If you’re looking for the best way of storing childhood memories, SmileFile is the perfect solution.

I have to admit I have been feeling massively guilty lately preparing for the birth of my second daughter. I knew things would be different second time around, but finding out we were expecting our second little girl made life so easy, I didn’t have to think about much. With Cassie, there was so much excitement as I prepared her nursery, picked out clothes, chose a pram we loved, bought a carrier, decided which bottles we were going to use… every decisions was so special and monumental and each one took us one step closer to meeting our precious bundle.

With number two – we had everything we needed, except a room. She is going to be sharing with her daddy’s study, which meant a completely new nursery was out of the question. Still, I tried and bought some pretties to brighten up her space, some new clothes so she wouldn’t just be wearing hand me downs, and I even splurged on a new carrier, knowing I would be wearing her a lot more with Cassie to chase after. To be honest, I thought I was doing pretty well considering – and then I picked up Cassie’s baby book. Both of them.

That’s right, Cassie ended up with two books, because I had so much to share and nowhere to put it. Every detail was there, from the first time I felt her kick to the names we tossed around for her, my pregnancy cravings, photos, ultrasounds pictures, her birth story, meeting our family. Everything was so well documented, and that’s when my pang of guilt started to appear. I didn’t even have a baby book for number two, and close friends had even asked me where the ultrasounds pics were that they were getting every week with Cassie. I had slacked off, massively.

That’s when I came across Smilefile. I wasn’t trying to one up what I had done with Cassie to help my guilt, I was more just trying to give number two the same attention, without the need for multiple baby books in the process. Their pregnancy to pre-school Smilefile Kit was just the answer, and I was so excited when it arrived in the mail. It had everything, and I didn’t even have to think about it. It prompted me to add all the essentials, from documenting my pregnancy, to sharing the day she is born, and of course all the firsts. I was going to keep track of them all, just like with Cassie, and it was going to be lots of fun.

I was so impressed with everything that comes with the kit, yet you still run the show. Unlike baby books where you fill out all the details page by page, it is customised to suit your needs and how you want to use it. Basically you can pick and choose.

The Smilefile Kit comes with two little organza pouches for storing that first curl or tooth (cute!), along with a page of firsts you can fill out – and it’s one of the most extensive I have seen. Because it is simply kept in a folder as a separate page, I can take it out and stick it on our fridge to prompt myself to fill it out as we go – rather than a baby book that ends up under the couch, never to be found again. The favourites page is another cute one, full of things I would barely remember for Cassie, despite them meaning so much at the time, like her favourite game as a baby, and her favourite toy that she has now grown out of. It’s true that those early days do become a big blur. You think at the time you will remember everything and then life catches up with you.

Things get much simpler as the years progress with prompts to document the big things, like height, developmental milestones and a little bit of personality. This is great for busy mums like me who can feel all to easily daunted if there is too much to do – in general I would just forget it, but this is manageable.

Then there are the stickers – and to say I am a little excited by them is an understatement. They are the perfect way to stick a date and occasion on anything your little one brings from from daycare, with more prompts like first hand and foot print and first drawing to encourage you along the way. They can all be stashed away carefully in the folder provided for safe keeping and stored in the outer box that comes with it. The outer box is also big enough to fit your little one’s favourite bear or clothes that you can stow away to share with them in future years.

The whole system is so nice and easy, and you can simply stock up with as many sleeves as you need, without being restricted by a certain number of pages. My only regret now is that I didn’t start one off with Cassie two years ago…

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