Mom Clothes & a Mullet

I've been in a rut with my wardrobe lately. On any given day, you can usually find me in the same dark denim capri jeans & some version of a black tank top. Cool and collected, comfy, easy to nurse in, and dark enough to hide all of Iyla's smudgy kisses. Once home the capris get traded out for what I affectionately call "woobie shorts"- basically little sweatshirt material running shorts. Hot stuff.

I have an entire closet full of clothes that now suddenly feel outdated & unflattering. Empire waist dresses? I feel like I still look pregnant, though pre-pregnancy I rocked these with the best of them. Cute fitted tops? A pain in the a** to nurse in. My bust is larger than it was pre-pregnancy and my bottom is now smaller- meaning most clothes end up too snug on top and too baggy on the bottom.

My other problem? If given the finances and choice, I'd much rather buy clothes for Iyla. Fall baby girl clothes are ridiculously adorable. Case in point, a few of my recent favorites:

Robeez shoes

Baby boots

Mini Boden Jacket

Etsy Hat

I have also been frequenting the Thredup resale site and local baby consignment events to fill in cooler weather staples. Even though it is still 95+ in Austin right now, our Colorado trip is less than 2 weeks away and fall weather will descend upon Texas like a small miracle sometime next month.

To top everything off, my most recent haircut has ended up very mullet-esque, with a bit too many thick shorter layers up front. Reminds me of my 1980's grade school days:

All I need now is a purple bow

Between the mom clothes, mullet, and a lovely pimple that popped up right smack in the middle of my chin, I'm not feeling super cute these days. Something's gotta give.

BC has encouraged me to head out and get a few new fall items for myself, sweetly and generously offering to reimburse me. I suspect he too is growing tired of my mom wardrobe, and realizes not much can be done about the mullet & teenage acne.

On my first official shopping attempt, this happened:

Bee or ladybug for Iyla's first Halloween?

New clothes outing #1 = FAIL. Having found nothing I liked for myself, I defaulted to browsing for Iyla.

I'll try new clothes outing #2 this weekend, with hopefully better results! I plan to take my mullet out and head straight to Anthropologie- where I cannot be tempted with kids' clothes. : )

Oh Happy Day!

I just got the good news that I PASSED MY (2nd) ONE HOUR GLUCOSE CHALLENGE TEST with a score of 99!


GLUCOSE TOLERANCE TEST, GESTATIONAL, 1HR 09/06/2012 (#80357, Final, 9/5/2012 10:15am)

Note to Patient	Your recent labs were normal. Please feel free to call our office with any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you at your next appt

Happiest alert I could have hoped to receive. 

Baby Girl- we have lots of sweets in our gestational future together!

Also? I've been getting my craft on for the first time in years. I was very artistic & crafty as a kid- writing endless stories, drawing all the time, and doing lots and lots of sewing. I would sew clothes for my barbies, slippers for myself, and even made DOLLS. I know, right? Super crafty. My first doll was named "Lana" and was constructed out of an old pair of my mom's pantyhose. From there I got all high tech and got an actual Cabbage Patch-esque body pattern to hand sew. That doll went over so well I was commissioned to make one for each of my cousins.

I MADE this, when I was all of like 9-10 years old. The dolls must have taken the steam out of me because I really haven't sewn anything since. Or maybe it was just the tormented teen years that took over, when making dolls wasn't quite so cool....

And for your entertainment, this is what I looked like roughly around the peak of my sewing years. Dolls = cute. Me? Not so much.

I can't believe my mom let me try out for a FASHION SHOW looking like this. 

Can you say MULLET? I didn't make the call-backs... shocking, I know.

Which brings us back to my recent crafting endeavors. About 2 years ago I found this white washed branch on the shores of a local lake and was inspired to bring it home:

Babycakes has never been fond of it, so it has sat all this time in our garage attic. About a month ago I unearthed it, thinking that maybe, just maybe, there might be a way to incorporate it into our nursery. BC still wasn't into it, mumbling things along the lines of "it's a dead branch" blah blah blah. However, my good friend- who also happens to be an architect AND a designer, was as inspired as I was by it and together we envisioned hanging it from the nursery ceiling & creating some kind of mobile out of it.

Sorry BC- if a legit designer agrees this idea is golden, it is HAPPENING.

The only "theme" I have really come up with for our nursery so far is one with subtle hints of nature & birds (starting with my groovy crib bedding set from Dwell Studio). So I thought a homemade bird mobile might be a great way to utilize this branch!

Cue me to not having ANY idea where to start with this ambitious endeavor.

So I went to a local fabric store. And seriously stood there like a deer in headlights for a good 20 minutes. It wasn't the type of place where people helped you, and I have NEVER bought fabric or sewing supplies in my life (back in the good 'ole sewing days of my youth I would raid my mom's sewing kit and just use old pieces of fabric we had around the house).

I slowly but surely filled my cart with a mini sewing kit, a couple spools of thread, stuffing, and a scissors. But the rows upon rows of fabric freaked.me.out. I watched others who seemed to know the drill choose a pack of fabrics and bring them to a special counter to get cut. How would I know how much to get? What types to use? Good gracious.

And then I saw them- a special wall of fabrics "by the piece"- 18"x 21" samples that were arranged by colors.

YES! I could handle that.

Here is what ended up coming home with me:

I googled "bird mobiles" on the internet & printed out several patterns. This is the pattern that seemed cute AND relatively easy, so off I went:

And here is the first little bird! Far from perfect, but what bird (or person, for that matter) is?

I have been trying to sew 2 birds each day, so I have a good flock to pick and choose from for the final mobile. The count as of today includes these 5 little guys:

I have seriously messed up in a completely unique way on each one- you'd think by the 5th bird I'd have it down pat, but oh no... this pregnancy brain seems to re-kick in fresh with every stitch. I really hope I still like the final mobile- but am totally open to the possibility that I will think it all looks awful and too busy & that I have to go ahead and just buy a fancy store bought mobile. But I hope not. I hope this urge to craft turns into something good!

My final "Oh Happy Day!" news? I got a call that the Little Castle glider & ottoman I ordered months back are READY FOR DELIVERY. TOMORROW!!! Oddly I think BC is almost more excited about this than I am. He has been asking me almost every other day if the chair has come in yet, and I think plans to claim it as his new reading spot. Glad he is excited to break it in, b/c I want him to be spending LOTS of time in that chair with our little one once she arrives! Like during the night when I need to sleep. He can sit there rocking our baby & luxuriating in the comfy chair while admiring my fancy bird mobile-- telling himself how WRONG he was about that old 'dead' branch and appreciating how amazingly crafty his wife is. ; )