fall fashion week--let's all wear leggings!

I wore my very first pair of adult leggings today.  It was a big step forward for me.

dress: Motherhood Maternity (from way back in the day)

leggings, shoes: Target

necklace: gift from my MIL

I have this image of leggings the way I wore them in third grade, with two different colored socks, Chuck Taylors, and a long t-shirt knotted on the side.  With a side ponytail, of course.  Because of this, it's been hard for me to jump on this trend wagon, but then I discovered maternity leggings.  I probably could have skipped the leggings entirely since my dress is pretty long and it was warm enough to go without, but once I put them on, I couldn't take them off.  It was like a giant hug.  In fact, I may never take these off.

Cara needed some leggings today too.  They matched her second new dress perfectly.  The cuteness almost sent me over the edge.

dress: mama made it

leggings and fake crocs: Target



fall fashion week--Sunday



I know that Fall Fashion Week over at Emery's blog actually started yesterday, but I have to confess that I didn't manage the whole "getting dressed" thing yesterday.  There's no sickness or anything that prevented me from taking a shower and putting clothing on; I just didn't want to.  I needed a Saturday of resting, not leaving my house, and (wait for it...) SEWING!  

I know this isn't what people typically do when they need a day off, but it works for me.  This past week felt like it would never end and I was at a constant state of 5:30 in the morning, so I decided to take the weekend off from the world.  I made my little family hang out with me at Hobby Lobby on Friday night (wild times) so that I could pick out some fall-ish fabric, and Cara now has two new dresses to add to her newly cleaned-out closet.

I stretched my creative muscles a little with these dresses.  I used the Leila and Ben Sweet Dress pattern, which I have made hundreds of times (see here and here), but I added some different twists to these dresses.  I'm not going to pretend to be a designer or anything as I'm fairly certain that I'm not the first person to think of adding a ruffle or an elastic waist to a peasant dress, but my google search did not produce any tutorials or pictures that were similar to what I wanted.  For going at it on my own, I'm pretty proud of how these dresses turned out.

Here is dress #1 with a ruffle down the front.  Dress #2 will be coming tomorrow, most likely.

leggings: Target

shoes: Kohl's

hairbow: gift from my sister

And here I am, about 17 weeks preggo.

dress: Forever 21

jacket: Ann Taylor LOFT

My shoes will remain a mystery.

what I wore: 16 weeks

I find it hard to believe that I am already 16 weeks along, but then I look at myself, and it's not so hard to believe after all. :-)

(I love that Cara's butt is in the second picture.  It makes me giggle a little.)

I'm still wearing clothes that are from back in the day when I was pregnant with Cara.  This shirt was one of the very first articles of maternity clothing that I bought.  My mom and I went to a little boutique because I didn't want to be a frumpy preggo, and I found this top marked way down.  Score!

I have to admit that being frumpy is not nearly as concerning this go around as it was the last time.  I might even be embracing a little frump; I find myself waking up with less motivation to fix my hair every morning.  Who knows what will be going on up there by March...

my little princess ballerina

(I found these pjs on the Carter's website.  Best $13 I've ever spent.)

(pause to switch crowns)

my favorite things {right now}

1.  Feeling the little bird flutter around in there! 

It seems early to be feeling movement, but I swear it's there!  I'm not feeling punches or kicks (yet), but I can definitely sense some twists and turns when I am very still.  Feeling the baby move is by far my favorite thing about pregnancy.

2.  Michael Miller's Children at Play

I'm in love with the entire collection, but especially

this:   and this:   and this:

Maybe I can get some of my sewing mojo back if I order a few yards of this... :-)

3.  Listening to Cara sing

Her song of the moment is "Once Upon a Dream" from Sleeping Beauty.  She makes up her own words and repeats the same line over and over, but it's the cutest. thing. ever.  She's not a perform-on-command kind of girl, but I coaxed a line or two out of her in the car the other day.



4.  This makes me wish for another little girl.

5.  This makes me wish for a little boy. 

round two

Even though I had heard from EVERYONE that a second pregnancy can be very different from the first, I still expected this pregnancy to be pretty similar to Cara's.  Looking back, the first go-around was so easy.  I gained 25 pounds, never got sick, spent my last month taking it easy, and had a fairly routine delivery (except for that spinal headache, which is another post all by itself).  I can't say that I particularly enjoyed being pregnant though.  I did my share of whining, and I found it difficult to watch my body change without having much control over it.  So, I told myself that I would make a point of enjoying this pregnancy, of savoring each moment, and of embracing the changes and appreciating what my body can do...

In reality, I have not been so good at that.  The intense fatigue, headaches, and nausea made it difficult to enjoy that first trimester, but honestly, I've been feeling pretty great for a few weeks now.  I can't say that I'm super thrilled about the insane breakouts taking over my face, but no one is looking at my face these days anyway. 

They are looking at my growing-by-the-hour belly.

19 weeks with Cara vs. almost 16 weeks with Baby #2

I have actually been a little embarrassed by how quickly I have gotten bigger (I blame all the silly emotions on hormones), but looking at these pictures makes it more comical than anything else.  Am I sure there's really only one baby in there?  Yes, I am.  The problem is simple: food just tastes so good.  Chocolate Pop-Tarts, french onion soup, popsicles, string cheese, pick any random, strange food item, and it's probably something I love right now.

While I am really enjoying food right now, there's one other thing that I am also taking a great deal of pleasure in: denying that I am pregnant to my students.  I find it hilarious to act offended that they would call me fat and blame my growing bump on the way my dress hangs or the entire cake I ate for breakfast.  I can tell there are a few kids who wonder if I'm serious, and then there are the ones who have kids of their own...they know what's up.  All that really matters is that I am highly entertained by the whole thing.



what I wore: 15 weeks

everything I'm wearing here is several years old.  there is no point in trying to remember where these things came from.  sorry.

I'm so glad to be in my second trimester these days!  My energy seems to be returning, which a huge plus considering that my husband would like for me to stay up a little later than 6 pm.  I like looking more pregnant and less chubby/fat/bloated too.  This dress is one that I wore at the end of my pregnancy with Cara, and it looked like a nightgown to me when I put it on yesterday (hence, the belt).  It's a weird thing; this go around, I'm going to be large with child during the season that I was barely showing with Cara.  My maternity clothes look too big because I remember what they looked like on me before.  Or something like that.

*Side note:  Growing out these bangs is going to drive me insane.  Seriously, I can't stand them falling into my eyes anymore.  Short of wearing a headband every day, what can I do with them??  Suggestions?  Advice?  Help, please! :-)

who's a big girl?

Cara's a big girl!!

We had a serious breakthrough this morning.  Cara peed in the potty!  WooHoo!  Potty training has baffled me quite a bit; I had no idea how to explain exactly how peepee comes to be in the potty.  Cara has liked the idea of big girl panties and sitting on her green potty for a while now, but she also doesn't mind peeing on the floor.  Mama, however, minds this.

We spent the past weekend at the lake with some friends who have two children.  My friend Brannon is a true baby genius.  She has a 3-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son, so I picked her brain on toddler discipline and potty training.  Her advice on potty training was to wake Cara up 10 minutes before she normally wakes up and sit her on her potty.  It worked like a charm!  I think Cara was a little too sleepy and out of it to truly appreciate the awesomeness of the moment, but she perked right up when I pulled out a fairy PEZ dispenser.  Perfect potty treat for my big girl!

what I wore: 14 weeks

top: Old Navy

pants: borrowed from my sister

shoes: Target

Now I know why my husband kept telling me to stand up straight--that nice combo of a drop-waist top and baggy wide-leg pants makes me look nice and short! :-) I don't think I care though; I really liked this outfit when I put it on Tuesday morning.  I didn't like it so much when I got to school and realized that the air conditioning was having some *ahem* difficulties.  I usually spend my days freezing in my classroom.  I threw 18 tantrums in my head, and then I got over it.  The imaginary tantrums just make me tired anyway.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but I'm really starting to look pregnant these days.  It's pretty exciting on the one hand.  There is a baby growing up a storm in there!! On the other hand, apparently this gives other ladies freedom to say whatever they want about what I'm eating, how quickly I'm expanding, or (my favorite) how swollen my face has looked.  I know I am the queen of saying dumb things, but I'm pretty sure that all of these ladies have forgotten what it's like to be pregnant.  An alien is driving the mothership, folks.  That's all I can say.

now that was a lovely weekend

A few of my favorite things from this weekend:

1.  Birthday Parties!!

especially the ones with bouncy houses and party hats!

2.  Hand-Me-Down Jammies

We went from tantrum to joy as soon as I pulled out the Ariel jammies.  Thanks, Allison!

3.  Clean Toddler Rooms

Look!  Cara's room was clean and organized for about 10 minutes!

4.  Cara's new skirt

I haven't touched my sewing machine in probably six weeks.  Between first trimester exhaustion and the beginning of the school year, I just didn't have it in me.  I got some of my sewing mojo back Saturday, and Cara got a new skirt out of it.  She thought it was a ballerina skirt.  So glad it made her happy!

5.  Hanging out with my brother

He is the coolest.

6.  Failed Family Pictures

After this one, we just gave up.



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