And We Have Initiation!

OMG. It happened. The kiddo did something funny last night (said "sweet" after being proud of peeing on the potty) and the hubs looked at me and said, "I HAVE to write that one down."

I'm so excited! To play off of Neil Armstrong's famous post-walking-on-the-moon quote, this is one small step for men, one giant leap for humankind. It's also one small step for my hubby, one giant leap for our family. I'm so thankful to not be doing all the family documentation alone. I have to admit, I had to remind him to write the memory down, but he gladly asked, "where's the memory card system?"

He's such a good daddy!

Adventures in Co-Kin Work: August 60th Scrapbooking

We sat down last night to document some life together. Yes, I did say, "Come on, Hunny. Let's document some life together."



He was on Twitter. Then I heard, "No way. Rachel's first CD was Free Willy Soundtrack, too?!" I'll never let him live that down. Ten bucks to the person who can guess his second CD. Check back for the answer.



At this point, he wasn't documenting life. Although he was keeping me entertained. And he made me a malt. Does that count as being an active participant in kin work?



Jury? Still out. Help me decide.



I ask him, "What stories are you going to write?"



He wonders, "Did you steal mine already?"



I had already written two stories down. I reply, "What are yours?"



"All the things we've talked about tonight," he says.



I had.



What? I have to make it even EASIER for him by making sure he has stories to write?



Okay. I looked through some of my iPhone photos to jog some memories for him. I came across one particular photo I thought he might enjoy writing about. He brightened up and was excited to write the memory down.



"Oh, $hit."



"What?"



"I put August 60th instead of 6th." That cool date stamper failed him.



We're learning how to do it, though. I'm wondering if we should schedule a weekly scrapbooking date? Maybe then we'd become more efficient?

Scrapbooking Daddy

As my idol scrapbooker, Nicole, wrote, "documenting life is just as important as taking the time to enjoy life as it comes too...and sometimes that means cutting out the time to get it all down on paper." She's right, I think. What about you? Kin work is necessary in order for relationships, and in this case, memories of those relationships, to be preserved.

Does anyone know a scrapbooking daddy? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Oh wait, I do. Well, I do NOW. We've just gotten started on our book. I don't want to be the only family documenter because these are not only my stories to tell.

My mom was always the scrapbooker in our family. In fact, the very thought of my dad sitting down to "scrapbook" is hilarious. Don't get me wrong, he's the sweetest teddy bear of a dad. He did give me a taste of what it might have been like if he did scrapbook. He wrote in the front cover of a couple of books he gave me. He'd describe what the context was, why he wanted to give it to me, and so on. Cuteness. I think it'd be cool to have even more written memories of me from my dad. Because everyone loves hearing (or reading) stories about when they were kids. Don't they? No?

Great. I'm the only narcissist.

Oh, well.

So the other night, as mentioned previously, we sat down to watch a show and each wrote down a memory.

So, doing our scrapbook is something we both have to grit our teeth and force ourselves to do. It's not something we look forward to doing. Does everyone feel that way? Although I'm hoping that changes once we get rolling. Actually, in full disclosure, I was the instigator (anyone surprised?). I had to bring everything downstairs and say, "okay, we need to work on our book now." He didn't argue, although it was clear that after working an 11 hour shift at the hospital, he wasn't exactly thrilled about our next task. However, my argument is always this: I worked 11 hours, too, taking care of the kiddo. Those of you who are childless, carry on with your judgment until you have a kid of your own. THEY ARE EXHAUSTING. It's extremely fulfilling, but oh-so-grueling, too. Some days more than others.

I think we both will agree, the coolest part of the kit is that it comes with a date stamper. I've always wanted one of these, for no reason in particular, other than its awesomeness.



Our son has started singing a Raffi song called "bath time." And Brent said, "did you already write about him singing that song?" I said, "nope." And he said, "I call writing that one!" As if it were a contest of who would write the best memories down. And he wrote that story and we were done for the night. Baby steps, people. I'll take it.

Now we need to become more regular about it.

Sharing Kin Work Project: Scrapbooking

I am not, nor have I ever been, a master scrapbooker. You know the type? They have an embellishment for everything! A former co-worker of mine, for example, makes the most lovely layouts. I've been following her blog for a long time, far before I became a mother, and I always wondered if I would ever be able to document my kid's life with such attentiveness. Turns out, I can't.

From following Nicole's blog, I also learned about Project Life.



And this kit is what we're trying to use to document our son's life. We got our kit in February, and still have yet to print a picture to put in it. Actually, we haven't printed a single picture of our son yet. He's almost 18 months old. Now you know who you're dealing with, right?



I liked this system because you can journal on little cards and take them with you anywhere. So, the other night we sat in front of the tv and jotted down a memory or two while watching an episode of True Blood (have you seen that show, btw? It's crazy). Then we can pick photos to go along with the memories later. Or vice versa.

So how's it working out for us? That's for tomorrow's post!