Flashback Friday: Monthly Photos

With all of the recent birthdays in our house, I have been feeling a bit more nostalgic than usual, so bear with me as I continue to reminisce about our baby's first year. But hey, props to me for actually posting two Flashback Fridays in a row, right? Roxy, better make that two glittery stickers.

Monthly baby photos have become super trendy over the last couple of years. Personally, I fell in love with the idea when a friend of mine received a beautiful box containing 12 onesies with the most adorable monthly iron-ons prior to the birth of her second child. That and because I am obsessed with capturing every single moment of Taylor's childhood. But if life has taught me anything, it's that time goes by entirely too fast. So to all of you mommas out there, live in each moment - relish in it - and take as many pictures as you possibly can. Even if they have bad lighting and only caputure a blur of your child, you'll still thank yourself later.

I cherish every photo I have of our tot, but these monthly photos are some of my absolute favorites. And seeing them for the first time side by side in this post makes me realize just how far our little one has come over the course of 365 days. And even though sometimes these little photo shoots left me completely frazzled and with a few more grey hairs (although I wouldn't know since I've been dying this mop for far too long), I am so thankful I took the time to capture her at each stage. Her personality truly shines in these photos (especially in the later months), and I absolutely love that I have these images for posterity.

Along with monthly photos, we also started an annual photo of Taylor next to the tree that we planted in our backyard a few weeks before she was born. We chose an October Maple since my original due date was October 1st; however, her stubbornness allowed her to remain breech causing me to have a C-section and her actual birthday to become September 27th. Regardless, we now have a beautiful tree growing in our backyard as a constant reminder of the ever growing child running wild throughout our house. I smile every time I look at that tree, and I hope that one day she will come to appreciate it as much as her daddy and I do.

So there we have it. The maple is growing (but how much, I don't know. We forgot to measure it upon planting.), the tot is well and thriving, and this momma has an entire Target sack full of baby photos to help her through times of nostalgia. One day I'll find the time and energy to transfer those photos into her scrapbook but, for now, I'll continue to pull them out of that crumpled, plastic sack whenever she's gone for a week to Granny & Papa's. Because let's face it, no matter how good it is to have a child-free week, I spend the majority of the time missing our girl and longing for our time apart to come to an end. It's times like that when I'm grateful to have that tattered old sack of photos.