Wardrobe re-working
I was chatting with a woman in my office building this morning. She is pregnant, but wearing winter-ish clothes. She explained that she can’t fit into her summer things anymore.
And it got me thinking …
Exactly how many maternity outfits am I supposed to be buying? …
Since Darling Husband and I are on a budget, I want to try to wear my own clothes as long as humanly possible.
Of course, my inner consumer goddess is already shrieking at the idea of buying clothesclothesclothes!
So this is what I’m thinking I’ll need to buy:
- BellaBand: This will help me be able to wear my existing pants — until my ass gets too big, at least.
- Belly Leggings: I won’t fit into any of my current leggings or tights — which I wear a lot — so a pair of maternity leggings is essential.
- A bigger bra: Woohoo for bigger boobs! Boo for not-so-cute styles.
- A good pair of maternity jeans: Everyone needs jeans. And if I get a nice, dark pair, I will be able to wear them to work and to social events.
- Fold-down yoga pants: A pregnant co-worker once told me a good pair can fit for your entire pregnancy.
- A few long-sleeved maternity tees: I’m most likely going to be my pregnant-est in the winter/early spring, so I’ll need some basic tops. Long-sleeved to cover impending arm chub.
- A pair (or two) of work pants: My current work trousers will only fit for so long!
And here’s what I already have that might work:
- Fold-down skirts: I have a couple of stretchy, cotton-y fold-down skirts that I wear in the summer. I could easily gain in the stomach area and still wear them … for a while.
- Loose dresses: I have some babydoll-style dresses that have plenty of room in the belly-area.
- Long tank tops: I’ve got a few, but will need to pick up more. Then I’ll be able to wear them underneath regular-length shirts, to stay covered.
- Juicy Couture sweatpants: So I can channel Rebecca Eckler, who wore them throughout her entire pregnancy.
Now I just want to go shopping!
The start of something new
Being back at work after our vacation has kind of overwhelmed me. Overwhelmed and depressed at the same time. And made me want to die of boredom.
But I’m feeling happier today. Because, you see, I have a secret.
No, not that kind of secret (yet).
I have ventured out of my 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (OK, 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.) comfort zone, and have begun dabbling.
Yes, dabbling. I have dipped a toe back into the freelance waters, and … well, the water’s the perfect temperature.
I went along for a couple of weeks, doing one extra gig. But suddenly other opportunities are popping up like toadstools — except, not slimey like toadstools.
I met with someone yesterday about the possibility of doing some super-creative freelance work — something that I love to do, and has only ever been a hobby before.
Part of me is worried about putting too much on my plate. But another — stronger — part of me is screaming to go for it, because the freelance gigs are for things I actually enjoy doing. And eventually (*fingers crossed*) these fun freelance gigs might turn into a truly creative career.
Darling Husband is ecstatic for me, because is a a big dreamer. Buying a lottery ticket, for him, is cause for an afternoon’s worth of dreaming and plotting where every dollar would go. He wants me to have a career that I really, really love — like he loves Job B.
I can’t match his level of enthusiasm just yet. I am partly excited, and partly guilty about going behind my company’s back to do other work.
For now, I’m just going to keep treading cautiously — finding a balance between my “real” job and my “fun” freelancing. And I’m just going to see where it leads me …
The thing about compromising …
Meet Grace.
OK, her name (probably) isn’t Grace. She’s a random kid I found through Google. But doesn’t she look like a Grace? Sometimes I shuffle through photos of random babies and kids I don’t know, trying to see which look like ours might. And this cutie has my big head, brown hair and pout.
If it were up to me alone, at this very minute, our (yet unborn) children would be named Grace and Jack — damn, just saw the Will & Grace connection. Oops. Or Jack and Rose … damn, Titanic! Anyway, you get the idea.
If it were up to Darling Husband alone, our kids would be named Melissa and Nicholas.
He is suggesting “issa” names (Melissa, Alyssa), while I favour one-syllable names (Jack, Grace, Max). I am picking all classic, simple names, where he … well, I’m not sure what his “system” is. I think he just picks random ones he likes — usually with “issa” in them.
While I like the idea of our kids having old-fashioned, storybook-y names — “Aurora’s down at the creek.” “Timothy went to fetch some firewood” — Darling Husband vetoes anything that isn’t mainstream. He especially hated Henry, which was a disappointment to me and my Time Traveler’s Wife-loving friends.
Because we’ll be in this together, we need to find names we agree on. And that is easier said than done …
* His favourites
** My favourites
*** Mutual favourites
BOYS
- Andrew
- Benjamin
Emmett(Darling Husband hates it)Harley(Darling Husband hates it)Henry(The girls love it, but Darling Husband hates it)- Jack**
- Luke
- Matthew
- Max**
- Nicholas*
Oliver(Darling Husband hates it)- Peter
- Timothy
- William**
GIRLS
- Alice**
- Alyssa* (new add, by Darling Husband)
- Aurora
- Charlotte
- Claire
- Ella
- Emma
- Grace**
- Hannah (everyone hates it, but I’m still holding out)
- Hailey*
- Hilary/Hillary
Melissa* (new add, by Darling Husband, which I vetoed by striking it out because it’s MY blog, haha)- Molly
- Rosalie/Rose**
Um, notice that there is not a single name that we both love? Good thing we’ve still got lots of time.
I’m high on recipes
In case you couldn’t already tell …
I have a little addiction to making recipes from my new fave book …
I have never really been much of a “recipe” girl — usually just a “follow-the-package-directions” girl. So this is pretty new and exciting.
At first, Darling Husband was a bit skeptical about eating so-called “pregnancy food,” but it’s all just really healthy stuff.
And hey, he knows that it certainly beats KD.
Not Me Mondays
Over the course of my five-day-long vacay …
- I did not eat french fries approximately 9,000,000 times
- I was perfectly pleasant to Darling Husband on the very early morning flights
- I drank plenty of water, instead of drowning in a sea of Diet Coke
- I did not see my life flash before my eyes while performing an adventure sport
- I wore cute little shoes and outfits, rather than just slumming it in beat-up sandals and muddy jeans
- I did not proclaim, rather snootily, that I would rather pee in my drysuit than use the Port-O-Potty
Oh, and last night — before my return to work — I did not gulp down NyQuil just to help me beat the jet-lag blues. Never.
As featured on …
