Right before Mother’s Day, I launched a contest with CVS all about making sure moms put themselves in their family photos. We often feel it is our responsibility to document but no family photo history is complete without mom.

Trust me, your kids will want to see you in their albums one day.

I’ve taken this challenge to heart and over the last few weeks, I’ve been taking more photos with myself in them too. The photo above was taken after Harlow’s dance recital yesterday.

Of course, putting yourselves in your photos in not always the easiest task, especially when you are the only one in your family who knows how to hold a camera.

I say, practice makes perfect so put your partner to work regardless. Or ask a stranger to help you out. Or take advantage of time hanging out with friends. Or just flip that camera around and take a selfie.

Whatever works. Just make sure you are included and don’t just make this a yearly occurrence on Mother’s Day. You should be in photos all year round.

Thank you to everyone who is participating in the challenge. Here are the 10 winners of the challenge so far, who each show just how important it is to capture a mom’s love in front of the lens.

Each winner will receive a $100 CVS pharmacy gift card. Please contact abby@mommyshorts.com to claim your prizes.

To enter, post your photos to #PutMominthePhoto on Instagram, tagging and following both @mommyshorts and @CVSpharmacy.

Taking photos of yourself is just part of the process though. The way to really etch your presence in stone is creating an album with those photos included.

I made a premium layflat photo book, which I was able to design myself on the CVS Photo site. It looks beautiful in print, with a hard cover, thick pages and full bleeds. I could not be more pleased with the final result.

I gave it to my husband and told him to give it to the kids to give to me on Mother’s Day. Yes, kind of convoluted but I don’t care. The kids loved going through the album, seeing my pictures, seeing their pictures and remembering the moments together they represented.

You can create books, prints, posters, calendars, cards and special decor on the CVS Photo site or get photo prints on-the-go right from the CVS Pharmacy Mobile app. Many of these items are even available for same day pickup.

We all take way too many pictures these days to remember the good ones, and I can tell you from personal experience— as my Instagram feed gets longer and longer, it is way more trouble to scroll all the way back to photos taken a few years ago, than it would be if I just had my favorites printed in an album, sitting on my bookshelf.

So keep taking photos with you in them and for godsakes, print them out!

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WINNER UPDATE:

And the winners are…

@wendymelissa, @mamaspotts, @demi365, @kelli_mdn, momarazzi412, @moricat, @natflylove, @akbaskett248, @wendybarry23, @peacelovencoffee, @wendi1976, @2creativesouls, @survivingtwins101, niknikboenigk

CONGRATS! Please contact abby@mommyshorts.com to claim your prize

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This post was sponsored by CVS, but my love of my new album is purely my own.