Personal – Page 21 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

International February 28, 2018

Turning 30 in Paris

We arrived home from Paris a week ago today, and I truly miss everything about the city already – the gorgeous architecture, the socially acceptable eating-a-plate-of-cheese-for-every-meal, the delicious wine, the people watching, the history, etc. I miss the friends we traveled with – two couples whom have been best friends for awhile now, and the third whom we met on the trip and now totally adore. A group of eight in Paris might sound impossibly difficult, but it totally worked. I haven’t laughed as hard as I did on that trip in a long time. It was tough being away from the girls for a week, but it was such good bonding time for Sasha and I. I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until we were there!

On February 18th, I turned thirty (!!!!). In Paris. It was a dream come true (literally!). We ate breakfast a vegan restaurant, walked around the Marais, ate lunch at my favorite falafel restaurant, shopped, then walked around Notre Dame before heading back to the apartment to rest. We ate dinner at Maison Sauvage (well, sort of…), then had ice cream at Amorino before the best game night ever. The females literally wrecked the men at both Monikers and Butt Head. It was legendary. I couldn’t have scripted a better day!

I’m working on a very intensive Paris travel guide (although I have two already – Four Perfect Days in Paris and Paris Favorites). This new one will map out different parts of the city and highlight favorite places to eat, drink, visit and shop. I’m excited to share this very soon! Photos of many favorite spots are below – I tried to narrow down my favorite photos but totally failed. So here are about 100 of them 🙂 Ha.

Personal February 23, 2018

Emilia’s First Steps with Carter’s

This post is sponsored by Carter’s; however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

After spending a week in Paris, we’re once again stateside, where the weather is just a tad warmer. The Parisian forecast looked a whole lot like the coldest week we had in Texas this winter, reminding me how spoiled we are to have such a short cold season. My mind is already wandering to hotter times, and given that Spring is my favorite season of the year, I’m starting to look for new warm-weather clothes for me and for the girls. Carter’s has always been my go-to for baby basics, and I wanted to make sure that I took advantage of the Carter’s February Baby Sale (which ends March 5). Emilia is still wearing 6-12 months clothes right now, but I went ahead and bought her some cute 18 month clothes for her to grow into (all linked below!).

My sweet second daughter has only really worn shoes a handful of times (versus Isla, who always had a pair to match her outfit!). Emilia has at least 40 pairs of shoes in her closet, but I feel like most of them are just cute and not very good at helping her to walk steadily. Now that she’s completely able to walk everywhere comfortably without fear of falling (although she still prefers crawling, for speed!), I wanted to get her some good quality sneakers. I absolutely love the Every Step Carter’s shoes – Isla calls them Emilia’s “magic walking shoe” because she has such great balance when she wears them. Emi’s first steps were taken (and video recorded!) while she was wearing her Carter’s Hawaiian print footed pajamas (a hand-me-down from her big sis), and I know that her first time to run will be in her new heart shoes. So many of our “baby’s first” moments have been associated with Carter’s, like Emi’s first time to sleep through the night and also dating back to Isla’s first Christmas! Read about our holiday traditions with Carter’s here (sweet baby Isla in those photos! Time is a thief!).

The Baby Sale is running from 2/20 until 3/5 – so don’t miss out on the deals. You can also use this 20% off coupon until March 12. I just ordered some new PJs for both the girls, and I know they’ll be so excited to get them in the mail soon.

Personal February 14, 2018

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Every year, I’ve done a few Valentine’s photos of Isla (a handful with newborn Emi too last year!). This year, with Emi’s birthday, lots of work and preparing for a trip to Paris, I totally hadn’t thought about any Valentine’s photos. Super duper last minute, I called Meredith, then Nancy, whose studio we used, and coordinated a small set of heart-filled photos. And you know what? I think they’re my favorite yet. Monica came with Riley, and they surprised me with the most delicious egg-free cake in history. Paris diet out the window! Brittany lives around the corner from Nancy (literally), and her and George came too, which was a treat given that I called her 45 minutes before we started – ha.

We’re enjoying this love-filled holiday in Paris – my dream! I can’t wait to share photos over the next week. Hope you all feel extra loved today! xo

Personal February 12, 2018

Week(s) in Review

Oof, the last few weeks have been all over the place. I love keeping up with my Week in Review posts. I used to post five times a week, in the days long before kiddos! I try to post at least once a week now, which is normally very manageable but over the last three weeks, it just hasn’t happened. Besides life just being a bit crazy, I had the added factor of my hard drive (which literally houses every file/photo that I’ve taken for the last I-don’t-know-TEN-YEARS) falling off the desk and becoming unreadable. Lots of tears and frustration and dollars spent, but it’s back and working and praise Jesus for that! I totally just write for myself, which is the best way to blog, I think. Just me, typing on my computer at 1:09am, talking to myself… sharing memories, photos, etc. that I really do reference all of the time.

Anyways, I digress (perhaps that timestamp is why). Some highlights from the past few weeks include Donuts with Dad at Isla’s school, Milly’s Christening in Galveston, a few lunch dates with good friends, lots of working out with Monica, a number of client sessions (sharing only a few below, but have photographed fundraisers, newborns, 6 month sessions, headshots, Valentine’s photos, you name it), and lots of family time (unplugged, hanging out with no technology time which is for sure the best thing ever and makes me want to time travel to 1950!). I’m sure a ton of other fun things in between, but I’ll let the photos do the talking! I’m saving some of the cute Valentine’s photos we took this weekend for a post on Wednesday (when we’re in Paris, by the way – small detail!).

Hope you are having a wonderful week so far! Thank you for reading, as always! Love y’all. xo

Personal January 29, 2018

Happy First Birthday, Emilia Wilkie!

I blinked. And here we are. Parents of a three-and-a-half year old and a one year old. At this moment a year ago, I was at Memorial Hermann Hospital, snuggling with our tiny, few-hours-old bundle of joy – Emilia Wilkie Petrovic. Now, a year later, I’m chasing around a rapid crawling, sometimes-walking 12 month old babe (refusing to use “toddler” just yet!). I’m the cruel mom that schedules a one year well-check on her actual birthday, so found out today that she is 19 pounds, 7 ounces (45 percentile), 29.25 inches (55 percentile), 18.25 in head circumference (86 percentile – gets that from her dad!). How she’s grown! But in so many more ways than physically.

Her vocabulary now includes Belle (BEH! BEH! BEH!), Mama, Dada, Baba, Nana (Ivana), Isla (IY-YA! IY-YA! IY-YA!), baby, bye-bye, and night-hight (niy-niy). She has taken up to 13 steps, but still chooses to crawl around because that’s still the fastest form of transportation. After yesterday, she has eaten her fair share of sugar, but her favorite foods are apples, bananas, Serbian soup (made by her Baba), yogurt, applesauce, puffs, Goldfish, salmon and pasta.

She is the strongest hugger I know. Once her arms are around you, you’re in a legit headlock until she releases you. But she’s not one to cuddle often, unfortunately. She is a mama’s girl, through and through. We’re going through a little bit of separation anxiety right now, where she wants me-me-me, all of the time.

She loves the Trolls and Zootopia soundtracks. She loves her Lulla doll more than any other possession. She loves drinking water (I wish she got this from me!). She loves copying what her sister does (Isla raises her hand? Emi does too.). Basically, she just adores her sister. She loves when I do “Up high, down low, too slow!” She loves when we read bedtime stories. She loves when her Tata comes home from San Antonio, then almost switches alliances 😉 She loves pulling everything out of drawers – basically making a mess everywhere she goes. She loves pulling bows out of her hair the second I put them in.

She dislikes shoes and will take them off immediately. She dislikes getting her diaper changed. I’m like – HELLO, haven’t I done this 12,380 times now? Aren’t you used to it? The only way to bypass crying during a change is to give her a wipe to SUCK ON. Gross, I know. But you do what you gotta do, I guess. She loves Belle, but really doesn’t like when she licks her face. Which, of course, I understand. But Belle loves to lick her face.

What feels like just yesterday, I was writing Isla’s birth story. And after that, her 1st birthday post. Then, seemingly just minutes ago, I wrote Emi’s. And somehow, just today, that baby turned one and we seriously could not love her any more than we do. I feel like I don’t deserve these two sweet girls, but I’m sure grateful that I get to be their mom.

PS I cannot thank Nancy Aidee enough for these photos she took of us in her amazing studio! I love them!