All parents share the following thought occasionally: “I wish I had captured or recorded that moment.” Your child’s footprints and handprints, the first lost tooth or lock of hair from their first haircut, or the cute little booties they were christened in. There are lots of ways to preserve these milestones and memories for your kids and use them as displays in the home. Last week we captured the memory of pregnancy by showing you how to mould your baby bump; this week we look at ways to save and preserve each milestone. Starting with:

o The hospital registration armband. Your child’s first identity card.

o The record card of your child’s birth stats; date, time, weight, length at birth

o Baby’s footprint

o The umbilical cord

o The going-home outfit

o Baby’s first photo

o A lock of hair from baby’s first haircut

o Baby’s first tooth (lost)

All these trinkets could be preserved in a shadow box on display or in a trinket box that’s safely put away as a gift to them in later years.

o Items like their first booty or the booty worn when they were christened could be bronzed and kept

o Christening gowns can be treated and stored,

o Moulds can be made of their hands and/or feet at birth or when they take their first steps.

o Make a special personalised scrapbook to record all their milestones and the numerous interesting things they will say and do. Because once that moment has passed, the memory can be lost if not recorded. I know… I have learned the hard way.

So here’s to memories, may they live on forever.