Don't you just hate those moms that have all those neatly arranged scrapbooks, photo albums or memory boxes of all their child's milestones and activities? Whereas you might have a drawing stuffed in this drawer, a lock of hair shoved in that box, and pictures, well you have pictures just about everywhere except in an album. Before you attempt to become super mom, listen up:



• You don't have to keep every piece of artwork your child creates! It might be very difficult to throw away a picture your child has colored for you, but you can't possibly keep everything. You'd have to add an addition onto your house if you did. Instead display the picture proudly on the refrigerator for a while and then throw it away. Select a few pieces of artwork to keep from each year of your child's life. Make sure you put the date on the back of it.

• You don't have to print out every picture you take. With the wonderful world of digital photography, you can pick and choose which photos to print out and the others can be saved on a disc.

• Think about what you keep. When your child becomes an adult are they really going to want their dried up umbilical cord or your old urine-dipped positive pregnancy stick? So be selective about what you keep. Instead hang onto items that can be passed onto your grandchildren such as their mom or dad's first pair of booties. Also be selective about how much you keep. Since your adult child will probably not want to inherit boxes and boxes of items from their childhood that they might feel obligated to keep.

Organizing Your Photographs

You don't have to spend hours, days and weeks putting photos into albums. Instead purchase cardboard videotape boxes to store your photos. You can purchase one for each year and use 12 sturdy index cards to mark the years of the month. Then you can file photos behind the appropriate month. You can write dates, comments and occasions on the index cards as well. This is a fast and simple way to organize all of those photos. Also you don't have to print all of the photos out as well. Digital photos can be stored on a disk and filed in the box as well.

Create a Treasure Box

A treasure box doesn't have to be anything elaborate. Just your run of the mill plastic bin will work. Have one for each of your children in their closets to put those things that won't fit into a baby book or scrapbook such as bracelets from the hospital, first pair of shoes, artwork, favorite blankie, and their first lost tooth. Having one of these to pop things in will help you keep everything in one place.

Creating a Baby Book

Some moms keep up with a baby book like clockwork, noting ever achievement as soon as it happens. But if you haven't, it's not too late. Go back and fill in the blanks the best you can. Guesstimates are just fine sometimes. You don't have to have a million scrapbooks of events in your child's life; sometimes a baby book is ideally all you need. As your children get older they will love enjoy looking at their baby book and finding out the details of their birth, especially when it's time for them to have kids of their own.