The Greatest Gift

This is a sponsored post by Qeepsake.com. All opinions expressed are my own.

Before my wedding, my aunt threw me the most wonderful English tea party bridal shower. The theme: Something old, something new. Each guest brought me something from our registry, as well as an heirloom that they wanted to give to me. I received beautiful antique picture frames, a gold-plated china dish, beautiful hand-embroidered towels, and a faded hard bound book with little, brown teddy bears on it. When I opened the book and saw the hand-writing, tears immediately filled my eyes.

The first page read:

Monday, October 17, 1988

To my Dear Little Baby–Only 4 weeks from today and you are due to be out here in the world with your daddy and me! You can never imagine how excited we are to see you. The doctor told us about three weeks ago that you were a little girl.–well a 95% chance that you’re a girl! We wonder if you’ll have hair, what we should name you, if you can hear daddy and me singing and talking to you–and all kinds of other things…

My Mom gave me probably the greatest gift I could ever receive–A hand-written journal she kept throughout my whole infancy, toddler years, school years, and a final entry a few days before my bridal shower. She included funny stories about when I peed on my nurse’s pretty sweater, my obsession with brides, the time I asked for a pet horse, and when I announced to everyone I met, “I chew chewing gum because I poopied in the potty.”

Tears stained the pages on September 11, 2001 as she explained what was happening in our world, and where we were when the twin towers fell. She reflected on how difficult it was to watch me learn how to stand up for myself when I was being bullied at school, but how she was proud of me. She told of the unspeakable joy she felt when Bryce proposed to me.

I vowed right then and there that when I had a baby, I would do the same…that I would write to them, and preserve those precious memories forever. I vowed that I would jot down each time they met one of their milestones, and reflect on all the joy that they brought me.

….And then life happened. I started to write one entry in a journal at the hospital after Max was first born. A nurse came in to check my blood pressure, and I never finished the entry. I kept intending to finish it…to go back…but I never did. I even bought a couple of baby books and “Mom journals” so that I would have them ready to write in at a moment’s notice. When Max first rolled over, I meant to get up and grab my blank baby book and write down the date, but I was in too much pain from my C-section 12 days before. When Max smiled for the first time, I told myself there was no excuse…I had to write it down this time…but he was so cute just sitting there grinning with his gummy mouth…how could I possibly leave his sweet face? …And where was that journal anyway???

You may have even noticed that my “Max Grows” blog posts stopped after two months. I had good intentions there too…but right when he was turning three months old, we were packing up our home and moving to a new city. I had just started a new job, and setting up my classroom consumed my time right when four months hit. By the time he turned five months old, I felt too far gone and completely gave up on my dreams to hand my son a journal filled with memories that I’d meticulously catalogued for two decades….until an advertisement for Qeepsake popped up on my Facebook.

I clicked on it. I admit it. And I NEEEVVVVERRRR click on those stupid links. But this one was speaking to my soul guys…it promised that I could build a baby book simply through text messages. I was skeptical, but kept thinking…”If this is true, I could actually finally accomplish my goal of creating a baby book for Max!”

When I signed up for the 2-week free trial, I got to decide how often I wanted text message “journal prompts” to arrive to my phone, and even got to select the time of day. I decided that right around lunch time would be perfect, when I’m huddled under my desk hiding from my students and pumping. So, every day at around 11:00 a.m. I now get a question texted to me to answer about Max.  The questions are simple enough to respond to quickly if I’m in a hurry, and thoughtful enough to allow me to elaborate on more if I want. I can attach a picture to each text and it automatically gets uploaded to my online baby book. If I miss a day, I can go back and answer any questions I missed. One of my favorite features is that I don’t HAVE to wait for a prompt to come to me. If something incredibly adorable happens, I can just type it up quickly in a text and it shoots it straight to my book. One day, Max kept reaching for my food, so I let him taste my garlic hummus. The face he made was hilarious, and I wanted to remember it…so I sent a text entry to Qeepsake, while I was sitting right there on the rug next to Max. I didn’t have to go searching for the journal, a pen, or worry about getting hummus smears on the pages.

…I haven’t told you the best part yet…you can actually order your entries in an expandable hard-bound book. It took me a while to accept the fact that Max may not receive an actual hand-written journal from me some day…but that’s because I’m a working Mama, trying to balance life–Being a wife, mom, teacher, writer, maid, etc.—and I would rather be able to give Max a typed journal with my memories and thoughts about him as he grows up than no journal at all. I haven’t ordered a book yet, but I’m excited to once I’ve got enough entries written.

Sentimental Mamas…do yourself a favor, and put Qeepsake on your Christmas list this holiday season. For as little as $2.99 a month (for the Qeepsake Plus plan, like I use), you can create that baby book full of memories without the added stress of finding time in your impossibly busy day to sit down and write. (And husbands can easily buy it without having to leave the house or stand in lines 😉)

Busy Mamas…forgive yourselves for not recording all the memories you wish you had… you can start now! Your kiddo is still doing cute things that you’ll want to remember years from now. Plus, with Qeepsake, you can backdate your entries!

Budget Mamas…Qeepsake also offers a FREE version with one prompt a week and a Standard plan for $1.99 a month!

Social Media Mamas…it’s easy to turn your hilarious social media posts about your little ones into Qeepsake entries, simply by adding #Qeepsake to your posts, once you link your accounts.

Mamas with little babies AND Mamas with big kids…Qeepsake lets you input your child’s birth date and will send you prompts that correspond to their ages. It’s perfect for documenting all the important moments no matter how old your kiddos are.

As I sit here pondering how to wrap up this post, I can’t help but think how perfect is it…that 29 years and 1 day after my mom wrote her first entry to me, I wrote an entry to my baby boy as well. I’m thankful that I came across this amazing website…because it’s allowing me the opportunity to prepare a “something old” heirloom gift for my son someday using today’s “something new” technology. For that, I’m so very thankful.