Ailee Petrovic

Baby July 10, 2017

Baby Registry Guide: Newborn to 5 Month Essentials

I published a baby registry guide post (here) almost two-and-a-half years ago, and I’ve been sharing it with friends ever since. I recently read through it again and realized a lot of links were broken, and that I needed to add new ‘Emi favorites.’

When I first compiled this list, I thought to myself, ‘I need to make a concise list of all essential items for a baby’s first five months.’ Then I listed all of the products we use on a day-to-day basis, and oh-my-gosh – it is quite the opposite of concise. Babies require lots and lots of stuff.

Personal July 10, 2017

Week in Review

Why does it feel like July Fourth was a month ago? Whenever I write this post, I always go to my calendar to see what the date of the previous Monday was, as those are the photos I’ll upload to include. I couldn’t believe last Monday was July 3 (my little sister’s birthday!). I think it’s because we took a whirlwind trip to Arkansas this weekend, leaving at 5am on Saturday morning and then wheels up at 4:20am from our hotel on Sunday morning. I hadn’t left Emilia for more than 3.5 hours before, so it was tough (physically, as I’m still nursing) to be gone for 29 hours! We visited Hot Springs with the rest of Sasha’s family to honor the one year anniversary of Sasha’s grandma passing. The ceremony was beautiful, and it was so nice to celebrate Baba’s life with everyone.

Some highlights from the past week include:

Meeting Barrett Guy Jarvis, the newest baby in Sasha’s best friend bromance – he is adorable and we are so excited for Paige, Matt and Ellery!
Splashing around in the pool on July 4th with Ivana, Bob, Milly and my cousins, who are here visiting from Scotland!
Meeting with Lindsey Herod of Lindsey Herod Interiors to discuss key decisions for our house! She is so talented, and I can’t wait to work with her during this process!
Getting back into the routine of going to LifeTime Fitness with the girls! I have missed having good strength-training workouts, as I’ve been so tight for time lately that I’ve just ended up doing 3 mile runs around the neighborhood at night! I needed some weights in my life (hello, BBG hell! Ha).
Spending family time in Hot Springs!
Our tradition of ‘Pizza and Movie Night’ on Friday!
Taking some photographs at Mum’s friend’s sister’s backyard wedding – it was such a sweet, emotional ceremony!
Taking cousin photos of the girls and Lazo at Evelyn’s Park (I shared them on the blog yesterday here!).

The definite low-point of the week was when I realized my FitBit battery had died on the drive to Arkansas. My supportive husband wouldn’t stop at a Target on the drive to get a charger! So I lost 36 crucial hours. So upsetting! Ha. I hope you had a great week! Happy Monday. xo

Personal July 9, 2017

Cousin Love

On June 4, Isla turned three, and less than a month later, on July 2, her cousin (second-cousin, but we call and consider them cousins!), Ana, turned three! We thought it would be fun to take some photos documenting them at three years old, but once the ball got rolling, we realized it would be more fun to document all of the cousins together, since we don’t have a group photo with Milly and Emi in it.

We met in the blistering 90+ degree Houston summer, surrounded by cotton candy, balloons and cake pops, to capture these seven kiddos: Mila is 5, almost 6; Lazo is 4.5, Isla and Ana are 3, Emi is 5.5 months and Milly is 2.5 months! It truly does feel like Mila was just born, and suddenly, she’s going into first grade? Where has the time gone.

I have to give a shoutout to my amazing friends, Esther and Megan, who helped make these photos happen, given that I gave them one week heads up on dress/romper and bow orders! These matching cuteheads dresses and rompers (for the babies) are my favorite (and Isla’s too!). And the matching pink Willow Crowns bows couldn’t be more perfect. Lazo looked dapper in his bow tie too, of course!

I cannot wait to watch these six (hopefully more to come!) sweet babes grow up together!

Beauty July 7, 2017

Getting Started with Smile Direct Club

Well, this smile journey story has a strange start, but stick with me for a minute!

In 2009, I interning in France, and during this time, my friend, Andrew and I, went on a little vacation to Nice. We bought some snacks for the beach, and the vegetarian that I am, I grabbed some carrots. As I’m sitting on the pebbled beach, I bite into a carrot and ‘pop’! I managed to unglue one of the sides of my permanent bottom retainers. The bar was still attached to the other side, but it now protruded slightly into my mouth, under my tongue. It wasn’t painful, but it was very bothersome. I thought many times about going to an orthodontist in Paris to have it fixed, but my French was very conversational and I couldn’t wrap my head around calling and booking an appointment, so alas, I never did. When I returned at the end of August, the day I got home, I went in to get it fixed. At my orthodontist’s office, he told me that my smile looked great, and since I had been out of braces for over ten years, he would just take off the permanent retainer. Worst. Idea. Ever!

Fast forward to 2011, my wisdom teeth all start coming in, and since I am a huge chicken when it comes to needles, I endure the pain of them all breaking through my gums and crowding my mouth. Cue teeth moving.

So now, in 2017, I have buckled bottom teeth that drive me absolutely crazy! I cannot stand seeing how crooked they have become, but Sasha thinks it isn’t a big deal, and the $5,000 we would pay for Invisalign has always seemed too much to fix this problem. Enter Smile Direct Club. Smile Direct Club offers affordable teeth straightening aligners at a price that is 60% less than competitors.

Personal July 3, 2017

Week in Review

Happy Fourth of July Eve! Despite being British, I rather adore this holiday! Ha. I think it’s because it’s always a fun summery pool day and typically a long holiday weekend. My cousins are in town from Scotland for two weeks, so we’re going to try to spend as much time as possible with them poolside.

The past week was total mayhem, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get caught up on edits! Ha. Some of the highlights are below, and I’m sharing a ton of pics from last seven days!

Meeting up with Meredith before she left on their trip to celebrate Isla’s birthday with a Crave cupcake – which she, of course, licked the icing off!
Taking Brittany’s nursery photos – her little babe will arrive any day now! I can’t wait to find out if it’s a boy or girl!
Eating lunch with my sweet friend, Alexis, at Niko Niko’s – not that we’re lushes, but I highly recommend their sangria! Ha.
Participating in the cuteheads video shoot at the West Studios. So anxious to see the final cut!
Taking Destiny’s blog photos with the kiddos (and Sid) in tow! Love, love, loved her outfit and the colorful spot we found for the pictures!
Enjoying some pool time with Sasha’s mom and cousin swim time at my parent’s house.
Taking newborn photos for Camden, Dominic and James – three of the cutest baby boys! It’s definitely boy season!!
Going to a July Fourth BBQ at our friend’s house (another delicious sangria – ’tis the season!). Loved getting to catch up with them!
Attending both Ana’s and Mila’s third birthday parties, both of which were a lot of fun. How are all of these babies now three? I can’t handle it!
Going to an allergist appointment for Emi, and finding out that he doesn’t think she has a peanut allergy (hallelujah!) but she did test positive for pistachios (boo!). We have another round of testing next month! Praying for clear results.
Finally making it back to LifeTime Fitness!! Much needed! I’ve been running every evening at 9pm to get my steps in, but I need to be focused on BBG and Orange Theory!
Celebrating Emi’s five month-iversary – I should post update soon! Ohhh, we are obsessed with her 🙂

I hope everyone has the best day tomorrow with your loved ones! xo