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"I recommend to you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves."
~ Philip Dormer Stanhope
I love keepsakes and traditions. This is good news for you…since I am certain one of the ideas below will resonate with you as the perfect way to honor your family.
I was raised Protestant, but have always harbored a secret fascination with Catholicism. I think I am drawn to the rituals. My Type A personality loves traditions because they give me a sense of control over all the fluctuations in life. They allow me to mark the passage of time, commemorate my children's growth, and never lose sight of the big picture.
So, here we go!
One of my favorite traditions is tracking my children's physical growth. I do it in a couple of different ways.
First, I took the hospital footprints to the next level. After my daughter was born, the nurses in the delivery room stamped her feet on a certificate. So every six months 
(for the first 3 years of her life), I made a hand and footprint at home. I used a non-toxic rubber stamp ink pad and put it on one of her hands and one of her feet, and then pressed them both onto a piece of white cardstock. (Make sure you have plenty of baby wipes or wet paper towels around to wipe off the ink as soon as you've stamped! And it helps if she's strapped in to her high chair too.) I cropped the cardstock a bit, then put it on some nice paper in my scrapbook. Even now, she loves to compare her current hand and foot to the ones in our scrapbooks.
I also love the old-fashioned tradition of growth charts. When Katie was about to turn 
one, I searched everywhere trying to find the perfect one. When I couldn't find anything I loved, I defaulted to the hash marks on the back of our basement door. I guess if we ever move, I'll have to take the door with me! Every 6 months or so, Katie stands against the door, I mark where her head hits – and my husband takes a photo of us doing it all. Later, I add a small version of that photo to the door, which allows Katie to witness her growth.
My sister puts her own spin on the growth chart. She measures her girls each time their Army dad deploys on a mission. It's a good way for daddy to see how much his girls have grown while he is gone.
If you aren't a ‘creative type' and won't be making any keepsakes, use a kid's ‘First Year Frame' to mark the passage of time. With one small cut-out to mark each month and one large center picture to celebrate baby's first year, you can keep track of the little and big changes in your new baby that are so hard to see day by day. I was given one of these frames when I was pregnant with Katie, then bought another one when I was pregnant with Jackson . Each month on the date of Jackson 's birth (the 28 th ), I take a photo of him and add it to the frame. I did the same for Katie throughout her first year. During this hectic time, it is such a great reminder to me that time truly is passing, although it doesn't feel like it some days.
Also on Jackson 's monthly birth date, I take a photo of him by the same stuffed animal. This is a way to see how big he's grown in comparison to the toy. A friend of mine does something similar: she takes a yearly photo of her son in his dad's Oxford work shirt. She knows (fears) one day he'll actually fit in it. You could do the same in bathing suits or wedding dresses.
If you want to get started early, you can do a “photo timeline” when you are pregnant. For Katie's pregnancy, I took photos of me growing out of my non-maternity clothes. For Jackson 's pregnancy, I wised up and decided to take photos of me growing into my maternity clothes, instead of feeling bad about growing out of my “skinny” jeans.
And here's one final thought before I get back to my family: Create a keepsake that will mark the beginning of your family. When Jackson was just two months old, I traced his hand onto a piece of colored paper. Then I traced my hand, my husband's hand, and Katie's hand on different pieces of colored paper. I cut each hand out, and mounted them smallest to largest, with Jackson 's first and my husband's last. I glued us all to an 8 ½ x 11 piece of paper, and framed it with a title saying “Our Family, May 2007.” The result is a visual freeze frame of our family as we began this journey together.
No matter which way you choose to keepsake your family, try to pick at least one way to do it. It will help you to remember your early days with children and as they grow, your kids will enjoy seeing a treasure from their smaller selves. I know this for sure since my mom kept my sister's, brother's and my handprints until the day she died!
Sometimes we get so involved in our daily grind that we don't take a moment to step back and see how much our babies are growing. Like Kenny Chesney's song says, “Don't blink. You just might miss your babies growing like mine did.” Slow down, keepsake the moment, then jump back into the race. Have fun!
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'Enjoy' Expert, Elizabeth Koziatek is defined by a number of things. She is a wife to Dan, and has been for 12 amazing years. She is a self-proclaimed GRIT (Girl Raised In The South). 
She is a graduate of the University of Missouri (Go Mizzou!). She has worked in television, in ministry, and even in the insurance industry. She is now sharing her creative joy with ExtraordinaryMommy.com by giving you new ways to “ENJOY” time with your children.
Despite all the titles above, the thing that most defines Elizabeth is her job as a mom. She is a mother to two beautiful children – Katie is 4 ½ and Jackson is 9 months. Elizabeth worked outside the home for Katie's first two years and then decided to stay home. Her proudest moments in life have come in the past few years as she has tackled a number of things she never thought she'd be able to do: she survived her first year as a mommy, she managed to nurse both children, and has handled the loss of family members with more grace than she thought possible.
Elizabeth says her favorite thing about being a mommy is the chance it gives her to see the world with new eyes again…it's an opportunity to act like a kid and revel in her children's accomplishments – whether she is watching Katie as she learns to write or the seeing the joy of Jackson's “So Big!”.
This mother of two has found new and amazing ways to be creative with her children. Sometimes she is making toys for them. Sometimes she is creating new games to nurture their learning process. We are excited to share Elizabeth 's creativity with you.
