When Eran and Sarah became parents last year, they took a ton of videos and photos of their new daughter, Cora. At the beginning, they were taking a two-to-five-minute clip every other day. Those clips started to pile up, and soon there were just too many to watch. So for Cora’s birthday, her grandfather Yoav decided to use VideoTov to help the family make a baby video celebrating all the highlights of her first year.

“Between Sarah and Eran and other family members, we had created so much media—photos and video clips—that there was no way to watch it all,” explains Yoav. “I wanted to create a good, consolidated, memorable movie that represents this wonderful year, and that can be viewed over and over again for many years to come.”

“There was so much footage that we really never look at, so we were happy that it would all be collected together and compiled into an entertaining video,” agrees Eran.

The whole family got in on the project. Yoav gathered hundreds of photos and video clips from various family members and narrowed it down to the very best ones. Everyone suggested possible songs, and Sarah and her mom chose the final soundtrack (“My Girl” and “Happy.”) In the end, VideoTov editor Adi Gutman had 150 photos and two hours of video clips to narrow down to one five-minute video.

Adi narrowed it down by looking for the truly special moments. “I was looking for emotions, for places in which the footage moved me,” she explains. “With baby videos, certain moments just leap out and touch your heart, and those are the ones to include.”

“Adi was great. I gave her just a few instructions and guiding comments, such as ‘try to give each member of the extended family face time,’” explains Yoav. “She produced a first version that was then reviewed and annotated by me, Sarah, Eran, and a few others. The VideoTov collaboration platform was extremely helpful because it allowed each one of us to review the movie remotely and add comments. With that feedback Adi created the second version, which was perfect, and we accepted it as final.”

“I like the whole process of editing a baby video. It always makes me smile,” says Adi. “And since I have a son the same age as Cora, more or less, I empathized with the family and could really feel their love.”

The family has watched the video over and over. Eran says, “The video is so entertaining, and it’s fun to see how much she has grown over the last twelve months.”

Another thing Eran and Sarah love is being able to share the movie with their extended family, including many who have not yet met Cora. They sent it to aunts, uncles, cousins, and beyond, and they got a flood of positive emails in return. “Everyone said that she looks really happy, and it is great to see our family.”

“After seeing the results and the enthusiasm of everyone who watches the video, I think we’ll try to collaborate with VideoTov to produce yearly or periodic movies of Cora’s growing up,” declares Yoav. “This kind of family video that captures the day-to-day moments of life and family is timeless, like the family albums of past that are opened and viewed again and again,” he continues. “You sometimes hear on the news about people who had to evacuate their home quickly, or lost their home to fire or other natural disaster, and they always mention trying to save or find the old family photos. Having a virtual video album ten or twenty years from now will be priceless!”

Check out the video above to see what everyone is gushing about—and to get some ideas for your own baby video.