Very few things in life bring as much joy and happiness to a family as the arrival of a new baby. Wrapped up one tiny human being is the potential to make a positive impact on the world around him or her. This new life and potential and is worth celebrating. Family and friends will likely come from miles around to meet this new little one.

As any parent could tell you a baby does not stay a baby for long. Right before their very eyes, parents’ children go from being able to do virtually nothing for themselves to being able to roll over, sit, stand and walk all by themselves. As infants gain independence in mobility, they will quickly transition from being ‘babies’ to young children, ready to head off to school.

During this small window of time as a child is growing up, many parents will document their child very extensively. The rise of the smartphone—along with photo sharing sites such as Instagram and Facebook—has empowered parents to take more pictures of their child at little or no cost to them. These pictures do offer an incredible amount of sentimental value.

However, parents would be wise to also invest in professionally shot photographs of their baby, perhaps to mark special milestones in their growing up (1 month, 6 months, 1 year). Of course this all depends on the budget of their parents and the value that a child’s parents place on photographs of their baby.