365 Photo Project

I am 13 days away from completing my 4th year documenting our daily lives with one photo a day. As we approach the new year I thought I'd give some tips on completing your own 365 project.

this is your project
first and foremost don't compare your photos and your style with the best instagramers, bloggers or pinterest gurus out there. The goal for these projects is to have something fun to look back on in future years, to remember our mundane days along with the ones filled with excitement, not to get the most likes or shares.

set reminders
when I first started this I had a hard time remembering to take a photo so I would set an alarm on my phone to remind me, now as the years have passed I don't forget very often but if I do then you'll usually see a photo of my evening tea and a caption that recaps the day to go with it.

choose your platform
taking on a photo-a-day project is not an easy task so I knew that I wanted a hard copy printed at the end of the year to celebrate my accomplishment. The way I have decided to document my projects is by making daily posts on Instagram and give each photo for the day a hashtag to easily find them on day 365. There are many apps out there and ways to store photos so choose what works best for you. In addition, I love Chatbooks (click here for $10 off your first book) because from there I can type in my Instagram hashtag for the year and it brings in all my photos and captions for the year then I get a book printed!

mix it up
since having Quinn, my daily photos are primarily of her but I need to remember other aspects of our lives as well - even though in the heart of parenting kids for sure take center stage. Since I'd assume most people reading this are women, get in the frame - especially you, moms, so when your kids look at these books they see you too!!

have fun
don't take this too seriously, it is meant to be a fun project to look back on, maybe to improve your photography skills too but most of all to help you preserve the moments of your day to day life. In that aspect I have to admit I don't post daily to IG, I take my photos daily but it might be a day or two before I post the entry online. I live by the epoch converter that tells me what day number it is and then just remember to add that to my IG captions - when I look back on my previous books I don't remember if I posted the picture a week after it happened because that isn't what matters!


Have you completed a 365 project, how do you document? Let me know if you plan to start a 365 project in 2019, I would love to follow along!

2015 Project
2016 Project
2017 Project

Growing Baby Rote2: 27 Weeks

How far along:  27 Weeks

I’m feeling: little more tired this week than usual, later in the week I also had a horribly itchy belly - so my skin must be stretching good this week!

Total weight gain: 20 lbs - feels good to keep the same weight over a week

Baby Rote’s size: Around the size of a cucumber {15in, 2.2lbs} apparently now the measurements for length are from head to toe instead of head to butt ... so maybe they will be more consistent from here on out

This week: I had Wednesday off from work and took it as a me day to get some last minute Christmas shopping done and get a massage - it was lovely! We also took Quinn's Nuk away this week, on Thursday so I thought that was going to be hell but it was a very smooth transition!!
Today we made Christmas cookies at Grandma Holly's.

Maternity clothes: nothing new in this department

Sleep: still sleeping great!

Best moment this week: Steve getting the baby room painted - oh and Quinn helped too haha

Movement: He or She is still having a blast swimming all over in there

Food cravings: Bought a whole cheesecake at Costco again this week, sooo maybe that was my craving of the week

Food aversions: nothing!

Belly button in or out: out but thankfully getting more flat

Looking forward to: Christmas Celebrations starting this coming weekend!

Growing Baby Rote2: 26 Weeks

How far along: 26 weeks (+1 day)

I’m feeling: large but good. I've noticed a little more heartburn this week, nothing horrible just a reminder to not stuff myself and avoid spicy foods. My ribs, back & front on my left side have had some more noticeable numbing pain, nothing to complain about and overall I feel really good!

Total weight gain: 20 lbs - Maybe I feel so large because I'm almost 4lbs ahead of my weight gain compared to Quinn's pregnancy, hopefully that is me gaining weight from chocolate and not a 9lb or 10lb baby in my future!

Baby Rote’s size: Around the size of a Butternut Squash {9.2in, 2lbs << hmm I don't know what app I used for the last update because it said babe was 13in and now they are 9 hahah}

This week: Since I skipped an update week, we had an appointment on Nov 29th strong heartbeat at 155bpm. Picked our Christmas tree out on the 1st and saw Santa on the 8th!

Maternity clothes: still loving my blanqi tanks and I've tried out one pair of leggings, they are okay, I think I'll like them more for postpartum wear!

Sleep: When I don't get caught watching a Hallmark Christmas movie my sleep is great 9+ hours!

Best moment this week: watching the baby move from the outside

Movement: child must be training for a triathlon in there - LOTS of movement haha

Food cravings: nothing specific, just like my drinks really cold and eat at least 1 sea salt dark chocolate caramel a day

Food aversions: I have to watch it around spicy food like I said above due to heart burn but nothing that sounds horrible!

Belly button in or out: still out - Quinn loves searching for it and I think she is a little confused as it keeps moving!

Looking forward to: I have the day off Wednesday, as a me day and I'm excited for the 90min massage I have booked!
Oh and as you can see, Steven has started in the baby room, painting and carpet rip up in our future!!

Growing Baby Rote2: 24 Weeks

How far along: 24 weeks

I’m feeling: Really good. Feeling larger by the day but overall no complaints except some minor rib pain here and there.

Total weight gain: 18 lbs - I'm wondering how much of that is from allllll the mashed potatoes I ate over Thanksgiving break!

Baby Rote’s size: About the size of an Eggplant {13 in 1.5 lbs}

This week: Just getting over a turkey coma - had a great Thanksgiving weekend visiting family. We made the trip to the cities to Steve's Aunt's and I was thankful for no back pain during the long drive, when I was pregnant with Quinn that drive was NOT fun!!

Maternity clothes: Ordered some Blanqi leggings from their Black Friday sale so I'm excited to try those out! I'm living in Leggings these days so, some with added support sound wonderful.

Sleep: I feel like I toss and turn a lot more these days but I still sleep pretty well. I ordered a pregnancy pillow a few weeks ago, I'm really partial to my regular pillow so I'm not totally sold on it yet.

Best moment this week: feeling the baby have the hiccups on the 20th

Movement: lots of movement - feels like the baby is having fun swimming in there

Food cravings: nothing really, especially after the week of over indulging

Food aversions: nope still good there

Belly button in or out: out for the most part

Looking forward to: 24 week appointment this week

11.01.18 Ultrasound

11.01.18 Ultrasound

Growing Baby Rote2 - 20 Weeks

Baby number 2 is coming and we are already at the half way point. I thought my first pregnancy went fast, well this one is going so much faster now that we have Quinn to keep us busy!!

I'm already ahead of the game with this post compared to last time, however if you read my blog (hi mom & dad) you'll see that I never completed Quinn's updates. She did indeed turn One and is now 18mo, I'm sure for the sake of blog consistency I'll go in and backdate her monthly posts since they are done just on the Instagram platform and not on the blog {so hopefully in due time this little blurb will be irrelevant}.

Okay sorry we were talking about the 2nd child, poor thing is already getting overlooked. I am going to follow the same format as I did with Quinn's pregnancy for these bump updates so enjoy!!

How far along:  20 weeks

I’m feeling: Really good - I did forget to wear my belly support tank this week and I was quickly reminded how much that makes a difference already.

Total weight gain: 11lbs I feel like I've gained and grown much faster this time around - my body remembers what is coming

Baby Rote’s size: 10 oz about the size of a mango

This week: I'm just amazed this is half way over already and I realized I need to start documenting better!

Maternity clothes: I bought zero maternity items last time, this time around a girlfriend swore by the Blanqi support tanks so I snagged a few when they had a sale - well she was right because they are amazing!!

Sleep: I wake to little sounds more easily this time around but thankfully Q sleeps through the night so my sleep is pretty easy and uninterrupted. I do plan to get a body pillow this time around, I'm just starting to really notice I need that support at night.

Best moment this week: Having my sister help me get Quinn's Halloween costume ready

Movement: I've been feeling this little one since October 4 which was around 17 weeks. Kind of crazy because with Quinn I didn't feel it until closer to 20 so that has been fun.

Food cravings: Nothing at the moment. A month ago I was craving everything sugar. A couple weeks ago I was craving cheesecake.

Food aversions: Thankfully nothing.

Belly button in or out: Oh this darn thing decided to not play nice this time around and as soon as I started gaining weight it was starting to pop out. I just need to pack on a few more pounds and hopefully it'll go flat again haha

Looking forward to: Our ultrasound this week (Nov 1) We haven't seen this peanut since I was 7weeks so we are excited!
Also going on a girls weekend mystery adventure with my sister, {pregnant} best friend, her sister and a bus full of other ladies!!