Did your wife get the PHD recently or when she was young? Reading through the lines I feel it was when she was young but I could definitely be wrong.
I also feel I don't have much to write down every day. Most of the time is spent on work chores or family chores. There are a few happy moments but that's it. May I ask what type of information do you retain?
Sure, you're working, I totally get that. But you're also sometimes reading about stuff relevant to your eventual academic interests, if only articles you see on HNN or whatever. Sometimes you'll have a thought in the car. Develop the habit of journaling them when they come, in some place you won't lose over the intervening years.
You will be astonished at what you both do and don't retain over those years. It's mostly still down in there somewhere, but if you've got a few clues to unravel the threads, it'll help more than you think now.
Regarding the last paragraph -- yeah I recalled that my first programming adventure was Foxbasing in the mid 90s. I definitely forgot all of those!
Good luck to you too.