Bump Style

It's been awhile, but I promise I think about blogging all the time. Typically in the middle of the night when I wake up inspired, consider getting my laptop, and then think better of it.
For those of you who know me in person, this should come as no surprise, but to you long-distance friends, I have some exciting news! I'm almost 28 weeks pregnant!

Those of you who are really good at math can probably figure out pretty quickly that I stopped doing outfit posts long before becoming pregnant, and for that I must apologize. Dan and I both changed careers, and our schedules no longer line up for daily photo sessions, but I promise I'll throw in some bump style soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to bring you my insights on maternity fashion and what I've realized along the way.

1. There's a good solid three months (or more) of not fitting in your old clothes, but not filling out maternity clothes.

I wish I would have known that before the bump, you get the bloat. At just a few weeks pregnant, my pants stopped fitting comfortably. For a little while, I was able to use a hair-tie to create an extended button loop, but soon even that wasn't comfortable. I felt like anything constricting would just make me nauseated. I remember somewhere around twelve weeks, I decided to try on maternity pants, just to see if I could get away with it. The answer was I definitely could not. Had I known this ahead of time, I would have done what I ended up doing a lot sooner. I ditched pants and invested in a few maxi dresses. Not only were they super comfy, but because of the looser style I chose, I was able to hide that unflattering pooch when you look like you'd had a few donuts instead of started growing a baby. The dress below turned out to be one of my favorites. At 13 weeks as pictured, all I had to do was move my hand and the bump vanished under the fabric.

2. You don't need to spend a fortune on maternity clothes.

Being the person I am, I always assumed that when I got pregnant, I'd go out and buy a whole new wardrobe so that I could still look/feel cute. Nine months is a long time after all, right? Wrong. As mentioned above, you probably won't need maternity clothes for the first third or more of your pregnancy. Now that I'm six months along and truly looking pregnant, there just doesn't seem to be a point in investing in too many clothes. Don't get me wrong, I'm rocking maternity styles now, but I ended up creating a sort of capsule that I'll go into below. For the pieces I did end up buying, Poshmark and ASOS sales turned out to be my best friends. I was able to score secondhand maternity jeans for $10 and a few versatile dresses for under $25 each.

3. Maternity Capsule Wardrobes are Easy!

Just like in non-maternity clothes, a maternity capsule wardrobe is a selection of items that go together in multiple combinations to create many outfits from a limited number of pieces.
My capsule currently contains:
Four tops (black tank not pictured)
Two pairs of pants
One maxi skirt
Six Dresses
Sweaters and Scarves that are non-maternity

I know dresses aren't as re-mixable as other items, but they're so comfy, so let's just let it slide.

Using as many accessories and layering pieces from your usual wardrobe as possible will help stretch your maternity clothes so much farther (pun intended). Although they're not in my capsule photo, I've been able to use chunky necklaces, light scarves, belts, and cardigans to make the same dress look completely different. Easy, right?


If this post wasn't enough of a warning, I might as well come out and say that I'll be taking a new direction with my blog. I still plan on doing frequent style posts, but there'll be a definite sprinkling of mommy/baby stuff in there too. I know many of you are in that phase of life, or headed there soon, so I hope you won't mind.
Until next time!