The Maternity Wardrobe!

Clothes to cover the bump have come a long way since the days of my mother's muu muus.

Mom admits to wearing extra large clothes to hide the bump in contrast to today's fashion to show the bump off in all it's basketball-sized wonder!

I'm on the fence about it all.  I know I like comfort and so I have a feeling that is where my new wardrobe is heading.  I have a bit of a bulge around the middle so as of now (currently 19 weeks along), I despise any uncomfortably tight waists.  Right now I own two pair of pants that still fit, although the belt notch has changed, a pair of cords and a pair of jeans!

To make things easier on the wallet I have been purchasing maternity wear a few items at a time in the last 2 months.  I, of course am not the only preggo buying clothes - for another experience read my friend, Jenny's experience.

Maternity Shopping:

Living in the bitter cold while pregnant has its challenges!  For instance, I need a plethora of warm clothes and layers in a variety of sizes.  So I began my search around Halloween to find a few pieces to fill in the gaps between being my normal size to being bigger than my normal size!

So far I have found that layers are the key.

A few shops to keep in mind when venturing into this world of shopping for the belly:


Old Navy - you can always find cheap tops

I visited a couple of their stores and perused their online site to find some good cheap deals.  I stuck with shirts in the beginning because I was unsure how the rest of my body would expand.  They had great long sleeve shirts and cute tops to layer.  Success.

H&M - if they're on sale, cheap tops

I too ventured to their stores (in Europe and in Chicago - yep just rubbing it in for good measure!) and found a few sweaters and tank tops to layer with.  Success.

Gap - if you wear their jeans you'll probably like their preggo pants

Their online shop was easy to navigate to find a couple of solid options.  I've never seen their maternity clothes in a store, although they exist.  You just have to look up store locations near you to find them.  I chose a warm pairs of gray corduroys!  Yesterday, in Chicago's high of 22 degrees, I wore them over a pair of long underwear and was pretty comfortable.  Their elastic band isn't too high so it stays where it should when sitting or standing!

Macy's - don't plan on using Macy's coupons for maternity wear!
We have 7-story Macy's in Chicago.  I knew I could find something there I couldn't live without.  I was excited to find a wide selection of winter coats, nursing bras, tops, pants and everything in between.  Now you know Macy's can offer some good deals so I was excited to use my 40% off coupons for a garment I happened to like.  Their maternity section DOES NOT accept Macy's coupons.  It's a bummer they don't have a maternity page online either!

Hot Mama - their name says it all!
They offer a wide varity of clothing options, both maternity clothes and after baby clothes, also some clever baby related items like maternity Spanx and the Belly Band, which I purchased.  They have an online shop but their store offers much more.


The Belly Band - still on the fence
For $25 I'm not sure this was worth it.  I've used it a handful of time but it always rolls to create a lot of fabric in uncomfortable spots.  I've heard from a few people that it's good in the beginning before you want to wear the maternity pants and after the baby is born you'll get a lot of use out of it.  So I will have a better opinion of it once this whole baby cooking thing is over.


When I googled Maternity Wear I discovered a few other shops.

American  Appearal - one photo and you'll know why I didn't look into them much further

Esty - their site is a wonderous place to purchase all sorts of fun items including custom maternity wear!
I was pretty stinkin' excited to see sellers with maternity wear but it was mostly limited to tops/sweaters and I am in the market for pants.

I hope you can find the good deals that fit your style - Happy Shopping!

Favorites - COLOR

a FAVORITES series

Throughout the wedding planning process you have obligatory items and FAVORITES.

I wanted all the Fall COLORS in our wedding like a cat wants a mouse!

I began with the bridesmaids' dresses and it just snowballed from there. Originally, I picked a Fall color for each girl (as in I mailed them all a paint chip I picked up at my local Home Depot) - they'd have to find a dress in that color! Well, it seemed pretty difficult for all of them to find a dress in their color, and/or they were apprehensive to do it alone - all 5 girls lived in different towns at the time (Las Vegas, Gardnerville, Chicago, Denver, Carson City). As much as I explained that it was okay and I didn't care - they seemed to more than me. So I chose for all the girls to wear chocolate brown and they'd accessorize with their color - they seemed please with this new evolution. I was pretty pleased with the new look I was attaining too.

So, all my girls found a chocolate brown dress from J.Crew or Ann Taylor, and the last - a hand made beauty from Rachel O's mom! My single stipulation was that they all to be tea length.

Keeping those colors in mind, I brought Fall Red, Orange, Brown, Yellow, Cream, and Purple into my other elements - I loved how it finally all came together. Remember to be confident in your decisions - as long as you keep your final look in mind, it will all be cohesive in the end! I chose to purchase linen napkins as one of my Eco-friendly elements in the wedding planning. (We don't need more paper napkins thrown away!) So even though it was more expensive to purchase all linen napkins, as apposed to buying paper or renting, it was so worth it as we put together the table scape. They brought color and fun to the tables.

I found all the linen napkins at World Market and Crate and Barrel. I only bought those on sale and they've since been gifted as small tokens of appreciation to the women who helped throughout the wedding planning and wedding day. All the napkins were different Fall colors and patterns. As another Eco-friendly element, I wrapped the real flatware in them.

I visited 3 different World Markets to accumulate enough napkins and about 8 different thrift stores for enough flatware. The napkins were bought 6 months before the wedding (all the fall colors were on sale) and the flatware 1 month before the wedding. I didn't have a head count until less than 1 month before the wedding so I purchase 40 more napkins than I needed. The extras were just used as decorations on the service tables at the wedding!

See table scape photos:


My mom's friend Donna came to Tahoe early to help out and well, she HELPED OUT tremendously! She created all the centerpieces from potted flowers from the grocery store, curved twig-things from Michael's, pumpkins my in-laws grew and the napkins! She did an amazing job for the items she was given!

FYI: The potted flowers were given to the park to plant there (I wonder if they were settled in before the snow?), the pumpkins were taken back to Fallon for Ric to put in her veggie baskets she sells, the flatware was donated to Nolan's family's cabin association, and the napkins have been given as appreciation gifts.

TIP: When you're having a wedding away from where you live - know and TELL someone where the items are going to go before the wedding, before you purchase them!! I made sure to tell my maids, coordinator, moms, and family where the napkins, flatware, and pumpkins were going.

Long Underwear

I am sick of wearing Long Underwear.

I have worn "charlie pants" for 3 consecutive weeks now. Because I walk to and wait for the train it is a necessity to bundle up! Forget about looking cute, I've got 7 layers on. I have never lived in a city so cold that I had to wear long johns every single day. I am ready for the heat and the sun! I've caught onto the travel trend in Chicago during winter to warm climates. I hear about cruises to the Caribbean, 10 days in Miami, Mexico hear, Hawaii there, WHERE DO I SIGN UP?

Thought you'd like to know a little more about long underwear...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Long underwear, often called long johns, is a style of two-piece underwear with long sleeves and long legs that is normally worn during cold weather. It offers an advantage over the union suit in that the wearer can choose to wear either the top, bottom, or both parts depending on the weather. Long underwear are also less commonly known as "long handles".

Modern long underwear has largely supplanted the one-piece union suit. It is usually made from a cotton or cotton-polyester blend fabric with a box-weave texture, although some varieties are also made from flannel, particularly the union suit, while many newer varieties are made from polypropylene, such as the Capilene trade name.

The type known as "thermal underwear" is made from two-ply fabric, which uses trapped body heat to insulate against cold air.

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford has been credited with inventing thermal underwear.[citation needed]

An adjustable two-piece design is credited to Truro, Nova Scotia native Frank Stanfield of Stanfield's Limited who patented his design on 7 December 1915. Earlier, in 1898 Frank Stanfield and his brother John had developed a product called Stanfield's Unshrinkable Undewear.[1]

The pants are known as "Charlie Pants" on the US TV show "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" and has started to catch on with the general public.