Happy Friday friends! Today I want to share with you the memory box that I’ve put together for Jamie. Each of our boys have a memory box (or two), filled with journals, scrapbooks, keepsakes and other memorabilia from their first years. Jamie’s box currently sits in my studio, as I’ve been busily finishing off his baby book this last week (funny how such ‘baby books’ are always completed way past the point when our children are in fact babies).
Clockwise from top left:
a) Jamie’s brag book: For each of the boys, I’ve put together a small photo album of some of my favourite photos from their first twelve months. Each album holds only about 36 photos, so it’s intended to just be a brief overview of their first year. It’s a nice little addition to the memory box because the boys’ first year photo books are stored on separate bookshelves, not in the boxes. Plus, it’s always nice to just quickly flip through a small album and be able to see how much they changed over the course of twelve short months. This black cloth one is from Kikki-K.
b) Jamie’s ‘official’ baby book: I’ve bought one of these for each of the three boys, as I like having an ‘official’ place where I can write down all the details about their birth and their milestones. There are, of course, some pages that always confound me (e.g. am I really meant to remember what the fashion was like the day they were born?) but overall, I think these baby books are a worthy investment of time and money. This particular one is also from Kikki-K (yes, I am a fan).
c) Cards and notes: A memory box is a great place for storing all those cards and notes of congratulations that people send you when you have a baby! I like tying ours up with a piece of string to give it an added tactile touch (and also for keeping them together).
d) Jamie’s first year journal: This book is similar to the one I used for my own personal visual journal. I put in a custom order so that it would have 366 pages – one for each day of Jamie’s first year of life. I’ll be writing a separate post about this in the near future, but I originally got the idea from these 365 Days notebooks that Kikki-K sells. I’d bought one for Pete after he was born and had used it for his first year scrapbook. It was great, except that the perfect book binding meant that once there were photos stuck on every page, the binding could not actually accommodate the resulting thickness. The beauty of Badger and Chirp‘s handmade journals is that they cope very well with having lots of photos stuck inside. Plus, the cover is made from beautiful soft lambskin leather, and you can choose your own colour!
e) Other things hidden underneath the items above are ultrasound photos and CDs in a Kraft envelope, a hand-knit vest by my mum, and spare birth announcement cards.
It feels amazing to have finally completed all of Jamie’s baby/1st year scrapbooking, and an absolute joy to look through everything with the boys and our parents. It really is a great reminder of how precious our children’s lives are.
Do you keep memory boxes for your children or perhaps for yourself?
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30 comments
So sweet, Ronnie! I can definitely see myself keeping memory boxes whenever my husband and I have children. :) We (my husband and I) have… atleast 6-7 memory boxes of our own — housing our huge collection of love letters, notes, cards, photos, and lots of little things we have collected over the years. I have ever single movie theatre ticket we have seen too, lol. I like looking back on those things… to see what we did on a certain day and year… :) I am also a big memory-keeper fan so I adore these types of posts of yours! It really inspires me.
I love what you do for your children… I can’t not imagine how much fun they are going to have when they are older and really & truly admire what you’ve done for them. :) These are special memories that they may not remember when older.. but thanks to you, they will. :)
Cheers, Ronnie!
I agree, memory-keeping is so precious. I wish I kept a better record of our years of marriage before kids!
Ronnie xo
what a beautiful thing to invest and engage in. i admire how much you put yourself into treasuring memories… sweetest gifts for the boys when they’ll grow into their gentleman selves!
I really do hope they will enjoy looking through their childhood years when they’re older…
Ronnie xo
This is lovely! When they are grown, imagine the fun your family will have going through these keepsakes (particularly when they have their own children!) :) I’m not great with the baby books, but I like to write my boys a letter every 6 months- detailing my favourite moments/events.
That’s such a lovely thing to do!
Ronnie xo
This is so special Ronnie, you have a talent for memory keeping. I am officially in awe. And thank you for the inspiration to finally get round to doing Lachlan’s. I have an old little suitcase that was his grandfathers when he went to school that I plan on covering the inside with pretty paper and using.
I love the idea of using a little suitcase that belonged to his grandfather! What a sweet, beautiful idea. Make sure you post a photo when you do it. :)
Ronnie xo
This is such a beautiful idea. I’m getting so many great tips from you for my future offspring!
I’m glad. :)
Ronnie xo
You’re such a great mum Ronnie! Your boys are so lucky to have a mum like you! Such a beautiful keepsake that you’re creating for them. So so sweet. xx
Thanks San.
Ronnie xo
Oh how I love these posts of yours! You have such beautifully clean designs that I find so inspiring.
Wow, thank you Maggie, that is so encouraging. So lovely to have you here too!
Ronnie xo
Oh my goodness, I wish I had thought of this 9 years ago!!! … btw, I’m loving the kikki K stuff – do they ship international? … and the Badger and Chirps leather 365 *swoon*, magical idea too … you’re so clever Ronnie xx
p.s. thanks for the nudge, it was just what I needed to get me back into the blog flow!
I’m not quite sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do! They’re my favourite stationery supplier here in Australia. They have some great ideas.
Ronnie xo
p.s. just had a look around at the new look pink ronnie blog – beautiful, well done lovely girl xx
Thank you Emma, that’s so sweet of you.
Ronnie xo
Oh my goodness you’re such a dedicated mother. I don’t even have the energy to put together a photo book of my own life – nevermind that of three other people!
LOL, Rooth, maybe you can outsource it? :)
Ronnie xo
Wow this looks amazingly beautiful. I had a 365 day journal for my daughter but your memory box is even better. I am a big fan of Kikki K and leather bound journals. I remember seeing the most beautiful leather journals in Florence and kicking myself for not getting more as they are so expensive here. Your boys are very lucky to have such a creative lady as Mummy x
They can be quite expensive here, hence I like getting them from Etsy because it tends to be cheaper coming from independent sellers.
Ronnie xo
the blog looks divine!! and what a lovely idea with these boxes — you have inspired me to organize the hodge podge of material left from my daughter’s birth, the cards, the ultrasound picture etc…thank you!!
Oh yes, it’s always so lovely to gather everything together like that! Thanks for visiting here and for your kind words Melissa. Look forward to having a peek at your blog too. :)
Ronnie xo
Totally love your memory box idea. My parents are neat freaks and minimalists, so all my stuff from childhood is long gone, except for a couple of albums. Your sons will so treasure these when they grow up (or their wives will).
I’m so sorry to hear that Alice! I’m a bit of a neat freak myself but love doing memory-keeping for our boys. So lovely to have you here – thanks for leaving such a lovely comment.
Ronnie xo
That’s such a great idea. I haven’t done anything like that, mostly because we try to keep everything to a minimum at our place. We tend to move internationally every 5 years or so, and neither of us thinks that will stop :) M challenge is to just get the photo books done!
Totally understand Fi – great idea to just focus on the photo books!
Ronnie xo
30 comments