Fun Items For Your Mommy Bucket List....

I dreamed for many years of having a baby prior to actually getting pregnant. In one way, it was sad, because I always longed to have a child of my own. However, one good thing that came from the waiting was the ample time I had to figure out things I wanted to do when I was blessed with a child. 🙂 I started calling these items my “Mommy Bucket List,” which was filled with cute ways of preserving memories of my baby. I actually started this list PRIOR to delivering, which I highly recommend, because it gives you plenty of time to think about what exactly you want to do.

If you are pregnant, I suggest having a few things you absolutely want to do with your baby. With Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram, it is very easy to get caught up in hundreds of things that you want to do. It is so overwhelming, that there is a big chance that you won’t get anything done. I suggest that you write down a few items (and yes, actually write them down, so you don’t forget), as well as a completion date. Putting them down on paper drastically increases your chances of doing them.

Here are some items that were on my “1st Year Mommy Bucket List.”

Footprints From The Hospital – I REALLY wanted to have copies of Madeline’s footprints from when she was born, so I took sheets of nice card stock with me to the hospital. 🙂 I told the nurses about my plan (probably multiple times – LOL), so they knew to make extra copies of her footprints. I took several pieces of identical cardstock, in the event that one got messed up. #SuperPlanner 🙂 The prints turned out great, and I plan on framing them after we have another child (if we are blessed with another child). I think it would be absolutely precious to have one frame with all of the footprints of your children. If you would like to do this too, then don’t forget to use the same paper for all, since they will be showcased together. It is nothing fancy, but I think that there is nothing sweeter than tiny baby feet! Plus, this is an easy one to do that is super inexpensive. Since I only have Madeline for the time being, the prints are currently stored in her memory box. In case you haven’t read my memory box post, then please click HERE for more info. 🙂 How sweet are those baby toes??????

Weekly Pictures – I took a picture of Madeline on her “weekly birthday” for the entire first year of her life. Although it was a pain at times, I am so happy that I stuck with it! At the end of the year, we made a sweet little slideshow of all 52 pictures, and posted it on her birthday. The progression was amazing to see, and it was something that was really easy to do. If you would like to do this too, then I highly suggest you start a folder on your computer and immediately save the weekly picture to that folder. It also helps if you name the picture as the week it was taken. If you do this, then the slideshow will be SUPER easy to create at the end of the year! If you wait until the end to start your folder, then you are going to spend hours and hours hunting for all of the pictures. It is up to you, but I vote to work smarter and not harder.

Here are a few of my favorites from her slideshow. It is CRAZY to see how much she grew in just a year!

Monthly Pictures – In addition to her weekly pictures (which were oftentimes casual), I dressed her up on the 11th for her monthly picture. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought wooden letters, paint and a frame to create her little sign.

One tip that will help – permanently glue “months” to the sign, but do not actually attach the number. That way, you are easily changing the number each month. If you glue it down, you can actually break the wood and mess up your sign (I am speaking from experience). If you like things to be centered properly, you will actually need two signs (since the 1st sign will say “1 month,” but the other sign will say “# months“). Luckily, the supplies are really cheap, and don’t forget to use those 40% off coupons! 🙂

Here are a few shots of little miss during her monthly pictures:

I will do an extended post on this, but the pictures become MUCH HARDER to take once your baby is mobile – LOL! You will notice that Madeline is sitting up for her last one. 🙂

Also, a word of caution – they will start stealing the numbers once they realize that they are not actually attached to the sign – HAHAHA!

Clay Rice Silhouette – I have admired Clay Rice’s work for years, so I was determined to get one of his silhouettes done for Madeline. If you are not aware of his work, click HERE. He is not only a skilled silhouette artist, but he is also an accomplished children’s author. He travels around the country, and he actually came to a local baby boutique when Madeline was around 10 months old. I was very pleased with the results! I also purchased Madeline a book that he autographed, with another copy of her silhouette in it.

Here are the results of his work:

A Bow Swaddle – As you can tell from my blog, I LOVE all things feminine!!! I had seen pictures of huge monogrammed bow baby swaddles, and I knew that I had to have one. Now, I will warn you that they can be expensive. However, I feel that they are totally worth it after receiving the gorgeous pictures that I will always have of my daughter.

I chose this swaddle, but there are other brands that make cute ones too. I love this one because the bow is 100% silk, and it is absolutely stunning in person. I think I am going to have it framed in a shadowbox, and have it displayed somewhere in my house. If you are crafty, you can also make one of these. Check out Pinterest and YouTube for some tutorials! I took the easy route, and purchased one of these when I was about 5 months pregnant. I know that I probably paid too much, but I will treasure this picture by Kacy Cierley for decades to come!!!!

A Yearly Journal – Of all of the things I have done, this is what I am most thankful for. I decided when I was pregnant, that I was going to keep a journal for Madeline to document everything she did the first year of her life. I actually succeeded in my goal, and I have an entry for every day of her first year alive. Some days have long entries (when exciting stuff happened), while other days only have a few sentences. This is one of my possessions that I will treasure forever, because I can go back and read what we did during our time together. I believe it is so important to write things down, because it is extremely easy to get into the daily grind and forget things.

Anytime she did something cute (the way she laughed, things that made her smile, her favorite foods, etc…), or even when she accomplished a major milestone (the first time she crawled, the first time she ate solid food, etc…), I have it documented. I haven’t decided when I am going to give her the journal (maybe at her high school or college graduation, potentially her wedding, etc…), but I think this is something that she is REALLY going to like. The journal was just an inexpensive one from Home Goods, but the information in it is priceless.

I actually bought a second one for baby #2 some day, so they both will have one. If you only do one thing on your “Mommy Bucket List,” then I would STRONGLY suggest doing this!!! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but make sure and write things down while they are within your memory. Your children will thank you later!

What would you like to have on your “Mommy Bucket List????” Please leave a comment below, because I would love to hear from you. Thanks, and have a fabulous day!