Friday, August 22, 2008

Maternity Clothes

I am now at 15 weeks and my body is definitely beginning to change. I can still fit into my favorite pair of jeans, but my belly pushes at the fabric in a whole new way. After my last doctor's appointment I went to Target and purchased a pair of maternity jeans. The jeans are very comfortable, but they are not the most fashionable - looking a bit like the dreaded "mom jeans." I will still wear them, possibly with a long maternity top, since it's really just at the hips that the jeans don't quite look right.
It's really been too hot for jeans and I found myself uncomfortable in my shorts a few weekends ago, so B and I stopped into Target and I bought a pair of Liz Lange gaucho pants in black.


They are extremely comfortable, just like sweats, but with a better look for everyday wear. There are some complaints on the Target website about them and I agree with the color transfer complaint - don't wash anything light colored with them. I turned a white tank top brown. They aren't the greatest quality, but I'm quite fond of mine. In fact, I'm wearing them right now.
I wasn't going to purchase any more maternity clothes after that. I told myself to wait until I got bigger, but then I was emailed a coupon to the Gap. So off I went to a GapBaby that had GapMaternity in the back and I purchased a pair of Long and Lean jeans with a full belly panel.
These jeans are great looking and comfortable. They are a bit big on me, so I had to keep pulling them up, but everyone agreed that they wouldn't know that I was wearing maternity jeans if I hadn't told them.
I returned to the GapMaternity store to purchase these no panel cropped cargo pants because I needed light weight pants and they were on sale for $22. They are twice that much online for some reason. These are my new favorite pants and I might wear them every day if allowed.
I might not have purchased any of these items if I had heard about the BellaBand sooner. A friend told me about them and they sound amazing. I ordered two from Amazon.com and hope that they will keep me from having (or wanting) to purchase any more maternity pants for a while. Although, I have my eye on these beauties from Babystyle.com. I think I'll wait for a day in my sixth or seventh month where I'm much bigger and needing a pick me up.

Friday, August 8, 2008

13 Weeks


Had my first ultrasound that did not involve taking my underwear off - yay! I can't believe how much the baby has developed in this short amount of time. I was very relieved to see the baby and its heartbeat, since I found the lessening of symptoms to be a bit worrisome. I still tire easily, but I am much better than a few weeks ago and I am much less nauseous than before. After my appointment I bought my first pair of maternity jeans. The Dr. said I'd only gained 3 lbs, but that was since my 8 week appointment and I don't know how much total I've gained since becoming pregnant. I definitely feel my clothes getting tighter, but that may be because of my somewhat uncooperative digestive system. Some days I'm big, others not so much. So I went to Target and bought a pair of Liz Lange maternity jeans and I am kind of excited to wear them, once the weather gets cooler. It is freaking hot out!

Telling the Parents

So now all future grandparents know. We managed to tell everyone in a three day period and, happily, everyone is thrilled. We already have an offer to purchase a glider for us (I am thinking this one) and the baby has its first outfit and blanket.
Shopping for this outfit brought something to my attention - finding gender neutral clothes for infants is next to impossible and our society is still pretty sexist in how it assigns certain imagery to infants. Male babies have trucks, planes, sports, boats, space, and blue animals. Anything blue, for that matter, is for boys. Female babies have flowers and pink. It's maddening. I got a bit upset about it and voiced my unhappiness to my in laws. Unfortunately this lead to a lecture about gender roles and teaching your children who they are that came from such a conservative place that it truly boggled my mind.

Vancouver



We took a lovely trip to Vancouver. The weather was incredible, not too hot but still plenty of sunshine, the city is completely walkable and there is a lot of great food. We walked through Stanley Park, where I snapped a few photos of a raccoon wandering along the bank of a pond, across Robson Street and then hopped in a cab and headed over to Vij's Rangoli. It was so good! Then we walked back over the bridge to our hotel, The Sandman Suites on Davie. The room we booked had a kitchen and a washer/dryer, which was fantastic. It wasn't the most upscale hotel, but its location and price were perfect.