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Making Memories: Capture Baby’s First Year Perfectly

Posted by Antoinette Peters on



Time flies, and it flies even faster when you are watching your little ones grow. From month to month and year to year, there are so many new milestones to celebrate in your child’s life. One of the biggest and most important years to follow is baby’s first year.

We don’t want you to miss a single moment of celebrating, enjoying, and documenting your little one’s first 365 days. We’ve compiled ways that you can keep track of all the little changes and milestones during months 1-12. From pictures to take and memories to keepsake, we have searched far and wide so that you know what to detail and some creative ways to do it.

Grab a camera! You don’t want to miss these photos of baby’s first year!

There are so many pictures to take during the first year to preserve the memories of all the changes your little one goes through. We’ve found some of the most important ones you don’t want to miss.

“Firsts” & Milestone Moments

Firsts are important when it comes to babies. From first smiles to first steps, there are so many milestones to cover as your little one grows and explores the world around them. Here are some of the must-have “firsts” & milestones to have your camera ready for:

  • First smiles
  • First foods
  • First steps
  • First tooth
  • First Holidays: a few photos from each major one, such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter, and Fourth of July, depending on what your family celebrates
  • First haircut
  • Rolling over for the first time
  • Sitting up for the first time
  • Crawling for the first time
  • Cruising the furniture for the first time
  • Learning to walk

A Day in the Life of Baby

These may not seem as important to some, but trust us, when you look back at that whirlwind year, you are going to want as many detailed pictures as possible. The milestones are great, but what about those precious moments in between?

When you get the chance, take a spur of the moment photo of your everyday life with baby. Some ideas we came up with are:


  • Baby in his/her crib
  • Tiny feet; tiny hands
  • Baby yawns
  • Sleeping
  • Diaper changes
  • Swaddled baby
  • Laughs and giggles
  • Tummy time
  • Playtime
  • Visits to the doctor
  • Bath time

Family is everything!

Everyone in the family loves a new little baby to cuddle! It’s important to capture these sweet moments with your little one and their family. When they get older, they will want these photos. They’ll want to look back and see how much love they were given over the years.

When your baby first comes home, make sure to get the important immediate family photos with

  • Baby and mom
  • Baby and dad
  • Baby and siblings
  • A full group shot

Also, consider documenting the visitors your baby gets during their first few months or year. Pictures with aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. are a great way to look back at your baby and the people in your life.

Monthly Photo Ideas

We will touch on some more creative ways to document your first year with baby, but monthly photos are always a big hit for newborns. There are so many ways available to show the growth of your little miss or mister from month to month. Some of the most popular (and creative) options available include

  • Milestone Blanket
  • Monthly stickers
  • Milestone cards
  • Calendar photos each month
  • Creative Numbers, such as using flowers, veggies, toys, blocks, etc. to indicate the month

Creative ways you can document your first year with baby

We went out of the box for some of these ideas, and others are recent trends we have come across that are a big hit! Here are some amazing ways you can document those amazing first moments during months one through twelve.

Month-by-Month Comparison Photos

These are fun, and you can make them super unique to your little miss or mister! Select a stuffed animal or toy you want to compare baby to. Starting at month one, create the backdrop for your photos and style your little one for each monthly shoot.

By keeping the same background and same toy/animal, you can genuinely see the growth of your baby in a simplistic way. And, they create this cool effect where the toy starts off looking big next to baby and by the end, they flip—it’s a cool transition!

STYLE TIP: Keep baby looking similar throughout the photos for a seamless appearance. Whether you opt for a neutral onesie or go all out with fancy attire, keeping the outfit similar/the same will create an even bigger effect on the change in size and shape of your little one!

Belly to 12 in Twelve

This one is popular right now, and we can see why. Mamas, you worked hard to carry that little one in your tummy, so showing how baby started inside all the way to 12 months is the cutest thing ever. You start with 9 months pregnant and then at every month marker from newborn to one-year-old, you hold the baby right where your belly had been.

This shows the progression of bump to baby and would make an adorable keepsake for your baby album or a framed print in your home!

“My First Year”

With the craze of Etsy-inspired crafting, creating something that celebrates your little one’s first year is easy to both make or find a template for. Etsy has many shops that customize anything from jewelry to greeting cards to wallets to baby items.

Two of the things that we found on Etsy were for celebrating your baby’s first year. Customizable posters and reports are available to purchase through these shops which detail all your baby’s major “firsts” in one easy-to-prepare document.

This cute twist on a classic baby book comes with so many ways to showcase your little one’s personality. Go search “my first-year report” or “my first-year poster” on Etsy.com and you’ll be in awe at the adorable way you can save precious moments during the first twelve months.

First Year Quilts

Are you crafty? Do you know someone crafty? Are you not ready to get rid of all those cute little onesies? This is where the first-year quilt comes in. It’s like making a blanket out of your kid’s athletic jerseys or a memorabilia quilt.

Save all your little one’s favorite onesies or outfits and sew them, or have someone else sew them, into a beautiful keepsake quilt. This will last a lifetime for them and give them a unique way to look back on their first year with you.

365 Days of Baby

One mom decided to take the first year of the baby as a challenge to document her baby every single day. She added in blocks or other items that showcased what day of 365 it was. This progression of baby details everyday life in such a simple, sweet way.

She took it even further and created “365 days of love letters”. In these, she paired her baby pictures with thoughts, messages, or quotes to explain her feelings, emotions, or thoughts of the day coinciding with the photos.

While this project is extreme, it is a unique and undeniably clever way of showcasing that important first year of your little one’s life.

Make memories along the way.

There are so many unique ways to document your little one’s first year. Whether you take a picture every day or once per month, make sure to enjoy the moments along the way. Pictures are wonderful but don’t hide behind a camera the entire time while you watch your mister or miss grow up.

Becoming a mother is a unique and individualized journey. We can’t wait to see how you capture these memories along the way!


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