Tag: monthly photos

Sixteen, Seventeen, and Eighteen Months Old (Calvin’s Monthly Photos)

Guess what. I took 64 monthly photos of my kids (24 for Eleanor, 24 for August, and 16 for Calvin) before missing one. And then I went and missed two in a row. I feel a great deal of guilt over this, which is all self-induced. Brandon’s like, well? It’s kid #3. (Note: Brandon is kid #3 in his family.)

Sorry, Calvin. We love you, we do!

Sixteen Months Old

Seventeen Months Old

Yep, let’s go with this. A photo taken with my phone, and a still from a SnapChat video. But such joy! We were watching our former guinea pig, Gingerbread (now a class pet), over spring break.

Eighteen Months Old

What a cutie! It messes with my grid and the side by side comparisons I could do with such consistent monthly photos, but the staged shots didn’t always capture the full personality. When you can pick from an entire month’s worth of shots, you can go with the smiliest.

Today, Calvin is nineteen months old. I’ve got the shot set up and ready to go once he’s up from his nap. Back on track, kid!

Previous Photos
• One Month Old • Two Months Old • Three Months Old • Four Months Old • Five Months Old • Six Months Old • Seven Months Old • Eight Months Old • Nine Months Old • Ten Months Old • Eleven Months Old • Twelve Months Old • Thirteen Months Old • Fourteen Months Old • Fifteen Months Old • Sixteen Months Old • Seventeen Months Old • Eighteen Months Old • View All

June 2, 2016
Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen Months Old (Calvin’s Monthly Photos)

Calvin is walking, hooray! His vocabulary is growing, his teeth are numerous (he went from six to twelve, maybe more, all in the last couple of months), and he has had his first haircut. We also have a change of outfit for these photos. Bodysuits are for babies, and we have a toddler!

Here are Calvin’s latest monthly baby pictures! And do take a look at the little Christmas tree my kids elegantly decorated.
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January 25, 2016
One Year Old (Calvin’s Monthly Photos)

This kid! The world’s happiest, smiliest, giggling-est baby is growing up with a big mischievous streak. You know something is up when you’re one room over and suddenly things are a little too quiet. The other day he was standing at the fiddle leaf fig, just flinging handfuls of dirt in the air and when I caught him, he turned on the charm with a huge grin.

He isn’t walking yet (all of my kids have been late walkers), but he cruises around furniture and likes to walk with a bit of hand-holding assistance. His crawl is adorable and lopsided. He says mama, dada, dog, cat, and wow. Apparently he has decided to stop nursing (three days of refusal and he’s old enough, so we’re done? Unexpected! I wasn’t ready!). Six teeth. Blue eyes. A polka dot patch of lighter hair at the front, on top, that seems to be staying.

We love, love, love him.

Ten Months Old

Eleven Months Old

Twelve Months Old

(I’ll be taking a photo of Calvin sitting in the Eames rocker and wearing his pin each month until he’s two years old. I also took monthly photos of his sister, Eleanor, and his brother, August.)

Previous Photos
• One Month Old • Two Months Old • Three Months Old • Four Months Old • Five Months Old • Six Months Old • Seven Months Old • Eight Months Old • Nine Months Old • Ten Months Old • Eleven Months Old • Twelve Months Old • View All

October 21, 2015
Seven, Eight, and Nine Months Old (Calvin’s Monthly Photos)

I’m still doing my monthly photographs with Calvin, but I’ll be sharing them here as quarterly updates now, instead of as each photo is taken.

Our little guy is nine months old now! He’s so close to crawling. Sometimes he surprises himself by getting into a sitting position after having been on his tummy, he can pull himself up to stand, and he likes to walk around with a little help. He has two teeth on the bottom and three (soon to be four, I think) teeth on the top. Still nursing four or five times a day, but he’s eating more food — some of it spoon-fed, some of it from his own chubby little hands.

Also, I win! He said his first word a couple of weeks ago: Mama.

Seven Months Old

Eight Months Old

Nine Months Old

(I’ll be taking a photo of Calvin sitting in the Eames rocker and wearing his pin each month until he’s two years old. I also took monthly photos of his sister, Eleanor, and his brother, August.)

Previous Photos
• One Month Old • Two Months Old • Three Months Old • Four Months Old • Five Months Old • Six Months Old • View All

July 2, 2015
The Future of the Monthly/Yearly Photo Project

If you’ve been reading for a while, you’re probably familiar with my monthly photo project. I started when Eleanor was a baby. I bought the same pink bodysuit in different sizes, made a felt pin with a number in the center that could be switched out, and photographed her in the same chair and in the same setting each month to document her first year. As those first twelve months came to a close, I decided to continue taking the monthly photos until she turned two, and then yearly after that. I did the same thing for her little brother, August, and I’m doing it now for Calvin.

I love having the photos to look back on. It’s fun to see how each child has grown, and also to look at their photos side-by-side from the same ages. And I love that it has inspired so many others to take on the project, too!

Babies are sort of universal. Assuming normal development, they grow at roughly the same rate, reach the same milestones, sit up, learn to talk, learn to walk, and so on. Of course they have different temperaments and each baby is unique, but documenting their growth through a series of photos isn’t violating any burgeoning personhood. They’re babies. They grow quickly, and it’s fun to see that in pictures.

As the kids grow older though, I hesitate to share as much. Their experiences are less universal and more specific to them as individuals. As they begin to choose their haircuts, their clothes, and the way that they want to present themselves, they should be able to explore their identities without strangers watching or commenting.

Eleanor will turn six next month. I’m planning to continue taking her yearly photo, but I won’t be publishing it. Five years old feels like a good place to end the series publicly, and I’ll do the same for August and Calvin. This isn’t to say that you will never see my kids’ photos as they get older (though I have dialed that back). There is a difference though between a picture that happens to have them in it, and a series specifically shot to show how they have physically changed as they’ve aged.

May my children never choose something as awful as the perm I got when I was ten (a body wave — so sophisticated!), but if they do, they can do it in relative anonymity, away from their mom’s blog.

March 19, 2015
Two Months Old (Calvin’s Monthly Photo)

There’s the smiley baby we know around here! Such a difference from last months picture. Also? Hobbes! Watterson never licensed the characters but we did find a stuffed tiger that bears a striking resemblance, so we had to pick it up for our little Calvin.

(I’ll be taking a photo of Calvin sitting in the Eames rocker and wearing his pin each month until he’s two years old. I also took monthly photos of his sister, Eleanor, and his brother, August.)

Previous Photos
• One Month Old • View All

December 2, 2014