SongInvention

music and video by Kristi McGarity

It was my husband’s idea: Take pictures of the baby every day on the same playmat, then edit them together into a time-lapse video.

My favorite thing about this video is pinpointing the exact day William learned to roll over, reach for toys, crawl, and disassemble things. My second favorite thing is the occasional appearance of Sam’s foot on the left side of the frame.

As I watch, one thought keeps coming to mind. It’s simultaneously the hardest and the best thing about parenting: just when you have it figured out, just when you’ve got a routine, everything changes.

Did you finally work out a foolproof method for warming bottles to the right temperature? Too bad, he doesn’t want bottles anymore. Worked out an equitable schedule to stagger the nightly wake-ups between Mommy and Daddy? Whoops, now he naps late and won’t go down until 9PM. Stock up on a case of his favorite applesauce? Sorry, he only eats finger foods now.

And just when you say “if I have to launder these same burp cloths one more time, I might actually go catatonic from boredom,” all of a sudden you’re packing the burp cloths in yet another box of stuff he’s too big for.

All the repetitive tasks that drive you crazy all day, taking care of a small child... the bittersweet irony is you never know which ones you’re doing for the last time.

Too many people don’t get to spend as much time with their babies as they’d like. Some people never get to take their babies home at all. I’m thankful that I got to photograph every day of my son’s babyhood, and I know it’s a privilege I can never really live up to.

Feel like your days are going by too fast? Turn your memories into an original song, and turn your family photos into an unforgettable video. Schedule a free consultation to find out how!

P.S. You may notice that William has a lot of baby clothes. Most were gifts from extremely generous relatives, plus an entire wardrobe (easily enough for two children) donated by a friend of a friend. Those gifts helped immeasurably, as I had just left my job to move back to Austin, and money was tight. We have, in turn, given many of these outfits to others who need them. If you have baby outfits in storage, check out LovedTwice, an organization that accepts gently used baby clothes and sends a “wardrobe in a box” to new parents living below the poverty line.