Dressing for the Bump Months

The Goal: Be the Cutest Pregnant Lady Ever.

The Struggle: Trying to dress cute even while continuously gaining weight, changing sizes, being exhausted and feeling nauseous.

Yes, welcome all, to pregnancy. The wonderful months of the “glow”, where everyone tells you that you “look great” and “it’s all baby”, and you just want to slap them in the face because your pregnancy hormones are already raging. As if you’re not already self conscious enough about your beautiful ballooning stomach, everyone around you thinks they have the right to touch it and talk to it just because there’s a baby in there; I’m all “Whoa! Back off stranger! Hands of the goods!”

Ah, the wonderful, beautiful, realities of pregnancy.

Of course it’s not all bad; it’s actually quite wonderful. From the moment you find out that a tiny human being is growing inside of you, you’re sucked up into the mysterious miracle of life. It’s honestly an incredible time and I loved my entire just about all of my pregnancy. It was a great time for me and my husband as we anticipated the little one that we were about to usher into the world. It also brought me closer to God as I felt life move inside my body and watched in awed wonder as a human being was harbored in my frail human body; it was astounding. But also hard. Shove a beach ball under your shirt, try to make it look cute, and you’ll have some idea of how it feels to be pregnant.

I always planned to be the cutest pregnant lady ever -that’s what I always told people. And then the blessed event actually happened and I realized it wasn’t going to be quite as easy as I thought. All those serene pictures you see of radiant women embracing their sweet little baby bumps? Yeah, they’re photo shopped. Let me just be the first to attest to the fact that most of the women you see in those pregnancy ads are actually NOT pregnant! It’s totally unfair. They’re cute and perfectly skinny and I’m all fat and unhappy over here.

Now, it’s not impossible to dress cute while pregnant; it’s just challenging. But don’t let the challenge scare you out of your goals. You CAN be a cute pregnant woman and show the world that motherhood is a beautiful thing from start to finish.

Go Long! Maxi dresses are a great option for a changing body.

Pregnancy is all about the “glow”, the radiant beauty of bringing new life into the world. So think womanly. If your face shape allows it, grow your hair out long! Lush locks are just one of the wonderful benefits of those giant prenatal vitamins you’re taking. I loved wearing my hair down while I was pregnant because it helped to draw the attention up to my face rather than my ever changing body. I did feel beautiful with such super-star worthy hair.

Don’t rush out and buy a new wardrobe; you can wear your normal clothes for awhile.

You don’t have to break the bank to be cute while pregnant either. I bought a few basic tops, two pairs of maternity jeans and then let my accessories do all the talking. Especially when you’re just beginning to show; the temptation is to rush out and buy a whole bunch of maternity clothes -don’t! You don’t need them yet! You can still wear your normal clothes and they’ll look just as cute with your little baby bump. They’ll probably actually show that bump off better than if you were to go out and buy and bunch of the ruched styles that are made for a much larger stomach. Allow your body time to begin growing and changing before you go out and buy new styles so that you don’t buy too small of sizes and then have to buy larger ones later.

Think accessories!

You greatest weapon is going to be your accessories; scarves, statement necklaces, chunky earrings -this is the time to go big or go home! Your main goal should be to draw attention up towards your face and away from your belly. So don’t wear long necklaces that will bounce around over your baby bump; wear thick, chunky, statement type necklaces that will draw the focus towards your face. Accessories also allow you to change the look of your outfit so you can buy less and no one will notice.

Have fun experimenting with colors and patterns.

Don’t be afraid to wear clingy fabrics. This is the time to embrace your bump; not hide it. While skin tight is not always the best look, you can choose stretchy breathable fabrics that will embrace your bump and make you look cute rather than frumpy. Often times women choose loose or ill fitting styles that don’t follow the contour of their bump and ends up making them look dowdy or bigger than they really are. Be conscientious of the styles you are choosing.

Show off that waist!

Don’t put away all those cute belts just yet; you still have a waist! Especially when your bump is smaller a belt can add more definition to your outfit and allow people to see your cute little baby bump rather than assuming you just ate a little too much at lunch. Also if you’re like me and buy items that are a little on the big side (so your belly has more room to grow) a belt is a great option that will still allow you to wear all those cute things you bought.

Splurge on just a few statement items.

If you have the budget for it, allow yourself to splurge on just a few few pieces for your maternity wardrobe. Especially if it’s your first pregnancy and you don’t have a large stash of maternity clothes built up yet. I was pregnant over the holiday and I wanted to make sure that I still felt pretty and attractive so I bought a few dresses for special occasions. This dress I actually found on sale at the end of the fall season. I had short cap sleeves but with a little added cover up it become a great winter dress. Because it was grey and fairly neutral I could pretty much add any color I wanted with it to change it up. I also looked at thrift shops and surprisingly found some pretty cute items. But don’t buy something at a thrift store just because it’s maternity! Try it on and make sure that you like it; if it’s cute, buy it, if not PUT IT BACK!

Enjoy it!

Basically it all boils down to having fun. Enjoy your pregnancy. You won’t be pregnant forever -even though I know it feels that way. Embrace the life that is growing inside of you and flaunt your beautiful life-giving figure rather than trying to hide it. Try new things and be bold about your outfit choices. If there is one thing that you’re definitely allowed to do while be pregnant it’s dress cute and be happy.

PS) All these photos were taken for my own personal week-by-week bump update; so don’t judge me on the quality!

Tips from “That Mom”

Yeah, you know the one I’m talking about.

Everyone has ‘That One Mom’ that they know who always dresses cute, does her hair, and puts on makeup all while totting one or more small children around.

Don’t pretend like you don’t know who I’m talking about because you totally do. As soon as I said the phrase ‘That One Mom’ someone’s face popped into your head. Don’t deny it; embrace it. We all have role models that we look up to. It’s actually a good thing to have people in our lives that inspire us to new goals. While we need to be careful not to fall into envy or jealousy, it is good to admire one another and be appreciative of the unique skill set that God gave each individual.

That being said….please don’t stone me when I say It’s my goal to be ‘That Mom’.

Now before you roll your eyes in disgust, just give me a chance to explain myself.

I’ve always wanted to be a mom. Ever since I was about 3-4 years old my goal has been to grow up, get married and make beautiful babies. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. And like other children with their childhood dreams, I have always wanted to do it to the best of my abilities. While the explanation of what that looks like on a daily basis goes far beyond the scope of this small blog, I would like to focus on one main aspect of that goal; fashion.

Two weeks after I had my baby I met up with a friend who was about two weeks away from her due date. After chatting for awhile over our smoothies she looked at me and said; “How do you do it? Did you just set out to be ‘That Mom’ who was up and about and beautiful right after having her baby?”

It took me a moment of thought before I could answer.

Yes. Yes I did.

I never actually realized that that was my goal, it’s just a part of who I am as a person.

Style has always been a large part of my life, so even transitioning into a new era in my life didn’t phase my personal style or drive to look my best. If anything it actually made me want to be even more beautiful. After having my son I felt so feminine; so distinctly womanly. I’m not sure if every woman feels that way after they’ve had a baby, but after 8 hours of active labor and a natural delivery I felt about as deeply feminine as I think I ever will.

1) Don’t sacrifice your personal style just because you now have children. For some reason pregnancy and motherhood seems to give a lot of women the green light to grunge out in yoga pants, t-shirts and sloppy pony tails on a daily basis; just say no!

2) Take a little time to yourself! It’s not selfish of you to put your content baby down for a little while and spend some time on yourself. Especially in those first few months after my baby came I needed to have a few minutes to myself to shower, get dressed and apply a little makeup; it improved my mood so much! (Not to mention a little concealer goes a long ways at hiding the evidence of all those sleepless nights!)

3) Choose easy outfits that won’t get in the way of your role as a mother. This season in my life is all about the basics; how can I make this outfit look the best with less fuss? I’ve had to say goodbye to a lot of my finicky accessories for a time, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve sacrificed my style in any way! Now I have been focusing more on chunky earrings, statement necklaces (short not long so that baby can’t get at them as easily and they’re more durable!), and fun up-do’s that don’t require much time.

4) Don’t feel like it? Do it anyways. Trust me, you don’t get to be ‘That Mom’ for noth’in! If you’re going out, dress appropriately! As I have said before, sweat pants, t-shirts, no makeup and pony tails do not have to be the staples of a mom’s wardrobe! Instead think easy maxi skirts, maxi dresses, comfy jeans and cute tops; they are all just as easy of styles as the “grunge” look but go a lot further in personal style department.

5) Have your off days. Yeah I know. It seems in direct conflict with the tip above. But trust me, it’s not. I try to choose my “off days” on days when I don’t plan to go anywhere. Then I can really just kick back and wear whatever I want and let my face breathe for a day. I think it’s really good to have a day to not fuss about your attire at all to remind you that although it’s a good goal, it’s not everything.

6) Makeup ladies, makeup. I have always had an interest in makeup, but being a new mommy has limited the time that I can spend in front of the mirror each morning. Not that I’ve ever really taken all that much time, but I used to spend about 30 minutes on my hair and makeup before, now I spend about 15. Learn your routine and stick with it. I know what looks good on my face and although I like to step it up a notch on certain days, most days I just wear what I like to think of as my basics; foundation, concealer if needed, powder, blush, eye shadow and mascara. I know that sounds like a long list, but I can literally throw that all on in about 5 minutes and be date ready. Of course that’s not including hair…

7) Plan ahead! I know this may sound crazy to you, but I think ahead enough to know if tomorrow I’ll need a little extra time because I’ll be washing my hair (thus needing time to let it dry before I style it), or whether I need to put it up with a headband and need to plan my outfit accordingly. My hair, along with the rest of my life, is on a loose schedule. Hair goes like this; day 1-wash, let air dry, style. I usually let this be the day I leave it down and either curl or straighten it. So like I said, this can take a little extra time. Day 2-half-up, half-down day. Typically on this day my hair isn’t too greasy so I’ll either just leave it down, do a half-up-half-down look, or put it up completely depending on my mood. This really is usually my most versatile day. Day 3-Ah! Hide it! day. If any of you have “trained” your hair in a similar matter you know it takes time to even be able to go three days without washing your hair, but also that by day three your hair is usually not looking all that fresh. On this day I usually apply a little bit of dry shampoo to my roots to help mask any yucky greasiness and then I commence to throw my hair as high on the top of my head as I can and make a nice little messy bun, successfully hiding most of the yuck. Otherwise this would be the day that I strategically plan my wardrobe around a cute headband. Don’t knock it until you try it people-this really works!

I could go on an on, but mainly because this post is getting way too long I’ll stop. 7 seems like a relatively good number anyhow.

In the future I plan to get more in-depth on a lot of these and demonstrate some of my cute and easy go-to hair styles, but until then this will have to do.

Take it from me girls, you can be ‘That Mom’. All it takes is a little bit of foresight and effort.

Trust me, you’ve got this.

For the Love of Retro

What’s in the Closet?  Retro Edition

Well…I don’t know how well I did at digging a few retro worthy outfits out of my closet, but the main point is I tried :)  It was actually a lot of fun.  I really like the slightly quirky look.  My biggest road block was the fact I actually don’t own very many bright colors or patterned pieces, weird I know, but that’s just not what I lean towards.  So I really had to dig to come up with a few outfits that I felt might squeak by.  To those of you who do this style often, don’t hate me, really the whole point of this exercise was to learn about new styles and see how many styles I could squeeze out of my wardrobe…So all in all, I think this was a pretty successful day.

Outfit number one; Although you can’t see it very well, I have a cute floppy black bow in my hair, I liked that the details of this outfit really went together; headband & belt, pearls & polka dots.

Bright…Bright is good…

Outfit number two; This one had a bit of a pin-up-girl type feel to it.  I didn’t really try for the red, white and blue theme, but I kind of liked how it all turned out.

I feel like a sailor :)

Outfit number three; So this is probably the only outfit that really could be classified as retro, I found this dress at an antique store and even better, it has little purple and burgundy elephants on it!

I know the photo looks a little blue, but I’m happy as can be!

Truth be told I was actually a little nervous going into this one, I wasn’t sure if I could pull of this look.  I have a lot of friends who dress this way and I’ve often wanted to try out a few more funky outfits.  I’m really glad I did, because this was really fun!  I like the uniqueness of being able to dress like this, I felt a lot less pressure to look like everyone else, I was really just trying to have fun and be me.  I don’t know if I would wear these looks all the time, but once in a while I think it’s fun to shake things up again.  I wear tights a lot with my dresses, but I don’t wear these colored ones very often, now I think I just may have to pull them out more often, they’re a lot of fun!

Things I Learned While Trying this Style: #1) Tastefully mis-matched colors and patterns are actually a lot of fun.  #2) I do not like ratting my hair.  #3) Retro takes a lot of work to do well, but it’s totally worth it!

Revisiting Retro

Style Stakeout

Retro, when you dig into it, is basically everything classic is not.  While classic is timeless and fits into all different categories of dress, retro is a very unique, fun a quirky style.  Retro is vintage or vintage inspired clothing, worn with or without modern pieces.  Some of my favorite vintage outfits that I’ve seen incorporate original vintage pieces and normal everyday clothes to create a stylish and exclusive look.  Retro stands out.  It’s not a blend in sort of style, it’s bold and old-fashioned on purpose.  Where classic exudes old-world elegance in a subtle way, retro screams vintage in a not so subtle way.  I don’t know how well I’m going to do at this retro look, but the more I study it, the more inspired I become.  If you can pull of retro well; more power to you, it’s a gorgeous one-of-a-kind style.

Style: Retro

Inspiration:  Modcloth (this website has awesome retro clothing!), The Help (movie), I had a hard time finding a celebrity that fit the category, but here are a few websites you can go to for inspiration; Scathingly Brilliant, A Beautiful Mess, Beautifully Pure.

Staples:  Unique vintage pieces, bright cardigans, oxfords (in any color), sunglasses with colored rims, the bouffant, patterned shirts, skirts with a high waist and colored tights.

While retro can be zeroed in on one era if you choose, it’s best left as a totally restriction free style where you mix and match many different eras to get your point across; think old world style.  Retro is not about hiding the fact that you’re wearing vintage clothing or slightly mismatched styles; it’s about touting that fact loudly.  It takes a strong woman to wear retro well and a confident personality to pull it off.

The hard part about retro is it relies heavily on one of a kind pieces and slightly out-there patterns and colors.  It’s not an easy style to copy if you’re just doing it once in a while, if you’re going to do retro; you need to do it all the way.  A retro wardrobe would not be easy to come by; it would take lots of hard work and years of collecting items.  But if it’s your style, then it’s totally worth it because you’ll always have irreplaceable clothes you love and a style that sends a message.

http://scathingly-brilliant.com/

How do I channel my inner retro style?  Although I think you can look to others for some inspiration, this style is best kept to each her own.  The whole point of the style is to be completely unique in the way you dress.  So to start, think of some of your favorite things; ice-cream, clouds, puppies or polka dots.  This is a style where you can take all of your favorite things and incorporate them into your outfits.  You’d probably be surprised at what kind of vintage prints you can find, I’ve seen some pretty crazy ones!  Start with basics and then add layers.  Start with a patterned dress, add tights, a cardigan, jewelry and cute shoes.  This sort of style is not about being subtle, be obvious, stand out, that’s the beauty of retro!

So about that bouffant thing….?  There are actually a couple very simple ways to style a bouffant.  but if you’re no up for poufy hair on a day to day basis, you could try out some of these other styles; victory rolls, pin curls, side rolls or forward bangs.  I would say you hair should best reflect who you are, so study old fashioned hair-do’s and see what you like best; but remember, it’s all about being obvious, so pick a style that you know screams vintage, that’s the fun of it!

http://www.beautifully-pure.com/

Final Thoughts:  Be tasteful.  Although retro really is a ‘look at me style’, you don’t have to dress like your grandma to get there.  Be tasteful in what you wear, try mixing old and new styles.  Have fun mixing and matching but don’t go overboard with a million different colors.  Stay true to yourself so that this style doesn’t over-run you.

Old School Hollywood Glamour

What’s in the Closet?  Class Edition…

Ooops…Did is say hair edition?  What I meant to say was wardrobe raid; closet make over, Class Edition.  Okay, well really I just over looked the fact that I needed to wash my hair today, so for any of you who do you hair often, you know a French twist wouldn’t really work all that well.  Elaborate hairstyles are way better with day old hair, so we’ll just have to save the French twist how-to for tomorrow.  Today we’re going to take the plunge into the depths of my closet to pull out a few classic outfits.

Surprisingly, while I was going through my closet trying to decide what to wear, I actually had a bit of a hard time.  Although this is one of my favorite styles, I don’t necessarily wear it all the time, so to my surprise I actually had a bit of a hard time coming up with outfit….weird, I know.  But I guess that is part of the point of this style exercise.  For those of you who are like me, living on a budget and don’t exactly have tons of money to makeover your wardrobe to your every whim, we just have to deal with what we have.  So I dug through my clothes and pulled out items that I thought went well with the classic look.  Take a look to see what you think…

Outfit number one, business casual.  I chose loose-fitting boot cut jeans and a white t because they cut such a classic figure.  I thought the black blazer really made the outfit business like, but still casual and comfortable.

I loved how beautiful I felt, even in this simple outfit.

 

Outfit number two, this would be a perfect back to school outfit.  It’s the perfect mix of classy and trendy, and it would look really cute with a french twist!

Skirts and Cardigans; is there anything better?

Outfit number three, this whole style had a really old-fashioned glamorous feel to it, but I wanted to tone it down a bit to something I could wear to just lounge around in on a Saturday morning.  This outfit was cozy but still classic.

All I need is a cup of Cocoa and a good book!

Outfit number four, to really round out this photo shoot I went with an uber-classic dress that I could totally see Audrey Hepburn wearing.  I felt beautiful in every outfit, but in this last outfit I felt beyond beautiful; there is an elegance and subtle glamour about this style that really appeals to the girl in me.

Saved the best for last :)

I would wear any of these outfits again (and probably will).  I loved how the hair and makeup made me feel like a movie star.  I thought I went a little overboard with the winged eyeliner because it looked pretty dramatic when I first put it on, but after I added mascara and when I looked back through the picture, I realized you could hardly see it!  But it did make my lashes appear fuller and longer, a really nice little trick.  I wasn’t used to doing curls like this, I basically used a mix between my straightener and curling iron, usually I leave my curls a little more unruly and free, but I really liked this slightly more tamed look.  It looked and felt really elegant.  All in all I felt like a million bucks trying out this new style, it’ll definitely be a fall back for me in the future.

Things I learned while trying this style; #1: I need new eye-liner!  Don’t try to use old eye-liner of a pencil, it just doesn’t work very well, liquid eyeliner is the best. #2: Less really is more, simple understated makeup made me feel so beautiful!  3#: I really don’t have as many “classic” pieces as I thought!