Monthly Pictures of Babies

9 months old

It seems crazy to be thinking about monthly baby pictures for baby #2, but I can remember my panic after having Little Dude to find an idea that I was going to be happy with. I remember spending tons of time deep into the night searching Pinterest for inspiration and will likely do the same this time, but starting to think about it more than a week before I need to actually take the picture will hopefully alleviate a bit of pressure.

With Little Dude I had no idea where to begin but I really wanted the items in the pictures to be of significance. Thankfully we were gifted with so many beautiful items that I had no shortage of things to choose from.

1 month old – we quickly realized tummy time wasn’t ideal for the first month’s picture, haha

Two out of the three blankets used were handmade by friends of the Mr and I especially for Little Dude (the colorful chevron pattern and the grey striped one) while the stuffed animals I chose were all given to us from friends and family who are all very special to us.

• Outfit Theme – Pajamas, undershirts, diaper only, all fancied up, there are tons of options and directions you can go with this. For Little Dude I chose striped undershirts and feel like I am going to go in a similar direction for baby #2 with a slight variation… but who really knows until we meet our new addition.
• Positioning – Flat lay, on a chair, backdrop… there are tons of great options and in the end it kind of depends on my next point…
• Items to be included – If you have special blankets, stuffed animals or any other special items you want included in the pictures set them up without baby to get an idea of how they will look alongside each other and then try to visualize the full picture once you add baby in.
• Milestone documentation – There are lots of photo apps you can use to add digital monthly stickers, milestones and different graphics to your pictures. On the other hand you an use monthly stickers or sets from lulujo, shutterfly, etc. Or a chalk board/white board to include the writing and monthly stickers physically in the picture. For Little Dude I used an app called baby pics app and absolutely loved it! I plan to go the digital route again in order to be able to focus on getting a good picture of baby and not worrying about other items, but might use a lulujo baby’s first year set well because they are simply beautiful (and made in my home province of New Brunswick!). Be sure to leave blank space in your pictures in order to have space to add in the digital graphics after the fact.

One of the benefits to monthly photos where you include some milestone information is that the collection serves as a small baby book of sorts. I hadn’t really planned for this, but am so happy that I did it! I had great intentions of keeping track of when every little thing happened in Little Dude’s life, but like all busy moms I often forgot  (OK, I forgot all the time…) but when I made these photos each month it made me sit back for a few minutes and reflect on what my Little Dude had accomplished and what milestones he had achieved in the month prior.

12 months old – getting him to be still for two seconds was the biggest challenge!

This time around I have started a Pinterest board dedicated to monthly baby picture ideas so hopefully I am not scrambling quite as much as I was the last time. But let’s be real… especially since I don’t know the sex of the baby I’m almost certain the scramble will be on! Be sure to check out the board I have started, follow along and follow me on Pinterest while you’re there 🙂