Why Taking Your Baby's First Year Monthly Milestone Pictures Is Important
You know they say having a near-death experience can cause you to have your life flash by through your brain. Moments go like a carousel in your mind’s eye.
Well, that’s kind of like your baby’s first year. Didn’t mean to get too morbid with that analogy, but those first 12 months go by so quickly.
You don’t really notice it while you’re in it, but once it’s passed you’re left wondering how time just flew by at warp speed.
They change so much within that first year. The crazy thing is that you hardly take notice when it’s happening because the changes are so gradual from day to day.
Then you start scrolling through your photos, looking back at the first days (I still do this and I’m sure you will too) and seeing how they progress from then on. It’s absolutely insane.
They go from being these tiny little bundles you hold in your arms to toddlers you are straining to pick up, and it feels like you’ve somehow been cheated. Time, man, it’s a bitch.
That’s why milestone pictures are such a great idea for tracking their progress. It almost grants you the opportunity to live in those moments over and over again.
Chances are you’ll look back at a picture and it will have you guessing how old they were when you took it (which is a fun game I like to play every once in a while).
You might remember what was going on or have a general idea of the timeline, but the milestone pictures help you to view the changes month to month.
Below are some tips on taking these milestone photos.
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Your Camera
If you have a professional camera, bust it out and have some fun. Who knows, you might want edit them and make them into beautiful memories to frame the later.
This can also be done with a camera phone. Obviously, the cameras on phones have advanced so much that having a professional camera has almost become obsolete (almost).
Remember to clean your lens, whichever camera type you are using. You’ll be sad later to realize that your pictures are blurry or have debris in them because you forgot to wipe the lens off.
Try out the different settings and see what jives with the vibe you want. When my son got old enough to sit up, he didn’t really want to lay down for his pictures anymore and there were random toys and things in the background.
I was using the camera on my phone, so I popped it into portrait mode to blur out the background a little to diffuse the distracting background (or embarrassing mess of toys lying around or the bright-colored travel playpen folded in the corner) and have the focus be on him.
The Setting
Taking your milestone pictures in the same setting allows you to really take notice of how they advance in chronological order that’s easy to track.
Pick out a spot that has good lighting, has enough room for your growing baby, and will stay consistent throughout the months. Maybe even include an object or setting that really shows how much your baby is growing from month to month.
For example, you could use a chair as part of your setting that you have them sit in next to some stuffed animals and watch how they go from the same size or smaller than the furry creature to doubling them in size and beyond.
I would also suggest light or neutral colors in your background. That way the outfit that you dress them up in (or diaper or naked, whatever floats your boat) and their features will pop against the neutral background.
Like I said above about the background, try and take notice of what’s around and if you want it in the shot or not. I started my milestone pictures with my son lying on a neutral-colored blanket, so I didn’t really think about all the background clutter until he started sitting up and moving around.
At that point, I typically had already gotten him dressed, laid out the blanket, got the lighting how I needed it, and had a limited amount of time before I had to jump on the computer for work before I noticed that I’d forgotten about the surroundings outside the neutral background I was previously used to working with. It happened almost every time, so learn from my experiences and help yourself out by checking out the surroundings prior to starting.
You may think that you could just fix this in the moment, but at that stage they don’t stay in one place for long, have patience for the time you’re taking to get the shots or care if you just want them to look at you and smile, so try to plan ahead and prepare your space accordingly.
Milestone Markers
There are several different options for the milestone markers. You can purchase a set or add them to your baby registry for one of your friends or loved ones to get for you.
They have so many options to choose from. If you decide to go with a theme that incorporates characters or colors, this might be a good place to start when planning out that theme.
Or instead of purchasing some, you could craft some of your own. There are plenty of DIY posts out there that can guide you through how to make these in all sorts of different formats.
I got this set gifted to me by a good friend of mine at my baby shower. They were very cute wooden circles that had the month and number carved into them in fun fonts. I just placed them next to him while he was in the first months and then eventually as he got older, had him hold onto them (more so for the distraction, but it also produced some pretty cute shots as well).
There are also blankets that you can purchase that have the months laid out on them with a little ring to circle the month like this one. As I said, there are so many options for the style of milestone markers out there.
Search around and find the style that fits the aesthetic that you’re going for or at the very least will get the cute job done.
Focus in, Kid
When babies are still in the younger months, it’s pretty easy to get them to look at you. They pretty much do all the time anyway.
All you have to do is smile at them, maybe make some funny faces and you’ll have them cracking an adorable grin or laughing at mom being silly. As they get older, this changes.
They become more distracted by their surroundings and want to check out all the things, typically anything besides the camera mom constantly has in their face. This also goes along with their improved eyesight or maybe they are just over looking at our faces, but nonetheless, getting them to “smile for the camera” is probably going to be a challenge.
Cue the funny noises and teasing toys. Get their attention by holding a favorite toy over your head and shaking it around while making funny noises to get their attention. This will hopefully get them looking at you and at the same time smiling or laughing.
Bring Your Patience
This is a fun activity and you should make it that way for baby and for mom, but when they aren’t in the mood to cooperate, remember that extra patience you tucked in your back pocket for safekeeping, or just call it and try again later.
It can be frustrating to get everything all setup, them all dressed up and looking their best, and they just aren’t in the mood to deal with the latest session of mom-paparazzi. It can hit a nerve, especially when you’re busy and carved out the time to get it done on your mountain-high-to-do list for the day.
Take a breath. Try for a little while and if it’s not working, give them a few minutes of playtime or cuddles with mom. They might come back around to giving it another shot.
If it’s just not happening, try the next day. Doing it a day late isn’t going to hurt anything. Or you can persist and get some crabby shots. Those can turn out pretty cute a lot of the time anyway and it will just be another memory you bank up for the books.
Do Your Best To Time It Right
Here are some key tips to remember for the timing of your shoot:
- – Do it when they are rested and fed. You don’t want a fussy baby who is tired or hungry. It doesn’t make for a fun shoot.
- – If they aren’t in the mood, don’t push it. Give them a little time and they might come around or save it for the next day.
- – If it works for your schedule, wait until they are in a fun and playful mood. Instead of trying to make the timing right, just let it happen naturally. (This isn’t always the most convenient when you don’t have everything prepped and ready to go, the adorable outfit you want them to wear is dirty, and you can’t find the milestone markers that magically grew legs and disappeared, but if the stars align, try and make it work).
What To Do With The Images
Pick out your favorites and put them in a frame, save the not-the-best ones or scowling-face ones (you’re gonna want those too) and put them in a photo album or one of those digital rotating frames so you can randomly look up and laugh when they pop on the screen.
My aunt has this digital frame that has an app that allows you and your family members to add images to. I randomly add new pictures of my son to it so she can see how he’s growing. Great for your home and as a gift idea for family and loved ones.
For my son’s first birthday, we had a monster-themed party, playing a little off Monsters Inc., but mostly just monsters in general. I made a Scarer Of The Month on a chalkboard, wrote out the words with chalk markers at the top, and put his milestone pictures up in order. It turned out pretty cute.
I also printed off the other still really cute and not-so-great milestone images along with over 100 of the other random pictures I’d taken over the year and hung them up on twine with tiny clothes pins around my house for his party. I ended up leaving them up for weeks because I just loved looking back on all the memories of his first year.
Cherish The Memories
The point is that you won’t regret taking the time to capture these monthly milestones of their first year. It may be a little time-consuming or not always so convenient in your hectic schedule, but you’re going to look back on them more often than you’d think and be so happy that you immortalized those progressive memories.
Cheers, Warriors!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and found it entertaining, educational, inspiring—hopefully, all three. Please be sure to leave any comments or questions you have in the Comments section below.
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