Frankie’s First Birthday Photoshoot | Family Photoshoot | Carmel, Indiana

I was so excited to see sweet Frankie again to celebrate her first birthday! We didn’t do a cake smash for her first birthday portrait session, but we did include the whole family and get some wonderful outdoor family portraits at one of my favorite locations in Carmel.

I chatted with Frankie’s mom about what baby’s first year was like for them.

Are you planning a birthday party? Tell me about it.

We had a party about a week and a half before her birthday because her big sisters were still in town. I went a little overboard, of course. We did a flamingo pink-themed birthday party. We had a balloon arch; we had balloons on pedestals; we had giant flamingo balloons outside with a topiary. I had banners, and we ended up renting a karaoke machine. I got a sheet cake. We did just tons of food and family. We also had a baptism that same afternoon, so it was a little bit of a crazy day. But everyone wore flamingo bathing suits or flamingo shirts, or just pink in general. It was really cute and really fun.

What did baby Frankie think of the birthday cake?

When I finally got her to stick her hands in it and she licked it, I think she liked it. But she was really hesitant to dig right in.

Did your baby enjoy opening her presents?

She opened them on her actual birthday, so they just sat for a week or two. She liked the bags because she whipped all that tissue paper out, and then she’d realize “Oh, a new toy.” And then she just went on to the next one and wanted to play with its tissue paper.

What was the best thing about baby Frankie’s first year?

Seeing how much she’s changed. Her look changed from when she was born to her look at one year, which is kind of crazy to me. She’s exactly my mini; she looks exactly like me when I was a baby, which is crazy because she didn’t really look anything like me when she was born, and now she does. I guess I didn’t really see it until friends and family commented on my Instagram. I don’t even think I realized how much she was changing because I see her every day obviously. And then I was like, “Oh my gosh, she’s like a completely different kid,” and now I see it. Her hair is getting a little red, and it’s getting long, and it’s just crazy how much they change.

What was the hardest thing about baby Frankie’s first year?

It goes so fast. It’s true. I think everybody said, “It’s going to go so fast,” and I was getting really annoyed that people were saying that. And then I blinked and she turned one, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, it goes so fast.”

What’s the relationship like with baby Frankie and her siblings?

They love her a whole bunch. It’s hard because they’re not here during the school year, but she loves them too. And every time she sees them on FaceTime, she gets really excited. Her sister’s name, “Aubrey,” was actually one of her first words.

What is baby Frankie doing these days? Crawling, walking, talking?

She probably uses like 30 words, and the pediatrician was blown away; she couldn’t believe how many words Frankie knows already. She’s not walking by herself just yet, but she is walking on anything that will move. She pushes the activity cube around. We have four or five little walker things. She’s fallen on her butt really hard a few times, so I think that’s what’s freaking her out about walking on her own just yet.