Xander Week 10 - Is it possible to over-document?
November 29, 2006
I have been pondering this question for a while now. Zach and I have always planned to have more than one child. Of course with the first, everything is new and exciting, and perhaps we go a little bit overboard when it comes to recording the first months/years of Xander’s life. My concern is that I don’t want the second child to feel like we didn’t document as much, but will I have the time/energy/interest in maintaining everything for baby #2? First and foremost, I’ve got this blog, which I think is an excellent way to store thoughts and feelings about the entire process, from conception through graduation. I’ve also got a baby book, a scrapbook, a hallmark calendar to mark all of Xander’s “firsts” (first smile, first trip, first tooth, etc.), a plaster mold of Xander’s hands and feet, and over 100 digital pictures of him in our Flickr account.
Lately I’ve been so busy with holiday preparation, family time, housework, etc., that I haven’t picked up the scrapbook or baby book in over a month. Not to mention that the calendar has been sorely neglected. And do we have too many pictures of the little guy? Will he grow up and be irritated that there are dozens of pictures from almost every week of his life? Will he wish that we hadn’t let all of our friends and family see all of the silly things we did, from the baby mowhawk to sitting him in a pumpkin… In this digital era, I don’t think we have any printed photographs of our son, aside from the professional ones taken at the hospital. How many pictures are too many? How many scrapbooks or baby books are too many? Will I have the energy to maintain an equal amount of documentation for future children? With everything there is to worry about with my current child, why am I wasting worry energy on potential children? Wow, it’s pretty easy to spend a lot of a day worrying!
Hey Sara,
We have over 300 photos of our baby girl in our Flickr account from her 1st month, about 200 from 2nd month, and the 3rd month is getting bigger by the day.
Really don’t worry - it’s normal, I think.
I’ve also started printing the best pics so in a few years I could look back at those photos with my girl, aside from the computer screen. I use shutterfly.com for printing - they are cost effective and deliver to your door! No need to go anywhere hehe
Good luck.
On the bright side, at least it is just pictures. It isnt videos. Those are the usual horror stories that children tell, but xander just has nice pics
I do not think that this is something you should worry about at all. EVERYONE starts out taking a whole heck of a lot of pics of their new kids, and then it calms down to a normal level, and sara seriously
You are an amazing mother, and the fact that you are worried that your 2nd child is going to feel left out that you arent taking as many pics of it? it just shows your amazing mother qualities.
you dont HAVE a 2nd child or this problem yet and you are already worried about how he/she will deal with it!
So relax sweets!
-shrimp
Hi J - I’m glad I’m not the only parent out there with hundreds of digital pictures of my kid. On the bright side, 20 years ago we wouldn’t have been able to have so many pictures because it’s so expensive to get film developed, so that’s a plus! Zach and I use flickr.com for picture storage, and they will also send us prints - we can even make calendars, posters and photo albums which is kind of cool (especially for overly excited parents like me who want to document every moment)
[...] By Mark | May 1, 2007 I just came across an interesting post on a blog called Being Sara (no relation): Is it possible to over-document? [...]
hey I was wondering at what month did u find out ? They ‘re suppose to tell me at 13 weeks what iam having but my boyfriend thinks it’s too earlier but the b aby gets there gental at ten weeks I thought so what do u think iam so excite and scared that it all is happening to early im just 20 and iam not done getting my nursing degree. i wanted to be an Rn iam goin to go back to school next spring and apply for the nursing program but i happy in other ways write me back and tell me what u think please !
Hi Tonya - congrats on your pregnancy! I think that 13 weeks is too early to tell the sex. They do start to develop genitals but they are usually too powerful to see at that point. Even at 18 weeks they told me it was a little early to tell the sex of the baby. Unfortunately, that was the only ultrasound I got, so we didn’t find out until he was born. Excited and scared are both pretty common emotions for a pregnant woman - regardless of age. I think it’s great that you are planning to go back to school after the baby is born. Good luck, and please let us know how you are doing from time to time!