Personal – Page 63 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Personal April 3, 2015

Happy First Birthday, Hou!

houston pet photographer texas ailee petrovic dog first birthday I have found a new niche of photography that I adore: pets. Talk about an easy model! These furry animals don’t have any say into how they look in the photos, which is fine, as they normally look perfect. Dogs will never say: “That’s a beautiful backdrop, with great lighting and focus, but my hair looks funny when it’s tucked behind my ear.” Albeit, they are a tad more difficult to control, but still easier than a 10 month old crawler!

When my friend, Kristen, asked me to take photos for her pup’s first birthday, I jumped at the opportunity. Houston is seriously adorable – let’s talk about that bow tie, party hat, and his cake shots! Could he be more perfect?

Houston’s first birthday is today. We’re all going to be in New Orleans, celebrating from afar (but really celebrating our friend Amanda, who is getting married!).

Happy Friday! I hope you have the best weekend ever. xo
houston pet photographer texas ailee petrovic dog first birthday

Baby April 2, 2015

Proudly Introducing Baby Brooks

Last Wednesday, sweet baby Brooks entered this world, and his parents, family and friends are all enamored, as he is just adorable. I had the pleasure of meeting and taking Brooks’ photos on his one week birthday (an emotional milestone to all new parents as they scratch their heads and wonder where the last 7 days went!).

I took the photographs at Amy and Galen’s house, which is gorgeous. Brooks’ nursery is also perfect, with complementary shades of blue (cue me really wanting a baby boy!). Amy looks ridiculously good for having delivered a baby just 7 days prior. Super mom and dad! I had a couple good laughs as Galen is the tallest person I’ve ever taken photographs of, so I had to climb on their arm chairs about six different times.

I may never be able to get over little hand/finger photos. They’re seriously my favorite.

As I mentioned two weeks ago in Baby Kerr’s post, if you or your expecting friends live in Houston and would like to have hospital or newborn photos taken, please contact me!

Personal March 30, 2015

Week in Review

Can it be Friday already, please? Although there is no such thing as sleeping in on the weekends with a baby, Monday mornings still make me feel so much more tired than a Saturday or Sunday. I wake up extra early to catch up on emails and to write this post before sweet Isla wakes up. I had the best weekend ever in Austin, celebrating the marriage of two incredible friends. Sophee and I have gone to school together since elementary, but only became best friends when we lived together at The University of Texas at Austin. I adore her. Both Sophee and Johnny are the most loving, thoughtful and selfless humans on this planet, and it was so evident that everyone felt that way about them throughout the weekend. I’m going to share more photos of the bridal brunch, rehearsal and wedding later this week, but am including a few sneak peeks this morning.

Although last week was a busy week with wedding prep for my friends Brittany and Amanda, as I finished an entire set of wedding envelopes and worked on welcome brochures and cocktail menu signs, I did make time for a few additional fun activities like having Sasha’s two cousins, Kristina and Bobby, over for dinner at our house on Thursday.

Other highlights included:

Eating breakfast with my longest-lasting-best-friend, Alisdair, at Kerbey Lane in Austin (kind of like we did last year!). We grew up together in Scotland, then he moved to Texas for our senior year of high school and stayed another 6 years! He moved back to Scotland over two years ago and is currently visiting. We’re having a big get-together at our house to celebrate tonight!
Attending Isla’s first swimming class at our local pool, Dad’s Club – it was not the highlight of her week, let’s just say that. Our instructor said it’s normal for them to cry during their first session, so I’m definitely looking forward to when she starts to enjoy the class! And there are only three babies/moms, and one of them coincidentally is our friend, Nina!
Running with Isla a number of times while using her new lion neck pillow that I found on Amazon – I used to worry about her neck being uncomfortable while we ran, and I am so excited to have found this! She loves it.
Picking up our visas from the Russian consulate – it’s official! We are going to St. Petersburg! And planning an Australia/New Zealand trip for January 2016! It’s not booked yet, but we’re heading to the Australian Open next year. I’m beyond excited.
Visiting sweet baby Kerr – he slept the whole time. Julie said he is only awake 45 minutes to an hour a day. What?? I know. I am bringing out next baby over to her house and making her do some sort of sleep-vibe-transfer.
Getting a new ficus delivered for our bedroom from Houston Interior Plants – I want one in every single room. Seriously! I love adding a pop of green plant life to our house.
Clapping, waving, and high fives all day, every day. Isla is obsessed with all three. And she will mimic whatever I do with my tongue now, whether that be wiggle it from side to side or make klacking noises. She things it’s hilarious, and I do too.
Getting my nails done at Paradise Nails, while Sasha’s mom spent time with Isla after Laura, our nanny left. I used to enjoy getting my nails done more than I do now, as I’m always wondering what Isla is up to, but I still love a good foot soak and back massage!

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Mom Talk March 24, 2015

How to Help A New Mom

Having a newborn is exhausting. When Isla was born, I felt a kind of tired I had never experienced before. As babies do not have normal body clocks when they’re first born, they tend to wake every 2-3 hours to feed, which may take up to 45 minutes. I have a journal from Isla’s first weeks which tracked her eating patterns. 1-1:45am, 4-4:45am, 7-7:45am, 10-10:45am, 1-1:45pm, 4-4:45pm, 7-7:45pm, 10-10:45. And repeat. Ohmygosh. How do new moms survive? The answer is cliche, but true: the love you feel for your child is what keeps you going and makes the exhaustion worthwhile, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a challenge. Add loads and loads of laundry, dishes, and cleaning to the mix, and your head is spinning. Preparing food for dinner? No way. Even chores like walking the dog become an ordeal. After experiencing life with a newborn, I have tips to share that will prepare you to help any friend who is in a similar situation.

Setup a meal delivery schedule

I am part of the Spring Valley Mom’s Club, and when Isla was born, I had meals delivered to the house three times a week for six weeks from other members. It was amazing. I definitely did not realize how exhausting even the thought of making dinner would be, so when I had food dropped off at the front door, I was thrilled. If your friend doesn’t already have a delivery schedule (or ‘meal train’ as its commonly referred to), then offer to set one up for her!

I created a meal delivery Google calendar for you to leverage. You can access the file here. Once you open it in Google Drive, go to File < Make a Copy and create a copy in your own Drive account. You need to fill out the mom’s name, address, number, food delivery and meal requests, and then update the first date in yellow (it doesn’t have to start on a Monday). Send her the link, and tell her to send it to people to fill in when they offer to bring food. This eliminates people bringing food twice on the same day, and also lets other people see what type of food they’re receiving a lot of in order to variate. Make sure that the Google file is set up where everyone with the link can edit! I promise you, your friend will thank you!

Week in Review March 23, 2015

Week in Review

Can you believe that March is almost over? I’ve having slight anxiety about how quickly the year is flying by, and I’m totally convinced I’ll have an emotional breakdown sometime before Isla turns one. Given that we’re getting closer to that date and because we’ll be gone for close to two weeks right before her birthday, I started the birthday planning process this week. Papellerie is designing her invitations, and I’m so excited to see what that incredible team creates. They are responsible for our wedding invitations + all paper goods, and I loved everything they touched.

Last week, our nanny started part time, as I’m still waiting for confirmation on my role and we had set her start date earlier in the month. She’s coming this week again, and I’m taking the opportunity to do the wedding calligraphy for one of my best friends, Brittany. She dropped off the envelopes this weekend, and they’re gorgeous! I cannot wait to celebrate with them in Vail this summer.

Other highlights from the week include:

Working on final wedding details for Amanda’s wedding – guest favors, programs, welcome bags, etc. – we’ve got back-to-back weddings the next two weekends (one in Austin, one in New Orleans) and I’m so excited for both!
My mom and sister were in Durango for the week, as they’re renovating the second and third floors (which used to be very vintage), so we went out to lunch at Ruggles Green with my dad – of course, he and Sasha had to argue over who ate more (see photo below)
On Saturday, we had a date night with Sasha’s friend from the UT MBA program (familiar face?) – we ate at Giacomos (one of our favorites!) and then had cocktails after dinner at Anvil – their French 75s are scarily good
We ate at Carrabbas twice – this is pretty much the definition of a good week for me (Insalata Fiorucci, all day, every day)
Listening to Jamie Winship preach at Bayou City Fellowship, and then going to lunch afterwards at True Food Kitchen, where Isla ate her first muffin, scrambled egg and (yuck) turkey sausage – so far, she’ll scarf down anything except for beets!
Taking photos of a friend’s puppy for his first birthday! It sounds so ridiculous, but I loved it – dogs are easy models because they don’t worry about how they look! I cannot wait to share more photos soon
Meeting baby Kerr and taking newborn photos in the hospital – what a special project! I want to do this full time! You can see the photos here
Finishing the Russian visa application process, that involved about many hours of paperwork, passport photos, cashiers checks, as well as three visits to the application office! I am praying our trip is worth it!
Going to Isla’s first music class at Fundamentally Music – I think I had just as much fun as her, singing songs, dancing, blowing bubbles, shaking tambourines, etc. She starts swim lessons this week, and I’m so excited for those too!
Enjoying every ounce of sunshine between rain clouds by going on family runs and making visits to the park

What were the highlights of your week?

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