Newborn keepsakes

What To Keep And How To Store Them

Hanging onto your baby’s precious memories from his or her newborn days is a special thing for a mom. But what should you keep and where should you keep it? Here are some of my favorite keepsake items and suggestions.

Newborn keepsakes you should keep

Baby's first outfit: The first outfit is the one you carefully selected for all of the first pictures, it's likely the outfit for the drive home from the hospital and it's the first piece of clothing you wanted to see your baby wearing. Chances are, you cried happy tears over it, draped it against your belly while looking in the mirror and felt chills go down your spine when you bought it. A baby's first outfit holds a lot of wonderful memories for a mother.

Baby's hospital cap: A hospital cap is easy to save due to its smaller size. We saved all of our hospital caps because the hospital provided us with hand-knitted caps from local elderly ladies that love donating them to new babies and families.

Baby's foot and handprint: Ask your nurse to give you two sets of handprints and footprints when she inks your baby's hands and feet. Keep one for your records and store or frame the second set for memories. Your baby will never be that small again.

Cards and letter to the baby: Periodically, I like to go through the cards and letters that were written to my children when they were born. I tend to think these letters and cards will be something my children will cherish when they are grown and have babies of their own.

Your favorite outfits and blankets: Keep your baby's favorite outfits for a few reasons. One, if you have future children, there's something special about seeing the same outfit on both or all of your children and two, if you are crafty, you can cut squares from your baby's clothing (and/or blankets) and make a quilt out of them.