Photographs and videos.

[Moomoomie]

Not necessarily adoption related, but, I am sitting watching videos and looking at photographs of when the girls were younger and have realised we have an awful lot of photos but not so many videos. Watching the videos has made me appreciate how far the girls have come on. It is easy to forget the little things when you are living it.

What I am trying to say in my rambling way, is, to all of you who are waiting for your children or have just been matched or if your child has just come home. Take lots and lots and lots of video. Little snippets of everyday life not just major occasions.
12 years down the line you will u derstanding where I am coming from.

Exactly. Myfeet. Watching the videos we have, there is me saying " sing me a song" all the girls wanted to do was play etc. I would have been better off just leaving the camera to film the general chat and play.

I had the same thought only yesterday :) DD found a video on the iPad of her 12 months ago - just a short clip I filmed when she had just woken up in her cot. She has watched it back about 30 times so far, talking about how she was a baby etc. Lovely for me and for her too :)

It is lovely to watch. A lot of the time when my older two were younger, I felt like I wasn't always there with them , a bit like watching the whole process from a distance, IYKWIM.
In hindsight I know a lot of this was me working through my grief - my father died suddenly six months before the girls came home - plus also the fact that we had become a family with two children overnight!
So now the fact we have these photos and videos is so important.

When dd was little we used to photograph her on her birthday 'day' date each month, just as a way of remembering. I must try and remember to do this with the new child when they are little as they change so fast, and maybe should incorporate video footage too.

Moomooie, thanks for this post. You're so right, it's good to remember the ordinary times in the lives of our little ones. I have endless hours of my ds when he was a tiny baby and then almost nothing of him growing up. I'd really love to watch video of him when he was 5, 6, 7...
There's no excuse now that we all have video on our phones, it makes it so easy to catch any moment. When dd came home first, we did loads of video of her but then life takes over and we only videoed the birthdays etc. So this morning I videoed her painting and then washing up at the sink - currently her favourite way to spend time. And last night I videoed her having her Cheerios before bed and she had a lovely chat about 'my day.'
So thanks for that.

So true, holycow. Life does get in the way and also you think you will always remember just what they said or did, but we don't.
I had forgotten that dd1 called a little piano she had her "wammo", watching a video yesterday reminded me of that.