Personal – Page 27 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Events September 25, 2017

Our Vacation at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa

Happy Monday/back to reality! We spent the last week at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa, which is located on Miramar Beach near Destin, Florida. It was one of the best weeks of my whole life, truly. We were up at sunrise every morning, first in line for the breakfast buffet (more on that below, but it was so delicious!), first at the beach to get our umbrella and baby tent setup (Emi napped every single morning in it!), ate the best lunches at Barefoot’s by the pool, snoozed hard in the afternoon, then were back out for more fun around 3pm. Around 5pm, we’d head back to the hotel, all take baths/shower, then get dressed and eat dinner, either at the resort, or taking the free shuttle to Baytowne Wharf nearby. We were relaxed the whole time, and I couldn’t imagine it going more smoothly. I have some tips for beachin’ with baby below as well – we learned some things during our first time doing it! Isla was about 20 months old when we took her to the beach the first time, so her eating the sand was not a concern of ours! Ha.

Fashion September 20, 2017

Our Family Beach Photos

I have always loved beach family photos – the lapping blue, reflective water, the dreamy sun setting in the background, the white sand, the wind tousled hair. We have never had the opportunity to have a beach session, so when we booked our trip to the Hilton Sandestin, I started searching for a photographer immediately. I could not be more excited about finding Lauren Folk of Folk House Creative Co., because y’all, she is not only super talented, but a dream to work with. She seriously captured our small little family perfectly, and I will truly print and treasure these photos forever. I am so grateful for Lauren! If you are traveling to the Destin area, I cannot recommend her enough.

There is so much joy in these photos. Sweet Emi was very much ready for bed, but Lauren somehow managed to appear less tired than she really was! That babe was asleep less than ten minutes after we wrapped them up, but Lauren (and Isla) had her grinning with their smart posing and silly faces (well, Isla’s!). Without further adieu, a narrowed down, but still expansive, selection of favorites from our session.

Personal September 13, 2017

We Love Our cuteheads

One of my close friends, Esther, owns our favorite clothing company – cuteheads. If you click around her site, you’ll see a familiar face wearing many of her gorgeous dresses. Basically, Isla wants to wear cuteheads every single day and every single night (the former, I encourage – the latter, I sometimes push back on! Ha). During the hurricane, Esther was living with her in-laws while their house was remodeled. As Houston was pelleted with rain, her in-laws house started to take on water, and unfortunately, so did hers. They evacuated by boat (all documented on her Insta-story), and while this devastating event would overwhelm ~~many~~ most, Esther remained positive and immediately began collecting donations from other small businesses. She is truly amazing and such an inspiration.

To show our support for her business, a few of her friends put together a giveaway to help people who lost everything in the floods. We’re giving away $75 cuteheads gift cards – see Rafflecopter below! You can enter to win for yourself, if you were impacted, or for someone else you know who was displaced. It’s really easy to enter too. Also, we’d love if you posted a photo on your Instagram with the hashtag #weloveourcuteheads, sharing why you and your little one(s) love this brand!

Click here to enter the giveaway

Personal September 11, 2017

Week in Review

After being postponed for two weeks due to the hurricane, the girls’ school starts tomorrow. Isla is going for three days, and Emi, only two. I have grandiose plans on what I’ll do with five uninterrupted hours (I haven’t had this since Emi was born!), but this week, I’ll be spending most of that time taking photographs. We leave for Destin on Saturday, and I’ve got five photo sessions in the next four days. Madness.

My parents moved into their rental home on Saturday, so the house feels all quiet now that they’re gone. My sister-in-law and niece even stayed with us for a few nights last week! There were 8 people living in our little house – I loved it! Some other highlights from the past week include:

Going to church at Bayou City Fellowship (Curtis’ message was great – it’s not uploaded just yet to the site, but you can find other sermons here).
Having a playdate with our best friends, the Thompsons at their house! It had been way too long.
Watching Isla make new friends and play some soccer at CityCentre after the gym one morning!
Taking two sets of newborn photos for sweet Parker and baby Harper. They were both insanely cute! Lucky me, ha!
Taking Isla to her much anticipated ballet class, which she went to with her new bestie, Iris. They are so sweet together. Lots of photos below!
Photographing Meredith at this amazingly colorful exhibit at Discovery Green.
Catching up with Monica on a power walk with my sister-in-law, Ivana.

I’m almost 99% positive I’m missing something big, but it’s 11:45pm and I have to get back to editing those sweet baby photos. I’m actually drinking a coffee at this very minute. One of those nights! Have the best week. xo

Mom Talk September 10, 2017

Nest Cameras as Kid Monitors

We recently installed Nest cameras in both of the girls’ rooms, and it’s pretty crazy for us to now think about not having a way to watch Isla once her bedroom door is closed (we haven’t since she was about 12 months old!). It’s free entertainment! I will read her stories, say our prayers, kiss her goodnight, then leave the room. And then the magic begins. Ha. Pajama changes, headbands on, new books, more stuffed animals in bed, etc. I feel like we’ve been missing out for ages. But the best part about the Nest cameras are the playback. Isla has had some sweet moments, which I’ve loved listening to over and over and over again (like her prayer I wrote about here), and also some of sheer terror. The other night, I told her that she had to share her Elsa character with Emi, and she started sobbing, told me she didn’t love me anymore, then grabbed her ‘star chart’ and tore it up… which caused even more tears, as she asked me to glue it back together and told me she was so sorry and wanted me to be her mommy again. I laughed and cried re-watching that!