Month-by-month baby photos
Look at this little nugget!!!
I am obviously biased, and she is obviously the cutest :)
Did anyone else struggle mightily with their baby’s month-by-month photos? They were a trial in our house. Even though we went with a super-simple setup, we never managed to take them on time — we always had to wait for the weekend so that we could tag-team the photo shoot, and then if Saturday and Sunday were cloudy or rainy, things got pushed back even further. Her “12-month photo” was actually taken at 13 months :)
And the rolling! From about the 7-month photo on, it was all we could do to keep her on her back to snap a quick photo, let alone get one where she was smiling. For a second baby, I’m considering doing a sitting up photo, but don’t love how slumped he or she would be in the first few months…
Have y’all seen any cute and simple ideas for monthly photos? Pretty backgrounds or clever positions? What did you do, if you took them? I’d love to hear! (But I think Nancy might win!)
Now to decide if we’re going to make a special project with these…
She is sooo sweet! I love how she looks like an American Girl bitty baby in the first ones! By the end she looks like a little girl! I can imagine they must be a challenge to shoot, but they turned out adorably!
xoxo,
Classic Catherine
OMG, she totally looks like a bitty baby!!
I love these! June is so cute!
We go to church every Sunday morning, so with my son we stopped on our front porch and snapped a picture of him in my arms every Sunday morning for a year starting the week after his birth. It was easy and didn’t require a lot of fuss, plus we didn’t have to set a reminder to do it! I still love looking at those photos. Baby number two will be here in July and I plan to do the same thing.
LOVE that idea, Holly! Though knowing how late we are usually running on our way to church, probably not something we should try – ha!!
I’m starting this process with my little one (her second month shoot is coming up March 1st), and I went with a pillow behind her to prop her up and a stuffed animal next to her for perspective. I feel you on how you didn’t want June to look slumped; it’s hard taking a photo of Lucy propped up, especially because at birth she only weighed 5 lbs!
SO CUTE! I was hoping you would post these. :) With my first babe due in two months (!!!) I have been thinking about this a lot, haha. I think I want to do one laying down as well and I found this muslin backdrop (https://www.batzkids.com/collections/age-blankets/products/baby-monthly-milestone-blanket-cotton-muslin-swaddle-blanket-2-5-weeks-out) that I want to get to use, I think the numbers will also help for perspective. I don’t mind if he doesn’t smile or is turning over, it makes it all the more authentic. Nancy Ray’s are so cute!
Oh also, I think you should definitely make something out of them. Whether it’s a little photo book or a neat framed image like the above since I know you had them printed for her party. I would love to see others’ ideas with what to do with them also.
Rhi from Hey Gorg used the Batz Kids blanket and I loved hers!
And I am selling mine! Happy to sell it to you, Victoria :)
So, so adorable! She is just precious. Nancy’s are pretty incredible, indeed… One of my friends somehow manages to make an elaborate flower arrangement of the number every month. I don’t know how she does it, but they are so beautiful. Here they are if you can see: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/12monthsofscarletthale/
I tried doing these (sitting up) for the first few months and ultimately just didn’t really enjoy doing it.. they weren’t my favorite photos of Beau and they put pressure on me so I stopped after three months, oops! That being said I do kind of regret not powering through. I really love how yours turned out. I think that even without smiles, just showing of the size is so sweet. I love Nancy’s! Obviously this is her area of expertise but I wonder if having their dog there gave baby something to interact with and that’s what lead to such sweet shots. Clearly I have lots of thoughts and questions on this because of the novel I’m writing, haha! I’ve actually thought about making this a priority with a second baby because I know naturally a lot of things that I did for and with Beau will be different second time around.. it might be fun to prioritize something special and unique for a second baby!
John and I were talking about the success of Nancy’s photos the other night and we hit on exactly the same thing – I think Winston capturing M’s attention must have really helped!
that’s funny you struggled with these because i was thinking that you had the right idea lying her on a bed! i didn’t mean for this to happen, but our monthly photos are of me holding the baby… it started out great because he was so tiny he could fit in one hand! (i love the pictures where you can compare their growth to a reference point). but now that he is 6 months, i sort of wish his monthly pics were just of him. at the same time, i absolutely LOVE the pics of us together! so, probably there is no right way.
also, should we ever stop doing monthly photos? babies keep growing in special ways from months 12-24, but you never see people continue monthly pictures past a year. i think i am going to continue! but i doubt it will be a consistent style theme. maybe more day-in-the-life style.
I agree with you on the months 12-24 photos! Young House Love actually took and shared month-by-month photos for the first 24 months for their daughter!
These are too cute!
Can’t help but chuckle over ours and Finley being a totally CRAZY. I don’t know how Nancy did it. These were a total 3-ring circus for us!! Complete with “TREATS” with trying to get Finley in there and all the rolling over you could imagine after 6 months! #eshmonthbymonth (though, I’m set to private!)
My aunt works with Zazzle, so we made an adorable banner with all of ours for the birthday and it will hang in the playroom, I suppose when I get around to hanging it up! Or her nursery. They are cute and I was glad we did them! LS wore the same onesie for the first 4 or 5 months! I regret not dressing her up early on a little more for the birthday occasion, though!
I think we are going to continue it with 15, 18, and 21 months and then 24. That would be it, I think! I guess I need to get on it for today!
I love them! We used our quilt as a backdrop and altetnated sides of the quilt. We also used a stuffed animal for scale. It def got more difficult as she got mobile – was a two person job. She is now almost 15 months and I am missing it! I echo the 12-24 month need. I am going to reaume – but less staged and more in the moment. Now she holds and snuggles the stuffed animal!
This is definitely nothing groundbreaking, but one thing we did that I love is photograph our son Isaac next to his favorite Hungry Caterpillar plush toy each month. If we managed to capture him from the right distance or angle, you can truly tell how he’s growing based on his size next to the toy. I loved having it for comparison, otherwise he just looks like a squishy little nugget all year :)
I love your simple white background and those adorable smiles. My daughter is 5 months. I abandoned the monthly pictures around 3 months because of lightening, positions,and what not. I have almost successfully taken a picture of her every day. I have them in a folder on my phone titled Nell 365.I just wrote at the bottom month 1 and so on when the 26th came around. My plan is to make a slideshow when she is 1 in September.
I wish I had thought about laying her next to something for perspective or using the same background.
What app/software did you use for the collage?
Hi Mary! I used Adobe Illustrator to make this collage :)
love that nugget!
True story: Pictures for months 7-11 were taken within 3 days of each other the week before his birthday, haha! I wanted to have them to display at his birthday party. No one noticed and it makes me laugh. It’s also pretty representative of my parenting style: good intentioned but need to work on the follow through :)