Kids + Online Privacy

At first, I didn't think that I could do it.

Documenting things via photography and writing has always been something that I've enjoyed. Before the days of social media and blogging, I was documenting in the form of participating on yearbook staff in middle school and rising to co-editor of it during high school. Social media gave me another platform in which to document parts of my life {essentially my entire time in college at Clemson} and then when I began blogging, I had an incredible place in which to record memories and share things with whomever might be reading.

Each thing that I chose to share about myself and my life in a public space was just that: something that I chose to share.

And I loved {and still do} seeing the photos that my friends and family choose to share on their social media accounts and their own personal blogs. It's an easy way to keep up with my sister-in-law and future brother-in-laws incredible European travels. It's how I know what's going on in someone's life when I don't have the ability to catch up with them in person.

But when it comes to sharing things about Riley online... it's different. There are so many sweet moments, huge milestones, adorable pictures, and hilarious videos that I want to show so many different people. My phone is filled to the brim with photos that I snap in the mornings before daycare and videos that I take at night of her wild child pre-bath time antics.

Because we don't share about Riley online, people have to ask us about her when they see us in person. That means that I have the opportunity to happily pull out my phone, flip through to a favorite photo or video, and tell someone about the fun new thing that she's doing. They don't already know because they haven't already seen it on social media. I know, I know, it's an old school way for people to know what's going on in our daughter's life. It's kind of fun though!

After nearly a year of not sharing Riley's face online, we're still going... strong-ish. I've upped my creative photography skills as I try to capture the memories and moments that I can share online without showing her face. It's forced me to look at things from a different perspective and I enjoy coming up with different angles from which to take a photo.

Will we ever share a photo of her face online? There's a good chance that we'll celebrate her first birthday with a photo (or 10!) Y'all will just have to wait and see!