Thursday, February 12, 2015

{Baby}: Maternity Fashion.

Maternity clothes.

I knew that having a baby would be expensive but one thing that did not cross my mind was that having to buy basically a new wardrobe would be expensive too!

At about 10 weeks I decided to get some "transition" pieces for my closet. Eager and excited, we hauled it out to the mall and went to a maternity store. I ended up getting two swimsuits (on sale) and two pairs of work pants but the biggest thing I got was sticker shock. This (frankly sub-par) maternity store was charging ridiculous prices for their clothes!

Then and there I decided to engage my inner frugalista. Over the next months, I learned quite a bit about maternity fashion - how to use your existing wardrobe, where to buy cute clothes at reasonable prices.

At first, I wore my regular clothes (for a good while - especially tops) - with jeggings and such in style, it made pants stretch with the growing bump. Here I am at my brothers' graduation party (plural possessive intended, as it was for both brothers). A flowy longer tunic over black stretch pants and a cardigan - my go to outfit for those early weeks.


With summer arriving, knit maxi dresses were a great addition to the wardrobe. I got this black and white striped one and a black one just like it from Burlington Coat Factory. Did you know they have a (small) maternity section? I didn't. It is very hit or miss but the prices were worth looking. I got several knit t-shirts, four maxi dresses, and a few work tops there.


The parentals at my gender reveal party:


Top from Burlington:

 T-shirt from Burlington, paired with TJMaxx sweater and my trusty knit black pants from Target maternity.. I wore those things all through my pregnancy.


Dress from Burlington:

T-shirt from Burlington maternity:


Another go-to was Sears - their maternity selection was a hidden treasure. This button up dress was great for work and will also be good for nursing.



Sweater from Sears with Target maternity black pants:



Dress from Sears maternity:


Cowl neck sweater from Sears maternity:


Top from Sears maternity:


Sears knit top and khaki skinny leg pants: 


I also got a few items from Stitch Fix that worked as maternity, like this dress I wore to my shower:



Stitch Fix started offering maternity clothes towards the end of my pregnancy but I was already well stocked by then - but super glad they added that service.

Here are the two swimsuits I mentioned at the start of this post - both from Motherhood Maternity.




Another favorite was Old Navy for maternity. Our location had a small maternity section but the best part was people could return their online maternity purchases in store and those were usually discounted. 

This Old Navy sweater is actually a regular size, I just put a maternity tank under it:


I loved this Old Navy maternity dress:


I got this maternity dress at Old Navy for something like $5 because it was an online return. I paired it with a vest from TJ Maxx for a wedding and an engagement party (pardon the bathroom selfie, you do what you have to do).


 I also wore the heck out of my Old Navy maternity knit tops. Here's one of my go-to's with my Old Navy regular size puffy vest.


Old Navy dress:


Another place I loved for maternity fashion was Target - I got two pairs of black pants, several long tanks, and this purple knit long sleeve tshirt that I wore legitimately every day at home for a while: 



 There are a lot of great maternity websites as well, but most that I found were pretty pricey. So if you're looking to be stylish while preggo without breaking the bank, my recommendations:

  • Old Navy
  • Target
  • Sears
  • Burlington Coat Factory
Hope this helps any frugalista pregnant women out there!

In saving money,





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Sunday, February 1, 2015

{Baby Jasper}: Nine Months on the Inside.

Now that Ruthie is here, it is fun to look back on her 40 weeks on the "inside." I'm very fortunate because I actually really enjoyed being pregnant! I did have morning sickness for about 16 weeks but luckily Zofran worked wonders and made it tolerable. I went through a period from about 8 weeks to 14 weeks where I didn't have an appetite really except for Mexican food and pizza and I definitely couldn't stomach eating chicken at all! Overall, I craved beef the whole time (I'm not normally a big beef eater) and oddly, Taco Bell's nacho cheese was the yummiest thing I had ever encountered in life during pregnancy.

I loved documenting the pregnancy and ended up making an entire photo book for Ruthie about her time "on the inside." Included in that are my series of bump pictures:











We're going to continue documenting Ruthie's growth over her first months and I can't wait to do an update a year from now!

In chalkboards and babies,
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