Making Memories: 5 Tips to a Digital Memory Masterpiece

I gotta say...I love the technology we have today. As a kid a Polaroid camera was amazing but now, I can use a camera or even my phone to take a zillion pictures, immediately see them, delete the duds, reposition people if necessary, and make digital creations until my little heart is content. I love being able to play with images and add them to my blog but more importantly....I love creating books to cherish memories for years to come.
Like any new mom, I took a gazillion pictures of darling daughter. And like any mom, I still do but sometimes not as many, which is kinda sad considering I always have my phone's camera on me. But don't you fret, I still have a million pictures of her to sort through each year as she gets one year older. Why is that? Because I wisely, in my mind, started the tradition of making her an annual yearbook documenting the year in her life. This was to replace those photo albums my family had when I was young. And yes, I could do scrapbooking and yes, we do some of that too, but honestly, I love doing the digital books online and getting a nice book printed and mailed to me. And I just ordered the year 5 book and can't wait for it to arrive!
With that said.....

My Top Five Tips for A Digital Memory Masterpiece:

1. Take pictures throughout the year of all sort of things including artwork. Some of my favorite pictures of darling daughter were from lunch at Taco Bell where she was being plain silly and the pictures are now masterpieces on our walls!
2. Take notes throughout the year. I kinda slack on this one but I do strive to jot down some of darling daughter's cutest comments/questions throughout the year. I then select some of the finest and add them to her yearbook. 
3. Upload pictures throughout the year to the forum you will be making the book from. Trust me, this will make things easier. But fear not, even if you are like me and don't listen to my advice, you can do a HUGE upload and then begin to have fun! As much as I say I will upload monthly, I don't. But it would make life easier if I did.
4. When your child is old enough, involve them in the process of picking the theme, book color, etc. It makes the process theirs too and just increases the memories.
5. Be Personal. I add special lovie comments we say to each other and really love to end each book with a special message from Mommy. This allows for me to not only capture images and her thoughts (from tip 2 above) but my own thoughts and perspective at that time. It truly does turn the book into a type of time capsule.

Bonus Tip: Have a plan and have fun with it! The process is just as fun as the end result. And as you can see from above, I established a theme with the size and cover of the book and plan to stick to it. It makes storing them nice but don't ask what I will do if the book format is no longer available.
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for technology.
Daily Affirmation: I can connect with my inner creative side when needed.