Saving the Memories

New and Tried-and-True Ways to Cherish Your Baby’s First Year Forever
Chances are, your parents still have the baby memory book they used to mark the milestones of your first year. Maybe they even still have your first pair of tiny baby shoes, preserved in bronze for perpetual cherishing.

While these time-honored traditions of recording the memories of a baby’s first year are still popular, today’s parents also have new options to preserve their memories. While preprinted baby books are great for busy moms and dads, many new parents are creating their own albums from scratch, or even producing them on the Internet to share with friends and family, or even the whole world. And when it comes to freezing in time the size of your baby’s tiny feet, in addition to bronzing shoes parents can now make imprints on a ceramic item or even make a plaster mold at home.

Recording Milestones
More than 100 years ago C.R. Gibson invented the first baby memory book, which since then has become a tradition in many families. Parents fill out the book that assists and guides them in recording milestones, such as family history, the pregnancy, baby showers, the birth itself, and then usually three to five years or more of the baby’s life.

“It’s a way to record for prosperity the baby’s coming into the world,” notes Dennis O’Brien, C.R. Gibson’s current director of merchandising for infants and weddings.

In addition to the baby books, C.R. Gibson also offers calendars for a baby’s first year. “The calendars are actually a basic 12-month calendar accept that you can start it at any month,” O’Brien explains. “It has stickers in the back with all the month names so if your baby is born in July you would start the calendar in July.” The calendar also features stickers to fill in your baby’s milestones throughout the first year, as well as places to fill out information on monthly routines, a family tree and more.