How To Do One Year of Monthly Baby Pictures

Baby

May 9

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How To Do One Year of Monthly Baby Pictures | Breezing Through

How To Do One Year of Monthly Baby Pictures | Everyone is Doing It

You see them all over the internet. Everyone, especially bloggers, are sharing monthly pictures of their darling babies. And you are wondering how they do it. Does it take a lot of time? How hard is it to get that little one to hold still? After Jackie turned one, I decided I wanted to share a post with you on how to do one year of monthly baby pictures because I had learned a lot doing it.

I actually plan on continuing to do the monthly pictures with Jackie until she is two. I feel like they change so much in those first twenty four months that it needs to be documented. So if you all like this post, I will add one for how to do 2 years of pictures once we have gotten through the next year!

How To Do One Year of Monthly Baby Pictures | Which Signs to Use

First off, what sign(s) should you use. When I was pregnant with Jackie, I was gifted several different sets of monthly stickers. I loved the Disney Princess ones the best (Brooke, you know me well!) so that is what I decided to go with. I liked that they could be stuck on to anything and I could potentially reuse them for another baby.

I have seen a lot of people use letter boards, which I love too. Letter boards weren't really a thing when Jackie was born so I didn't buy one until about 6 months ago. I do plan on using a letter board for Jackie's 13-24 month pictures since I don't have stickers for those months. Also, as Jackie has gotten older, she has discovered that stickers are fun to take off of the surface they have been stuck to and they are fun to play with. So stickers are out for us now.

I have rounded up some awesome sign options for you below so you have some ideas on what to work with.

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How To Do One Year of Monthly Baby Pictures | Picking Outfits

Everyone has a different way of picking outfits. I know a lot of people like to have their baby in the same outfit, usually a white onesie, for every picture. I was going to do that, honestly. If you look at Jackie's first four pictures, she is in a white onesie. The last two had something on the onesie but still it was the same concept. But then I decided I wanted to show off her outfits. She had darling clothes that people had gifted her so I thought I should show them off.

So I picked outfits that I loved and I knew I would want pictures of. That is not saying that there are outfits of hers that I didn't love. I just loved these in the moment.

How To Do One Year of Monthly Baby Pictures | Posing

This is probably the hardest part. Babies are not predictable. They are not going to hold still when you want them to or smile right at the camera. So when Jackie was smaller, I did all of her pictures laying down. She couldn't go anywhere so I just stood over her and took the picture. I always had someone else helping me when I took the pictures. They would do something to get her attention so I could focus on taking the pictures. Just to clarify, I probably took 50-100 pictures each month. These didn't happen in one shot.

As Jackie got older, getting her to lay down for pictures wasn't possible. So I started sitting her up on the bed. From the pictures, you can see that this worked for a few months and then suddenly she became mobile and everything went out the window. I had to be patient and just go what with she did. Again, it took me a lot of pictures to get the ones I ended up using. When Jackie turned one, I knew that our bed shoot wasn't going to happen. She wouldn't hold still long enough for us to get a picture so I decided to just do them outside. And it was awesome. Jackie was in heaven the entire time and we got some darling pictures.

How To Do One Year of Monthly Baby Pictures | My Tips

There are a few things I would suggest if you want to do these and you want something like I did.

Have someone else with you when you take the pictures. It will be so much easier. You will have someone to distract/entertain the baby as you are taking the pictures.

Be flexible. You are working with a baby. You are not going to be able to do everything you want, when you want to. Sometimes, Jackie's pictures weren't taken until a few days after they were supposed to be. And that was ok.

Be consistent. If you are going to do this, make sure you do it every month around the baby's monthly mark. Do the pictures in the same place so they look consistent. I really wish I had done those first 4 pictures on my bed, instead of Jackie's. It would have looked so much more consistent.