Toddlers – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Gift Guide November 9, 2016

2016 Gift Guide for the Little Ones

The second gift guide is for ‘little ones’ (there will be a separate list for baby’s first Christmas!), and I could have included fifty items in this roundup because there are so many cute gift options for toddlers and young kids.

If you’re looking for something educational, this magnetic alphabet book is perfect for kids 2 and older. I’ve ordered it for Isla for Christmas, because she currently loves going over her letters and spelling words aloud (repeating after us, of course). If you’ve got a musical kid in mind, this guitar and this xylophone (or Isla-phone, as my little one calls it) are perfect – reasonably priced and really good quality too.

Mom Talk November 17, 2015

Toddler Brunch with Bumbo

Last weekend, our little family headed to True Food Kitchen for post-church brunch. It only opened last year, but has quickly become one of our favorite restaurants in the city (tofu lettuce wraps, fall harvest salad, fun fruity cocktails, delicious beet juice – yes, please). At 17 months, Isla has become increasingly agitated with sitting in uncomfortable, wooden highchairs at restaurants, so we decided to bring our Bumbo chair for her to sit in instead. It’s super light to carry and straps easily onto chairs. Although there is an attachable tray that tucks into the back, it puts toddlers at the perfect height to use the dining table. As you can see from these photos, Isla feels (and acts – reading that menu upside down!) like she’s ‘one of us’ when she’s in her chair.

Personal August 24, 2015

Week in Review

Can you believe August is almost over, and that Texas public schools start back today? Oh goodness, where is this year going?! We spent part of the afternoon planning our trip to Australia in January, as it felt so far away until we pulled out our calendars. Only 4.5 months until we leave! I cannot believe it. I’m so ready to sunbathe on Manly Beach (plans changed from a trip to New Zealand to Sydney!), photograph the colorful boat houses on Brighton Beach, play with koalas at Taronga Zoo, watch our favorite players at the Australian Open, etc. However, the insanely long flight with a 18 month old will be less exciting (ha!).

Overall, we had a fun week, filled with a few shoots, tiny train ride, a birthday party, a high school pep rally and a whole lot of rain. Isla loves to splash in the puddles, so she was in heaven.

Other highlights from the week included:

Photographing two DEFINE body shoots for some of their new clothing and another for DEFINE Foods (I kept snacking on the set food!).
Attending a Butter Artistry and Fave4 hair styling event and getting a fancy schmancy braid in my hair. It was a great event, but I need a serious private lesson to learn Britt’s amazing skills.
Taking a trip to the Rice area, where we had ice cream at Cloud 10 Creamery then headed to Hermann Park to walk around the Japanese Gardens and take a train ride, which Isla LOVED. We grabbed Niko Niko’s on the way home – they have the yummiest falafel.
Shooting our friend’s newly built, gorgeous house, which I’ll feature on the blog this week!
Going to our niece’s adorable 4th birthday party at their house and laughing at Isla’s crazy pool antics. Like I said earlier, she loves to splash.
Having both my older and younger sisters babysit Isla, which I love, as I want Isla to be very close to her aunts!
Receiving my Canon 600EX-RT Speedlite flash in the mail. I’m so ready to take some photos in the evening now!
Photographing the Memorial High School cheerleaders at their back-to-school pep rally. It seriously made me nostalgic! I cannot believe I graduated 9 years ago. What?!
Getting the house painted grey – we finally landed on Benjamin Moore’s Classic Grey! I cannot wait for it to be completed.
Planning another fun shoot that will take place in a few weeks with lots of my favorite creatives and entrepreneurs like Lindsay Marcella, Willow Crowns, A Fine Flourish, Cake & Confetti, cuteheads, Miss J’s cookies and Shop Sweet Lulu.
Eating lunch with Meredith of Cake & Confetti and Leah of The Monogram Shop at Adair Kitchen to discuss some potential collaborations between the three of us – a store with every cute item imaginable, a stylist and a photographer. Expect colorful things to come!
Going to church at Bayou City Fellowship and catching up with our sweet friends, Sydney and Philip, then going to lunch at Buff Burger afterwards.
Eating a delicious and fun brunch with Megan of Willow Crowns and her sweet little Olivia at Sweet Paris in City Centre and then running around the green afterwards. Isla fell fast asleep as soon as we go in the car – she was worn out!
Participating in the Rising Tide Society challenge (#risingtidechallenge), which was so inspiring and I got to ‘meet’ lots of other creatives whom I’m now following and already loving. I am so pro “community over competition” and think it’s great that this global group is pushing it so actively!
Organizing jewelry on our dresser with new holders from Target – the stacking glass jars and another West | Emory bracelet holder that is now out of stock! I’m glad to finally get more organized.
Getting started on Snapchat! You can add me by my username @aileepetrovic and I’ll add you back! It still confuses me a bit, but I’m getting the hang of it and love seeing my friends’ fun activities (especially the little babes!).

How was your week? What were your highlights?

Mom Talk July 31, 2015

Reading with Bookroo (Plus, Discount Code!)

We have been reading lots of books to Isla since she was a tiny newborn, which felt a little funny as she didn’t really seem all that interested in books at 4 weeks old. As she’s gotten older though, she has taken much more interest in reading and that makes a book lover like me very, very excited. I even posted a list of her favorite books to read here, and you’ll see in this photo that she now loves to read in her crib until she falls asleep (melts my heart!).

When Jane, the co-founder of Bookroo, reached out and shared information about her new company that helps parents build their children’s book libraries easily and affordably, all the while getting kids excited about reading new, fun books, I was sold. As my husband will tell you, I enjoy getting packages at our front door all too much, and receiving books for Isla made it even better.