Matti's 10th Monthsary DIY Pictorial

I can't help but be emotional as I edit my baby's pictures today. It is obvious that he is growing and he is growing fast! Where did the time go? It was just yesterday when I held this tiny baby in my arms, I could still feel the joy and the pain at the same time. My baby is now ten months old!

As usual, we have other monthly Do It Yourself pictorial. It's May and it means summer so we stick to our beach theme plan. I know, the previous camera slash photography theme has been on halt for a while now, we will do that once he won't put things on his mouth anymore so for now, we have set up a beach theme for him.

We did prepare a few things for this photoshoot but we only spent on the cake and the beach toys, the rest were all things that we already had or we borrowed. Some were even given to Matti as hand-me-down items when he was still inside my tummy!

Theme

When I thought of the beach, what usually comes into my mind is of course fishing! And that's what we then came up with as a plan. But I needed some inspiration from Pinterest of course. Pinterest is my good old friend, I had been using that site for years! It has never failed in sharing with me its ideas and several other creative things.

I searched for beach boat baby pictorial and hundreds if not thousands of pictures came up right in front of me. I had to choose the one which is very easy to execute and with fewer materials to be needed thus when I spotted one where a baby is holding a stick with a fish on the rod, I immediately fixed that idea and told my husband.

Boat and Fishing Rod

As I shared the idea with my husband, he volunteered to make the boat. I was surprised but also glad because that means, there's one task that has been taken out of my load. It was Sunday afternoon that the photoshoot was to be done and he made the boat in two hours.

My husband is not the most creative one but I truly appreciated that he spent his time making this boat. It's something that I treasure and thus, even after the photoshoot, we made sure to keep it and placed it on our shelves, it is now a decoration inside our room and in Matti's future home school corner.

Aside from the boat, he also made the fishing rod himself. Actually, it didn't require any complicated thing though, he just looked for a bamboo twig and we had a lot of them since there's a huge bamboo plant nearby. The fish was my nephew's toy and my husband used a garter to get things up in the rod.

Beach Toys

The day before our photo shoot, we went to Tagbilaran City's Island City Mall and we had groceries. There's this toy section within the grocery area and thought I could get Matti a toy. I spotted the bucket which has stuff for beach play. Then I thought Matti might like it and it can be used for the photo shoot too!

I bought it and indeed, Matti loves it! He was busy playing with the sand using the toys, tossing and scratching the white sand!

Cake

This time, I ordered a minimalist bento cake from Charms Delight, a bakeshop in Tagbilaran City. It cost Php 350 for a very tiny cake. I regret ordering the bento size though, I wished I ordered the next size because it was super small that our family won't be able to taste the cake as it is just good for two.

But there's a funny story because as we were already taking photographs, Matti managed to flip the boat and the cake was on top of the boat. So, it ended up having a lot of sand on the cake's buttercream.

My parents were so sad about it but we made ways so we could eat it by eating the bottom part instead. However, my mom and I got a taste of the sand!

Outfit

Every photoshoot, I make it a point to use whatever outfit is in our closet. As for this beach theme monthly pictorial, I already had in mind what Matti will be wearing.

The anchor sleeveless top was bought early this year from a friend in Cebu City. The bottom is reusable swim diapers which was a gift from Raffy, another friend from Cebu. The same as his rash guard, it came together with the swim diapers.

The beach cap on the other hand was borrowed from my nephew once again. The two colors suit well and I visualized them and glad that when we got Matti dressed, what I visualized was realized! The color fits Matti well!

Location

I thought of so many places to go. Our town has white sand beaches as well as its neighboring town, Anda which is quite famous for the white beach but I considered that the beach must have fewer to zero people or visitors.

It is May and it's summer so it is expected that there are many people around. Plus the day before, the waters were very inviting that I wanted to also swim!

There were so many options but I choose Flower Beach and Diving Resort. In fact, I thought we will be spending some entrance fees but then, my mom had a bright idea which was to use the public pathway which led us to the beach for free! The resort was just next to us and it was such a great idea I had to commend my mother for it. We didn't have to pay for the entrance fee anymore but we still had the same beach experience!

Actual Photoshoot

Matti is always cooperative during photo shoots. From the previous months, he would just sit there and would look at me when I will call him and so on.

So on this shoot, it was the same. He held the fishing rod but would aim for the fish so we had to just plant the rod in the sand. He somehow managed to hold it once in a while.

When we changed his top to a rash guard, he was also very patient. He just played with the beach toys when we gave him those toys and while I was taking photos, he would try to place them into his mouth but would let go if we say no. There were crying in between whenever we get something out of his hands because he would eat them but it was just a short cry.

Conclusion

Compared to the previous photoshoots, Matti is now a lot different in terms of attention and reaction to our calls. He would also cry now when we say no to whatever he is doing but the fact that he is growing healthily, we can't ask God for more.

Matti has brought joy to our lives. These picture sessions have been made so we could reminisce his growth as a child, from being a tiny baby to becoming a toddler. Matti's growth is nothing but pure grace. He is a blessing to us from above and we are both thankful that God had made us a steward to this adorable soul.

And so we make it a point that in every milestone and achievement he acquires, we would document it as much as possible, this includes his monthly growth. He won't remain as a child forever so we treasure these moments and we praise the One who gave Matti to us.

To God be all the glory!

xoxo,

mommy jean of momentswithmatti

Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.