I didn’t take monthly photos with Toddler Girl; I just took nice photos whenever she was in a good mood.  This mostly worked out (except, unfortunately, for her 12 month where I didn’t do a decent shoot), but I wanted to do something more regular with Wonder Baby.  I use Apple Cheeks diapers, and they come in so many fun colours, that I decided to do a rainbow!  I blame the postpartum hormones for my craziness, as a couple of the colours I needed were tricky to get, but I’m loving the photos.  Look at her grow!


1 Month

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2 Months


3 Months


4 Months


5 Months


6 Months

If you are thinking of doing monthly photos, here are some tips from my experience:

– If possible, think it through while you’re still pregnant.  I wish I had started with a newborn photo, they grow so much in that first month!

– Pick something simple so that it’s easy to do every month, even if you’re busy.

– Find the spot in your house with the best light, and shoot every photo there.  Good light is more important than a nice chair or other props!  The first 3 months it rained all the time, so even my good light wasn’t that bright.  I stole the reflector from our car and stuck it behind her to help bounce some light back in.  You can still tell that it got sunnier in the past couple months though.

– A toy is fun to have in the photo so that you have something to gauge the baby’s size against.  It also gives them something to interact with, which can lead to some cute shots.  Pick something special that you really love.  Wonder Baby’s bunny was handmade by my close cousin.

– Frame the photo with enough space for the baby to grow.  If you shoot from the same spot every month it will look nice to see the baby get bigger in the picture.  I shot the first image with WB laying on the bed and me standing on it.  I wish I had thought it through, because I needed to be further back for the next month.  The rest of the images are shot with me standing on the bed, and her on the floor on the blanket.  This was a bigger deal because I was shooting with a prime lens and couldn’t zoom out.

I think I have my work cut out for me to keep this up for 6 more months!  I could not get her to lay on her back for more than about two seconds for last week’s photo, so maybe I’ll switch to have her sitting up.

Any of you doing monthly photos?  Any tips for us?