info photos.

i am terrible about remembering details... terrible. which is probably why i take so many photos, so that there will be lots of photographic hints to help me remember where we were & what we were doing. the only thing about that is, then i have files and files of photos on my computer that need organizing or worse, stacks and stacks of printed photos from the pre-digital days.

recently i've been seeing in lots of places fun ways to put your info right into the photo while you're taking it. sure, it takes a little more planning ahead, but how perfect is that when you're going back later and trying to remember how many weeks pregnant you were in that picture, what year that first-day-of-school picture was from, or which birthday you were celebrating? i love anything that saves a step and makes things easier later! also, i like to make shutterfly photo books instead of scrapbooking much anymore, and this would eliminate so many steps.

the one idea i immediately stole from two friends of mine is holding up the number of fingers to indicate how many months pregnant you are in the photo! [of course, this also means i must stop taking these really bad mirror self portraits and ask my completely willing-to-help husband to take them instead so i'll get a halfway decent one].

so it will be so much easier to remember how many months pregnant i am here:

and once the baby gets here, i'm totally stealing this super cute idea from the young house love "youngsters" to document the baby at each week or month.

they even have a full post about how they do it. they genius-ly took their baby's monthly pics in a plain white onesie and added the numbers by computer later [i'll totally be using picnik!] LOVE that blog.

as we keep celebrating little birthdays i think it would be great to hold up a little number sign for the birthday boy or girl [remember the cupcake 1st birthday? i already have a frighteningly large 'idea file' for her 2nd one coming up!]. i'm wishing i had done that last year, but no harm in starting this year, right? here is a cute example from blonde designs:

and when my kiddos inevitably grow up & get big enough to go to school, i think this idea for the classic first day of school photo with your child's school year, school name, and teacher's name all included is so cute! [and just the sort of thing i will need to help me remember]. borrowed from the super organized and inspiringly simple blog of shim + sons:

i've been thinking too that if you were in a pinch for time or had no way to make a pretty sign ahead of time, you could also have your child hold up a blank sheet of cardstock or plain ol' printer paper and add the information later. again... picnik. amazingly easy!

i was just sorting through several boxes of old photos that i inherited from my parents after my mom died [inherited isn't quite the right word. we're sort-of babysitting them] and there are so many that i don't know the details of... sometimes the year is printed or written on the back, but that's the only clue... nothing about what town we lived in, why we were living there at the time, what schools we went to, or what in the world some of them are. i hope to start taking incorporating a couple of these types of ideas into our family pictures to keep myself straight!

[photos are thanks to each individual blog, except for my pregnancy one. please visit their blogs for more info!]