One of the greatest gifts my mom has given me and my sisters has been thoroughly documenting our lives. We have spent countless hours–days even–looking through old photo albums over the years, watching baby videos etc. You could say it is one of our favorite pastimes. When I found out about baby girl Jenks, one of the first things I did was go and get all of the journals that my mom kept while she was pregnant with me.

I have had the journals sitting in our nursery, casually passing by them every day. I haven’t been able to read them yet, I just knew I would cry my eyes out. Well the other night I decided I wanted to start reading them. I grabbed the first one, and did’t make it past the title of “Seven Days Amazing” without the waterworks beginning. Tim came home from the grocery and truly I think he was terrified, because I was bawling, like couldn’t catch my breath bawling.

Tim (drops groceries): “oh my gosh what is wrong”

Crying/hormonal/emotional/pregnant me: “I just can’t, these are so sweet. My mom and dad were so cute and young, and they love me, SEEE! They were just two young kids like us!”

This is one of my favorite paragraphs that my mom wrote, from my first few days at home:

“I cry now, but for all different reasons. I’m at peace-so happy. I love you. Your daddy loves you. So tiny, do they have to grow up? Change? Capture this moment. I just didn’t know this could happen to me. Tiny person in a big pink gown, asleep in the middle of the bed, alone. Rick peeks in on her, she’s beautiful.” -my mom, age 30

CAN YOU EVEN STAND IT?! My mom wrote down everything. it is so incredibly special to be able to travel back in time, through her journal entries, and glimpse inside her world 34 years ago when she became a mommy.

I knew that I wanted to document every feeling and emotion of my first pregnancy. You only get that once, and believe it or not it DOES go really fast. I wanted to be able to give my daughter the same gift of memories that my mom has given me. I searched high and low for the perfect baby book, but a lot of them were really outdated, and I just couldn’t find what I wanted. UNTIL I discovered that Emily Ley (creator of all things printed and fabulous) has a baby book! They were kind enough to send me one, and I absolutely LOVE it!

Isn’t it beautiful?! The Story of You, Loved and Adored is simple in design, both elegant and timeless. It is also extremely thorough-there is a section for everything! You can see a list of the full sections here, and there are additional pages you can add if you like.

I really like how it has guided prompts for pages like “about your mommy” and “our favorite memories” but also has blank pages available for journaling, and including pictures, shower invites etc. I have been keeping our shower invites, and notes from friends who are also pregnant right now, to include in her book.

It is so pretty I was almost nervous to begin writing in it, but I wanted to make sure to hand write it all. I love having my mom’s handwritten journals to read, instead of something typed out you know?

I hope that I am able to do as good of a job at documenting as my momma did. It is a priceless, incredible gift.

Mom, thank you for every word, every poem, every picture and every prayer. I am the luckiest to have you as a mom. Thank you for teaching me so many ways to be a loving mother. I can’t wait for my daughter to meet you. I love you!