Back in 2013 when I found out I was expecting my first child, Jon had the brilliant idea that we should start documenting the pregnancy...not only for ourselves to look back on as proud parents, but for our unborn baby to share in too.
As someone who lost his mother at a young age, he was passionate about not losing any opportunity to connect with his child and help him to understand as much about where he came from as possible. Even now in his early 40s, there are questions about his early years and family that Jon just can't answer and he was really keen for his own children not to have to experience that - and so we set up an email account with the intention of sending regular "letters" to the baby throughout the pregnancy and throughout his childhood.
We kept it up well through the pregnancy, but once our tiny newborn son arrived this of course become more and more difficult as free time became a bit of a thing of the past and the manicness of every day life took over.
Then along came his younger brothers in pretty rapid succession, and before we knew it the letters had trailed off...and the younger boys didn't even have email accounts set up for them!
But these younger years when my babies are small and taking their first steps into the world are the ones that are so precious ...these are the years that my boys won't remember on their own after all, and there is so much that I want them to know about. So many things we've done as a family that I want them to "remember" through photos and videos if not on their own, so many relationships formed that I want them to be able to cherish.
This is where a fantastic new app called TimeSpring comes in so incredibly handy.
You simply set up your contacts on your account, and then whenever you have something you want to share with them you write out your time-released messages as sort of a mini-email along with the photo or video and send it off to them...selecting which date in the future you'd like them to recieve it.
And it doesn't matter if the person you're sending them to is a child who doesn't have an email address yet, you can add their contact details years down the line when they do have one and the messages will be there ready and waiting to be sent on the date that you selected.
It's not only ideal for parents though, but a fantastic way to share memories and experiences with other loved ones too. With many people shunning certain social media sites these days, it can be difficult to share the photos and videos we want to...and sometimes there are those that you'd rather not put on Facebook for all the world to see but that you'd rather share privately, that video of the boys splashing in the bath for example is one I'd love to share with their Grandma but one I don't necessarily want Dave from the pub to see! TimeSpring is ideal for this, allowing you a quick and easy way to share photos with only it's intended recipient.
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