Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Modern Mamahood: Photo Solution -- Classic Photo Albums of Yesteryear Meet Online Photo-Sharing Trends of Today


How did our parents share photos of their children with friends and family before digital cameras, scanners, and social networks? The answer is easy, but seems so archaic -- they ordered duplicate prints and then mailed entire sets of photos, or just a few key shots, to their VIP's.

These days, parents send photos via Facebook, Twitter and text to friends and fam around the world -- from milestone birthdays and holidays to a random cute-baby-sleeping-in-carseat shot. But how can we do a good job of chronicling the months and years of our child's growth with the dedication that our parents had to real photo albums, yet do so with 2010 online photo-sharing flare?

Here's a great solution -- start a blog for your baby or child. It can date back to months before she was even born, or start at any point thereafter. Here's how:
  1. Sign up for a blog site such as Tumblr, Wordpress or Blogger...it's as easy as Myspace. We used Tumblr, which is great for multimedia posting.
  2. Replace the lengthy blog url with your own domain name from a site like GoDaddy.com. We used our daughter's first and middle name so it would be easy to remember for everyone. After you purchase, you can fwd the new domain to your blog from either the blog site itself or through GoDaddy.
  3. Use a cute design template from the blog site, or have someone create a cute custom job for you. My husband is into graphic design, so he did ours.
  4. Started posting! We included posts about how things were going and how we were feeling leading up to delivery day, scans of the ultrasounds, photos of my preggo belly, and then of course the baby photos started flooding in. We also have video clips, an audio clip of her newborn cry, and dozens of congratulatory comments from friends and family. We include posts about her growth and development, and other special entries.
Our baby's blog!

What we really enjoy about this blog is that it's much more personal than posting photos for the several hundred business contacts and other "friends" on our online social networks; we've only given the URL out to a close circle.

Family and friends love it because they know they can go there any time to get the latest photos of our cutie. It's amazing to go all the way back to the beginning and watch the story unfold again page after page. It feels warm and fuzzy like flipping through a physical album, while still embracing what technology has provided us.

Please Note: Always use Internet safety measures to protect your family. No last names, and no photos that divulge locations you frequent.

The Modern Mamahood Column on the Ladies Lotto Blog:
As our Ladies Lotto community grows and evolves, we now have quite a few mamas and mamas-to-be! The LL Modern Mamahood weekly column presents the issues and products related to being a Ladies Lotto Mama. Blogger: Lana Perry

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