baby – Page 5 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Personal November 24, 2014

Week in Review

Quite a few highs and lows occurred over the seven days – a low being that I got mastitis again on Wednesday, and a high being the quality time I got to spend with two of my best friends, McKenzie and Kirby. We hosted a Friendsgiving dinner on Sunday evening, which was so much fun. I have never prepared that much food before, and now feel I have to run out to West Elm to get more serving ware! We played Cards Against Humanity afterwards, and (no big deal) I won. Apparently I’m hilarious (kidding).

Other highlights include:

Going to Sasha’s grandma’s Slava party on Friday
Solids! Isla started solids – she’s had mushed apples, avocados, carrots and sweet potatoes (Mara, please help me! We don’t know what we’re doing!)
Moving most of the furniture from our study into our master bedroom (planning a redo!) and created a playroom (mainly just a safe zone for Isla) – we’ve asked for this house for Isla’s Christmas
Going to lunch with my mom and our sweet friend at Black Walnut Cafe
Seeing my sister’s new town home – they are renting out the house they renovated (I shared lots of photos in the Dream Home series)
Trying a new barre class with my friend Jessica at Life Time Fitness (I am definitely not a ballerina)
Spending time with Sasha’s aunt, uncle and cousins – Natalia is in town from Los Angeles (has the best job ever at Disney) and I love getting to catch up with her

I hope you had a great week! What were your highlights?

Personal November 17, 2014

Week in Review

Happy Monday everyone! Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week? Time is flying by (I’ve probably said that 10,000 times in the last 5 1/2 months). Quite a lot has happened in the previous two weeks (missed last week’s review due to Isla’s First Week with Carter’s series – see here for the winner!), Isla had her first trip to the Houston Zoo (we’re now members, so excited), which made me so happy. She loved staring at the fish – everything else was too far for her to see (oh, and then she fell asleep, which didn’t help).

Other highlights from the last week (and a bit) include:

Crawling! Well, sort of – Isla is mainly motivated by her favorite book (Goodnight, I Love You) and my iPhone (Digital Natives!) – watch the army crawling here.
Finger painting again with mushed berries that turned into a face painting session… and then I gave her a spoon, because solids is coming very soon! I can tell she is interested now.
Shooting Christmas card photos for my good friends, Matt and Erin (their wedding photos here) – I’ll share all of the pictures soon!
Swimming at the Life Time pool twice – the second time involving our new Otteroo, which we both love.
Taking Isla to get frozen yogurt at Yogurtland for the first time (okay, she only ate it indirectly through my milk!)
Shipping off a few of my first Etsy orders!
Attending a beautiful wedding in Austin at Thurman Mansion (last time I was there, I was 36.5 weeks pregnant!)
Going to the church sermon at Bayou City Fellowship and hearing Curtis preach, and having Isla in the daycare for the first time – they said she loved it!

Some of my favorite photos:

Call me, maybe!

Isla's Christmas with Carter's November 14, 2014

Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s: Relaxing Family Time

As I mentioned yesterday, we tuck into a delicious meal cooked by my very talented mother almost immediately after opening the gifts from under the Christmas tree. When we finish our Christmas lunch, everyone admits defeat, and we normally go to the living room and lay on the couches in a food-induced coma. After being all dolled up for a few hours in fancy clothes, we will change into more casual, comfortable outfits to ‘play’ with our new gifts. Last year, Sasha gave me an iMac, and I stared in awe at this big screen for hours and hours, never wanting to leave its side. Most of Isla’s presents this year will be stuffed animals (she already loves this laughing monkey that she got to ‘preview’ and BabyLit’s A Christmas Carol) or developmental toys, so I know she will want to lay and play too.

The perfect outfit for Isla to change into after being in a dress all morning is the 3 Piece Long-Sleeve Body Suit (love the solid red and floral pattern), with the adorable Sparkle Pants and this amazing Fuzzy Faux Fur Vest from Carter’s Holiday Collection. In fact, I’d love to be a baby and wear that entire outfit.

There is a park less than a quarter mile from our house, so we will bundle up and walk there (burn off those Christmas cocktails!) with our sweet dog, Belle. Although it’s not freezing cold in December in Texas, it’s definitely cardigan weather. I adore this sweet Shimmer Cardigan. We love seeing extended family and friends on Christmas after spending the morning and early afternoon with my parents. How sweet is Isla’s friend, Kevin, in the Stretch Jeans, Poplin Plaid Bodysuit, and also that adorable Polar Bear Tee (found in stores, not online – similar here)? Carter’s entire holiday collection (boys and girls of all ages) is so perfect for relaxed play.

How do you spend Christmas afternoon? Do you eat? Play with gifts? Travel to visit family? Please share your traditions in the comments below!

In case you missed it, you can read Monday’s post our annual family photo tradition, Tuesday’s post about the Christmas Eve candlelit church service, Wednesday’s post about opening stockings on Christmas morning, and yesterday’s post about gifts under the tree and Christmas lunch.

Make sure you enter to win the $100 Carter’s gift card and free outfit of your choice from the Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s series! The deadline is tonight at midnight.

Isla's Christmas with Carter's November 12, 2014

Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s: Santa Stockings

I still remember the excitement of waking up on Christmas Eve and crawling frantically to the foot of my bed to look for my stocking. Had Santa arrived? Oh yes, he had! I would run to my sisters’ rooms to wake them up (always the first riser at around 6am, ouch!). We would grab our stockings and head to my parent’s bedroom, where we all sat on their bed together and opened our gifts excitedly. This tradition continued up until last year (seven grown adults on my parent’s bed seemed a little odd!) and now, Sasha, Isla and I will get to create our own stocking tradition as a little family. As Isla is too young to get excited about Santa, it won’t be quite as thrilling this year as it will be next, when we’ll be able to do cute things like putting out cookies for his arrival. On Christmas morning, Isla will wake us up at the crack of dawn, and we’ll open our three stockings in her room by her cute little tree. I ordered these furry stockings from Restoration Hardware Baby & Child, and I’m so happy with them! We hung them on her crib, as we don’t have a mantle – and we spend most time in her nursery.

We traditionally only do little presents in stockings, like candy, magazines, ornaments, socks, and gift cards. The bigger items come later. It’s hard to buy a 5 month old stocking gifts, so we went for this Carter’s bear security blanket, the ‘My First Christmas’ Santa hat, these adorable Santa slippers, and this sweet Isla teether from Etsy.

The best part about opening the stockings is, of course, wearing fun Christmas pajamas! Thankfully, Carter’s Holiday Collection has a lot of adorable (repeat: adorable) PJs, so Isla won’t miss out on this tradition. We chose this adorable Christmas Cotton Snap-Up Sleep and Play with penguins on it and, naturally, had to include a Santa’s helper hat! The entire holiday sleep collection is fantastic – we are slightly limited because Isla sleeps best right now in a one-piece. If it weren’t for this fact, she would certainly have been wearing these Santa PJs! Aren’t those perfect?

Do you have Christmas morning stocking traditions? If so, please tell me about them in the comments below!

Click here to read yesterday’s post about the Christmas Eve candlelit church service and here to read about our annual family photo tradition. Make sure you enter to win the $100 Carter’s gift card and free outfit of your choice from the Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s series!

Isla's Christmas with Carter's November 10, 2014

Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s: Christmas Eve Service

Yesterday, I shared our annual Christmas tradition of having family photos taken (read here). Another one of my favorite holiday traditions is going to a candlelit church service on Christmas Eve. Sasha went with me to Houston’s First Baptist Church for the first time last year, and I giggled at how panicked he was about there being 1,000+ candles lit in one massive chapel (plus kids holding real flames!). There is no feeling in the world quite like singing “Joy to the World,” “O Holy Night,” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” amongst so many other merry Christmas-lovers. Just thinking about it gets me so excited.

I love getting all dressed up in festive gear to go to church for the service, and I cannot wait to take Isla this year (real candles will not be involved). Carter’s Holiday Collection has so many pretty church dresses to choose from. When I saw this bright red Velour and Satin Bow Dress, I knew I had found Isla’s first Christmas Eve outfit. It’s so simple and classic and that tiny little bow just melts my heart (I love a good bow). We slipped on these sweet little Patent Mary Jane Crib Shoes, and she looked as cute as a button. My favorite Christmas Eve service outfit choice for a little boy is the Oxford Cloth Bodysuit and Ribbed-Waist Corduroy Pants.

After we leave church on Christmas Eve, we head to my parent’s house and watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We’ve seen it a million times, but still die laughing every year. Do you have Christmas Eve traditions? If so, please tell me about them in the comments below!

If you haven’t read yesterday’s post about our annual family photo tradition yet, click here. Make sure you enter to win the $100 Carter’s gift card and free outfit of your choice (from the Isla’s First Christmas with Carter’s series)!