The sippy caps I mentioned can be found at Babies R Us. I purchase the 3-pack which includes a red cap for sports drinks (fits Kirkland VitaRain). The blue and yellow caps are just like the ones found HERE. Amazon has them as well. I've only had one experience in which they didn't fit. The stunted sized Gatorade bottles just don't work with any of these. These help when we're at parties and there's a variety of beverages, and my kids want to carry around a bottle like every other guest. For restaurants, I always bring the disposable cups with lids and straws. Kids can split a drink (saves money), we use them tons before we dispose of them, and you can assign colors to each child or write names with a Sharpie marker which scrape off with your nail. And when the meal is over, fill it up and take it to go!
Please keep posting tips. . .some of what I've read I used to do and have since forgotten about, so the reminders especially for babies is so incredibly helpful. So, while I've got your attention, and I'm apparently in nesting mode, wondering how all the Moms out there keep track of photos? Are you using a free site, do you back up on CD, do you print any photos, do you digiscrap?
Currently I archive by year, and back up to an external hard drive. I only remove them from my desktop once they're on the external hard drive, and backed up on CD. When I burn to CD, I make two copies. One set gets stored at my in-laws. I strive to only keep the current year's photos on the desktop. More recently, I started creating some web albums, but I started with Picasa and I'm running out of room rather quickly. I used to pay for photo storage so I could store in original size, but that takes a ton of time to upload,and was getting expensive!
I take thousands of photos a year and want them to be enjoyed. Recently, I've been digiscrapping, but in the simplest form. I've committed to one page a month, and at least one page per special event or trip. I usually end up with more than one page, but it guarantees that at the end of the year, I've captured most of our memories. I scrap using FotoFusion (suggested by Hannah's Mommy), utilizing a 10x8 format so that I can print at Costco when the year is over, or even make into a photo book. I didn't realize at the time that Costco can print larger formats, but I don't want to go back now. The best part about digiscrapping is I'm not having to make each child their own book. I make the pages about the whole family, and then each child will have a copy of their own. I slacked off on my blog to catch up on Gracyn's first year. Stay tuned for the results!
4 comments:
I'm loving these posts!!!! I love making Shutterfly books. I always wait for their sales or free shipping. I make two a year, spring/summer and fall/winter. I can also put my own digiscrap pages in the book if I want too. If we go on a major trip (like Hawaii) I'll make a book for just that trip. My sister makes each of her girls their own book each year, which I think is really cool for them to have some day.
Oh, I'm so LOVING all the tips! And feel that I left WAY too many on the last post! LOL I loved Lora's suggestion about the blanket for the Dr.'s office and that will come in handy tomorrow a.m.!
As for us, I truly love the art of scrapbooking and created many books for L. Sadly, a lack of time has created a back log and poor T only has one book so far! Each page takes soooo long, so I'm toning down the flourishes! :) I'm also backing up our photos just as you do to c.d. and LOVED your idea of leaving a duplicate with a relative, in case of fire or loss...brilliant & thank you!
I love Staci's idea too and remembered belatedly that my friend does this too! I need to look into that idea and get moving before he's two and I'm STILL listing photo albums on my "to-do" list! Ack!
You are really getting everyone's thoughts going and this is fantastic! I can't wait to see more!
Hugs and smiling big here! Hey, did you try out the sidewalk chalk?? It really is fun, even for Mama! giggle.....
Lisa
What a great bunch of ideas! Some I've used and I learned some new things. The blanket at the dr.'s ~ a great idea!
My Mom tip....when my kids were little I kept crayons with me where ever we went. If you can find the small tube of mini M&M's, wash it up, peel the label and you can put about 6 crayons in it and it keeps them from breaking. A different color tube for each child and you can fill each tube with different colors so they have more colors to choose from. Also helps with sharing. Very helpful at resturants, while you are waiting for dinner to arrive. They can color on the paper placemats (I have saved many art works over the years) or any scrap paper. A spiral notebook in the car works too. We used this time to teach colors or practicing to write their letters, and even tracing things. I used to let them 'color' the boxes (ie. cereal) while doing some food shopping. You are paying for the box anyway LOL. It kept them entertained for a while, at the same time I was able to keep up with my excerise, as I was bending and twisting to pick up the fallen crayons, right? :-)
For photo storage, I always copy and save to a CD, tucked safely away. It's the quickest, and if my computer ever crashes, at least then I'm not afraid of losing all of my memories.
Can't wait to hear more ideas!
My sister loves to stick all her photos on a digital photo frame with removeable memory so she can keep adding photos and sets the thing on roam... I totally have to snag that idea because I want to see them all the time.
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