A week to celebrate a year of Little Pea

This is it. The big countdown to the big 0-1 is on! Little Pea turns 1 whole year this Friday. 5 more days of babyhood and then we'll be jumping joyfully into full blown toddlerhood. In honor of this momentous occasion, I hope you'll forgive me for declaring this the official Birthday Week here. I plan to post birthday related posts all week long. It's that or I disappear from blogging for a week since I'm all consumed with party preparations!

So to start the week off I thought it would be fun to take a peek at what a year in Little Pea's life looks like via her monthly photos. I have a picture window frame that documents each month in a baby's first year. Every 6th of the month I've taken her photo since she was born last May. 

1 - 6 months, June - November 2010:

And then 7 months - 11 months, December 2010 - April 2011. Still need to take that one last birthday photo to fill the remaining slot.

What I think is fascinating about this collage is that I started her year with my point and shoot and then moved on to my DSLR by her 4th month. By her 5th month I was shooting in manual mode and learning to edit my photos better. Not only do I see a year of my baby growing, but I see my photography improving over these last 12 months as well. 

Learning more about photography has made me pickier about photos I see but I'm very relieved to say that although I notice technical issues with  many of these photos, it doesn't make me love them any less. I treasure each and every last snapshot of my littlest peanut.

I have the exact same frame for the Peanut's first year as well. What's most remarkable about both of them is how from any given month to month, there isn't that much change in a baby. It's when you look at the whole year that you stop and gasp at the enormous difference.

One thing hasn't changed in her first 12 months though--those cheeks. I still want to munch on and kiss them just as much as I did on day 1!