Sunday Best

This is my new dress.  I wore it to church on Sunday, and unbelievably got to sit through the whole service and all of Sunday School!  Baby2 was awake but happy and smiling at me for most of the sermon, so I'm not entirely sure I heard much of it, but hey, it's better than sitting back in the nursery!
Dress & Cardigan: Old Navy
Belt: Madden
Shoes: Target

38 weeks

I'll be honest.  I'm basically still blogging at this point because I think I should be fair and have this pregnancy documented at least somewhat.  Last time, I was taking pictures almost every day, and this time I can barely manage once a week, so it's not quite the same, but hey, it's something.  If I had to guess, the blog will probably fade off into obscurity soon.  It's just not really something I have time for anymore, and my free time is going to be drastically reducing again.  Maybe I'll post every so often, or maybe I'll miss it terribly and come back, or maybe I'll just start posting weird mommy-blogger stuff (probably not).

Anyway, this was me on Sunday, 38 weeks pregnant and significantly bigger than I was at 40 with baby1!  This is the dress I ended up buying for my sister's wedding back in May and I really love it.  Other than the fact that the armpit holes are enormous.  Seriously, what is up with that?  Are my armpits too small for the rest of my body?  This is a common problem for me.

Counting down the days until baby brother arrives!  Could be soon...

Dress: Loft
Belt: Madden
Sandals: Target

April Shopping

"It's gonna be May" tomorrow, and thanks to everyone on the internet, I now have this song stuck in my head.  And I am trying to remember what even happened in April.  For example, this outfit is from mid-March.  This is one of the dresses I got from Bella Gravida, and I loved it, but it was a little short for my comfort, so I wore leggings, even though I don't love how they look.

As far as shopping goes, I know that I bought and returned many items, as I continued my search for the perfect casual shoes, and also a pretty dress for my sister's wedding.  I really thought the Sperry Zuma  slip-ons were going to be perfect, but they were too loose in the heel, and kind of slipped when I tried to walk around.  The casual shoe search continues, with increasing frustration on my part.

I ordered 2 dresses from Amazon, and 3 from ASOS, hoping something (anything) would work for my sister's wedding.  I also tried on pretty much every maternity dress option at the local Motherhood store, and the one department store that actually has maternity.  Fail!   I'm sure I've said this before, maybe multiple times, but you can be tall, or you can be pregnant, but good luck to you if you are both tall and pregnant!  All maternity dresses are made for someone who is about 6 inches shorter than me.  I had my eye on this Loft dress, but didn't want to pay full price, and it was never part of the sale offers.  I finally decided to cave (as a last resort), and it was 40% off!!  Hooray!  It is a little more casual than I was originally wanting, but at this point (wedding next weekend), I'm happy with it.

Otherwise, I bought a couple longer t-shirts at Gap factory, and I also had my Bella Gravida subscription, which I meant to cancel, but didn't get done in time, oops.

2 Gap outlet tees: $4 each
Loft dress: $48 (used a gift card)
Bella Gravida subscription:  $80

Total Spent in April: $136

Earned selling: $50

Since I have barely bought anything this year, I'm still well under my budget.  And I'm linking up with Franish, as always.

Cardigan: JCF
Necklace: ON
Dress:Bellyssima via Bella Gravida
Belt: Madden
Leggings: H&M mama
Shoes: Target

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)

Off to See the Wizard

Last week, I went to see the Wizard of Oz musical.  It was so much fun.  The crazy thing was people kept saying "oh, I didn't know Wicked was in town!" and I had to explain, "No, just the regular old fashioned version where good is good and bad is bad!"  

Fun fact: even though I am from Kansas and generally love musicals, I have only watched the Wizard of Oz movie in it's entirety one time.  I had never seen it until I was in high school and had my wisdom teeth out.  I got to rent movies to watch all day and I grabbed it from the grocery store video rental place.  Remember when that was a thing?  So that's the only time I have seen it.  There was an occasion in college where some friends tried watching it with Dark Side of the Moon synced up, but we stopped after about 15 minutes.  It was just weird.  Although, the munchkins dancing to Money was pretty cool.

Another fun fact: people think it's funny to call you Dorothy and say "we're not in Kansas anymore" when they meet you and find out you are from Kansas.  If you meet someone from Kansas and want to make this joke, just be warned.  They have heard it a million times and probably don't think it is funny.

Anyway, the show was great, and I was happy for another excuse to dress up a little bit.

Cardigan: JCF (exact in various colors)
Necklace: F21 (similar)
Dress: Loft (exact - on sale and extra 40% off!)
Belt: Madden (exact)
Boots: Madden (exact)

LeTote Green Dress

After a few years of thinking about it, I finally signed up for LeTote.  I'm at a weird place right now with my closet, so I figured it was a good time to try something different.  This dress was in my first tote and I knew it wouldn't work for church, because the front was a little short, and the top was just a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen when carrying a grabby baby.  So I went for the "overdressed housewife meeting her husband for lunch" look.  Is that a thing?  Let's say it's a thing.  

Anyway, the dress was a bit too large, and a bit too short, but it was fun to wear.  I think I dressed it down enough that it wasn't too weird for a random weekday.  

If you aren't familiar with LeTote, it's basically Netflix for clothes.  Monthly subscription, they mail you clothes, you wear and mail back.  Repeat.  You can either let them pick out what they send, or request specific things.  For the first one, I just went with their picks based on my style profile.  Each tote has 3 clothing items and 2 pieces of jewelry.  Here's what they sent me:

I actually didn't wear all 5 items from the first box.  I just wore this dress and the bird shirt and sent it back.  The jewelry was cute, but I didn't have any reason to wear it, and was anxious to send the box back to get my next one.  The striped drapey cardigan thing just isn't my style, plus the weather wasn't conducive to long sleeves last week.  

For the second one, I chose specific things.  I tried to pick a dress I can wear for church, and picked jewelry that should work with the dress and with Mr. Baby.  I just got that box, so I'll be wearing all of those items and sharing my thoughts on it soon!  

So far, I think it's a fun way to get new clothes without buying new clothes and cluttering up my closet.  It's also nice as I'm between sizes and hopefully changing sizes.  I wish there was an option to just get the clothes and not the jewelry, because jewelry isn't something I need to wear right now.  I also wish you could send things back one at a time, like you can with Netflix, instead of each tote coming and going as one.  I'd like to wear the dress, and send it back right away, rather than waiting until I've worn all of the other items.  There are rumors of a maternity line coming soon, which I think would have been totally awesome!  

If you are interested, you can get half off your first month by using my referral code.  It will also give me a $15 credit, so YOU ALL SHOULD DEFINITELY DO IT! 

This post wasn't sponsored by LeTote, although I wish it was.  When exactly do companies start sending me free stuff?  I'm sort of joking, unless you are a company that wants to send me free stuff.  

Jacket: JCF (similar)

Dress: LeTote

Tank: Gap (exact)

Belt: Madden (exact)

Sandals: Target (similar)

On Point

I wore this outfit to church a couple Sunday's ago and one of my friends told me it was on point.  And then we laughed about how kids these days say "on fleek" and what does that even mean?  

Dress: Limited outlet

Belt: Madden

Sandals: Target

Turquoise Dress

Since I'm retired for the moment, I don't wear my dresses as much.  But this one is pretty casual and comfortable, so I wore it to a meeting.  But then it was too hot for this cardigan and I needed pockets, so I changed into shorts and a tank top for lunch with some friends.  But I did wear this outfit for a couple hours at least!

Dress: Old Navy

Cardigan: JCF

Belt: Steve Madden

Sandals: Target

Due Dates and Squirrels

Well, today is my due date.  Not that that means anything to my baby.  He's just chilling and doesn't seem to pay any attention to the schedule.  Babies are notoriously inconsiderate of timelines.  There are a bunch of old wives' tales about how to get labor started.  I'm just making up my own, like eat a giant bowl of ice cream every day.  I'm 100% sure it will work eventually, and I will be like "See, I ate a giant bowl of ice cream, and within 24 hours, I went into labor!"  (unless I have to get induced, and then the my theory will be unproven)

Other than being roughly the size of a whale (baby is the size of a watermelon or pumpkin, allegedly), I had a pretty good weekend.  John and I mostly just tried to make the most of our time as a family of 2.  So, we went out to eat, watched a movie, took a long (sloooow) walk around the neighborhood, had dinner and played cards with his parents.  And I tried to sleep a lot.  The goal is to be well rested at all times.  

On Sunday after church, we took these pictures.  So this is what I actually look like at 40 weeks pregnant.  We saw a squirrel in the tree, and of course, my photographer was distracted by it.  I was doing my normal poses, and noticed that the camera was pointed much higher than usual, and I was like "Are you taking pictures of the squirrel??" and John was like "what?!" but the evidence doesn't lie:  

Anyway, here's hoping I have a baby this week!   

Necklace: F21

Cardigan: Old Navy

Dress: Loft Maternity

Belt: Madden

Sandals: Target

Navy Gingham and Tan, Take Two

Do you ever have an outfit where the color combination seems perfect, but then the outfit itself just kind of falls flat?  That's how I felt about this outfit back in December.  So I tried the navy/gingham/tan combo in a different outfit and I think it is much better!  Maybe just because I love dresses so much, or that you can see a little more of the gingham shirt?  I think the belt definitely helps.

Anyway, I like this one better than the other one.

Dress: Loft Maternity
Top: F21
Cardigan: Limited
Tights: Target
Boots: Madden
Belt: Madden

Wooden Accessories

Just so you know, I've been wearing these sunglasses a lot, and I still like them!  And they really seemed perfect with my wooden necklace and this outfit.  I just need more wooden accessories, I guess!  Or maybe one necklace and one pair of sunglasses is a reasonable amount for my "not very earthy" style.

And just a little weekend review - Saturday was another busy day getting stuff done around the house.  Then John's parents came over and the guys painted in the baby's room.  I'm so excited to see it coming together!  And then it snowed all day Saturday and into Sunday morning, so church was canceled, and we just stayed in on Sunday.  The snow is so pretty, but I'm not excited to go outside any time soon (too bad I have to work today!)  And since my posts are about 2 weeks behind reality, I'm looking back fondly on the day when I could stand out on the deck in just a cardigan and take pictures!

Sunglasses: HF Eyewear
Cardigan: Gap
Dress: Younkers
Necklace: Israel
Belt: Madden
Tights: H&M
Boots: Madden

Maroon & Leopard (again)

Apparently this dress just demands to be worn with leopard print.  I guess I don't have as many ideas about how to wear maroon.  I will have to get more creative, I guess.

Also, winter has finally arrived in the midwest!  After being spoiled in October, the beautiful fall days are pretty much over.  It even snowed on Monday night (womp womp).  I'm about 2-3 weeks behind on outfit photos, but just know that in real life, bare legs are going to be a rare occurrence for the next several months!

Cardigan: J.Crew Factory (similar)
Scarf: H&M (similar)
Dress: Loft Outlet (option,option)
Belt: Steve Madden (similar)
Boots: Steve Madden (exact)

New Favorite Dress

Meet my new favorite dress - at least for a little while.  This is the one I found at the Limited Outlet on my birthday weekend.  Pretty good present to myself, right!  Well, I thought so.  I wore it to work the very next day, because I was so excited about it.

Get ready to see this dress a lot in the next few months.  I'm imagining navy tights, gray or cognac boots, and pretty much every color of cardigan that I own.  Brace yourselves!

Jacket: J.Crew Factory  (exact)
Dress: Limited Outlet (similar)
Belt: Madden (similar)
Shoes: Target (flat version)

On a Serious Note

Blogging is weird.  I write posts about 5x a week, but my writing tends to be pretty superficial.  I like clothes, and I like talking to people about why we wear the things we wear and how to style things in new and interesting ways (or just classics that always work).  Sometimes I talk about what I did that weekend, or the weather, but I don't go into a lot of details about my life.  I'm okay with having a blog that isn't super deep, but sometimes it feels like I'm not being 100% honest.

I definitely don't want or need to share every little thing that goes on in my life.  I tend to share the interesting or fun things, like going to musicals, traveling, or hanging out with friends.   And sometimes I will whine a little about having a cold, or my washing machine breaking, or falling down while taking outfit pictures.  But sometimes there are bigger things going on that I don't share.  I don't want to over-share, but I also don't want to give an unrealistic view of my life.  It's a hard balance, but I think I've erred on the side of under-sharing so far.

There's one big thing that I've almost mentioned several times, but I always stop myself.  I don't know why.  Well, I do know why - it's because I don't even like telling people about it IRL, so sharing on the blog seems even more intimidating.  But here goes...

In the summer of 2013, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  I started noticing random joint pain early in the year, but like a typical 20-something, I didn't go to the doctor.  Instead, I self-diagnosed using WebMD and decided that I just had carpal tunnel.  So I got a wrist rest for work.  Shockingly, it didn't help.   

After a particularly painful week in June 2013 (terribly timed around my work conference in Orlando), I called my doctor and after several visits with several doctors, I was officially diagnosed.  But I really didn't like the specialist who diagnosed me, so I switched to a good one, who had an 8 week waiting list.  On and on, it seems like everything takes forever.  Around September, I finally had a doctor that I liked, and some idea of what was going on!  

The thing about RA is that they don't really know why it happens or how to cure it, so it's all about managing as well as possible.  For those of you who don't know what it is (which I didn't until I had to), basically my immune system is confused and attacking my joints.  So it's pretty painful.  But I also hate the medicine options that seem to all have long term side effects.  Like yeah, my knees hurt, but I also don't want to maybe go blind in 10 years.  So it's pretty frustrating.  But ultimately, I'm just trusting God and praying for wisdom in dealing with this issue.      

It's one of the reasons my goals were so fail-tastic last year, and why I haven't been doing goal updates this year.  It's also why I've been gaining weight.  The pain makes it difficult to do high-intensity exercise, and the meds make it difficult to lose weight.  And my emotions make it difficult to resist baked goods.  So it's kind of a trifecta of doom.  

The good thing is that I feel almost normal sometimes.  I also have a great doctor, and a wonderful support system (thanks husband, family and friends!).  These health issues also inspired my move to working part-time as of December.  This is another thing I haven't mentioned, because I didn't know how to explain it without giving the whole drawn-out story.  I'm still working 5 days a week, but just shorter hours.  It's really helped me prioritize exercise.  So I'm grateful for that option at my current job as well. 

So why am I even blogging about this?  You'd probably never know, other than the fact that I've been getting rid of uncomfortable shoes and stocking up on more comfy options.  Like I said, I've almost mentioned it a few times, and always talked myself out of it.  But I really appreciate other bloggers who share their struggles, so I figured I should stop being weird about it and just share mine.  I don't anticipate blogging about RA very often, but I just wanted to put it out there.  So now you know.

And I couldn't do all of this without outfit pictures, so I picked one of my favorite dresses (aren't they all my favorites?), in one of my end of summer outfits. 

Scarf: Calvin Klein (similar)
Dress: Limited (similar, similar)
Belt: Steve Madden (similar)
Sandals: Target (exact, similar)

Confident Twosday

It's Tuesday, which means I'm linking up with Laura for her Confident Twosday party.  And this week is extra special, because she asked me to co-host!  Whoo!

I've been thinking about confidence, since that's the whole theme of the linkup.  I've never considered myself to be a super confident person, but I pretty regularly have people tell me I must be confident to wear whatever bright colors or crazy patterns.  That may be a back-handed compliment, but I'll take it.  The more I've thought about it, I guess I agree with them.  I don't walk around feeling super confident all the time, but I also don't spend very much time worrying about my flaws.

It seems like there's a trend recently towards celebrating different body types, and I think that's good.  What I don't like is that it sometimes swings too far, and we get into the "real women have curves" type comments.  So I would like to say that yeah, sometimes real women have curves, and sometimes real women have angles, and sometimes we are short or tall or medium, or whatever.  I don't buy into the "everyone is perfect" thing.  I'm more on the "everyone has their own set of flaws" side of things.  We've all got to work with what we've got.  So I probably need to lose a few (well, more than a few) pounds, but right now I'm a little bit fat.  And that's okay.  

And here's a SUPER HELPFUL definition of "self confidence" from Merriam Webster: confidence in oneself.  Wow, I never would have guessed that.  Isn't there supposed to be a rule that you can't use the word to define itself?  Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of defining things? 

Anyway, link up below!  And I'd love to hear your thoughts about confidence! 

Cardigan: H&M (similar)
Dress: Loft Outlet (option,option)
Belt: Steve Madden (similar)
Necklace: Old Navy (similar)
Shoes: Target (exact)

I do deClaire (Bloglovin) | Just Another Smith (Bloglovin) 

An InLinkz Link-up

#24 - Mostly Repeat

Here's an outfit that I wore at the very beginning of the challenge (during the Des Moines weekend), but I didn't take official pictures.  I really liked it, so I wore it again and just added a cardigan for my cold office.

Cardigan: Gap (option, option)
Necklace: Old Navy (similar)
Belt: Madden (similar)
Dress: Target (similar)
Sandals: Target (exact, similar)

#18 - Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Monday!  Since Navy Week is over (but you can still link up until midnight!), here's a rare 30x30 outfit that doesn't actually feature anything navy.  Pretty sure it is the first one of the challenge so far.

Anyway, how about a little weekend update?

Friday evening, we went to a cookout for John's department.  We played croquet and I was terrible.  It seemed like it was going to rain all night, but never actually did.  And my hair grew fluffier and fluffier as the night progressed.

Saturday morning, I had a long overdue phone date with one of my sweet friends from high school.  It was so great to catch up with her.  I really need to prioritize keeping in touch with friends!  Then I spent the rest of the day doing random household chores - this pretty much happens every weekend if I don't want my house to spiral into a complete mess.  Saturday evening, we went over to John's parents' house for dinner and games.  We hadn't seen them in forever, so it was fun to catch up!

Sunday we had church, and then did more miscellaneous chores around the house in the afternoon.  After evening service, we had a Sunday school class get-together, which is always a good time.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend - a nice mix of socializing and productivity.  How was your weekend?

Jacket: J.Crew Factory (exact)
Scarf: H&M (similar)
Dress: Ann Taylor (similar, similar)
Belt: Steve Madden (similar)
Sandals: Target (exact, similar)

Repeat Repeat

Someday, I assume I will run out of different ways to wear this dress.  Today is not that day.  This is basically the summer version of this outfit.

I should probably say something more interesting.  Here's a fun piece of info - I'm meeting Ginny for lunch today!  We met up last summer a couple times and then fall/winter/spring was just crazy.  I'm excited to catch up in person again.  And we may just be planning an upcoming theme for next week.  I'll share the theme on Thursday!       

Necklace: F21 (similar, similar)
Dress: Gap (similar, similar, similar)
Belt: Steve Madden (similar)
Sandals: Target (similar)

Dress Week - Purple Pleats

For the grand finale of Dress Week, I'm wearing a dress with not one, but TWO shades of purple on it.  I know - it's out of control.  Make sure you check out everyone who linked up, especially my super awesome co-host Heidi!  You can still link up until Monday, so you have the whole weekend to get something together if you want!

It's been one of those weeks where Murphy's Law has been strong.  You know, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.  Nothing huge, but these little things start to add up.  Spilled milk all over the car, broken washing machine, running out of clean clothes, accidentally punching myself in the face - you know, regular stuff.  I may have to hang out at the laundromat some this weekend.  Also the washing machine store.  I hope you have something more exciting planned!

Dress: Limited
Scarf: H&M (similar)
Belt: Steve Madden (similar)
Shoes: Target  (flat version)