1 month

I have to admit, I am horrible at documenting the little moments in life. And hey, the big ones too. During college, I never had to worry about special moments being documented, because our friend Kaela would always be there snapping away. We always joked about it, but now looking back at the 3,000 photos I'm tagged in on Facebook (no exaggeration here), I am so happy I have those photos to look back on.
That said, now that I have a baby, it seems like it would be as good a time as any to bust out my camera, and start documenting these moments.  I have a Nikon D80 that I got years ago as a Christmas gift, and it has been so fun to use my "nice camera" for a change. To be honest, I use my I phone, my Holga, or my point and shoot most of the time. It's just so hard to lug that big thing around.

Rowan is 7 weeks now (!), and I decided to do monthly photo shoots to document his growth. I was so bad at documenting my pregnancy, that I decided to make up for it with the babe outside my belly.
Here's what I came up with:

I rather like how it turned out.

While putting together his photo shoot, there were a few simple things I found helpful.

1. Make sure you have a happy baby. Or, you'll have photo's that turn out like this:

Yeah, not cute. Okay, kinda, but not the look I'm going for, kid.


2. Choose an interesting background or props to use.
I used our Pendleton baby blanket in the Chief Joseph print for visual interest, but I've seen adorable monthly shoots with props to represent the season, a chalkboard, toys, etc.  Just make sure your background remains fairly consistent throughout your different shots. I'm thinking of compiling these into a book for our family once he's a year, so this will make it cohesive.


3. Pick a cute outfit that doesn't compete with your baby, or your background.

I love simple baby clothes. My philosophy in dressing my little guy is, if a grown man would wear it, my baby can wear it. I'm just not a fan of sayings and charachters. That being said, once you have a baby, you realize how many clothes you go through in a day due to spit up, pee, poop, etc. So, I've become a little more lax on that one. Ah, the things you learn when you become a mother.

Anywho, I chose simple brown pants, and a white onesie.

4. Add text narrating baby's growth, likes, dislikes, etc.

My favorite part about this is adding the little milestones that he's hit so far during each stage.  I used my photo editor, but you can hand write them using a chalkboard propped up next to the baby as seen all over Pinterest.


Have you guys done any fun baby shoots with your little ones?