I love that I can still have a tangible product and keepsake to show for my digital efforts.
Something I'd love to see as part of the Kidmondo package is the ability to add a "family tree" page... most traditional baby books include a way to list the members of baby's extended family in a tree format. The Flickr integration is also a little clunky, but the site's creator assured me that they're aware of the problem and working to resolve it. And that's another point--the Kidmondo staff were helpful and quick to respond when I had questions.
And no, they're not paying me to write this. I've just had such a good experience so far, I thought I'd help spread the word to other parents and parents-to-be.
