I chose almost immediately and was not mistaken, but with the allowance for young mothers, things were more difficult. And I found a really worthwhile book only recently, when my baby was already five months old.
She turned out to be a small-sized book, Mom's diary, in which, in my opinion, the functions of both the diary and the manual are very successfully combined. All the information that I had previously collected bit by bit from different sources, is already there. And there is no need to look for anything, spending precious time on this.
The book is divided by months in the first year of a child's life. Each month begins with a place for a photo of the baby and with a table, in each column of which you can record significant events in the life of the crumbs. Then comes the theme of the month - what is likely to be the most relevant for a young mother during this period, followed by a description of each week. What we love, what we know how to do, what to do ... Even the duties of the pope are described and there is a subsection “for my beloved”, which gives advice on the restoration of a woman after childbirth. Everything is clear, everything is to the point: just for a young mother, for whom every minute counts!
The disadvantages, perhaps, include the absence of at least a couple of empty sheets for recording valuable information, but they can be glued on.
There were 6 different editions in my collection, starting from Moleskine and ending with some kind of misunderstanding, mistakenly posing as a diary. I will start with those that I liked the least, respectively, I will get to my favorite at the very end. But most importantly, it is, and now I use it! At least until I found a better one.
1. I'll start with a decently designed, released by the Mann, Ivanov and Ferber publishing house (which I personally deeply like) already in 2013 (just fresh), and with a cute name - "Happy Mom's Diary".
I don’t know where happiness is hidden there, but this calendar is designed for a hard-working mother, who is recommended to take 30 minutes a day to communicate with her child and set aside 30 minutes for herself. That is why every day there are this 3 sections: a project, a child, for yourself. And so on all pages. Only periodically there are inserts with useful texts such as “Air flight with a child”, “Getting ready for school”, “Order in the car”, etc. This calendar seemed to me somehow unfinished, boring and not much different from the usual one.
By the way, having used this diary for nothing, I realized that the paper cover is an option, it is killed instantly. But, alas, most of the subsequent calendars are sold in just such a shell. And, to be completely frank, they are not the prettiest in appearance. And I would like the diary to be so pretty that I wanted to pick it up and not let it out))) Well, you understand what I mean?)))
2. Another diary in a wow cover - "Expectant Mom's Diary".
I bought it at the same time and out of curiosity professional activity. This is a translated edition, so it is especially surprising that it turned out to be absolutely soviet. Very bad thin paper and at the very beginning it is proposed to fill out the sections “Your medical history”, “Family medical history”. At first I didn’t even understand what kind of “disease” he was talking about.
The diary is specifically medically oriented. Tests, doctor visits, payment medical services, nutrition table, etc. In order to describe some of my other affairs that are not related to the management of pregnancy, thoughts and feelings are allotted, I am not exaggerating, 40 squares 7 cm high each. This is ridiculous. And, of course, all this absolutely does not correspond to the name. If this thing was called "Expectant Mom's Medical Checkup Diary", then it would be more like the truth. In addition, these are also needed, especially for girls with a difficult pregnancy or pregnancy after IVF.
3. Medical issues are widely covered and in "New Mom's Diary".
It is, in my opinion, a very inconvenient format - half A4 - and all written small print useful information for Mom. Here and paperwork for the child, and the restoration of the menstrual cycle after childbirth.
The pages that are supposed to be filled by herself do not include any mother's activities - only what the doctor recommended to do, plus the feeding regimen, the height and weight of the child. In general, again somehow not mentally, but, most likely, it can be useful to someone.
4. Iconic Moleskine also did not bypass the children's theme and produces Baby Jounal.
I have it in black, I do not know if they are available in other colors, but I hope. In any case, it has a nice themed engraving on the cover. And it is the most expensive, costs about 1000 rubles. This diary offers a lot of room for imagination about filling its stylish yellowish pages.
It contains sections in sequence: 9 months to go, B-day, Homecoming, Special moments, Health and care, Feeding. In my opinion, this diary is good not even as a diary to help with the organization of affairs, but in order to keep a mother's diary - to describe your feelings from pregnancy, childbirth, talk about the baby. I want to fill it in beautiful calligraphic handwriting, so that later I can store it in the family archive along with photographs. In general, I would recommend getting one, especially for those who still have the topic of pregnancy or the first year of life relevant.
5. A strict male version has also crept into the ranks of my calendars. Daily Journal: The Stephen Covey Method.
It is clear that there is no smell of a mother-child theme there, but at first a very sane introduction about time planning. I liked the division of all our activities into 4 categories: important urgent, important non-urgent, unimportant urgent, unimportant non-urgent. In general, you can read more about this system in Stephen Covey’s bestseller “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, but you don’t have to fool around - if you can find urgent, unimportant things in your schedule and somehow infringe on them, you can already breathe a sigh of relief. Because it is clear that these cases are deceivers. They seem urgent, but in reality they are not, as they are often related to other people's priorities - someone called you or wrote a letter to you, you answer, etc. But I was into theory.
In general, I would say that this diary is very a good option for hard working girls. But for me this is too much, after all, I do not live in such a busy schedule. It is for this reason that I have so far actively began to use the following diary.
6. " 365 days very creative person» - this edition is also published by Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, and they almost always have a good and original design. Here this rule worked.
Inside this diary is laid out as if by hand.
He does not have a specialization for mothers, but I am deeply convinced that what a mother does is a creative activity. He really helps me. For example, when “brilliant thoughts” come to mind, they can be written in the “I have an idea” section. And then use the “rule of three days” - after 3 days, return to this idea and look at it with more sober eyes. Works!
I like the "Important little things" section. Here you can also write out a letter to yourself, draw an order and write a letter in the style: “Today I am the most unfortunate person in the world ...”, which will be uploaded with the words: “... but surely not a single dog will notice, and even if I am gone, they will continue to do so ... (write in) ... as if nothing else had happened. I’d rather go and draw an immortal work.”. As you understand, the next page is blank and its title is "immortal work: my mood today."
There are also cool things, just if I describe them here, my post will crack))) But the last thing: I really like the presence of a sense of humor in this diary. Because when I look at the lines of things on the calendar, sometimes I want to strangle myself and / or do nothing. And here, fortunately, such a mood is also provided. There is advice on its pages:
“Win back an hour of free time, spend it on an important matter:
Lying on the grass looking up at the sky
Walk down the street, picking up all sorts of muck on the road
Flipping beautiful books
Draw beautiful letters
Collect herbarium, listen to music
Lie in a bath with foam and not think about anything ... "
Well, etc.
Of course, a significant disadvantage is that there are no special columns dedicated to the child. But no one promised me this from the very beginning.
In general, as you can see, it turned out that I did not find the ideal specialized diary specifically for my mother. But I'm glad I took the time to select and test this product. Still, I personally need it. Do you use diaries? Share your finds
2 years ago, I thought about the need to structure not only daily affairs, but also different areas life, dreams and goals. This is how my “Happy Mom Diary” came about. On the eve of the new one, we decided to give the subscribers of the blog “Grow smart!” this diary.
Attention! To get Happy Mom's Diary, you need:
- Repost this post on any of the social networks(better on BabyBlog) and leave a link to it in the comments below.
Everyone who was already our subscriber at the time of publication will receive the kit in a separate letter today!
What is special about Happy Mom's Diary?
- This is a set of 21 working pages that help me structure my life. Each of the pages is devoted to a specific topic: dreams, tasks for the week, cleaning, activities with children, shopping, a weekly menu, and even blogging.
- Each page you can print an unlimited number of times, which means that your diary will not have to be taken to the closet when the entries in it have reached the last page.
- You can write your own diary taking into account their preferences and characteristics of their character. For example, removing weekly menu pages from your diary if you like to cook spontaneously or eat out. If you do not have a blog, then the pages dedicated to its maintenance will not be useful to you. But if you are a blogger, then these pages will greatly facilitate your blogging life :)
- In the diary thought out and pages without signatures, which you can safely select for your own ideas and needs.
- In addition to the main pages of the diary, it has 5 sheets with flags-bookmarks with and without captions, as well as pictures that can be used as stickers to decorate your diary.
- You can choose yourself create or decorate a cover for your diary. For example, I bought a large binder folder that holds a huge number of different pages.
- In addition to the pages I have designed, you can always bind your own pages into a folder, magazine clippings, printouts, drawings, etc.
What is the diary format?
Initially, we created an A4 diary, but after publication, we received several reviews from mothers “… it would be nice to have a small A5 format…”, “… it would be great to carry it in a purse, but A4 is very large…”. A couple of hours and the diary is now in two formats to choose from: A4 and A5 (which is printed on A4 and cut in half).
How do I use Happy Mom's Diary?
1. The first pages in my diary are pages with dreams, big plans, desires and Wishlist. When I open my diary, I often skim through my wish lists, and this is a great opportunity to once again think and imagine my dreams. As you know, dreams tend to come true if you talk about them, think, write.
2. These pages are followed by organizational worksheets with weekly to-do lists, cleaning, budget, and shopping lists. And also in this section there are sheets for preparing for the holidays and lists of gifts for relatives and friends.
4. Then comes the children's section with lists of necessary children's purchases, as well as ideas for creativity and activity.
5. Then a culinary section with 4 weekly menu options, a list of favorite breakfasts, soups, main courses and afternoon snacks, as well as favorite recipes.
6. Another section of the diary - important information with contacts, addresses, notes and lists.
7. At the end there is a personal section with ideas, favorite quotes, and a calendar in which I mark important dates.
Each section is marked with a bookmark flag, which I glued to thick paper. On some of the permanent pages, I have pictures-decorations pasted. Here and there between the pages there are some clippings, drawings and A5 pages, which, by the way, I really like for their compactness.
That, in general, is the whole “Happy Mom's Diary”. These cute colored pages helped me deal with my perpetual disorganization. Of course, I can’t say that now I am a mega-organized person, but still I can confidently say that I put things in order in my dreams, goals and ways to achieve them, and also learned to do much more than before. And I also lost the chaos in my head, associated with an abundance of things to remember about. Now they are all on paper and remind me of myself very delicately :) And how nice it is to hold a pencil or a pen in your hands and put a tick in front of the completed tasks!
Looking forward to the question: Why have a paper diary when every smartphone or tablet now has great organizer apps?
I answer: I also use different applications, I especially appreciate wunderlist and I Wish Diary. However, by nature, I simply need to create lists on paper. I love to write, I love paper and color pages, I love paper recipes and checkmarks, I love drawing doodles in the margins. Therefore, a paper diary is a small window through which I communicate with myself. You know, it's like with a child: - it's good, but they have no real tactile sensations. But adults are also children at heart, and it is also useful for us to feel the roughness of paper and the intricate movement of a pen or pencil, hear the rustle of pages, inhale the smell of fresh ink and see our own handwriting.
We wish you cozy evenings alone with dreams, ideas, pen and paper!
Ouch, New Year just right on the nose! Just do not be ironic, pointing fingers at the regular New Year's notes on our website - I'm not talking about crafts this time.
Have you already bought your diary? I have long wanted to brag about my treasure: I heard more than once about the publishing house "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", here and there I looked and licked my lips, but in the end I got the same one for personal use. And now, with a clear conscience, I'm ready to talk about how beautiful, interesting, pleasant, sincere, bright and warm he is.
Like many women, I like to feel things with my hands. I take off the cellophane packaging - and immediately I get the first charge of tactile pleasure: it is not visible to the eye, but the fingers feel the texture of the cover, voluminous flowers, veined leaves, the relief of twigs, the bird is almost alive. This is such an incredible tangible joy - you want to stroke, touch, hold and ... possess. I personally don't really like the cover design (I generally have a very narrow-minded mind in these matters), but these touching details in the truest sense of the word more than compensate for the wild combination of sneakers with a firebird.
The paper is unexpectedly dense and of high quality (usually something simpler and cheaper is used in diaries). And - yes, again a bookmark, a cute sewn-in bookmark, such things conquer me completely!
I open the diary - and on the flyleaf there is a nice detail: a place for a family photo. I have an eternal problem with printing digital pictures, but my daughter immediately said that she would draw me a beautiful joint portrait of all members of our family. I'm not upset: in my opinion, it's even better!
Further more. Details. Little things. Ideas. They have all the charm of the diary, they make it not just pleasant, but unforgettable, you don’t want to part with it, it immediately causes a strong and irrevocable desire to share not only plans, but also thoughts, and then, after a year, leave it as a keepsake the most expensive "Moleskine" or just a diary with memories.
It is very close that there are no printed dates in the diary - practice shows that it is more convenient for my personal nature to enter them on my own. Moreover, there is no reference to time - any mother knows that her day is built not according to the hours of office work, but according to her own chronometer, which often requires a special division.
I don’t know how much this diary will help me become happier (however, much more?), But the fact that I plan to be a successful mother with might and main is unequivocal!
One problem. My handwriting and best years was far from indicative, and over the years and constant work with a computer, it became completely disgusting. Well, how can I decide to spoil such charm with my scribbles? In general, "Happy Mom's Diary" is too beautiful, I will probably make the first entry on the first of January with shaking hands.
Oh yes, I also really wanted to tell you about the bank have a good day. And about the bookmark with "There is nothing here." And about ... However, no, I will not. Run to the store and quickly buy yourself a diary - you need to this is you read it yourself. This and many more - smart, interesting, kind, necessary and useful.
It is known that a significant part of scrap craftswomen are mothers who stay at home with their children. In conditions when you need to do everything and not forget anything, mothers will need a traditional tool for organizing their time: a diary. But not many diaries are made specifically for moms (and moms!!). But this is exactly what the diary from Zarina Ivanter is: she collected all her experience and designed it into a convenient "book" - you can make it your "desk friend" and in some ways even an adviser. I will tell you about my experience with the diary, because it is personal and different for everyone.
I read about this diary in blogs, and already painted a nice picture in my head about how I use it. And when I got it in my hands - it happened. And now I will describe exactly how this happens and what can be found in the Diary of a Happy Mom. (It's nice, by the way, to read such a name, inspires, I want to be called a happy mother - oh yes!).
It looks like a thick book (but not heavy because the cover is semi-soft). Usually it lies on my kitchen table, and in the morning you can enter all the things into it - I used to write them down on all sorts of pieces of paper, then I threw them away, but here you can see how much has been done !! Even when it seems like you can't do enough.
Zarina manages the successful children's clubs she opened, conducts training - and it's nice when the author of the book is successful himself and shares his secrets. In addition to the actual pages for notes, you can read tips for each week (I liked them the most), lists of "What to see for kids", "What to buy as a gift (for different ages"), "Children's games on the iPad" and so on.
I really liked the idea of dividing the tasks of the day into 4 sections: In computer(all that needs to be done there is usually part of the job, shopping on the Internet, obligatory letters and congratulations, in general, something is found every day ...); Calls(you can deal with them right at the beginning of the day!); Houses(this is all cleaning and other household chores, perhaps some activities with children); City(all things that require going outside - it is most convenient to write them out in one column, like here, and do it at a time. For one walk with a child, for example).
This is what my typical daily to-do list looks like.
But I marked in it with a color how my page is divided into 4 blocks - I think this is very convenient! Sometimes the block is left empty, for example, Calls or City.
At the top of the page there are three lines: what today was done for a Project/Work, what made with a child(not in the general sense to play, but specifically new-developing), which made for myself. It often turns out that my priority is usually the second line (we circle our palms, play with water, jump, walk along the "paths" of towels, well, everything that you can think of with a child of a year and a half), and the third is usually "sagging". To do for myself... I hope it will be easier to complete tasks on this topic a little later!!
You can plan children's "razvivayki" in advance for a week. And on a particular day to know that he (the day) was not in vain!
You can specify any dates, the diary is not dated. It used to be that you miss a week (everyone was sick, planning was cancelled), you can safely skip it in the diary and start with the next one.
At the beginning there are sections about vacation (you can start writing lists in advance, they will not be lost, but you can check the previous ones); sections about Work and Personal projects; deeds dedicated to the beautiful; what you should not forget to read and watch, and all that useful stuff... Instead of planning globally for a year, Zarina has a suggestion to plan per season, 3 months(somehow calmer from this and do not want to postpone things). Not bad idea!! Many things do not fit me in a month, and a year is too much for them. Let's try the option with 3 months.
I found a couple of minuses: from the City block - business or what to buy - you need to rewrite it on a piece of paper in order to go out light and do all this. Besides, I don't take a diary with me. If I went to work, I would probably take it with me; whoever has a car is not difficult, but if not ... you will have to start another one at work! However, remember that the Diary is for mom, that is, after all, she is mostly at home, even if she works from home ...
By the way, on the flyleaf of the book (the back of the cover) you can stick a photo of the family. This is a thought! Available bookmark where you can write out your projects, and look at them, not forgetting to do something on them - in small steps. And scrapbookers will surely be able to update such a bookmark and arrange it to their taste. There is also the usual ribbon bookmark.
I also note that the paper is white, it is convenient to write, the ruler is not dark (I really don’t like too bright ruler) - there is a cage, there is a ruler, as you can see above in the photo. The block is sewn firmly, the sheets cannot fall out, while it can be deployed with a full turn, and it will not close.
I plan to turn to the section with a list of children's books (there are dozens of them!) And choose something for the right age. You can find advice on gifts, the minimum wardrobe for a child ... and just texts that motivate action, I liked, for example, these:
the "rule of three days" for emerging ideas;
weekend planning;
vacation for mom
how to spend a vacation if 2 children;
how to find out what useless time is spent on;
order in the car, mail, table.
Much has been said about the benefits of planning. But the transition to practice is not so easy, you need to "push" yourself. Or not yourself - if you buy a diary as a gift, and especially mother with first child... In fact, any active mother needs a "tool" for the distribution of time and effort. And for a needlewoman, too, such a diary can become a more popular "tool" than scissors and a ruler!
