Two from the Gap, Too

Maternity jeggings? Yes? No? I feel like if the Leggingspalooza is going to happen, I need to include them in my repertoire.

Research Data

I'm getting to the breaking point with my ghetto-rigged maternity clothes. I feel like a patchwork quilt every time I step out of the house.

Thought bubble: If I roll this up and pull the tank down over that and belt it here, well, then maybe it'll pass as an outfit.

I'm rotating between a summery elastic-waist chambray skirt, my Big Fat Fattie maternity jeans, sis's hand-me-down-too-short black maternity pants, and black leggings with an almond paint smear on them from when I confidently thought I could paint the armoire without getting anything on me.

You see, my primary problem lies with the pants/bottoms. I'm really beyond the Bella Band (which I've been logically calling the Belly Band for months) stage with my normal pants. They're out. And almost all maternity pants are too short. Apparently it's very difficult to be pregnant and anything but average height. And I'll tell you right now, I'm sure not going anywhere special to buy some expensive long maternity pants. I can and have been yanking that stretchy panel down a little bit on my too short pants, but then it cuts across my belly instead of covering it and/or I feeling like they're sagging even more than they normally do. I'm irritated by the whole scene. As they say on the MTV, I'm over it.

Therefore, I've decided that I want to try to go on an all-leggings-all-the-time streak. I'm calling it Leggingpalooza. Also considering Leggingsarama.

I have been conducting a little online research to see how this would play out.

(Also, you should know that I was mildly anti-leggings for awhile, so I don't have much by way of tunics/long shirts to wear over the aforementioned leggings, and no one wants to see my oddly shaped pancake butt strutting down the street in the state it's in... so I'm including long shirt/tunic/dresses in my research data pool.)

Old Navy is clearly the winner in reasonably-priced stylish maternity wear:









This is the cutest maternity coat in history.





Forever 21 has a maternity section (awesome or a little sad?) but I found more options in there regular dress and sweater departments:





I had high hopes for Target and my buddy Liz Lange, but it seemed pretty sparse online:

Obstacle

I painted my toenails last night. It was not the carefree experience that it once was.

I twisted and turned and hunched over, squashing and contorting little B in all kinds of ways new to both of us. I would paint one coat on one foot and then have to lay back, panting and recovering and watching the Rangers get spanked for awhile. Then dive in again, struggling and determined, for the other foot.

In the midst of all the groaning and huffing, Carter even offered to paint them for me... but I was a little worried about the, um, skill of someone so unaccustomed to nail painting. However, I think this will have to be the last time I do them myself for awhile though.

Hello, my old friend, Deluxe Nail Salon.

Slate Toy

This is not my usually subject matter around here, but I thought this national job gain/loss mapping tool from Slate was pretty interesting. It illustrates jobs lost with a red dot over each respective county and jobs gained with a blue dot, but I think the fact that it shows the shifts month by month from January 2007 to August 2010 is the most interesting part. It looks like Texas, and DFW in particular, has been pretty sheltered comparatively speaking.

Baby Food

I just found these baby food ideas on Lovely Morning, and they made me get really excited about pureeing my own up in a few months.

Butternut squash with cinnamon, nutmeg, hard cooked egg and coconut
Peas with cilantro and avocado
Pear with ginger, cardamom and coconut and/or banana
Roasted sweet potato (the white kind, not yam) with banana – (I peeled and cube the sweet potato before roasting and pureeing and it gave it a really yummy caramel flavor)
Roasted yam with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg
Roasted carrots with cumin and coconut
Peas (or green beans) with potato, parsley, egg yolk, and avocado

Nursery Fabrics: Mermaid

Nursery Fabrics: Wild Child

Nursery Fabrics: Muted and Misty

Week 23

Bradly is the length of an ear of corn!

Our Weekend

We went to a family reunion at the old schoolhouse in Old Washington, where I dumped my nephew out of a swing and directly on his face. I'm learning all kinds of lessons in parenting.


We drove through College Station, each reminiscing our separate time there: attending football games,


my life at crusty apartment #1,


life at crusty apartment #2,


a very specific quesadilla order from a former employer,


and we even bought a little sumpin for football season next year.


There are the cutest little bloomers under there!

It was a great trip and a great weekend.

Anthro Three

Child Safety

Well, if we replace the ugly ceiling fan and put a pretty light fixture in the nursery, we'll need something to circulate the air. They say fans help prevent SIDS, so basically, I would be saving our baby's life by getting this, right?


And, well, um, I need a clock for other baby purposes, too... like not feeding for too long so she doesn't explode or something. And, oh look, it matches the fan. Hmm, how providential.

Seriously, this Etsy shop has some pretty great stuff.

My Vision

Do you know Hyperbole and a Half? It's awesome. Every time I visit, I laugh so hard that I cry and make softly snorting noises, trying not to let anyone hear how funny I think it is.




Her attitude in this story (READ IT!) is sort of what I envision Bradly's attitude will be. I mean, I obviously have no idea, but it just seems like the kind of daughter we would have. Carter's focus and determination plus my love of sugar plus Lu's sass = Bradly.