It’s hard to believe but our sweet Olivia turned one year old last month! Everyone always tells you how fast the first year will go, but nothing could’ve prepared me for all the changes she would go through! She grew from a tiny 7 lbs. 4 oz. baby to a sweet and silly 21 lb. toddler and every single day with her has been the greatest gift. The year flew by so I’m really glad I set time apart every month to do a little milestone shoot with her. I’m also glad I kept it really simple with a simple onesie and very few props because it made it a little easier to keep up with every month. I couldn’t have pulled this off without an extra set of hands so a big thank you to my hubby for helping with Months 1-6 and my assistant Susan for helping with Months 7-12! Below is a monthly recap!
I took this photo of Olivia when she was still in the newborn stage at just two weeks old. She was such a little peanut and was so easy to photograph. I can’t say that for the later months, ha!
To be honest, the first month was a bit of a blur! Jay was off from work so we had lots of family time and I was so thankful for all that time for us to get to know our girl and bond with her as much as possible. We enjoyed having her sleep in our arms, we loved just watching her, and we marveled at the fact that she was ours to keep. I don’t know how we got so lucky with this sweet girl but we did, and we love being her parents!
By two months old, Olivia’s hair started to stand up (and stand out) a bit, ha! Her long stretch of sleep every night was five hours long and she loved her lazy mornings with 1-3 hour naps until midday. The afternoons and evenings were hit or miss with long naps but she was a pro at cat naps. She discovered her hands this month and was great at self-soothing. She started to show how much she loved it when we talked and sang to her and started to give us the sweetest smiles.
By three months old, our sweet Livie girl had discovered her voice and became quite talkative. She learned to roll over onto her side but wasn’t a fan of tummy time. Her hair was as wacky as ever!
At four months old, Olivia knew how to roll over from back to belly like a champ and loved to sleep on her belly, too. She started to squeal and shriek a ton and we loved her little noises. This month she discovered her hair and we’d find her reaching for it and hanging onto a few strands or rubbing it against her head. We loved playing with her and seeing all her little developments.
By five months old, Olivia had two bottom teeth! She was sitting up unassisted and had mastered tummy time. She loved to roll around in her crib and on her play mat and was such an active baby. Every day we fell more and more in love with our happy baby!
At six months old, Olivia loved to eat! We loved all the faces she made when she discovered new foods. She also started to get herself into a seated position all by herself and started experimenting with crawling. She was scooting backwards like a pro and also started learning how to get herself into standing position in her crib. Her hair got so long that it didn’t stick up anymore. We kind of miss her wacky hair!
Olivia’s seventh month of life was packed with milestones! She learned how to crawl, pull herself up into standing position, and even started walking while holding onto her walker. She started to hate bibs so she’d rip them off during each meal. She was sleeping 9-9.5 hours a night and gave us two naps per day, each one of them 1-3 hours each. She was such a good baby!
At eight months old, Olivia was an expert crawler and loved to cruise around the house, too, holding onto furniture and occasionally letting go to test her balance. She also learned to jump in her crib so we had to lower her mattress to the lowest setting. This was the month when we sleep trained our sweet girl and she started sleeping 11-12 hours a night with two naps during the day. Upon a recommendation by a friend, we took a course by Little Z Sleep and it was a game changer for getting her to go from 9 hours to 11-12 hours of sleep every night. This month, Olivia learned to open drawers and flip through the pages of a book. She had four teeth by the time she was eight months old and started eating puffs and small bits of different foods, which we found so fun to watch her discover different tastes, smells, and textures.
By nine months old, Olivia was standing on her own and cruising confidently around the house. She started to take little steps here and there, but would fall easily. As for teeth, she went from four teeth the previous month to eight teeth! We started to get more comfortable feeding her table foods and favorites included banana and avocado. She also loved toast and hated eggs (loves them now!). She learned to open cabinets so we baby-proofed every single one of them.
At ten months old, Olivia started walking! We had a feeling that she’d be an early walker but we were still so shocked when she actually started walking on her own. She also learned to clap and started clapping every morning when I picked her up from her crib. She’s such a sweet girl! Livie also learned to roll the ball back and forth and to climb onto her big toys to climb out of her play pen. Since she loved to climb, we had to stop using the baby bathtub. She started to feel like a toddler to us, especially with all the walking she was doing.
Livie was walking pretty well by eleven months old and would just lose her balance occasionally when she’d turn around to go in another direction. She learned how to give High Fives and started waving. Lots of babbling this month! We started a “Mommy and Me” class and she was the youngest in the class but definitely one of the most outgoing ones! She loves music and I think she has a crush on the music teacher, ha!
Oh my, where did this year go? Our sweet girl turned a year old and she has proven to be the most joyful, sweet girl we could have ever wished for. Every day we are so thankful to have her in our lives. Livie loves to smile and laugh and she absolutely adores people. She smiles and says hello at anyone who comes her way. She started saying “Hi” consistently and accompanied it with a wave. She loves life and enjoys every part of her day. She’s a great sleeper and consistently sleeps 12 hours a night with 1-2 naps during the day. She started to say “leche” for “milk” in Spanish and “Alexa” for playing all her favorite songs. We love this sweet girl to pieces and cannot wait to see what the next year brings with her!
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NJ Newborn Photographer offering classic & timeless newborn photography in Central New Jersey.