Taking monthly photos of your child in their first year is no joke. By the time month 7-8 rolls around you are seriously questioning your sanity and why you decided it was a good idea to do monthly photos. I will tell you though to just stick it out because having photos to see and remember all of the changes they made in the first year is something so special to have. With Adelyn, I took her photo next to a stuffed animal each month and by the twelfth month, I was lucky if the stuffed animal was even in the photo. With Emery, I saw other mamas doing the monthly photos with flowers. I thought this was the greatest idea ever! Everything went smoothly until about month 8 when she started grabbing for the flowers and I had to remake the number about 10 times until I finally got a photo. It was hard work, but again totally worth it in the end.
I thought I would share some tips on how I got these monthly photos because I have had a few mamas ask how I did them and what I used.
First, I bought this white paper off of Amazon. It seriously was so easy to roll out, put together the flower number, and lay her next to the number for the photo. I then would clear off the flowers and roll it back up for the next month. After a few months use, I would cut down the paper to fresh new paper. I would highly recommend this paper for a clean and crisp background in your monthly photos.
Next, you want to decide what you would like to do for your child’s monthly photos to show their changes and growth. I went with flowers and would buy the flowers a few days before photos so I could enjoy them and then right before they started looking not so nice, I would trim them up and use them for the monthly photo. Sometimes I was even able to find nice flowers in the clearance part of the floral shop, so Emery’s photos did not end up costing a fortune and I was able to enjoy flowers in the house each month! Some other ideas are:
When it came time to taking the photo, I would make sure it was right after nap time, so that she didn’t fight having to take a photo. During nap time, I would make sure the flower number was ready and would lay out a few toys that made sound or light up. Before laying her next to the flower, I made sure that my camera was ready and that I had a toy in hand. This way I would quickly lay her down, put the toy above her head to get her attention and snap the photo quick. Usually she wouldn’t even notice the flowers next to her but the last few months were a little more difficult so I distracted her more by giving her a snack before laying her down.
These are just a few of my tips getting those tricky monthly photos. Did you do monthly photos or if you are expecting, do you plan on doing them? Share below how you decided to document your child’s monthly growth!
