Something I did last year that turned into a precious thing was to take a photo of Elizabeth on her “monthly birthday” each month. When I looked back at her monthly photos from being a newborn & on to 12 months, what I LOVED was seeing her facial features change. I could look from month to month & see her look more like her dada in some months, more like me or just more of her own little person & personality.

Knowing how precious those photos from 0-12 months became to us as a family, inspired me to do something along the same lines, but simpler for her months leading up to 2 years. I knew again that what I wanted to focus on was her changing face. My goal was to get one good photo of her smiling face every month on or right by the 19th of each month. I didn’t always have good lighting & I didn’t always get to take RIGHT on the 19th (for most months I did though!) But I loved the challenge & simplicity of this project. Capturing my girl at that time of her life each month was truly fun.

I did plan on taking just one photo of Elizabeth each month starting at 13 months, buttttttt I kind of ended up taking way more each time 😉 For this blogpost though, I wanted to keep it simple & just post the big smile photo I had intended to get. Next time you come to my house though, you can see the Shutterfly book I put together of them all 😉

My best tip for anyone else wanting to do a photo project similar to this is to set a reminder on your phone a few days before you need to take the picture/s. This will help prepare you mentally for it & remind you to have your camera charged & ready to go! I also would remind myself to make sure I dressed her in a certain outfit for that day if there was a particular favorite that fit her at the time.

Honestly, looking back, in some ways these photos are even MORE precious to me then the first year! I see her personality REALLY coming out in these photos. Whenever I look at them, they make me want to do something for 25 months & on! But I know that with a newborn coming sometime in May, it probably wouldn’t be the best idea to commit to “two” photoshoots every month 😉 I do plan on taking photos of her at the half year mark. And hey, may this year I’ll do like every 3 months with her or something. We’ll see 🙂

Here’s our Elizabeth’s second year!

13 Months

14 Months – She was JUST starting to walk here! 15 Months – Look at those tooties in her mouth!!! 16 Months 17 Months – This photo was taken right on May 19 when she spent her first night overnight at Grandma & Grandpa Close’s! 18 Months – I actually blogged more of Elizabeth’s 18 Month session over HERE with a few tips on how to take photos of her your own kids 🙂 19 Months – We had just moved into our new house so this photo has that extra specialness to me because of that! 20 Months – I took this photo outside of her Great Grandma’s house in Minnesota! 21 Months 22 Months – I wish I could blog all the pictures from this month because I LOVE them all! 23 Months24 Months – And we’re at the 2 year mark!!! Look at my precious big girl! (There’s more of her 2 year photos HERE if you’d like to see more!)

Friends, thanks for coming along for this quick ride down memory lane! I love this girl & I love these photos!

Photos MEAN SO MUCH! I’d love to capture your kiddos & your entire family! Email me at naomi@nomi-photography.com & we’ll get you on my calendar for a photography session in 2018!!!

We announced to our family & close friends this past fall the news that Little Wilcox #2 is on the way! Come May! And yes I know that rhymes 😉

We are THRILLED & very much looking forward to this little one joining us sometime in May. Elizabeth LOVES babies (I can tell you a story about how even today she was wanting to kiss a stranger’s baby in Aldi 😉 haha) & loves talking about our new baby & going to appointments to see “pictures of the baby” aka ultrasounds 😉

We love telling people in person our special news versus social media & I’ve tried to tell as many of you in person as possible! But since the year is ending I knew I needed to finally blog about our news 🙂 I shared recently on Instagram my take on how everyone says being pregnant with the second is different. It is yes, but I have my own thoughts on why 🙂

I’ve been taking bi-weekly baby bump pictures same as I did with Elizabeth (I mean, who has time for weekly ones? 😉 ) & Elizabeth had to join in the photo 😉 She’s super excited to be a big sister!!!

As with Elizabeth, we are not finding out the gender & will wait to be surprised at the birth. It’s the surprise of a lifetime & even though it’s hard to wait, it’s worth it! You can take a guess though! 😉 If you ask Elizabeth if she thinks the baby is a “boy or a girl” she says “Boy” & then immediately following that question I’ll ask secondly, “Do you want a brother or a sister?” & to that she always responds with “Sister!” So who knows what the baby will be 😉

I am currently one day away from 19 weeks & finding it hard to believe that we are about halfway there! Technically with Elizabeth at this point we WERE over halfway there since she came early 🙂 Once I got past the first trimester nausea life was more manageable! There were a few of you who’s sessions I did in September & October that I was sneaking snacks & drinking ginger ale in my water bottle during your photo session to keep the nausea away! 😉

I plan to share in the future my maternity leave time & as always will blog about my mini sessions coming in 2018. They will be fewer this year with having a new baby in the house so keep your eyes on your emails & if you aren’t on my e-newsletter sign up!!! Click here to do so!