Baby Milestone Packages: How to Capture the First Year
Did you know that your newborn's face changes within the first week of being born? Even their eye or hair color can change within a few months after birth!
I can remember as a new parent how fascinated I was with the daily changes in my daughter. Every day brought new surprises! Then I had my son and his milestones and development was vastly different from my first. He focused on big motor skills first and fine skills later while my daughter had been heavy on the fine motor skills and didn’t bother with walking until she was 18 months old.
Needless to say, now as a mom of five kids I have learned to document the milestones during the first year because time flies so quickly and each child is uniquely different. Since I did the photos myself, I even learned to treat them as a client with scheduling them into my calendar and setting timers. The momentum of life can get going so fast that your autopilot kicks in and it’s hard to remember to document the little stuff.
Within a year's time, a baby goes through so many changes that, without the help of photographs, you'd have a hard time remembering all those little quirks your little one had along the way. From changing faces and bodies to all those adorable expressions or movements, they all seem to go away in the blink of an eye!
Why Choose a Milestone Package
While I absolutely urge you -- no, beg you! -- to take as many photographs of your darling cherub as you can, also consider having professional milestone photographs taken. Hear me out:
If I, as a professional photographer, had to set alarms, timers, dates, and calendar reminders to take my own kids photos, how much harder will that be for you!
With a baby milestone package, you have set times to fully document each stage during your baby’s first year. You have a professional momtog helping remind you when to schedule sessions, with tips up my sleeve to photograph a wiggly kid.
Packages provide:
Cost savings versus booking multiple individual baby sessions
Set times at each milestone for photos
Reminders on when to schedule photo sessions
Ease of mind that those milestones are documented
Professional with experience on wiggly or fussy babies
Quality, non-phone photos of your child over their first year
Growth Comparison
Milestone packages also provide a unique benefit of using one particular prop of mine to document a child’s growth over the first year.
Many parents choose one of my larger props, like the moon, curved white bench, or a bucket that we photograph with the child at every session. For parents who also did newborn sessions with me, I pick a prop that we used during that newborn stage and keep photographing the baby with it every few months.
These make for highly unique and special photos that really showcase how much your baby grows. For example, they are shown laying curled on the moon, to laying on their tummies on the moon, sitting inside it, then standing next to it.
What an awesome way to really show how big your baby gets from birth to their first birthday!
Milestone Package Comparison
With a milestone package, you ensure that your baby has a series of exquisite, meaningful pictures of at various stages in his or her very early life. Plus there are 4 different options to meet your needs and budget.
Other differences include:
Individual sessions can be scheduled at any time for babies 12 months and younger
Specialty sessions can be scheduled for any sitting baby, typically 6—9 months old
Cake smash sessions can be scheduled individually for babies turning 1 year old
With a purchase of a milestone package, you have the option to include a milk bath around the 6 or 9 month session, and a cake smash at the 12 month session. I take “nice” photos beforehand so you have those for albums, then we finish with the more messy photos with the cake or tub.
Signature Album Details
The packages with 3 and 4 sessions also allow for the creation of a signature baby album after their first birthday that captures their entire first year.
So now you end the year with a gorgeous heirloom album that is guaranteed to last 100 years in archival quality. This is no Walmart or Costco book, but a custom piece of art designed just for you with exceptional quality.
The large album also includes a personalization option to add custom details in your baby’s book. These can be lullaby lyrics, baby nicknames, growing stats from the doctor, etc. These are personally added throughout your book for a custom heirloom of your child at the end of the year.
So, just as I urge families to please consider the priceless cost behind newborn photos, I urge parents to do the same with milestone packages. Time marches on no matter what. I haven’t met a family yet who regrets investing in preserving these memories.
To learn more about baby sessions, see additional baby articles, view the baby gallery, or see the pricing for these various collections.
Thinking of booking a session for your child or baby? Contact me with any questions or to learn more about these unique offerings.
