Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Aug 13, 2012 13:18:19 GMT -5
Doing a trilogy of letters from mom could work out pretty well. You'd give her the first book at 6, right about when school really starts. The second at 12, right before junior high, puberty, boys, etc. The last one at 18, when she's ready to enter the adult world.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Aug 13, 2012 13:19:07 GMT -5
When do you plan to give them to her? Obviously, she won't be able to read them for the first several years, but after that are they something you plan to share with her while she's still a kid/teen or will you give them to her as an adult? Probably as she goes along so that she doesn't have hundreds of pages of letters to read all at once when she gets older. Like, I might wait until she's ten or eleven to give her the letters I've written up until then, but then give her a book for Christmas every year that would contain the previous years' letters. Or give her another few volumes every couple of years. I'll write better knowing she won't read the letters immediately, but it would be nice for her to have some of them as she grows up. ETA: Ooh, I like the trilogy idea very much!
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Aug 13, 2012 13:21:37 GMT -5
Hmm, maybe if I'm only giving her the letters every six years I could invest the extra time to add in "photo pages" with the snapshots that DH and I take, and then she'd have all the memories in one spot The family photo books would be separate because they would be more for display. I definitely need to buy a fireproof vault at some point *makes mental note*
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Aug 13, 2012 13:22:15 GMT -5
I was thinking that I might do a book for my kids for Christmas this year. I'm not much of a writer or a historian, but I think I could sit down and write a long letter about what kind of people they are now, and some of the things we did this year. Highlight why I'm so proud of them, and include some pictures, and print it into a photobook for them. Even if it was only 5 or 6 pages (pictures and words) it would be a nice memory of the year. I could do that every year until I'm done (either when they move out, or even past that, as I intend to keep them in my life, even after they move out.) But, I would actually have to sit down and do it. I know I missed a lot of years - but if I started it now, they would remember most everything I talk about.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2012 13:23:39 GMT -5
I read the thread title too fast.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Aug 13, 2012 13:26:22 GMT -5
But, I would actually have to sit down and do it. I know I missed a lot of years - but if I started it now, they would remember most everything I talk about. I say do it! You don't have to be a great writer to write letters to your kids. I have a few dozen letters my parents wrote to me over the years. Neither of them would claim to be great writers (although my dad is actually a pretty good one) but they mean a lot to me anyway. I personally think there's something about having written proof that your parents love and cherish you that means a lot to people, even if you have a great relationship with your folks. And part of the reason I like the idea of doing books on a regular basis is because things DO happen, people do have untimely deaths. Hopefully that won't happen to me but if it does, at least my kids will know how I felt about them and they'll have lovely tributes to our memories that they can look back on and share with their own children someday. Assuming nothing happens to me, they can do those things anyway
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2012 13:29:45 GMT -5
I take a lot of pictures/movies on my iphone. I'm not good at the functions at all but DS loves watching the highlight reel on my phone. For catching a kid in motion learn how to use the shutter priority setting on your camera, if it has one. Then you can increase the speed enough that you can catch your kids in motion without getting blurry and the camera will take care of the other settings. My first DSLR was $450, came with a lens and a bag, and I sold it for the same price 8 months later. Swaggrabber sometimes posts great deals on cameras.
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Sum Dum Gai
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Aug 13, 2012 13:31:41 GMT -5
So basically a family newsletter. Are you going to mail them to the entire family to brag? I love getting those things. All the grandmas trying to outdo each other bragging about how awesome their kids and grandkids are. My poor mom had five of us, and didn't get any worth bragging about, so she's never done the newsletters.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Aug 13, 2012 13:35:43 GMT -5
So basically a family newsletter. Are you going to mail them to the entire family to brag? I love getting those things.
Hmm, I'm divided on those. They're good when they're funny and lighthearted, but funny and lighthearted is hard to do. It's really easy to look like you're trying too hard.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Aug 13, 2012 13:36:40 GMT -5
No, I was going to make a book for each kid, and that was it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2012 14:12:31 GMT -5
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Taxman10
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Post by Taxman10 on Aug 13, 2012 14:53:31 GMT -5
I read the thread title too fast. yeah, i get all my "photography" for free....
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aliciar6
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Post by aliciar6 on Aug 14, 2012 7:50:47 GMT -5
i'm lucky that i have a really good friend that is starting her own photography buisness and she works on me for advertisement so I pay a low price (mainly for her gas money to come out to see us since we live so far away) and they are struggling a bit.
we do have FI's $2500 work camera at home at the moment...we used it when taking our save the date pics, but we have no editing software, know nothing about how to properly use the darn thing...nor do we have the time or interest to learn
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telephus44
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Post by telephus44 on Aug 14, 2012 9:54:49 GMT -5
While I do agree that photography is an art form - and I suck at it - I personally don't place a lot of value on it. Yes, my entire wedding photography was done by our guests. The table cameras came out crappy, but my BIL and an uncle had some decent shots they shared with us afterwards.
So far we've done one "portrait session" when DS#1 was 9 months, and that's it. My mother keeps pestering us to get a family portait done.
Maybe this is just my social circle, but so many of our friends with children seem so hung up on "documenting" that they don't actually get around to enjoying their families. I'd rather enjoy playing with my kid on his second birthday than taking 200 pictures and several hours organizing it into a photo book. If you can't enjoy yourself and relax at a function without obsessing over the perfect picture, scrapbook, blog entry, whatever - then what's the point?
I came to this realization while I was on maternity leave. I was plowing through my "do this someday" list and got to my photos. Many I haven't bothered to look at in over a decade. I decided that having them organized really wasn't something that was that important to me.
The only photography thing we've done that I thought was cool, and I'd pass this on as a suggestion for babybird - pick an object and take a picture of the baby with that object at time intervals. We used a toy football for DS#1 and took pictures of him at 1 month, 2 months, etc with the football. It's a great way to document how fast a baby grows.
For DS#2 we're using an iPhone and iPad. Yes, we're geeks. I've had friends that used a beer stein.
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Aug 14, 2012 10:02:59 GMT -5
I've always liked the idea of documenting things about/to kids, but haven't done it. I did, however, for awhile at least, tried to write down the cute/funny things that they say. Although reading it back later doesn't always sound the same
And if I had any time, I would have done scrapbooks for them too....
Lena
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Aug 14, 2012 10:10:34 GMT -5
Maybe this is just my social circle, but so many of our friends with children seem so hung up on "documenting" that they don't actually get around to enjoying their families. I'd rather enjoy playing with my kid on his second birthday than taking 200 pictures and several hours organizing it into a photo book. If you can't enjoy yourself and relax at a function without obsessing over the perfect picture, scrapbook, blog entry, whatever - then what's the point?There's definitely something to this. When I first moved in with DH I was all about taking pictures of us doing everything - moving in, first Christmas, blah blah. Eventually I got over that because I was too busy living it. And I don't feel like I've missed anything. So I think you definitely have a point. It *is* more important to me to document my kids' lives because I know how much those pictures mean when you get older, but I'll try not to be obsessive about it. I like the football idea
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justme
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Post by justme on Aug 14, 2012 10:17:14 GMT -5
It's a hard balance to strike. I don't have kids, but I was so busy living in my past relationships that I don't have many pictures to remember it. As I fancy myself a photographer and therefore really like/treasure photos, it makes me really sad not to have some pictures to go with the memories. I've made a more concerted effort since realizing that to stop and take pictures - especially with me in them (I have tons of incognito pictures, I'd remember those but not to step out from behind the camera).
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Aug 14, 2012 10:23:07 GMT -5
So far us, my folks, sister/sil, and in-laws have all been really good about sharing pictures back and forth. That way not one person is taking all the pictures, and we have pictures of pretty much everyone at each function.
DH and I facilitate this by carrying a flash drive at all times, although getting everyone to upload to the same site is even better imo.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2012 10:28:54 GMT -5
Maybe this is just my social circle, but so many of our friends with children seem so hung up on "documenting" that they don't actually get around to enjoying their families. I'd rather enjoy playing with my kid on his second birthday than taking 200 pictures and several hours organizing it into a photo book. If you can't enjoy yourself and relax at a function without obsessing over the perfect picture, scrapbook, blog entry, whatever - then what's the point? This is one of the reasons I don't bring my DSLR with me to every event or outing. I'll spend too much time behind the lens!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2012 10:30:34 GMT -5
rae - the Pioneer Woman has free actions and tutorials for editing photos and basic explanations of shutter, aperture, and other things.
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