365 Love Letters Week 12

My daughter is (half) asleep in my arms as I type this one handed. I get a little lonely at night sometimes when I finish editing these photos. I stare at picture after picture of my daughter and get strangely excited for her 1 am feeding so I can see her squishy cheeks in person again, and kiss them.  She wouldn't let me put her back down so here I am, finishing this post one handed. But I can't get mad cause her smile in these photos are so sweet.

Another week of letters. I'm having more fun with these each day. Advice gets hard sometimes but something usually comes to me by the end of the day. Big thanks to Rachael for suggesting Day 84's advice! I love that quote. I'm am saving your other suggestions to give to Lil' J as I continue these.

Anne Geddes' people sent her new book to my job. I saw it up for grabs and snatched it up. It's inspired me to try to get more creative with my photos. I hope to have one funky/cute/creative photo to add to the mix next week.

My favorite photo this week is Day 81.I loved her expression, her cute hat, and the bright sky. The love letter is a bit cliche but oh so true!

Thanks again for letting me share these with you! As a thank you, everyone who comments on this post before April 11th will be entered to win an Easter onesie from Tutus by Gayle. There's a photo example at the end of this post!

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Thanks for reading! Everyone who comments on this post before 4/11 will be entered to win a custom Easter onseies from Tutus by Gayle, between newborn and size 18-months. Use code "BABYMAKINGMAMA" to get free shipping. Friend her on facebook or twitter for an extra entry. Winner will be announced randomly drawn and announced on my facebook page.

365 Love Letters Week 11

I love her more and more every day and can't wait to share these with her. I already am in a way, but someday I hope she can look back and appreciate these words of wisdom and photos I've captured for her.

I appear in two photos this week and realized a little late that we're posing almost the exact same way. Self-portraits suck the creative juice out of me. I'll try harder next time.

I love my daughter's eyes and captured the best photo of one of my favorite expressions of hers. Wide-eyed. She reminds me so much of her dad with that look. Everyone always comments on her "big eyes" which is the first thing I noticed about her dad when I met him.

I'm starting to get myself into trouble not editing them all the night they were taken, a couple of these I may have jumbled up the order, but they're all this weeks photos. My favorite is probably Day 77 (or 74).

Thanks for letting me share these with you. And thanks for your suggestions of advice for her! I've put them on my list and I'll for sure be using them. Keep 'em coming!

365 Love Letters Week 10

My iPhone photos are long gone. The good news is my photos are getting better. I've been getting a lot of questions about how I edit these. I use Photoshop, but you can add text to photos using many tools like Paint, or an online program called Picnik. The pro version is about $25 a year I believe. I use the free version when I'm not using photoshop.

This week I got back to the vision I had for these. A mixture of photos of my daughter and other random things I take photos of during the day. I'm trying not to get too cliche with my advice and give it all from the heart, and incorporating things from the day versus being general Day 69 is a good example of what I mean.

I also started creating a Blurb book to print these all in at the end of the year. It's going to be a pricey project but I think it'll be so worth it to have a hard-back version for me her. I may even see if there's a place I can get one of those 365 desk calendars printed with these on it to have next year. We'll see!

If you have any ideas of advice or photos for Lil' J, please share! I'll totally link you if I adapt your idea!

My favorite one this week was Day 71. My husband cooperated and let me take a photo of our hands for my photo today (he was tricked into the last photo). In a world that defines so many people by how they look or seem on the outside, I think that advice is pretty important.

I may go back to posting these on my facebook page daily this week. It gives me something fun to look forward to before bed. But it also keeps me up late, so we'll see.

365 Love Letters Week 9

I'm beginning to notice a theme in my photos. I've gravitated to only photographing her. I want to get more of a variety this week. It's hard because she's my favorite subject. On Day 16 I told her how she loves the mirror. We started this week the same way.

I got tons of good photos on day 64, it was hard to choose one to edit. I posted the runner up on my facebook page.

My favorite photo this week if probably day 59. It's hardly edited and just a great shot of her in mid-action.

Oh, and a lot of people have been asking me what program I use. I use Photoshop but there's a great website called Pickic where you can edit your photos online for a small fraction of the price of expensive editing software. I believe there may also be a free version. Enjoy!

365 Love Letters Week 8

I didn't forget my 365 letters this week, I just decided I'd so a "surprise" with them all at the end of the week instead of uploading them daily. Actually it was nice not keeping myself up late each night uploading these here and facebook, so I was able to get a little more rest this week doing them all at one time.

She started crawling this week, on day 52 actually, so my photo captured her moving towards me, and as you can see she's happy to be moving. Ironically she still would rather be held and crawls the furthest when she's crawling to me. It's funny but it makes me feel special.

My favorite photo this week is probably day 53, which may become my new blog header soon :) I also love day 55, I don't know why, I think it's just a really pretty photo.



Another self-portrait day with my baby

Today she started crawling!

I used my husband's shoe to kill it!



365 Love Letters Week 7

If there's one thing I want to teach my daughter it's to make goals. I'm a big goal setter and not always a goal achiever, but writing it down does help. Making a goal to take 365 photos, and write 365 love letters to my daughter has been just as fun to keep as it was to make. I've made it to day 50 and am happy to say I haven't missed a day. This week my goal was to include her in every photo, and to use my camera versus my camera phone for all of the photos.

Usually throughout the week I'm thinking of things I want to tell her and jot them down so I don't forget, and can use them in the future. But this week I made a point to think of specific things I learned the day of to share with her. Some of these are things that may become "inside jokes" or specific events only I'll remember, but the caption below lets you in on a little explanation for the photos.

It's really hard to choose a favorite this week because I really put my heart into all of these. It's probably a tie between day 44 and 47.

When we were at dinner people kept telling her how cute she was. It made me wonder when this will go to her head. This advice came to mind.

Busy day at work today. I tried not to get distracted so I could get home sooner. This advice came to mind.

I forgot extra bottles at work today and had to improvise. This advice seemed fitting.

We were folding diaper laundry and this advice came to mind. I snapped a picture and wrote this.

I bought her first "just because" toy today-- Blocks. She loves them!

The teddy was gifted to me from the hubs in 2005. Now I'll share it with her.

Yep, he's whipped.

365 Love Letters Week 6

This week I made an effort to take more pictures of her. I can already see her growing from day 1 this year. I'm trying to do a better job of catching a variety of her expressions because I want to remember them all.

Day 41 was so cold, we had a fire going and I was dying to take photos of her in a new hat I ordered from a sweet lady named Mary Sue (only $10).

I bought a new toy for my camera. Which made it easier for me to take photos indoors, so I'm not rushing to have a photo shoot outside before the sun goes down. I only used one photo from my iPhone this week. I also made a special effort to think of a variety of special things I want her to know. From scriptures I love to advice I could use myself. My favorite is hard to choose this week but I'd probably say it's day 37.

First time I captured her two teeth on camera