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Collective Q+A: How Do You Document Your Child’s Milestones?

Early this year, we started documenting Lucy’s height in the most traditional sense – directly on the millwork, with a Sharpie. As a lover of old homes, I’ve uncovered countless height charts across the properties we’ve renovated, all lovingly scratched into the thick, layered paint of door casings. Every time we find one, our hearts burst. So, why wouldn’t we carry on that same tradition of our homeowners’ past? It’s a fun and visual way for us to document Lucy’s growth spurts, and it’s a reminder to savor every moment of her childhood.

This is another round of Collective Q+A, a blog series focused on sharing voices other than our own to promote new ideas and encourage outside-of-the-box thinking. Today we’re asking: How do you document and celebrate your child’s milestones and accomplishments? 



Years ago, I found an impressively large vintage chalkboard. I knew it would be an incredible addition to my son’s room and a great way to capture milestones.​​​​​​​ — @tuft_diymckim

Danielle McKim, @tuft_diymckim| Years ago, I found an impressively large vintage chalkboard. I knew it would be an incredible addition to my son’s room and a great way to capture milestones. Each month I updated his stats – weight gain, growth, teeth, likes, dislikes etc. When he turned one, I printed each months picture and had it custom framed in a large frame. Flash forward to kid number two, and we kept the tradition! She will be one this month and I look forward to framing her monthly pictures as well. It’s truly one of my favorite pieces of our crazy story!

Find Danielle on Instagram @tuft_diymckim.


The biggest way we’ve celebrated our daughter and her milestones has been creating special spaces in our home that she feels are her own. Centered by Design

Claire, Centered by Design | As an interior designer, interior spaces and how they make people feel is on my mind daily. I think the biggest way we’ve celebrated our daughter and her milestones has been creating special spaces in our home that she feels are her own. A way we’ve made this affordable is by utilizing hand me downs from her cousins. Our daughter Willa is 2.5 years old and absolutely obsessed with the color red. Her cousins offered us an old red kitchen they played with as little ones, and I took it a step further (partially inspired by Covid and all the time indoors) and created a very special red themed playroom for Willa. Making the space extra special for her has lifted all our spirits. We also use this set of binders (to save special drawings, photos, cards and all the things you’d put in a baby book, but I find these way easier to keep up with and they look great stacked on a bookshelf! You can see more of Willa’s playroom here, and more ideas for updating a playroom here!

Find Claire on her blog, Centered by Design, and on Instagram @centered_by_design.


I have a journal I keep next to the bed for jotting down memories at the end of the day. Earlier this week, Sylvie told me a joke she made up, and I was grateful to have a dedicated spot to record it!Francois et Moi

Erin, Francois et Moi | In the bustle of daily life, documenting milestones and memories can sometimes fall by the wayside so it has to be easy enough that we can stick to it! There are three main things we do:

  1. Height Chart: We have a $7 flat trim piece installed next to our kitchen door frame where we mark Sylvia’s height as she grows. I like using hardware store trim because it’s discreet, inexpensive, and we can easily take it with us to the next house!
  2. Low Key Journal: I kept a baby book for Sylvia and hope to do the same for baby #2, but in terms of on-going memories and milestones, I have a journal I keep next to the bed for jotting down memories at the end of the day. Earlier this week, Sylvie told me a joke she made up, and I was grateful to have a dedicated spot to record it!
  3. Annual Photobooks: Once a year, we compile all the photos from our phones and upload them into an app called, Chatbooks, to have them bound into a nice, thick album. There are several companies that do this kind of thing, and it’s not inexpensive (about $100 per book), but it’s an investment we feel is 100% worth it, and so freaking convenient. 

Find Erin on her blog, Francois et Moi, and on Instagram @francois_et_moi.


Our son is very intrigued with the concept of aging and we love to show him documented moments of his life that he may not remember, to get a sense of how much he’s grown.This Borrowed Home

Taneika, This Borrowed Home | My favorite way to document will always be photography/videography. My phone houses an almost full capacity of home videos and photos documenting moments both big and small. My camera is no different. I like to take videos of important milestones and even random conversations to look back on. Our son is very intrigued with the concept of aging and we love to show him documented moments of his life that he may not remember, to get a better sense of how much he’s grown. Clips from birthdays, and holidays get compiled and edited into long home videos. Photo captures get printed and can be found around the home. Even our little one’s paintings and doodles deserve a frame to be hung on display.

Find Tanieka on her blog, This Borrowed Home, and on Instagram @thisborrowedhome.


I film an interview of [our daughter] every year on her birthday where I ask her a lot of simple questions like, What do you want to be when you grow up?The Homebody House

Danae, The Homebody House | Sharing moments on Instagram has been an awesome living scrapbook to document our daughter’s milestones and accomplishments. For the more detailed or personal memories, I use a keepsake journal from Promptly for all special milestones I never want to forget. The journal provides guided prompts about your child for you to answer and covers every milestone for you to notate from pregnancy through your child’s 18th birthday.

In addition to keeping a journal, I also film an interview of her every year on her birthday where I ask her a lot of simple questions like, What do you want to be when you grow up? I know that as the years go by, she’ll answer that question half a dozen different ways but the whole point of yearly videos is to timestamp who she is and what her personality is like in that very moment – even if she doesn’t grow up to be a ballerina! Hopefully by the time she’s an adult, I can edit all the videos together and gift it to her along with the journal when the time is right.

Find Danae on her blog, The Homebody House, and on Instagram @thehomebodyhouse.



PS: Here’s the low-stress way we documented Lucy’s weekly baby photos, this is how we organize our never-ending photo collection, and this is a fun tutorial for creating a composite photo of your littles!

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  • Elyse10.28.20 - 8:22 AM

    Love this so much. Such great ideas. I right there with Taneika, alll the photos and videos – I take them almost daily with our 10 month old. I make sure to capture all the “Firsts” on video and thank goodness for technology the dates and information is auto-saved. As my “push” present (where your husband buys you a gift for pushing the baby out — we’re in the south and yeah, thats a thing, and while it sounds archaic, I honestly dont hate it) my husband got me the newest iphone with portrait mode. Best gift ever and I’m so grateful not to be working with my iphone 6. We also do a “shared album” with family so everyone can see. My mom says the best part of her day is hearing the specific notification for the shared album. Also helpful with essentially not seeing any extended family for the last 8 months due to Covid. ReplyCancel

  • Susan10.28.20 - 8:58 AM

    While I love the IDEA of capturing my kids heights on the wood trim of our house, I hate the idea of leaving it behind, knowing this isn’t our forever home. I’ve done several interior painting jobs where there is a left-behind height chart and it always breaks my heart to cover it up or know what to do with it that honors the previous family’s history. The worst was my client who had documented her 3 boys on the laundry room wall with a sharpie. She stood in tears not knowing how to take those beloved moments with her when they had to sell. I told her I would come back in a few days to that spot only when she gave me the green light to paint. I suggested she take a photo of the wall, but they never did say what they decided, and a few days later I got a text to paint it. Broke my heart to do so and I never even met the kids! :) Love the idea of a small piece of trim that you can remove and take with you. Great post!
     ReplyCancel

    • Kim10.28.20 - 9:30 AM

      Aw, how heartbreaking but also heartwarming. These memories are so special.ReplyCancel

  • Krystal10.28.20 - 9:19 AM

    When my first niece was about one or so, I made my sister a big ruler she could hang on the wall to mark off her kiddo’s height. I knew the house they were in wasn’t their forever house, nor is the one after likely to be either. And they aren’t the type to go in for the historical as much as myself. So I knew they would really appreciate something that could go along with them. And it worked out great, as they just recently moved into the second home after their family expanded by one adorable new addition. So now they have a big ruler of memories that goes with them wherever they happen to live.ReplyCancel

    • Kim10.28.20 - 9:29 AM

      So sweet! I love the idea of being able to take the growth chart with you, no matter where you are.ReplyCancel

  • Tanieka10.28.20 - 9:48 AM

    I LOVE all of the useful ideas mentioned in this post (and in the comments)! Thank you for this super cute Q+A! ReplyCancel

  • Julie Rossman10.28.20 - 12:08 PM

    All great ideas and thanks for sharing other people. I’m now reading new blogs for the next hour! We put our growth stick on a piece of trim so we can take it to our next house.ReplyCancel

  • Danielle10.28.20 - 12:43 PM

    It has been heartbreaking to leave the height wall behind in our first 3 houses. This last time we moved, after 7 years in the house (and tracking 4 kids’ heights that whole time), I transferred the marks to a long piece of parchment. I plan to transfer it to a giant wood ruler looking thing that I can hang on the wall and take with me if we move again.ReplyCancel

  • Julia at Home on 129 Acres10.28.20 - 10:56 PM

    So many great ideas here. I made a height chart that looks like a big ruler for our daughter as well as our niece and nephews. I love the way it looks and also that it can move if needed. https://homeon129acres.com/2015/01/19/diy-ruler-growth-chart/ A colleague gave me a great book called My Quotable Kid. It’s a spot to write down first words, special moments or funny things our daughter says. I love re-reading all of those memories or songs or the first time she counted to 10 or said I love you. I keep it near where I work at night, so it’s a good nudge to record those special moments.ReplyCancel

  • RC10.29.20 - 9:57 AM

    I love these collective Q&As for the variety of ideas and voices and yay for me, new accounts to dive into. Please keep them coming.ReplyCancel

  • Vanessa10.29.20 - 3:35 PM

    I do remember an old door that I needed to paint over, that held the growth milestones for Sarah and her brother Bruce.  It did feel sacred and like a shame that I was doing it.  I have the younger years of my two boys on a piece of paper that of course we stopped marking after certain age.  We used to move fairly often and that was the best I could come up with.ReplyCancel

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