How cute is this series of photos from Hey Jen Renee? She created a printout for each month of her daughter’s first year and took a photo of her baby girl “holding” it.
At the end of the year, she printed the twelve photos and placed them in an accordion fold-style photo album so that they could all be seen next to each other.
And because I love YOU so much, I created a Word document that looks like Jen’s calendar page that you can use and update each month to fit the day that matches your baby’s birthdate. Download it here.
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This is a great idea! I’ll definitely try this with No. 2, currently baking in the proverbial “oven.” With my son, I take a picture of him wearing my grandfather’s old coat once a year, usually in his birthday month. I have one of him at 1 month, 1 year (he refused to wear the coat for his 2nd year) and 3 years. Hopefully I can do it until his 18th birthday, to measure his growth!
Love it! Thank you Whitney.
Yes! This is such a fun thing to do. We did the same for our daughter, who is now 21 months. (In fact we’re *still* taking them every month – probably just out of habit now! It’s getting a little more difficult, though, as she is more wriggly these days and less inclined to sit still for the camera.)
I think the timestamp printouts that Hey Jen Renee has used are rather on the large side, and obscure much of the baby’s body. We simply download the photos promptly and save in the best one in a dedicated folder on the PC called “Month age pics”, denoting the date of each photo as it is added.
If possible I try to dress Sammie in a favourite outfit, so that – long after she she has outgrown it – we can remember those particular clothes with fondness. I also take the photo in the same place every time (the sofa) and remove any visual distractions (cushions, throws, toys etc) from it, so that the focus is purely on Sammie.
We still love taking a walk down memory lane by playing a slideshow of those photos on our PC, and amazing ourselves all over again at how she’s grown from a little bald newborn to a rambunctious toddler with a tumble of curls. Probably after Sammie turns two we’ll switch to quarterly or annual photos.
I did this with all three of my kids and now at 5 and 3, my “big” kids love to go back and look at their books.
That Hey Jen Renee is a smarty pants! I wish I’d done this with my kids. Maybe I’ll have to have a third just so I can copy this idea.
My MIL gave us a baseball chair and each month we take a picture of my son in the chair. Once we reach 12 months I plan on putting the pictures together in a digital scrapbook, like on http://www.handmadedigitalmemories.com.
This is a fantastic idea. Thanks for the template. I did something similar with my kids, using a large Winnie the Pooh.
Great idea. i have to share this with my mothers.
great idea! thanks so much! i’ll make one for my baby
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Can’t wait to do this with our new baby! She’ll be here in July! We’re already thinking of ways to make it our own.