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.