A Little Girl’s First Year

We have another baby that reached the One Year milestone!  I did things a bit differently for our little girl’s first year (in terms of photos, monthly records, etc.) – compared to the first child. But there were also some things that stayed the same – so if you’re planning on having any children (or know anyone who is expecting), save this post for some tips on marking the monthly milestones.

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Our little lady was born in April 2018, and I wrote about her birth story here. Yes, her birthday was just over a month ago, but we were working on our One Room Challenge space(s), so I just waited until that was done to post here :)

Monthly Milestones

For Zachary, I followed the milestones from his baby book, which included taking photos every two months and writing down various accomplishments.  Élise’s baby book was a bit different, in that it didn’t have monthly things to fill out.

Instead, I took photos of her every month and started filling out a little document on my computer about her sleeping patterns, current clothes/diaper size, movements, etc.

I made sure to use the same background (a grey and white striped blanket – here is a sort of similar one) for each month but varied her clothes.  Other similar things I’ve seen included keeping the same type of outfit (like a white shirt and pants), or even putting baby in the exact same outfit each time (like something sized 12M) so that they grow into it.

As she got older (and more wiggly), keeping a laying down position got much trickier!  We tried to also have the same little piggy toy (it was mine as a child!) but one month I forgot it :(

I also did the same baby handprint poster, and Zachary was jealous a few times when she got to stick her hands in the paint (so we did some for him on the back, ha!).

About Élise

Loves: Eating, Tootsie, trying to play with Zachary, jumping/climbing on the couch
Doesn’t Like: Pooping, being left alone (and for a short time, baths)
Sleeps: 12 hours a night, two naps in the day
Eats: Almost everything!  The Husband calls her the garbage can, because she’ll often finish leftovers from Zachary’s plate and hardly turns anything down.
Moves: Around really quickly while crawling.  Pulls up to stand and walks slowly around furniture.  Does not want to try walking alone yet – likes going up and down the stairs.
Speaks: A few words (Tootsie, Maman, Dodo, Cuckoo)
Nicknames: Bébé (Zachary still doesn’t say her name), Madame, Monkey

I think it’s customary for parents to do a lot of monthly/baby milestones for the first child, but then kind of drop them for baby #2, and #3 (or so I’ve heard!).  But I’m happy I was able to go a bit more this time around for our little girl’s first year. 

I kind of wish I had monthly photos for Zachary (I took lots of photos of him of course, just not in the same pose/area each time).  It would be fun to compare them side by side, so for the next baby(ies) I’ll probably do something similar to this.

So if anyone has any tricks on keeping a crawling/rolling baby still for a few seconds, let me know :)

(Oh, and I did try and do one full body/portrait shots, shown above and in the animation at the starting, and also a close-up/landscape of the face, like these: