Foodie couple’s creative way to mark their baby's monthly milestones
What do you get when you combine the creative minds of a professional chef and photographer who are new parents? A picture-perfect display of their baby girl with a bunch of delicious food to mark her first milestones.
For the last 12 months, Jessica and Jonathan Meter have taken a unique photo each month to mark their daughter Michaela Claire's growth.
The twist? They curated her cute poses next to fresh ingredients that changed along with her size, appearance and season.
From tacos and hot dogs to heirloom tomatoes and eggplant, the New York City-based chef and her photographer husband told "Good Morning America" they "wanted to use stuff that was seasonal or reflected her size -- like tomatoes in August, hot dogs in July."
Michaela Claire was born on Feb. 6, 2018 weighing in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces and measuring just under 20 inches long -- by the time she was 1 month old she was 21 inches and just under 9 pounds.
"When we started out we tried to find things that were about her size or her weight," Michaela's dad said.
At first, they wanted to skip marking time with pictures because they "didn't want it to be a cheesy photo" like all the others that filled their social media feeds.
But when the new mom repeatedly said her baby "very much felt like a loaf of bread" the parents were both struck with the same idea -- take photos of Michaela with food.
"I thought it’d be funny and different to compare her size to a baguette," the classicly trained French chef said.
"It kind of just took off from there, with our goal being to show her size relative to foods so people could see her grow in relation to very familiar, tangible and seasonal foods."
They posted the photo series of their daughter on Instagram and shared the photos for the first time with "GMA."
"Jonathan and I have been doing food photography together for years," Jessica said. The couple first collaborated on a recipe book for Jessica's final project in culinary school, and have also worked together on a food blog called the Bite Sized Blog.
Now they have their own personal muse -- little Michaela.
The Meter's threw a first birthday party for their daughter earlier this month and celebrated with a beautiful cupcake display. So naturally, they snapped one last epic picture to put a bow on the 12-month progression.
And of course, they came full circle with another single baguette to symbolize one full year.
Here are all of the incredible shots from start to finish
Bonus -- Jessica and Jonathan said no food went to waste since they cooked everything you see in the pictures!
1 Month old: One Baguette
2 months old: Two 5-pound chickens
3 months old: Three homemade tacos
"She would get her hands into stuff when she started to get more mobile," Jessica said while baby Michaela was giggling and babbling in the background of our interview. "But she really responded to John and the camera."
4 months old: Four plump purple eggplants
"Sometimes it was all planned really last minute," the private event chef of Shultz and Ficher catering said.
"I had to scramble to Fairway with Michaela and got eggplant cause I said, 'this looks about her size,'" Jon recalled, laughing.
5 months old: Five hot dogs
Both Jonathan and Jessica said this was their favorite shot of the entire shoot!
6 months old: Six ears of fresh corn on the cob
7 months old: Seven heirloom tomatoes
They didn't want to "spend a fortune" and Jessica said she realized the shoot could get pricey after purchasing the heirloom tomatoes, which were the most expensive shot.
8 months old: Eight gourds in various sizes
9 months old: Nine fresh apples
10 months old: 10 latkes
11 months old: 11 bagels with cream cheese, lox, capers and tomatoes
12 months old: 12 cupcakes
Michaela Claire's favorite foods
Lentils
Roasted red bell peppers
Broccoli
"She currently is going crazy over broccoli, like she’ll just double fist broccoli," Jonathan said.
What would be their dream ingredient to shoot her with?
"We talked about about doing lobsters and thought no there’s no way," the mom said. But when asked if safety and sanitary wasn't an issue, they said absolutely lobsters or a whole big fish.
What's next?
The proud parents, who both run their own businesses, said the positive response from friends and family, and even a creative director that works with Jonathan, is what "motivated us to finish all 12 months."
But now that the year is over, they think they'll just "stick to bread every year" to keep the tradition going.
