Digital Baby Book

Nowadays the idea of a photo album with actual printed photos seems so archaic. It is strange to think our parents had to be selective in the pictures they took because they were limited by the number of exposures on a roll of film. Digital photography has removed this limitation and allowed us to easily amass gigabytes of photos, but that comes with its own set of challenges. With the volume of photos we take with take with our iPhones, our “good” camera and receive from friends and family, it is difficult to keep them organized in a way that is easy to find the best photos and document Max’s milestones.

Early on, we knew we wanted our digital baby album to be several things: something we could realistically keep up with so it wouldn’t feel like a chore, thorough to the point of including major milestones without too much fluff, and easy to share with our family and friends. Here is what we ended up with, which has worked well for us.

• What’s up with Max - We use tumblr to post photos and video clips of Max. The layout is elegant and clean without the clutter of ads on sites like FaceBook. Tumblr makes it easy to post from any device. And our friends and family love that they can view and comment on pictures whenever they want.
• Instagram #maxatsix - I definitely don’t need another social media platform to distract me but I’ve recently gotten into Instagram. I started posting a daily picture of Max at 6pm with the tag #maxatsix. We thought it would be a fun way to look back at what Max was doing at a specific time every day. These pictures serve as a snapshot into Max’s daily life.
• Monthly update - Each month we write a short summary about the past few weeks and include milestones, growth stats and memorable moments. Of course, we include a picture of Max with the monthly sticker, but we also post side by side baby pictures of Aaron and I at the same age. That extra detail has been a fun way for our families to try and decipher who Max is starting to look like.

I’d love to hear how you organize and document your baby’s photos.