These days, the first photo of our little ones emerges before they do: the sonogram. As you may have noticed, they’re not printed on the most sturdy of materials. Indeed, the Scrapbook Preservation Society (SPS) has gone so far as to call them “unstable.” How do you ensure that you can preserve that photo as a memento for the longer-term? According to the SPS, in addition to keeping the original one, you should also photocopy it onto white, archival paper. Alternatively, you can scan it on a laser printer, which uses the same processes as a photocopier. Be sure that you don’t keep it under PVC, they warn, as that will destroy your photos. Instead, rely on the polypropylene covers that are in many albums already.  

If you’ve never seen the site, it’s worth taking a stroll through the SPS site. Even for non-scrapbookers, as we are, it had a trove of great information about how to ensure your precious family memories make it to the next generation. When we go to the photo album or craft sections of stores and manufacturers throw around terms like “acid-free” or “archival,” it can be hard to know what you can really trust, and what you really need to spend extra on to ensure your items are protected. The SPS site cleared up a lot of these buzzwords and gave us answers for how to protect our photos, what we should look for on packaging, and how to store our albums.

After all, we'd like to share Baby's first photo-op when he or she is all grown up.