Sarah Fortune | Sarah Fortune Gill

Life

Holiday Hangover

Sarah Fortune
January 5, 2015
2 Comments

I’m so fortunate that I get the week in-between Christmas and New Years off work. The only downfall is when it’s all over and I have get out of my pajamas and back into the real world. That’s where I am now and, goodness gracious, is it rough. This year we didn’t travel at all, so the time off felt like forever, but somehow still not enough.

We were also fortunate in that our family and friends came to us.
We ate, we drank, we played.
The holidays of 2014 were legit and I miss them already. Here are just a few notes and photos from our holidays.

All Iris wanted in the whole wide world of Christmas was a chocolate bunny. Somehow Santa came through (he must have had a deal with the Easter Bunny.. or Amazon). I asked her a few times why she wanted one or where this idea came from. “I don’t know. I just want one,” was all I could get out of her. Let’s just hope she doesn’t ask for a chocolate Santa for Easter… Maybe I should stash one away just in case.

Of course Santa didn’t stop with just a piece of candy.
(He could have, but then – there’s Target).
Iris got a pink kitchen, tons of pretend food to go along with it, a comfy lounge chair for watching endless episodes of Peppa Pig (her current fave), new books, and more toys than I care to admit.

Lots of family and friends made everything extra special.

Some of our friends’ kids even started a band.

My old gal pals, Laura & Bev.

Todd and Iris enjoyed some quality father daughter time on Christmas day.

And I got a much needed new pair of my favorite pair of slippers. I’ve never met anything as comfortable as L.L. Bean’s Wicked Good slipper. This is my third pair in about ten years.

Clink! Our New Years tradition.

And finally, a little of Iris’ joy to lead you into this new year…

Toddler Blog

From Baby Room to Big Girl Room

Sarah Fortune
January 3, 2015
1 Comment

Over the holiday break, there were a few days where I was off work and Iris’ school was open. When Iris was a baby, I never thought I would be the mom that would take her kid to school when I didn’t have to work.

Welllll… Things change.

I have since discovered that this option might be one of the BEST THINGS EVER.

It’s very rare that I get more than a few minutes of time to do whatever I want, completely uninterrupted. So, I decided to spend an entire one of my days cleaning out Iris’ room and play area to make space for all of her new Christmas goodies. I bagged up a bunch of her old toys – some to donate and some special ones to keep stored away. I took down some of the things that have been in her room since it was a nursery and subtly turned her room over from a baby room, to a big girl room. She’s been in a big bed since she turned two, but we took off the bumpers from her bed, put up ice cream cone decorations from her third birthday party, and added a few new pieces of art to the walls.

I packed away old blocks (that my dad made for me when I was a baby), Sophie the giraffe (she still squeaked him just to annoy me), and a vintage Fisher Price toy, along with pennant flags (both from my friend Kerri).

I may have cried just a little.

The horrid sight during the clean:

And a peek at after:

Finally a shoe cubby for all of her one million pairs of shoes (totally 999,992 more pairs than I have).

And plastic bins are my new best friend.
Here’s one with just Iris’ arts and crafts things.
Best decision I’ve ever made.

I got this print from Riffraff, one of our favorite local shops.
Whenever Iris is grumpy we sing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” to her and she loves/hates it and us.
I think it’s pretty appropriate that it’s now above her while she sleeps becuause at three years old,
she’s grumpy…
a lot.

Even with this new room.

Life

Happy New Year!

Sarah Fortune
January 1, 2015
5 Comments

Here it is.

My first blog post of 2015.
Oh, and the first one since June of 2014.
And that brings me to why I’m here.

My new year’s resolution is to get back to blogging, at least once a week for the next year. Ever since I had Iris (over three years ago!), I’ve let life get in the way of one of my very few creative outlets. I have a wonderful family, wonderful friends, a wonderful job, but because of all this wonderfulness – not a lot of extra time. This year, I’m giving myself a little of my “me time” back and getting back to blogging, something I really miss. Sure there’s Instagram, but I’ve had a blog of some sort back almost 15 years and I’m not gonna stop that easy.

So, happy New Year and… here we go!

Life, Photos, Rosemary Beach, Travel

Rosemary Beach, FL – Vacation!

Sarah Fortune
June 14, 2014
6 Comments

For the first time in years, we took a real-deal, family vacation.

Before we had Iris I loved to travel – whether for work or for fun. From road trips to flights to Mexico, I always looked forward to the next adventure. Once Iris was born, the thought of leaving her for a business trip made me tear up, but if I thought about bringing her with me, I still teared up (that’s a lot of work on top of work). When she turned two I started to get the travel itch again, but in a different way. Sure those girls trips to Vegas were a blast, but experiencing a new place through the eyes of a toddler takes travel to a new level. I knew that I wanted our first real vacation to be to the beach.

In January I started researching properties on VRBO and finally settled on this cute little carriage house in Rosemary Beach, Florida. I counted down the days and started packing about a week ahead of time. Rosemary Beach is about a 15 hour car ride away (with all the pit stops), but it was well worth it. Thank god for the Frozen on the iPad.

Rosemary is beautiful. Simply lovely. There are no chain restaurants, lots of families, tree lined streets, white sand beaches, stunning buildings and homes, hidden pathways, and amazing community pools. We rode our bikes or walked everywhere, spending our days at the ocean and pool, with lots of food and drinks in between. Iris loved – I mean LOVED – the water. Typically she’s afraid of getting her head or eyes wet, but watching her play on the beach was pure joy. I could have sat there in the sand and watched her forever.

This trip is something I’ll always look back on with such fond memories. My hope now is that we can make it a tradition.

VACATION in INSTAGRAM

Life, Photos, Toddler Blog

Getting Rid of the Pacifier

Sarah Fortune
January 5, 2014
3 Comments

After Iris’ second birthday we decided that it was nearing time to get rid of her beloved pacifiers. We started talking to her about it in advance, warming her up to the idea.

Our approach? Lying.
It worked and I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

We told her that the baby animals needed them.
What baby animals? I’m not entirely sure…
Just some vague, very cute, baby animals.

Thankfully Iris was old enough to comprehend the idea, but young enough not to question it (phew!). It actually made her happy and proud to “mail” them away to those poor baby animals that never had any pacis to love.

Because we had talked it up for a few weeks, Iris was actually excited to collect each one, stuff them into a box, and walk the package out to the mailbox. She still has no concept of what mail actually is so we even saved money on a stamp! To her, all mail – even bills – are birthday party invitations. I think I’ll start pretending that’s true.

A couple of days later wouldn’t you know – the baby animals sent us an email with pictures of them enjoying the heck out of her old pacis! I had Todd photoshop Nuks (the only kind Iris would ever use) into the mouths of the cutest animals Google images had to offer and – voila! Iris was thrilled too see her pacis still being loved by a tiny monkey, elephant, bunny, etc.

The next week wasn’t entirely smooth sailing. She woke up occasionally in the night, requiring us to go in and pat her back till she fell asleep (although, not too much different from when she would wake up, not being able to find her paci in the sheets). That was a month ago and we haven’t looked back. She accepted it from the start and never cried once for her paci. I feel like the hardest part is on the parents. It was so easy to plug her up when she was upset in public. I also knew what comfort it gave her, so taking that way made me feel a bit guilty. To me, she is still my little baby. Always will be. But now I can kiss that cute little baby mouth any time I want – without a silly Nuk in the way.

Feel free to use our idea (and our photos) if you want to try the same (lie) approach.