If your kids are like mine, things happen quickly. Sometimes I’ll randomly hear a burst of giggles from across the house and I want to quickly sneak in and see what they’re up to. Those moments can be fleeting and when I’ve had to scour for my camera, I’ve often missed them. Last year, I bought myself a Spider Holster. This has changed my world. Since I’m wearing my camera (keeping me hands free!), I am able to hurry right over and capture more of the moments I love.

Bonus- If you’re a working pro, they make a double holster version– allowing you to carry two cameras with you on shoots!

Let me tell you, that thing they call mommy brain is real. Very real. Ever bring your camera along only to find out that your battery is dead? Or you forgot to put a SD card in? Yep, me too. More times than I would like to admit. In addition to buying an extra battery for my rotation, I started to keep a battery charger in my car for those “whoops” moments.

I’ve also gotten a perfectly purse sized SD card carrier from Amazon so I don’t take that shot, only to find out it never recorded.

You have a full SD card and it’s time to sit down at the computer. It’s tempting to dump all the photos on the computer and put off the sorting until later. And for some people, that works great. I find that I get swamped in images, and taking the extra 5-10 minutes up front, ends up saving me time in the long run.

I personally import to Adobe Lightroom and use it to manage my photo organization, as well as use it for my editing. When uploading into Lightroom, I cull initially and ONLY import the keepers. This not only makes it easier to pick which images to edit, but it also helps avoid slowing down my hard drive.

Finally, I try to remember to keyword at the time of import because it makes searching for a specific image faster when you need it at a later date.

Read more: Lightroom Workflow Tutorial Video

When I had my first child, I made these beautiful organized yearly albums for him. I was able to keep it up for the first three years of his life and then I found myself busy juggling two kids and it all fell to the wayside. A couple years ago, I found Chatbooks and they have been my saving grace. We finally have printed albums again!

They print automatically from my last 60 Instagram posts and can be customized before they go to print. Have an image on your camera roll you never posted but want in there? Add it in! They’re small, the perfect size to throw in a bag, and for little kid hands. And they’re inexpensive, so if they’re damaged by some sticky fingers or a spilled sippy cup, it won’t cost a lot to replace.

BONUS- Being able to set up automatic gift subscriptions for the Grandparents is AMAZING! Their copies ship out exactly when mine do, I don’t even have to think about it. And they simply LOVE the little surprises in the mail.

Sometimes life gets in the way and we can’t do it all. I’ve found that Shutterfly Share Sites are a great place to share photos from sporting, classroom, and social events. And, while I can’t speak for other brands, if you have an iPhone, you can use iCloud to create a group album in your photos. This will allow you and your friends to share into a mutual album instead of trying to text images back and forth when one of you misses something important.

Life is best lived with balance, and if that means putting the camera down for a bit and just living, that’s ok too. There is nothing wrong with a season of rest, be it a single day or for several months. It’s equally, if not more important for you to be a part of the memories that you’re are so often striving to capture.