A lot of people will tell you that by your 3rd child, pictures go to the wayside and traditions you did with your older kids will often get skipped for the littles. If you know me, you know that will never be the case. Especially when it comes to pictures ;)

I started a tradition with Charlie where I created a baby book for the first 6 months of his life instead of the first year. It was a lot less intimidating for me as I pulled it together and also made it easier for me to follow suit with the others. The back page of his book has the monthly photos that people take to display their growth and because of that, I have been so diligent about documenting for McKenna and Jack. Now that Jack is 9 months, I have finally made his baby book and thought I’d tell you a little bit about the process.

I do all my books online via Shutterfly. You’ll notice Jack’s book is smaller and I actually prefer the 10×10 to the 12×12 that I did for the other two.The book choice is simply modern and I fill the photos in myself.  I go through my phone and save all my favorite pictures of them to a folder on my desktop. The first page of every book has my birth details which I had designed by my best friend Liz. The back page of each book features their first 6 monthly milestone photos. The cover of each book pictures each child at 6 months old laying on their tummy in the grass smiling. I have this photo framed for each on our gallery wall upstairs and it’s my favorite!

Some of you may be feeling overwhelmed by the idea of creating a baby book. Especially if your child is no longer a baby. But I promise, it doesn’t have to be a totally overwhelming task! I created a folder on my desktop with the baby’s name and added all the special photos (photos with mommy or newborn pics) and anything I could think of off the top of my head. Then I went through my phone month by month and emailed the pertinent pictures to myself. I love having a variety of those professional photos mixed in with every day life. I love the candids and the photos where nobody is looking at the camera just as much as the beautiful ones. I portrait of real life. I am so happy to have made these so my kids and I can look back at them and smile.

baby books shutterfly baby books