Preggo Style – Day 1

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Okay, here we go! Day 1 of the Preggo Style Project (note: I hate the term “preggo” but it somehow stuck during the development of this whole idea, and now my brain can’t seem to think of another title for this series…if you have any ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments) is focused on work-appropriate attire. We wanted to find a look that would work for a business casual work environment, and could also carry over to after work activities. For this, I knew it had to be comfortable, especially in the shoe and torso departments, as long days seem about a million hours longer when you’re pregnant. So without further ado, here is our first look!

(click on photos to see at larger size)

Day 1

From Stylist Extrodinaire, Katie: For me, this look represented a work chic option for those days at the office where you might need to dress up a bit more, say for a luncheon or meeting. I love this look because it’s looks easy and comfortable, yet can keep up with you as you run around. Nothing beats the comfort of leggings – pregnant or not. If you do not own a pair of leggings, matte tights, textured tights or some knee high socks (that I absolutely love at the moment) would rock this look as well. The dress offers a bit of texture to the look, with its geometric pattern, while the cardigan ties everything together. We went for a monochromatic look, opting to stay within neutral tones, but you could “get all crazy” (Megan face) and add bits of color (say in an accessory, or the knee socks you could wear).

From Megan: This outfit pretty accurately represents how I’ve been dressing for work, at least during this last bit of my pregnancy. I apparently own way too many empire waisted / loose-fitting dresses, because most of my non-maternity dresses have been able to be worn throughout each trimester. The dress is a short-sleeved J Crew number I got two years ago on some crazy online sale (it is no longer listed on their website, boo). The sweater I bought at Costco last year when I was under-dressed during a Fall shopping day and needed something to warm up. I wear it all the time, so I’d say it was fate, even though I’m not a big advocate of buying clothing where you buy your bulk toilet paper. I’d tell you the brand, but I cut out the tag because it was super-itchy so I have no idea what the brand actually is. The leggings are from Francesca’s Colletions on the Plaza in Kansas City. The brand is Iris and I love them because they are non-maternity, but cut to somehow fit under the belly, rendering them totally useful throughout this pregnancy. I have two pairs and I wear them constantly.

Day 1 - Details

From Katie: What I love about Megan’s pregnant style is that she loves her figure. She doesn’t want to hide her silhouette and I think that is marvelous. So to tie in (literally) the dress and cardigan combo, we took her existing skinny belt and created an empire waist. The skinny belt was extra fab because of its hint of greenish-bronze that went along with the tones of the look. The jewelry, all separate and different pieces Megan owns, were also a perfect tie in. My belief is that it shouldn’t be to matchy-matchy. Choose one element that can tie all of the pieces together (in this case, we chose color) and let the different styles and textures blend together. The necklace is a perfect example of doing this (in one piece!). While we laid out various looks, I immediately started to scheme about how I could steal these boots (which I thought were Frye’s) without her noticing….but then, you probably shouldn’t steal from pregnant women…and then she told me they were BORN boots. BORN! (!!!) (…check out the knee sock/tight combo! <3 <3 <3) So, I just settled on being jealous of her awesome buy.

From Megan: The necklace was a gift from my sister for my birthday this year…in fact most of my jewelry comes from two places, gifts from my sister or made for me by my sister-in-law. When I first laid eyes on this piece, which she’d purchased at some random purse party sale thing, I thought it was a wee bit much for me. But when I saw it with this outfit, I really liked it. We shortened the chain length a bit so it hit at a more flattering angle, and I think it works. The charms all represent something about me and it even has two empty photo frames for pictures of the kids. (Awwwww!) The boots, as Katie mentioned, are Born’s and they are too awesome for words. My sister-in-law had them when I visited her last year and I coveted them so much, I tracked them down for myself. By that time, it was almost spring so I got a killer deal, at Dillard’s of all places (they retail for $180, but I got mine at $75ish if I remember right). They are easily the most comfortable shoes I own, so they have been go-to footwear this fall, as I’m carrying some extra poundage on my poor feet. The earrings and bracelet were both also gifts from my sister, I believe from Express, circa 2004. The skinny belt is from the J Crew sale bin.

My favorite part about this outfit, other than it’s comfort and styling, is the fact that not one part of it is maternity wear. Proof you don’t need to spend a ton on special maternity gear to get a classic look. Yay for saving money!

Up tomorrow….a bit more color and another, more casual, work look….

On Figuring Out the Beauty Thing

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When I was pregnant with Lucy, five odd years ago, I was still figuring out who I was in every single sense of the word. Not that I’m not doing that same thing now, I mean, it’s a constant learning curve to figure out who you are, but at twenty-eight I feel much more comfortable in my skin than I did at twenty-two/twenty-three. And I mean that both literally and figuratively. Not only did I have no clue what I was doing as a new wife, new (surprise!) parent-to-be, friend, working mom…on and on and on, but I didn’t feel comfortable in my body.

When I got pregnant with Lu, right away I lost 15-20 pounds. And let me tell you, the first 10 pounds were pretty awesome! But after that, man, I was hungry. Most of the pounds came off due to stress (OMGI’MHAVINGABABYWTF!) and the ever-dreaded morning sickness. I am not a lucky pregnant person during those first few months, and I suffer from morning sickness pretty badly. I basically didn’t eat for two months, so obviously, weight was lost.

So up until I was about 6 months pregnant, people honestly couldn’t tell. I’m tall-ish and since I had so much weight to put back on, I really didn’t balloon out until later. And my job, though stressful, had an extremely relaxed dress code, so I spent most of that pregnancy in sweatpants and old t-shirts. I certainly had no interest in pregnancy fashion, or looking cute while pregnant, because I basically felt that was an impossible task.

Us on the Pier

Me at 5 Months Pregnant with Lucy…Trent in his bearded wonder days

This time around, things are a bit different. I still didn’t show much until later, but I definitely got to a bigger belly much more quickly then last time. And this time my job, while so much better then where I was during the first pregnancy, has a more strict dress code. I’m not wearing a suit every day or anything, but they tend to frown upon sweatpants and stained t-shirts.

*Quick sidenote: Can I just emphasize how incredibly lucky I am to have the body I do? I swear, I have met women whose pregnancies are just awful, uncomfortable months of yuckiness, and mine, truly, are not that way. I have the first two months of sick, tired, OMGIWANTTODIE, but after that, it’s pretty much on cruise control. I get tired, but not too exhausted to function. I don’t really have bad reflux or swelling or early contractions or whatnot. Maybe it’s my karma for the morning sickness thing? No idea, but I think I may need to make a sacrifice to some lady-god to thank her for this gestation luck…*

One thing that is exactly the same regarding both of these pregnancies is, honestly, I’ve never felt more comfortable in my own skin as I do when I am pregnant. I remember feeling this way with Lu and wondering if that was normal or if I was just a complete weirdo…and I’m still not sure. Maybe it’s because when I’m pregnant I feel like my body is doing something really incredible or maybe it’s because I give myself a pass on the nit-picking, as I’m supposed to look different then normal, but for whatever reason, I love how I look and have way more confidence then when I’m not with child. So this pregnancy, I decided I wanted to look cute, because damnit, I am! But, and this is where I promise this post will go somewhere, I didn’t want to spent too much money in the process.

As this is likely my last pregnancy, I definitely didn’t want to spend a bazillion dollars on designer maternity gear, but I didn’t want to spend 9 (10) months schlubbing around either. I picked up some basics early on from Gap Maternity, my go to for all new stuff, as I know it will fit and is great quality for the price. I had a pair of jeans and a dress or two from my pregnancy with Lu that I wore this time around, but that’s about it. I trolled eBay and style blogger sales looking for deals on brands I knew I liked. And I have a few lovely friends that unloaded some of their old maternity clothes on me as well.

A few weeks back, a good friend who lives far, far away asked if I would post pictures of my pregnant self on Flickr so she could watch me balloon out from afar. After a few weeks of posting my “Preggo Style” I started to think about how almost all of my outfits were non-maternity, regifted, recycled or purchased used, and how it might make for a fun little blog piece. So I gathered my good friend Katie, a stylist extroidinaire, and asked if she’d help me do a piece on maternity fashion on a budget. She said yes because I am quite convincing. And a few days back, we gathered to “shop my closet” for maternity wear. Rules were at least several of the pieces had to be non-maternity, all had to include something regifted or reused, and everything had to be my own. One messy closet later, we had five days worth of outfits to share with all of you! This is something new for Crazybananas, but since I’m the CEO of Awesome around here, I decided trying something new might be good for all of us.

Stay tuned later today for outfit number one, and let me know what you think! Feel free to mock my craptastic modeling, but if you call my giant belly ugly, I might cry. Just, you know, keep it kind, people. I’m hormonal.

Grumples (because it’s about time)

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Lately I’ve been all about the positivity here on this site and all other online areas. For such a long time I was just such a drain on the web…just wah wah wah wah about everything and anything. So much so that I even created the Grumples section on this site. But as my life changed and I (ahem) matured, I tried to make a concerned effort to keep my grumpy ranting to myself, instead focusing on my glass being half full.

But listen, people, I haven’t sleep through the night in MONTHS and the baby isn’t even here yet! So, damnit, I’m grumpy. And maybe if I just get it all out, I will feel better.

A few weeks back Trent took Lucy with him on a Secret Shopping excursion that he was participating in with one of his company’s partners. He had asked how I felt about Lucy’s participation, as this Secret Shopper experience was to take place at a pediatrician’s office (hence, the need for Lu to attend). I told him I wasn’t totally comfortable with it, but if he thought it was a good idea, I’d let him make the call. Note: This was a mistake. I should always make the call. The office apparently didn’t have separate waiting rooms for sick and well patients, and about two days later Lu came down with the WORST COLD EVER. Now, Trent will tell you that this cold could have come from anywhere, preschool, dance class, the playplace at the local Chic-Fil-A….that’s crap. It obviously came from this damn doctor’s office. How do I know? Because THIS IS ALL TRENT’S FAULT AND BECAUSE I SAID SO.

Side-effects of aforementioned cold equal not sleeping, coughing, sneezing, coughing, coughing, sounding like a cat with a hairball, and never-ending whining. Also, Lu wakes up at approximately 3:30 or 4 a.m. every morning coughing and crying. Now, if it was 2 a.m. or earlier, I would just dose her with some nightime cough medicine and send her on her merry way. I am an awesome parent. But as it’s later (earlier?) I can’t give her said medicine because the kid will then be knocked out and won’t get up for school on time. Which means I’m late for work, since I do preschool pick up and drop off. Which means I walk into yet ANOTHER meeting late and pregnant and hungry and grumpy and obviously I’m promoted and given a raise. Or not. More like not.

In order to try and avoid the nightime wake up we have tried the following: Nightime cough medicine before bed, cough suppressent, a humidifier in her room at night, a humidifier with cough reducing vapor stuff, Vicks vapor rub (both on the chest and on the feet like the crazy Internet told me to), a spoonful of honey, ice cold water, sacrificing my soul to satan and just ignoring the coughing until she finally almost chokes herself and throws up in her bed. Again, I am an awesome parent. You can just stop applauding now.

Obviously, the above treatments have not worked, as she keeps ending up in our bed at the same time, coughing her little head off. And by that point in the evening, I have probably already gotten a smashing 3 hours of sleep due to the hourly pee breaks I must take as Taco John performs karate in my stomach. I’m all, “Grasshopper, you need to chillax,” and he’s all “Eff you lady, hi-yaaa!” She lays in our bed, between the two of us, and it goes like this. Coughing fit, begs for water, coughing fit, 5 minutes of quiet, I start to fall asleep, she starts singing, I wake again, she asks for water, she tells me I’m pretty, coughing fit, starts talking about random crap that happened at school, coughing fit. Repeat.

Now, on top of all of that, she wants me to look at her, 2 inches from her face as she coughs. When I roll over with my back to her, she cries, “Mommy, I need you to look at meeeeeee!” And so I roll back over and she coughs in my face.

After about two hours of this, the coughing batteries run out and she falls asleep. As soon as she’s out, she rolls over and snuggles up with Trent, where they both remain until I attempt to wake them as I run out the door to work. After I tell them to get up about eleventy billion times, turn on all the lights, noisily get ready for the day, I finally shake them both and say, “I’m leaving. You figure out how to get to school on your own.” Then they both bounce up, oh no no no, you can’t leave!!! We need you!

At this point I usually bribe Lu to get dressed using jellybeans. Then we fight over what she is going to wear for about 15 minutes. Even though we pick out her outfits the night before and agree on them. Doesn’t matter. It’s always a battle. And she’s tired and sick, so it’s even worse. If it’s not one of three favorite dresses, I’m pretty much screwed. The other day she went to school in sweatpants, jelly sandals and a rhinestone studded thermal t-shirt.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned what an awesome parent I am.

Point being (really? I guess…) today I was talking to Trent’s mom on the phone. She wants to take Lu to her farm for a few days and I was warning her it may not be very fun with Sickly McSickpants coughing all night. She said to me, “Oh I heard. Trent said between you peeing all night and Lucy’s coughing, he isn’t sleeping very well.”

Really?

REALLY??!?!?!?!?!!!

Next time she wakes up coughing, I’m literally going to take her to our bed, place her coughing face right in front of Trent’s and take off for the nearest Holiday Inn. Just try and stop me.

Overscheduled

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Hi, I’m in my third trimester and I need to learn how to just STOP ALREADY.

But since I haven’t (won’t? can’t?), there are some things that have been neglected. Like this here blog. Sorry.

This is what I look like today.

7 Months Pregnant with Taco John

Okay, I lied. That is what I looked like on Sunday. When I showered. Today I look a bit more like a grumpy, overweight loon that needs a nap.

This is what Lucy looked like on Sunday.

A Little Bit Excited

She looks like that today, too. It’s kind of her thing.

Her other thing? Being awesomely adorable.

Belly Love

God help me if Taco John is anything like Lu. I don’t know if my heart can stand it. It may just explode from joy.

Twenty Eight

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cupcake bokeh
(photo via Flickr)

Today is my birthday. I turn twenty eight years old.

I have to say, I know a lot of people freak about getting older. But I’m loving it. I’m so happy to be where I am in my life, to be who I am. Even though I’m not near perfect, and am a constant work in progress, I feel like at the very least, progress is consistantly being made.

I always thought I would hate being pregnant on my birthday (I found out about Lulu exactly 8 days after my birthday, so this is the first one where I’ve celebrated mid-gestation), but I’m finding it to be almost more fun then those cocktail/happy hour driven birthdays of previous years.

Mind you, I wouldn’t mind a glass of wine. Or bourbon. Either / or.

But I feel full. And not just from all the cupcakes I’ve consumed today. My life just feels stuffed to the brim with happiness. I have such good people in my life, friends and family that make every day feel special. So if you’re out there, and you’re reading this, just know you’re probably affected my life in good and lovely ways, which in turn makes you gorgeous.

See? Getting older makes you prettier. I just know it.

IMG_6570
(photo by Nicole Coleman)

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