Budget Rewind - January 2015

Well, last January I mostly bought maternity clothes.  But I can still say whether or not they were smart purchases, even if they were only relevant for half of the year! 

Good:  
Loft Maternity Paisley Print Shorts: $4 I love these shorts and wore them a ton, both during and after pregnancy.  Seriously, I was wearing them for a few months post partum, because they were so comfortable.  
Loft Maternity Navy Dress: $14 - I forgot this dress was so cheap!  Another one that I wore a lot.  
Old Navy Maternity Black Polka Dot Ponte Dress: $16 - this was my other favorite maternity dress.  My only complaint is that the dots are kind of velvety, and they attract fuzz.  I don't think it's noticeable from far away, but it kind of annoyed me.  

Medium
Gap Maternity navy sparkle tee: $6 - this tee is cute, but the glitter is kind of scratchy.  I thought I'd wear it after baby arrived, but it was too scratchy.  
Loft Maternity Floral Jacquard Tee: $16 - I really loved this the first time I wore it, but it didn't hold up well in the wash.  
Old Navy Maternity Black Pixie Pants: $32 - I got it into my head that I needed black pants, because I wanted an option for work that didn't involve tights.  I liked these, but probably spent more than I should have on them.  
Gap Camo shorts: $2 - these have been nice lounge shorts for around the house.  I think they are meant for wearing out in public, but I don't think I ever will!

Bad
Gap Gray skirt: $8 - not a maternity skirt, just a size too big.  So I liked it while I was pregnant, but then it doesn't fit my normal self.  I can't decide if I should try to take it in a bit, or just sell it.  I don't wear skirts as much anymore, so it might not be worth the effort.  
Loft Maternity Foil Layering Tee: $12 - this seemed like such a perfect basic tee, but I think I wore it twice. 
Old Navy Maternity Black Paisley Top: $13 - pretty top, but the sleeves are randomly tight at the opening, so it's kind of awkward.  I only wore it a few times because of that.  


So all in all, not terrible.  Even my bad purchases aren't too embarrassing.  Honestly, maternity shopping is super awkward, especially since I ordered almost everything online.  And then you get it and it's like "well, I can put it on... guess I will keep it!" instead of the normal idea of wanting things to fit a certain way.  And then the things you really like have an expiration date, and then you box them up to maybe wear again some day.  It's so weird.  

January shopping (and girl talk)

January wasn't a very big shopping month.  I did get some presents, though!

The Old Navy sweater was a Christmas present and I love it.  Most of my sweaters are getting kind of old, so I am getting rid of some and am happy to have a fun new addition.

The shoes were a birthday present, but they were back-ordered and finally arrived, just in time for it to be way too snowy and cold for flats.  I love them so much, even if they are probably fancier than I need at this point.  I am still in need of some more casual black flats.  I think these will be great for fancy occasions when I don't want to wear heels.

**Dad, if you are reading this, stop here.  I'm going to talk about bras**

My main shopping endeavor was the always complicated search for a good bra in the proper size.  This is way more complicated than it should be.  Several months ago, Nicole wrote about her bra sizing adventures, and shared this reddit that I ignored because I was so sure I had the right size bras.  Then I ordered a couple more of my favorite brand and was horrified that they changed the design and I no longer like them at all!  (it's like when your favorite shampoo and conditioner get discontinued... NOOOOOO!).  So I referenced back to that reddit and according to them, I've been waaay off on my size.  And as I read it, I realized yeah, my bras really don't fit properly at all (shoulder straps all falling off, uncomfortable, etc).  And guess what, my new size is not really something anyone has ever heard of before and is only available online.  So I ordered a few options to try out.  Of the first 3 I ordered, only 1 seems to work, so I returned the others.  After wearing the new one a few times, I have realized it's so much better, but still not perfect.  So the quest continues.  If Tom Cruise want an impossible mission, he should try being a lady on the hunt for a perfect-fitting bra.  But seriously, go to the reddit and measure yourself.  It will probably surprise you!

So as far as budget goes, I just spent $30 on the one bra that I am keeping.  I've ordered a few more, but will count them to February if I keep them once they arrive.

As always, linking up with Franish.

The Coldest Day Outfit

So here's an outfit from a week ago Sunday.  It was the super most freezing day ever (church was cancelled because of the cold), but we had lunch plans for my MIL's birthday, so we ventured out in the frigid temps to a new barbecue restaurant in town.  Mr. Baby was in head to toe fleece and was wrapped up in a blanket as close to me as possible.  This is what I wore, mostly because all of my normal jeans were in the laundry.  And miraculously, I didn't get any BBQ sauce on these!

I bought this shirt back in March, and this is shamefully the first time I have worn it.  I thought a printed chambray would be a fun addition to my closet, but I am learning that I don't know what to wear with it.  Sure, in my working days, it would have looked pretty cute with my red pencil skirt, but now?  I don't like the denim on denim look too much, so normal jeans are out of the question.  I guess it will probably be a "bad" purchase when I get to the March rewind.

Shirt: Loft 
Cardigan: JCF (similar, similar)
Jeans: Old Navy (similar)
Boots: Madden (exact)

Errands Outfit

Well, happy Friday!  Here's a super casual outfit that I wore for running errands the other day.  This is a sweatshirt from LeTote, which I really like, except why the 3/4 sleeves??  I just don't know what kind of weather would make a 3/4 sleeve sweatshirt necessary.

Also, vests.  I really don't get winter vests.  If I need a coat, I want it to have sleeves, thanks.

Sweatshirt: LeTote
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Converse

Book Review - Dad is Fat

After reading Food, I had to pick up Jim Gaffigan's first book, Dad is Fat.  I liked this one even more!   He's a comedian with 5 kids, so he's got some witty insights about all the craziness that comes along with parenting.  I was laughing out loud at several points.  I'm curious if most of this is just carried over from his standup, but I've never watched any of it, so it was all fresh for me.

There were several sweet moments in the midst of the humor, as well.  Which is exactly how parenting works.  One second, you are like "I WILL BUY YOU A PONY IF YOU JUST GO TO SLEEP!" and the next you are like "I'll snuggle you forever because you are the sweetest baby in the whole world ever!"  I can only assume it gets worse as they get older and actually have opinions.

There were many quotable quotes, but my favorite was in the middle of his rant that people always have a million opinions about when you have kids, how many kids you have, how far apart they are, etc.

People would never even ask a friend, let alone a stranger, when they plan to get their hair cut, for fear of offending, yet for some reason the “How many children are you going to have” question is fair game.

Yep, that's pretty weird, society.  Stop doing that!

Winter Floral

Oh hey, it's this dress again!  I just really love it, so I'm pretty much wearing it any time I need to dress up.  Or any time I can get away with dressing up.  This was for a friend's baby shower last weekend.  It's hard to believe that less than a year ago, I was having baby showers and opening presents that I had no idea would become daily necessities!  And now everything my friend opened I was like "aah!  You will use that all the time!!" Okay, crazy mommy Andi, just calm down a bit.  

Plus, I was just excited to wear my hair down, since Mr. Baby stayed home to have father son bonding time with John.  

Cardigan: JCF (similar, similar)
Dress: Loft (exact)
Belt: Madden (exact)
Boots: Madden (exact)

Giraffe Sweater

I'm pretty jealous of Kate's giraffe sweater.  I've never seen a similar option, but this one from  LeTote was close enough for me to request.  On their website, it looked more black than gray, so I was surprised when I got it out of the box.  As with everything from them, it was a little short, so my tank tops get to make a little appearance.  Cute enough, but I'd still love a striped version like Kate's.

This has been the first normal-ish week in awhile.  December was just crazy, and then I had a terrible cold and John was out of town the first week of January.  So it's nice to be somewhat back to normal.

We even had some above-freezing weather this week, so the boy and I went to the zoo!
Ironically, given the title of this post, we did not make it to the giraffes.  I'll be honest, I love the giraffes, but they are down a pretty steep hill and I didn't feel like pushing the stroller back up it.

This sweatshirt cardigan thing is also from  LeTote, but I didn't take official outfit photos, because I was at the zoo, and babies are terrible photographers.

Sweater:  LeTote (closest option I could find)
Jeans: Gap (exact)
Boots: Madden (exact)

Budget Rewind - December 2013

Quick, before we are halfway done with January, I still need to do my Dec13 rewind!!!  December 2013 was a fairly big month for shopping and presents!  Awesomely, all of the presents I got were things that I have liked and worn a fair amount, so we will lump those all into the good category!  

Christmas Presents:
Gap boyfriend cardigan - Black
Gap Black/White striped tank
Gap boyfriend cardigan - Pink
Gap workout pants
Target Red polka dot scarf
Old Navy Polar bear sweatshirt

So then these are the things I actually bought.  

Good - these are all boring staples that I have worn a bunch.  
Gap Black and White camis: $6/each  
Gap Pajama pants: $10 
Gap Workout pants: $11 
Gap Workout capris: $11 
Target Black tights: $4 
Target Navy tights: $6 


Medium
Gap Black skinny jeans: $30 - I probably paid more than I should have for these, but they have been a good staple.  They were starting to look faded, so I sent them to Goodwill recently.  
Gap Cream sweater: $8 - I got this to replace 2 similar sweaters that we're starting to look ratty.  This one is okay but a little boxy.  
Gap Navy top: $4 - on the good side of medium, this is a nice neutral tank to wear.
Gap Coral top: $4 - on the bad side of medium, I just don't wear it as much.  
Fleece-lined legging tights: $7 - medium because I don't remember what these are!
Thick footless tights: $5 - medium because I don't remember what these are!

Bad
Calvin Klein gloves: $12 - these are pretty but I rarely wear them.


So not my best month, but not my worst.

Star Wars

Ever since I signed up for LeTote, I've wanted them to send me this dress.  Of course it was never available when I had a wedding or a Broadway show to attend.  When it was finally sent to me, I had no fancy events.  So I just wore it to see Star Wars.  Obviously.

John and I had a little date night with dinner and the movie.  I felt quite overdressed but I really love this dress and am glad I got to wear it! As always with LeTote dresses, it was a tad short for me, but with tights; it was fine.

And the movie was pretty good.  I'd like to see it again, but who has time for that?  I'm sure we will buy it when it comes out on BluRay, because someone in my house is a fairly big Star Wars fan (spoiler alert: it isn't me or Mr. Baby).

Dress: LeTote (use my code to get half off your first month)  (exact)
Cardigan: Gap (similar)
Boots: Madden (exact)

#momlife

Being a mom is sometimes ridiculous.  A lot of days (especially these snowy frigid days), Mr. Baby and I just stay at home and those days are usually pretty chill.  But I tend to get stir crazy if we haven't left the house in a few days, and you know, sometimes we need to buy groceries.  On Tuesday this week, I was feeling like going out, but didn't have any specific errands to run, so I was like "hey, I'll go to Which Wich, my favorite lunch place!"  Seemed like a good plan.  It was after the lunch rush, but I didn't think about how tricky it would be with the boy.

If you've never been there (you should go!), you fill out a bag with your sandwich order on it, and then you go up to order and pay, and then they call your name when your food is ready.  Simple enough.  Unless you are carrying around a tiny menace to society!  As I was filling out my sandwich bag, Mr. Baby managed to grab a sign off the wall, ripping it in half.  Oops.  I took the pieces up to the cashier and apologized.  I was so relieved it was the manager who basically knows me because I went there like once a week when I was pregnant.  So as I'm trying to pay, Mr. Baby decides to be as wiggly as possible, and do his best to dive out of my arms.  Not cool, baby!  Anyway, I got my order in and paid, and then went to find a table.  But then I needed to grab a high chair, which are way back in the corner.  I'm not going to leave my bag unattended, so I lug everything back and somehow manage to wrangle a high chair off the stack, and carry it back to the table.  (Note - chivalry is absolutely dead, according to the 5 or so businessmen who just stared awkwardly at me.)

I get Mr. Baby all situated with the high chair and the cover, and then realized I needed to get my drink.  Well, I'm definitely not going to leave him unattended, so I pull him out, go get the drink.  Get back to the table, put him back in the chair.  Then they call my name.  Okay, get baby back out, go grab sandwich.  It's ridiculous.  So I finally have everything I need, and he is happy in the high chair, so I got to eat in relative peace.

**An aside: the table next to me was 2 girls who are in college. They were cracking me up, talking about getting ready to graduate, and the guys they are dating.  I should have been live tweeting their whole conversation.  Did you know there's a formula to determine whether a guy is too old to date, and therefore creepy?  The one girl is dating a 28 year old, but I guess you take his age, divide by 2, and add 7.  Since she's 21, it's just barely not creepy.  Who comes up with this stuff???  Also, apparently really smart guys can sometimes be socially awkward.  Who knew?  (everyone).

Anyway, I finished eating and decided we should head to Babies R Us, because I needed to buy my friend a baby shower present.  I just needed to feed the boy before we left.  I got him out, went to refill my drink, and came back to the table to feed him.  He was in my lap, and I was digging in the diaper bag for his bottle, when he slapped my drink right off the table.  All 20 ounces went into the high chair seat cover, and then spilled onto the floor.  And I can't even do anything about it, because I am holding him!  The college girls sprang to their feet to help.  One of the workers looked like he was coming over, but he was actually going to dig through the trash to look for a lost cell phone (oh it was a crazy day for the Which Wich employees).  I knew we were going to need more than paper towels, so I went and talked to the manager again.  And again, she was very gracious.  She mopped everything up, and I went ahead and fed the boy.  Then I got a refill again and we went out to the car.  I got him into the carseat, got the soaking wet high chair cover into the back where it wouldn't ruin anything fabric, and started the car.  Right before I backed out, the manager comes running out "your drink is on the top of your car!"  Oh man... I'm a mess.  We didn't go to Babies R Us.  We just went home where I could avoid any more embarrassment!

Just in case you thought I was one of those moms who has it all together.

Cardigan: H&M
Tee: Loft
Jeans: Gap
Flats: Target

Budget Rewind - December 2014

The next several months of budget rewind are going to be weird, because I was pretty much buying maternity clothes.  So here's December 2014. 

Good:

• Belly bands - I got a lot of use out of these in the first few months.  I was able to keep wearing my normal jeans and skirts way past the point of being able to zip them.  
• Jeans - Most of the jeans I bought were good.  The only ones that didn't really work out were the H&M Treggings, because the legs were so tight, but the waist band was so loose, they just kept falling down.  Not a good look. 
• Tights!  Listen, if you are pregnant and wear skirts or dresses, you NEED to get maternity tights. These were so comfortable.  The Old Navy ones were my favorite.  The H&M ones weren't long enough for my legs.
• Black and tan dress - I ordered these 3 dresses on a whim when Younker's was having an additional sale on clearance.  This one was great.  The others... skip down a few categories.  

Medium

• Coat - I definitely needed a maternity coat.  This one was probably a little more fancy and expensive than I needed.
• Kohl's shirts - using a gift card, I got the marled sweater, and a white ruffly tank top. While I normally wouldn't have bought these, I did like them and wore them quite a bit.
• Old Navy sweaters - Christmas gifts from my in-laws!  I really liked both of these sweaters, but I just wasn't into thicker sweaters as much while I was pregnant.  Probably because I was hot all the time.  

Ugly

• 2 blue Younker's dresses (here and here).  These were both terrible.  I wore them a couple times just out of stubbornness, but they were made for someone about 6 inches shorter than me, who happens to have a very flat chest.  

The good news is that I spent birthday money on all these things, so it didn't cut into my clothing budget.  And for going into pregnancy with no idea what might fit, and having to order most things online, I think I did okay.  

Bird Sweater

So 2016, huh?  That's crazy.  I just realized that this will be the year I go from having lived most of my life in the 20th century to living most in the 21st century.  If you are good at math, you know how old I am now!

Anyway, this sweater was from my recent LeTote.  Again, I really liked it, but it's so short!  Is there a clothing rental service for tall ladies??  I intended to cancel, but I missed sending my tote back because we were out of town, so I guess I'm in it for another month.  I'm trying to pick more casual options for my SAHM lifestyle!

Sweater: LeTote
Jeans: Old Navy
Flats: Target