That Forever 21 Dress

... you know the one.

I wear it every other day, but it never looks quite the same. Thank goodness.

 dress: Forever 21, tank: Old Navy, belt: Target, sandals: Target, sunnies: New York & Company

I wore a variation of this to a coffee date on Saturday (different belt and shoes), but decided to wear it again for errands, today, because it's a fool-proof nursing combo. The dress is strapless (because I chopped the top section off!), so I just pull the top up, dress down, and it's very inconspicuous. Also, the most important of all the things: I'm dressed and comfortable. Winning combination.

Mom Jeans?

I'm baaaaaack!

It's been two weeks and three days since my little Bean was born and it's been busy to say the least! Sorry I've been MIA, but juggling the visitors, nursing, sleepless nights, two sweet little girls, and reminding myself to eat somewhere in between has proven too much for blogging! But... I'm here and I plan to keep going forward! Hopefully I can keep up, but I probably won't be updating at my normal rate for a while. Expect to see 2-3 posts a week until I get my bearings on this new life!

 on S- dress: Cracker Barrel, shoes: Kohl's, bow: Local Artist
on Bean- jumper: Baby Gap (consigned)
me- top: Oh Baby, jeans: Charlotte Russe, flip flops (GAH, these are NOT shoes): Old Navy, shades: NY&Co.


I got out of the house yesterday. FINALLY. I feel like I'm on lock-down and it's horrible. I like to go out and be moving and sitting around the house, waiting to heal up from my c-section and being on the baby's schedule has been challenging for me. Now, I realize I'm going to be on the baby's schedule for a long time. Hopefully I can figure out how to nurse outside of the house better! I've tried a few times and neither Bean or I can get comfortable. It's just a mess! I have to have my boppy with me and I forgot to take it around when I got to doctor's appointments or Babies R Us. Man, my life sounds like a ton of fun, doesn't it? IT IS. I swear. I'm so happy with these little girls. Bean has been such a total blessing and S is a wonderful, loving big sister. She hasn't shown any jealousy at all and I'm pretty shocked, to be honest. I'm sure once all the hype dies down and we don't have family coming and going, she'll realize she's not the center of the universe and it'll hit home. I pray for strength on that day.
In more exciting news... I'm wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans already! It took 6 months after I had S and 2 weeks and 2 days after I had Bean! I guess that's the difference between gaining 27 pounds and 50 pounds during a pregnancy. Granted, the jeans weren't comfortable, per se, they were on. Jeans are no bueno for post-cesarean incision pains. Just a tidbit of helpful information if you're ever in my shoes.

 Someday, I'll wear real shoes and dresses again, but for right now, all I can manage is to get dressed in something that's not a nursing tank and yoga pants. Everything has to be nursing friendly, even when I leave the house. I like the little list Kimmie put together about mom attire, here. Check it out!
Glad to be back! I've missed you guys!

One Last Cool Weather Day

I wore this to church on Sunday but had such a painful day that I forgot to photograph it! I put the whole McDeal back on just to take pictures in my awesome back yard just so I didn't miss out on sharing! I do think this is the last time until Bean comes that I'm getting this skirt on. It didn't want to come over my top or my bottom... That felt pretty good.

I was planning on editing out our less than attractive grass and the sidewalk chalk all over my porch, but you know what? This is my life. I kind of love it... minus the grass. Having S' art work all over our porch makes me happy every time I open the curtains! As soon as it rains, I ask her to go out and fill it all up, again.

 top & skirt: Old Navy, scarf: c/o Happy Scarf, belt: New York & Company, boots: Silhouettes

Bean and I had our 30 week appointment yesterday. She's perfect and we're right on schedule. No VBAC for me, at least I got some answers and understand the decision. I'm so ready to meet this little one!

Baby Bean Update: 27 Weeks! (and BLONDER)

jeans, sweatshirt, tanktop: Old Navy, sunglasses: New York & Company

When is your due date?

For all intensive purposes, June 29.

What week are you in?

27! But by measurements of when I'm having the baby, I only have 11 weeks and 5 days to go!

How many pounds have you gained so far?

9.2 (I was wrong last week)

Have you had an ultrasound?

Yes! Three!

Do you know the gender of your baby?

Girly, girly girl!

Do you have a name picked out?

Yes. :)

Is the child being named after someone?

The middle name is after my maternal grandmother and the first name is something we picked out before knowing that it's my husband's great-grandmother's name!

Who is going to be with you during delivery?

Husband

Natural or medicated childbirth?

Scheduled c-section after complications with my last labor, which ended up in a c-section.

How are you feeling right about now? 

High-spirited, but in disbelief that my belly can stretch any bigger. I'm a bit concerned that we haven't done anything to the nursery except move the furniture in there. We have to paint and get bedding! 

What was the first thing you bought for baby?

We let our daughter pick out the homecoming outfit after we found out the gender.

Do you feel you are ready to have a baby?

For the most part, yes. I'm nervous about being a mother of two and we don't have the nursery done, so that's nerve wracking. But other than that, yes.

Are you excited or scared about delivery?

I'm excited for baby to get here, but scared about surgery. I hate surgery and post-surgery.

Any food cravings?

My mom made strawberry pretzel dessert yesterday and I've been wanting to eat it by the gallon ever since. Have you ever had it? It's a bed of crushed pretzels, topped with cream cheese and whipped cream, topped with frozen strawberries and strawberry jello. Oh my goodness... 

Anything you loved before that you absolutely cannot eat anymore?

Eggs are really bothering me, lately. I don't know what it is about them! I can't eat boiled eggs, scrambled eggs.. YUCK.

Anything else you'd like to share or vent about?

I love how much this baby moves! It makes me feel such a strong bond with her and like I know her so well. She does have crazy dance parties around 11:30 every night, which makes me a bit nervous. It's so cool how she reacts to my eating food within 15-20 minutes after I eat and how she's moving so strongly, now, that my clothes move! It's so hard to believe she still has a lot of growing to do!

In other news, Christina and her boyfriend came to visit at my parents' house on Friday and she fixed my horrendously orangey-yellow hair by toning and highlighting. Phew! Yes, I'm very, very blonde, now. I even kind of match Little S (yes!). I'm so, so, so excited and even more happy that I know how to do it on my own without using boxed dye. 

Oh, by the way, that's what's up. I'm visiting my parents for the week with Little S. Husband came down with us on Thursday (in a separate car) and left after Easter lunch, yesterday. S and I are staying until Sunday, April 15. I don't have a camera cable with me, so unfortunately I can't share the awesome tulip field pictures we took until I get back. But I'll be doing my best to keep up with photos on my iPhone. I'm casually dressed for a day of laundry, hanging out, playing outside with S, and running up to my mom's work to eat lunch with her!

A Little Bit Country

I'll be out of town all week, so I've only got this post and one other scheduled. If I can pop in, I will. If not, I'll be back Saturday evening! I'm so excited; S and I are going to stay with my best friend who just had her third little girl! We're there to help. And play! Before leaving, though, I wanted to pre-post my church outfit from yesterday because I really loved the outcome and want to document it so I don't forget to do it again!

dress: Target

cardigan: Old Navy

belt: New York & Company

boots: Silhouettes

necklace: gift

I always feel just a little bit like a southern girl when I wear this boot/belt combination. I know they're not totally cowgirl. I think it's just the color. I love the polka dots and navy on navy, too! And the best part? This outfit is COMFY!

Hope you all have a great week! Little S will be here with her church duds, tomorrow!

Magenta Meow (& a Giveaway Winner!)

First, congratulations to Megan for winning the Polyvore Maternity Styling giveaway! Her outfits were so well researched that I literally owned everything in her sets (except some jewelry). The outfits are ready and easy to wear. They're comfortable and classic and exactly what I was looking for! If you're interested in the sets she submitted, you can see them here! Thanks, friend! And congrats!

S and I went to our first Greenville Mommies event yesterday morning. It was a meet and greet at one of the newer coffee places in town. We had a great time and met some new friends! I also had a reason to get up and get dressed. WIN! Later, we headed to the daffodil fields to take her Easter pictures. I want to share those photos with you so badly, but I can't! I'll post them Easter weekend after our cards are out in the mail. She was ah-DORable. I'm so blessed! On the way home, we stopped on a side road so I could take some outfit pictures. It is very clear that I need Husband to take them for me and thankfully with daylight savings around the corner, he'll be home in that golden sun hour and we can *hopefully* make it happen. Please excuse my blurry self-portraits. It's been a while, folks.

dress: Old Navy

cardigan: New York & Company

belt: New York & Company

flats: Target

necklace: The Word Jewelry

Holy wow... I really have 3.5+ whole months left to go? How much more growing can I do?

Guys, wait 'til you see me full term. You are gonna crack up. It looks funny when I'm carrying myself as wide as I am tall!

Triple extra special thanks to my dear, sweet, gorgeous friend Megan (who writes at The Frugalista Diaries, BTW) for creating several ways for me to wear this awesome, bright dress. It feels like a nightgown and I'll be happy to wear it once a week between now and the end of June! 

Baby Bean Update: 22 Weeks

dress: Old Navy Maternity

cardigan: New York & Company

flats: Target

shades: New York & Company

So sorry this update is two days late! I fully intended to do one on Saturday, but husband, Little S. and I had a winding down weekend after I had the norovirus most of last week. We recovered an old chair that I picked up at Habitat for Humanity (before and after photos on Wednesday!), and husband painted a piece of furniture in our room to go with the rest of our bedroom furniture. Other than that, we laid around, went to church, and cooked very little. I got to hemming this dress and my new pair of maternity jeans. Other than those small projects and helping recover the chair, I didn't do much of anything. It was pretty nice!

Bean and I had our 5 month appointment last Wednesday and everything is going great. I've still only gained 3.5 pounds at 22 weeks and her heartbeat was in the mid 150s, right where it should be. I have to take that dreaded one hour glucola test on April 3, so I'm not looking forward to that at all. Everyone complains about the orange drink you have to suck down in 5 minutes, but honestly that doesn't bother me as much as the sitting and waiting to get my blood drawn thing. So lame. I wish I could just get out and about for the hour and come back, but they don't trust you'll be back right in one hour or that you won't eat something, I guess. 

I'm fully in maternity clothes, now. I can't even rig my jeans with a hair tie anymore and the Bella band isn't holding anything up like it did a month ago. I'm fine with the growing exponentially thing as long as Bean is safe and healthy and I have my handful of things to wear. I'm still experiencing some really severe pinching low back pain when I sit OR stand for long periods of time. Fancy how it doesn't really matter what I'm doing, huh? And I've started to experience some sciatica in bed. Which ever side I'm laying on at the time, that corresponding leg falls asleep. And it doesn't matter how many pillows I stack or stuff here and there. Ask my husband, I sleep in a cocoon. 

Speaking of maternity-wear and my handful of items, there is a very fun giveaway happening right now! If you haven't entered, you SHOULD! Your chances of winning are very good!

$25 to Old Navy for styling one of my Old Navy maternity pieces? Easy peasy!

HURRY! Giveaway ends at 12:00 pm ET on Wednesday!

Baby Bean Update: 21 Weeks

I'm convinced that after 20 weeks, I will grow 5 inches per week. Luckily, I'm probably overreacting. I've still only gained a total of four pounds and my clothes are fitting the same (mostly maternity, barring two pairs of Charlotte Russe jeans that are low enough to handle the growing belly) and I don't feel much different as far as size goes. Nights are getting MUCH more difficult. Finding a comfortable way to sleep and falling back to sleep after the hourly potty breaks are posing exhaustion problems come morning. From what I remember, I was thinking the second trimester would be a breeze. More energy, less moodiness, infrequent aches and pains. Hah. Silly me! I did enjoy a prenatal massage yesterday evening and it was amaaaaaaazing. I only wish that I still felt the benefits after sleeping. I think I slept all the knots right back into my shoulders!

top: Oh Baby Maternity

cardigan: New York & Company

jeans: Motherhood

flats: Target

necklace: Charlotte Russe

shades: New York & Company

I'm really not digging outfit photos today, friends. I feel so... mediocre. We just went to breakfast and ran some quick errands around town, so it wasn't cause for anything fancy. I just miss dressing in the clothes that I love and am not looking forward to having to "make do" for the next handful of months. But I will, and everything's going to be just fine. In the meantime, I'll focus on any photos of myself to be Bean updates and scrapbook-necessary. And we'll have fun starting to decorate her room in the coming weeks!

Side note?

My daughter just brought me tons of change and said she found "her" money for her piggy bank. I said, "Oh, really? Where did you find all of that money?" She said, "In your drawer." 

Hmm...

Do I have a bandit on my hands?

Bible Study Girl

If I haven't reveled enough in my excitement, yet, let me do it again. I'm done with my job on March 2! I'm terrified and happy at the same time, but right now, I'm kind of basking in the glory of wearing something other than yoga/sweatpants and oversized t-shirts. Bible study and church are two times a week I get to dress myself in something other than the daily uniform. Even if I don't go over the top (which you know me... I usually don't unless there are neon tights involved), I feel like a woman every once in a while and that's a nice feeling.

top: Oh Baby Maternity

cami: WalMart

cardi: New York & Company

pants: Motherhood

flats: Target

belt: New York & Company

necklace: The Word Jewelry

I tweeted the other day and if you don't follow me on twitter, you should! I think the next few weeks while I'm wrapping up things at work and budgeting, learning to coupon, etc, I'm going to be very sporadic on the blog. I'm not going anywhere and I absolutely will be posting at least a few times a week, but I just wanted to give you all a heads up. The next few weeks are PREPARATION for the life I've been waiting for (stay at home mom-dom!). I'm also doing some work for my uncle's company involving social media, so I've been putting some time into that that's taken me away from blogging. I hope you all understand! I'll definitely see you tomorrow for Bean's 20 week update!

Baby Bean Update: 19 Weeks

19 weeks is such a strange number. 18 weeks is when you generally find out the sex of your baby. 20 weeks is halfway there. 19 is just... lack luster, I suppose. But we won't let it be that way, will we Bean?

dress: Self Made

cardigan: Old Navy

belt: New York & Company

tights: c/o We Love Colors

boots: Silhouettes

I spent this morning at Pursue the Passion, a women's conference at our church. I wasn't going to be able to attend at all because of the expense, but as blessed as I am, a friend from bible study sat next to someone who couldn't make it today and offered her ticket. My friend thought of me and got in touch with me immediately. I'm so thankful and very glad I got to go. Spreading God's word through strong, passionate women is such a wonderful way to spend a weekend. And I got to spend time with my dear friends, too. Win-win? I think so.

This week with the Bean: Little girl has been MOVING and shaking for about two weeks straight. I'm not kidding. The second I'm still, she's dancing like Party Rock is in the house. I don't know if I can feel her much earlier or if she really does move a lot more than S, but I have a feeling that Bean is going to be an active character when she graces us with her tiny presence. This week, I've felt pretty wonderful. All except I've been so exhausted that I want to fall over by 4:00 in the afternoon. Nights have been fairly sleepless because Miss Smarty over here (that'd be me) drinks 1-2 bottles of water in the hour before bed. I'm sorry. I cannot help it. I am THIRSTY. Also, Bean is the size of a large heirloom tomato this week. So please explain why I look like I have a large honeydew inside of my belly instead. I guess a large heirloom tomato can get pretty sizable, so... I don't know. I just think I grew exponentially over the last week. And I'm HUNGRY. I haven't been hungry almost this whole time and now I'm so scared that my on-track 2.5 lb. weight gain is about to go out the window.

Let's talk nursery. Husband and I had this awesome plan for a baby boy room. NOT because we were hoping for a boy, but because designing the room naturally fell around the idea of Husband's 1971 Chevelle. Now that we used a sweet nursery design on Little S AND just redid her room to big girl style, frankly, our brains are mush from decorating for a girl and I need some ideas! I was thinking of doing something really striking and different like hot pink with white polka dots on one wall and chocolate brown accents. I don't know, though... Weigh in!

I made this dress from an old stained t-shirt and a cheap curtain we used to cover our laundry room in our old apartment! My mom called me Scarlett O'Hara since I was "tearing down the drapes" to make a dress! I'll be featuring the other two maternity dresses I created over the course of the week!

Black, White, & Red All Over

When one does not get dressed often, one finds it necessary to put on some red lips. One = me, by the way. I bought my very first red lipstick, ever, and I'm sort of obsessed. I had no idea how blue my eyes would look with red lips! And I feel so Christmas-y! Or... perhaps that's the undecorated tree behind me.

lipstick: Jet Setter by Rimmel

sweater: New York & Company

skirt: Thrifted

booties: Payless

handbag: Dama Handbags, giveaway win from TFD

I realize I haven't been much of an outfit poster lately and I'm working on changing that! It really is tough when I don't have many reasons to "get dressed." So many stay-at-home-moms have told me that when they stay home, they really do dress to impress and I hope I can do the same when I start staying home in March. However, when I'm caring for four toddlers, ages 1, 2, 3, and 4, and doing dishes, preparing meals, cleaning up all the time, I swear it's yoga pants, sweats, and t-shirts. So once I begin staying at home and caring for one toddler, cleaning up, preparing meals, oh... and throw taking care of two dogs in there, we'll see if I can manage. In the meantime, I'll be sure to photograph EVERY single weekend outfit I ever wear. Okay, I'll try really hard!

And in case you were missing Little S. -

Obviously, she's missing you, too!

If you need to do some holiday shopping or holiday decorating, I know a GREAT PLACE.

Poshlocket Giveaway!

When Poshlocket contacted me about reviewing a product and hosting a giveaway, I couldn't have been more excited. Ever since our working relationship began, I've been so impressed with Poshlocket's classic, but unique jewelry choices. When choosing my favorites earlier this month, I highlighted the metal and fabric collection, which I absolutely adore! I was lucky enough to receive the Stacey Three Chain Fabric Bracelet and I'm in love. The thickness makes such a statement and the fabric has splashes of green, lime, royal blue, turquoise, and white, all separated by bold black lines. Sometimes, statement pieces are tough to style more than just a handful of ways, but my Stacey is going to go with virtually everything in my wardrobe! Most of the metal and fabric pieces come with a choice of silver or gold, too, which is super convenient!

*Apologies for night time quality photos- I forgot to take pictures when I wore this to church!

dress: Merona for Target

cardigan: New York & Company

belt: New York & Company

shoes: Ross (gifted by Rochelle)

solitaire: Zales (Christmas gift from Husband)

initial necklace: The Word Jewelry

bracelet: c/o Poshlocket

Because I have gobs of adoration for the fabric and metal pieces, Poshlocket has offered to giveaway one of the items from the same collection! Up for grabs is the Jenny Fabric Weave Cuff, valued at $26! And that's not all! You get a free pair of fabric and metal earrings shown on the site! The Jenny is also offered in gold or silver and the earrings will come in the same metal as your bracelet.

Mandatory entries (only ONE comment needed with all of the following info):

- Follow my blog via GFC! Please let me know in your comment.

- Visit Poshlocket and tell us your favorite item!

- Follow Poshlocket on twitter OR "like" Poshlocket on Facebook.

Extra entries (one comment per):

- Follow Poshlocket on twitter OR "like Poshlocket on Facebook (which ever one you didn't do for the mandatory entry).

- Tweet this giveaway, linking back to this post and including @the_littlebit and @poshlocket so we can count it!

- Subscribe to Poshlocket's mailing list and let me know!

Giveaway open until Friday, November 4 at 11:59 pm, ET. Open to US and Canada.


And remember, TODAY is the last day to enter the Scentsy giveaway!