Weekly Baby Pictures: a 52-Week Project

When I brought this little babe home from the hospital, I knew I wanted to take "watch me grow" weekly baby pictures, but wasn't really sure how to do it. A few weeks earlier, I came across these wooden numbers at a craft store and grabbed a handful. My mom was in town helping me take some birth announcement pictures and when she painted one black and we set it on baby's tutu, the lightbulb went on and the "52-week Project" had begun! I continued to take one picture every week of her first year and I am SO proud of this finished project!

These pictures are gold to me! I have preserved every week of her first year, and besides being a keepsake for me, it's also a treasure for her to have forever.

I used simple wooden letters found at a craft store, about 5 inches tall, and painted them black with acrylic paint. I only needed a set of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 because the six and the nine could be rotated, and I Photoshopped an extra number in for weeks 11, 22, 33, and 44.

I tried to avoid repeating anything, but sometimes it was inevitable, and that's when I used a little Photoshop magic to change the color of the tutu, the bow, or the background. Another tip: use un-printed diapers so that you don't have to white out the colors or characters later, if you care about that. See Week 10.

All along the way, family or friends would ask if I would continue this for a few more years, and I always gave a resounding, "Heck no!". Every passing week became increasingly more difficult as she become more and more mobile. The attention-grabbing antics became a little more ridiculous and by the end, I was breaking out in a full sweat by the end of the photo shoot. Grab the baby, lay her down, fix her bow, straighten the blanket, make obnoxious baby sounds, snap one picture, repeat. Over and over and over until I got something usable.

When it finally got warm enough outside, it was fun to use sand, grass, and eventually Fall leaves and snow for backgrounds, but the rest were obviously taken indoors. I hunted around the house for different floors, rugs, sheets, towels, or comforters to use for backgrounds and I chose a corner of the house with the most natural light in the morning hours of the day.

The holidays really made it easy to come up with outfit ideas!

Fun Fact: Week 25's black top is actually the swimsuit from Week 18, thank you Photoshop!

This is when I started using Smarties to get B to sit still. I think they are the best candy to use for little kids in pictures because they don't make a sticky mess, they don't cause a lot of drool, they don't stain fingers or mouths, and they can be eaten quickly. Plus the wrappers are so attractively crinkly that they help draw attention. Every time she has her fist in her mouth, you can bet there's a Smartie inside it.

So many clothes, right?! If you're thinking of taking weekly baby pictures like this and wonder if you could come up with 52 different outfits, consider doing a swap with some friends with similarly aged babies! You only need to borrow the outfit for an hour, and trading could be quite fun!

Fun fact about Week 37: I found this gorgeously brilliant tree on Dartmouth campus with the most vibrant leaves so we hustled over to get our picture when I realized I'd forgotten her boots. So like any crazed and insensible mother, I found a plastic bag in the car and stuffed it heaping full of these lovely leaves and we recreated the picture on on her bedroom floor. With the boots.

You can bet there is a Smartie in every closed fist from here on out. Week 39 was her Halloween costume, and the rest of us were a nurse, a fireman, a WWII soldier, and a cop!

Don't forget that you can use wrapping paper and even brown packing paper for backgrounds!

And there you have it! I cannot wait to get these printed for her wall! I will look at this mural of weekly baby pictures and remember how I loved every single moment of that first year!

Have you taken weekly or monthly pictures of your baby?! Did you use numbers or stickers, or the same piece of furniture? We'd love to see your ideas!