Dressed on a Dime postpartum

Dress: $40, underskirt: $13, scarf: $2

Total: $55

Last week was the dress I lucked upon, and this week is the dress I stalked. It looked like exactly what I was looking for in terms of postpartum wear.... the front buttoned up for nursing, the waist was smocked for a nice fitted but not form hugging shape, and the fluffy ruffles disguise all the lumpy frumpiness of the early nursing days. $65 was the original ticket price, plus shipping, so when it showed up in the clearance section in my size for $40 with free shipping, I snapped it up. And it fulfilled its promise and more; it's quite comfortable, slips on easily, and fits like it was made for my measurements. Obviously I need to actually iron it at some point so I don't look quite so much like an indignant chicken, but that's one of those things I planned to do in the three weeks longer I expected to be pregnant....

The only downside to the dress is that its lowest button leaves a huge gap open at the bottom, which is not at all conducive to toddler chasing. This I solved by throwing on a lace-trimmed skirt underneath it, a stretchy waisted black and white number from the mall. The waist scarf was snagged from an online clearance sale.

Dressed on a Dime for nursing

Sometimes hours of searching online catalogs and poring over etsy and ebay doesn't uncover the perfect item so well as just simple good old fashioned thrifting.

Dress: $8, belt: $4?*, shoes: $7

Total: $19ish

*(The belt was on clearance in a set with this shirt. )

When I had Jack, I didn't buy any nursing shirts, just a few tunics with drawstring or smocked necklines. I didn't end up wearing them very much, and I thought it would sure be nice to have something better this go round. Button up shirts with traditional collars don't generally look very good on me, so I began the quest for shirtdresses, preferably ones with cute collars.

I found some really nice ones at various places around the internet, but my grail of a nursing dress was hanging around at goodwill waiting for a loving home. Nice sturdy fabric, the perfect collar, cute sleeves, a not-too-low-but-not-too-high neckline, pockets big enough for my cell phone, and a cut that somehow manages to flatter a newly postpartum belly. Oh, and did I mention the color? My husband loves it, my baby loves it, I love it, and the budget loves it as well.

Comparison

I know you're not supposed to compare your kids, but there, I did it. :) Jack at 18 days and Dominic at 21 days.

Now I think it's ok for me to say that these jeans made me compare more than just my boys, and the conclusion was unsurprising... my thighs are bigger the second go round, and, well, suffice it to say that my incision did not really care for the low rise waistband at all.

So no, I won't be wearing the jeans for longer than a few minutes for quite some time, but the rest of the outfit works well for postpartum and nursing. Jeans, tops (one clearance, one thrifted), and zip up hoody, $23ish

Same clothes, different look

For me, part of having a budget efficient wardrobe is having versatile clothes. Not stuff that can be worn multiple ways so much as stuff that can be worn on multiple versions of me. You know, regular me, massive pregnant me, and baby's personal milk cow me. I'm in that last stage right now, and I'm a little better prepared this time than I was last time. I made sure ahead of time to incorporate a lot more button-up items into my closet.

The ruffled blouse was thrifted for $5. The stripey tank and knit skirt (which both made appearances in my maternity wardrobe) were Old Navy clearance items at $4 each. My earrings were all gifted, but the necklace is a commissioned custom work for $20.

Between the three of us, we covered most of the options for cheap shopping. Jack's shirt was bought off an online garage sale for $3 (I've discovered that Thomas is so popular that pretty much every garage sale with kids' stuff will have him around somewhere). Dominic's footy is a hand-me-down from Jack, but it originally came from Nordstrom Rack. After working at a children's boutique, I developed a bit of a fondness for adorable and super-soft Kissy Kissy baby outfits, but I never fell in love with the prices. For $13, about the same price as just a tiny hat in the same print at Nordstrom not-Rack, I found this frog footy with matching jacket.

So all of us are dressed for under $50... under $30 if you don't count the necklace (which I wouldn't, since I'm not counting my VS underthings or the boys' cloth diapers either). We cut some corners around the house, but I promise that we are not so frugal that we don't wear shoes or put pants on Jack when we go out in public. Heheh.

What This Was All About

No more maternity pictures, because he is out! I had expected to get to a hundred days of this project, but it was not to be, as our little tiny kidlet decided he wanted to arrive almost three weeks early via emergency c-section. Suffice it to say I have not been taking outfit pictures these days. But many pictures have been taken! They just contain a whole lot more cuteness than my wardrobe.

Day Ninety-One

I may be the size of a house, and this dress might emphasize that, but at least I feel like a well-painted house?

I splurged on this dress for the postpartum and nursing stage, but it fits now if I belt it high. So, the cost of dress and lace-trimmed shorts was *gulp* somewhere around $50.

Day Ninety

Laundry day! It's so hard to get the stains out of all those little baby outfits Jack spit up all over all day long when he was tiny. But apparently Oxi-Clean is the miracle worker. Empire waist top, maternity layering tank that doesn't actually cover my belly, and maternity shorts, $17ish.

Day Eighty-Nine

I don't think this shirt counts as maternity, since it's technically a nursing top, har har. Giving it a trial run. With the good ol' shorts, $25ish. Ho hum, maternity and nursing stuff IS more expensive.

Day Eighty-Eight

New train table in the room means that outfit shots are harder to take, because there is a blurry little head and a table corner in the forefront of most of my pictures now. Brown empire waist top, layering tank, and denim maternity skirt, $17ish.

Day Eighty-Seven

It's all about the angles. And I'm not just talking about front vs. side.

Just the tiniest difference of posture makes me look either all baby or ballooning all over. Can you blame me for preferring to not post the pictures that make me look like I'm already a milk machine? I'm just doing it here because, "this is for posterity, so please.... be honest."

The shirt was a gift, so tank and skirt totaled about $10.

Day Eighty-Six

Another dress, another hands-under-belly shot. Ugh. But for some reason I just love to wear a dress on Sunday, no matter how it makes me look. Dress and layering shirt, $20ish. Sorry for the expression; not sure why my smile is so smarmy...

Day Eighty-Five

Time for another angle comparison post....

The bigger the belly gets, the more difficult it is to wear a dress without looking house-sized, thus the temptation to walk around with hands under the belly all the time.

The gender of the baby is still fairly clear to all the intuitive guessers, though. Dress and maternity tank, $9ish.

Day Eighty-Four

Dressed for errands and wearing makeup, but it's all wet and wonky because the child and I washed the car. Whew! Hard work if you don't have access to a hose. But it was refreshing on a very hot day. Maternity shirt, layering top, and those repeater shorts, $18ish.

Day Eighty-Three

Have I mentioned this shirt before? It's a bit of a contradiction; instead of being a regular shirt that I wear while pregnant, it's a maternity shirt that I usually wear while not pregnant. Yes, really! It's Liz Lange, which means it's enormously big on my small bones, which is apparent above in the saggy bagginess of the top part. However, when I don't have a giant belly getting in the way, the empire waist tie wraps perfectly around my natural waist and is actually surprisingly flattering. Although it's not that perfect right now, it is long enough to cover the belly, which means it gets added to the rotation. Shirt, tank, and smocked waist skirt, $12ish.

Day Eighty-Two

Longer but less cute empire waist top + layering tank + longer maternity shorts (for a change) = $18ish. Have I mentioned I like the third tri? At least in comparison...

Day Eighty-One

Stripes and stripes! This empire waist top is getting a bit short for comfort, which is sad but inevitable, since it's my favorite of the collection I bought on clearance at the mall. Layered over a tank, with of course those darn maternity shorts... $18ish.

Day Eighty

I was excited to find this non-maternity top when I was barely pregnant the first time, because I love the print but generally don't wear empire waist tops when I'm not pregnant. I wore it for my maternity photos with that pregnancy, but for some reason I haven't worn it as much this go round. I still love it, though. And it covers my whole belly! Top, layering shirt, and knit skirt, $23ish.

Day Seventy-Nine

Have I mentioned that most of my shirts fit fine in the morning but start creeping up throughout the day? By evening, my tender underbelly is a bit insecure. And there are still 5+ weeks to go... Oh my. Top, layering tank, blue maternity shorts, $15ish.

Day Seventy-Eight

Can you tell I'm not doing so well on the makeup front? Blouse, layering shirt, scarf, and the ever-present maternity shorts, $22ish. Hippo-like hips, priceless.

Day Seventy-Seven

I've hit that very common phase where no matter how much I am looking forward to holding a new squishy tiny baby, I am realizing how much things are going to change around here for my first squishy tiny baby. I won't be able to drop everything and run around the playground with him anymore.

The feelings are layered. It starts when you get married.... you realize that you are going to be giving up a lot of your treasured "me" time, and it's entirely worthwhile but a transition nonetheless. You still set aside time for yourself, and you don't feel bad about it until you hit the next transition, first child. Then you regret the time you spent on "me" instead of "us," because you know you're going to lose a lot of the "us" time. But gradually you get used to the new normal split of time, and soon it's that one on one time with baby that you realize is going to disappear, and suddenly you're wishing you'd taken time for more of it, even though really that means you would have missed out on the little "us" time and "me" time that was left.....

Not sure if that made any sense. My conclusion has been that I need to be sure to treasure the time I spend, whether it be for me, for us, with one child, or with my whole wonderful little family. Enjoy every moment for what it is instead of anxiously regretting the fact that I can't do all at once.

Enough rambling. Empire waist shirt, layering tank, knit skirt, $12ish.

Day Seventy-Six

Ah, red. I may be a shapeless blob, but for some reason I'm less cranky about being a red shapeless blob than when wearing most other colors. Even if I've managed to stain this shirt already too, and my belly button is on permanent display these days. Shirt + tank + maternity shorts = $18ish.

Day Seventy-Five

I don't really care for this color on me, but as it is the only color that Jack routinely identifies, he was thrilled to see it on me. "Yeyow! YEYOW!!!" Yep. This is an actual maternity top, and I was smart enough to get this picture taken before I got grease stains all over the bump. *sigh* The belly is a stain magnet. Shirt, layering tank, and maternity skirt, $19ish.

Day Seventy-Four

Black shirt, purple striped layering tank, and purple knit skirt, $16ish. All blob, all the time!

Day Seventy-Three

Belly belly belly. Most of the time I don't feel huge, but occasionally it catches up to me. I see pictures of myself at this stage when I was preg with Jack, and I looked tiny in comparison. And then there's the fact that this kiddo loves to kick right in that very small space in between my ribs and hips. Sometimes it feels like bone on bone. It's still an amazing thing and the best part of pregnancy in my opinion. Shirt + knit skirt = $11ish.

Day Seventy-Two

Very unexciting outfits these days. Now that I am in the final countdown, it's up to me to get my money's worth out of these maternity shorts, so they'll be making a lot of appearances (probably postpartum too, haha). How could I possibly be wearing shorts all the time and still have such startlingly white legs, you ask? Obviously Jack isn't suffering from the same lack of Vitamin D. I generally avoid getting a tan while I'm pregnant, for the vain reason that things already look funny enough in the shrinking down process without adding extra pigment to the mix (don't worry, I do take a VitD supplement). It doesn't really help me feel less like a giant beached white whale right now, but ah well. Shirt and shorts, $14ish.

Day Seventy-One

I wore this exact same outfit last week, but didn't document it, which is a great excuse to recycle it, right? Except now I've ratted myself out. Maternity shorts, empire waist top, and ruffle trimmed layering tank, $20ish. This brown top somehow got lost in my closet, and I was excited to find it since it is a nice change from all the predominantly bright pink or blue.

Day Seventy

The belly grows throughout the day. No wonder I feel best in the morning.

I blogged about this shirt when I first bought it. Oh my oh my, was I really that skinny once upon a time (I'm sure I was sucking in my gut for the photo, but still, even being able to do that seems unimaginable right now)? Anyway, I'm happy to find that my prediction that it would be great for maternity was true. I still feel huge in it, but I feel slightly less huge. Probably because it still is great at holding the bulges in. By the end of the day, it feels a bit less comfy. Worn over a tank for extra underbelly coverage and with a knit skirt, $16ish.

Day Sixty-Nine

Out of town for the weekend, learning home defense, and taking advantage of my new and newly altered maternity shorts, worn with a star print empire waist top and layering tank, $21ish.

Day Sixty-Eight

Thrifted a new shirt supposedly for postpartum (*coughstretchyneckcough*), but hey it fits now! I also broke down and splurged on a couple pairs of maternity shorts on sale online. My regular ones just can't keep up with my thighs, and it is just too hot to be without shorts (skirts are nice, but sometimes toddler-chasing requires a bit more freedom of movement). I will try to not get back on my soapbox about the evils of traditional elastic maternity waists, but suffice it to say that immediately after I tried the two pairs of shorts on, I had to immediately pull out the scissors and cut out the big restricting elastic band that cut right across my belly (causing the baby to kick violently). What is left to hold the shorts up is a stretchy fabric panel that can be pulled up or folded/pushed down and works perfectly. Blissful comfort. Um, so anyway, this outfit totaled around $15.

Day Sixty-Seven

What, is it one of those empire waists again? Trying to be creative but working with what fits here, I'm wearing it this time over a tank and with a floaty tiered skirt. One of my improv belly bands holds the waist of the skirt up as well as the impromptu gathers. $19ish.

Day Sixty-Six

Empire waist top layered over something I wish I'd thought of ages ago... half of a tube top. Har har. Yeah, so a cheap stretchy tube top can be sliced across the waist to provide two little bands that work great to provide a little extra coverage up top or else around the underbelly, without causing too much extra sweat in this sweltering weather. Worn with my denim maternity skirt, $17ish. The internet tells me that the baby is about the size of this bitty baby doll, although I'm betting the proportions are a little different at this point. Still, it's kind of weird to imagine there's a little person hanging out in my belly in roughly that position....

Day Sixty-Five

Maternity shirt alert! I think this stripey number is exceedingly unflattering on me when I'm not holding a super cute toddler, but length is a must! Layered, as usual, over a tank and with a knit skirt. $16ish.

Day Sixty-Four

Well into the third tri, so these empire waists are a staple. Unlike most other shirts left in my wardrobe, they still have room to spare. Layered over a tank with a knit skirt, $12ish.

Day Sixty-Three

Air mattress still up and obstructing.... but here is a nice slouchy comfort outfit of loose shirt over a layering tank with a smocked skirt. $12ish.

Day Sixty-Two

Even worse heat wave + sweltering kitchen as I tried to cook ahead so we wouldn't have to use the stove/oven while the houseguests were here resulted in, yes, yet another lapse in not just posting but of course anything remotely post-worthy. And then once the house was full again, there was no room for taking pictures. I'm stuck with limited options, and it shows.

Yikes, desperate times. Shirt + skirt = $7ish.