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Fashion Friday

“It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday….”  
Sorry.  I couldn’t resist a little Rebecca Black love.  
Weekend is upon us everyone!  Last week of summer is over baby!  So happy I survived and am still around to blog about it.  :)
I wanted to quickly answer a few random questions I never answered.  I finally set things up so that my blog comments go straight to my e-mail (should have done that FORever ago) so from now on it will be so much easier for me to answer your questions.  Sorry if you’ve asked me something and I never got back to you!  I always blame my inability to stay on top of my e-mails/comments on baby #3, however, baby #3 is looking less and less like a baby lately so I figure it’s time to either come up with a better excuse or get on the ball!   
Several of you asked where my mom bought the princess bedding when I shared the girls’ rooms at my mom’s house.  I believe she bought it at Target.  Gotta love Target.  She bought it several years ago though so I don’t know if they still carry it.  I know the princess castle shower curtain was from Target and the bead board bookshelf in the room with the bunk beds was from a specialty furniture store in her area.  I think that store has since gone out of business though.  (bummer too because it was a cute store..)
Here’s a Fashion Friday question…
“I love Fashion Friday!  Got any maternity ideas to share?  I know you’re past that now and probably blocked it from your mind forever…”
Loved this.  Yes.  Definitely blocked all things pertaining to maternity clothes from my mind forever! ;)  Seriously I was such a beast this last pregnancy!  My “annoying” post summed it up.  Everything bugged me.  I really don’t know how Kenny survived.  
But the clothes!  I actually think maternity clothes can be fun!  This was my strategy with maternity clothes this last time around.  First I wore my regular clothes for as long as I possibly could (which wasn’t that long).  
Then I invested in two really good pairs of maternity jeans.  Some boot cut Joe jeans with a lighter wash and then some dark skinny jeans from the Gap.  I wore those two pairs of jeans everywhere with everything.  They cost a bit more than I really wanted to spend on maternity clothes, but good fitting jeans make such a difference in the way you feel about yourself (at least for me) so that’s where I chose to spend a little more.  Then I just bought inexpensive tops that were comfortable that I could wear again and again.  I bought most of my shirts at Gap Maternity.  
Here’s some of my best pregnancy fashion advice — accessorize!  If you’re pregnant in the Fall, wear your Fall boots.  Add funky jewelry/headbands – anything you can do to avoid looking like you don’t care anymore.  (I know – it’s easy to not care anymore when you’re gaining weight at the speed of light.) Don’t over do it, obviously, but a fun pair of shoes or a great necklace can make those plain maternity clothes appear super stylish.  

 (32 weeks)
Especially play it up during the second trimester.  That’s when you feel good and look cute pregnant.  As opposed to first trimester when you just look fat, not pregnant and third trimester when you look miserable pregnant.  Because you are.  (Totally speaking from my own experience here.)  The second trimester is a fun time to dress cute and show off your belly.  
(Extremely close to due date.  Butt was as big as my stomach.)
(baby shower with my cute friends)

When I hit the third trimester, I tired to avoid sweats when I was out and about (as tempting as it was) and I wore a lot of dresses.  I bought a few dresses that covered everything and then some and I lived in them.  My other best piece of advice — notice the tie at the top of my stomach in the grey dress above?  It’s always more flattering to buy something like this that makes it appear as though you have some sort of shape left.  I found that fitted clothes were a lot more flattering than buying huge clothes that covered everything.  Clothes like that just make you look even bigger.  Look for clothes that pull in fitted above your belly. 

Quick re-cap:
1)  Invest in a good pair of jeans (when I was pregnant with Ellie and teaching school I invested in a couple of good pairs of slacks).  Straight legged pants are more flattering than baggy ones.  
2)  Accessorize (focus on the shoes and jewelry) 
3)  Don’t hide your belly under baggy clothes, show it off with slim, fitted shirts.  
4)  Especially enjoy the second trimester.  It’s your time to shine!
5)  Eat as much as possible and enjoy it!!!  You can work it off later!!!  (Not really good advice but something I lived by with each of my three pregnancies.)
Hope that helps all of you cute pregnant ladies!  May the force be with you.    
Since we’re heading back to school next week I thought I’d share a few cute things I picked up for my girls…

All of these were from the Gap.  My girls have a lot to wear already (too much really) so I just picked up some cute, casual tops.  Purple seems to be the color for Fall!  My girls love leggings and they love being comfortable so the above items seemed like a good way to go.  Plus all of the tops were cheaper if you bought two of the same style and since I’m always buying two of everything I love deals like that!

I couldn’t decide which of these two cute headbands to get to go with their new purple tops so I just bought one of each and they can share.  Aren’t they fun!?

New shoes are a must.  They have to be closed toed (a school rule) and comfortable for all of that playground action!  Addison is still working on the shoe tying so we opted for velcro for her.  Every minute counts in the morning when we are rushing to get out the door!

I also found these darling flats for Ellie at Children’s Place.  So cute for skirt days!  I was really bummed they didn’t have Addie’s size.  Also bummed they didn’t have my size.   :)

Happy back to school everyone!!!
xoxo, Erin
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18 thoughts on “Fashion Friday

  1. erin- this post was so timely for me- obviously! :-) i am in the third trimester now and just feel like a cow. we have a big party to go to in a week or so, and i am dreading it because seriously…i just want to hide out in sweats for the next three months! so, this was inspiring.

    i have been buying wayyyyyy too many clothes for my kindergarten girl. i am kind of over the top with it. i think i am compensating for me not wanting to buy anything for myself this pregnancy- ha! i did find some cute tops at target- and i don’t ever really buy clothes there- but they have some pretty okay maternity stuff this time…

    i can’t believe school starts next week! i know you are excited but i am dreading it. i have been having dreams that someone in my daughter’s class will tell her that there isn’t a santa claus. isn’t that silly?!

  2. i wish i could hire you as my personal stylist! i’m now in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy, and i definitely don’t look as cute and hip as you did! and i totally rock sweats almost every day (bad, i know). but seriously – i LOVE your style. maybe someday i’ll be as cute of a mom as you are :)

  3. I agree with Shari, you were the cutest pregnant girl ever!

    And those pink shoes are DARLING! Love them! I think I’ll have to run into Childrens Place and see if they have any at our store. Ellie will be the cutest 2nd grader ever! (Even with out the shoes!) Enjoy this weekend and good luck girls on your 1st day of school, I can’t wait to hear all about it! (Madi is LOVING Kindergarten, just got to get my post done!)

    p.s. – Kenny, I was cracking up at your response the other day. It totally made my day. :)
    I guess at that point I’ll be glad we live 7 hours away and the kids only get to see each other a couple times a year. ;) Minimize the trouble.

  4. I love the kids gap stuff right now, but I am kinda sad, Brendan and Hailey are starting a new academy and will be in uniforms. I have no problem with uniforms except it sure is not so fun to dress little girls in them. We have bought some fun shoes just to make things a little better. Hope there school year is great!

  5. Love this post! I’m really starting to pop, so perfect timing:) I only wear skirts, but I’ve been doing the same thing, basically–wearing 2 skirts constantly, switching up cheap tops, and adding accessories!

  6. Erin,
    I have been looking at maternity jeans on line just this week. Your post was perfect timing.
    Is it cute to wear those ankle boots, or a little higher than that with skinny jeans or leggings?
    I usually just see people wearing those with the tall boots.
    Where can I look to see pictures of fall styles, especially leggings/skinny jeans/boots??
    I need lots of help. I wish I could come shopping with you.

  7. My favorite picture is you in the black sweater (side shot). Your belly is such a basketball under the sweater!

    Have your girls recovered from all the junk food yesterday??? Are they asking for me to come over again? YaY!!! Ann is here! haha

    So excited for our fall plan(s)!

  8. Cute cute cute!!! I must know where you got those hot pink Velcro shoes for Addison!! My daughter is still a baby (and yet she has 11 pairs of shoes OMG!) but I’d love these for when she’s walking. When you see something perfect, you get it – am I right?!? :)

  9. Okay…Not fair for you to give pregnancy advice in fashion because you are just the cutest pregnant girl around…AND it is WAY easier to dress for pregnant int he FALL than it is to dress in the SUMMER!!! I NEED pregnancy advice for Summer clothes…and LOVE HANDLES!!!! HELP!!! AND, I don’t want to spend a whole lot because I only have 7 weeks to go! I like the accessorize idea…I definitely need an update on all of my accessories! Almost ALL of my necklaces have broke from getting hooked on things when I lean over…then I pull up and SNAP! There goes that one!

    I bought Abbie some of those same things at the Gap for school! She LOVES purple…so this was a really fun line of clothes for her!

  10. Hi Erin.

    Just wanted to let you know that I love reading your blog…and even though I live on the other side of the world (Sydney)…I can relate to so many of your stories!

    You’ve inspired me to start my own blog…thank you!! I look forward to documenting our family life and sharing it with others!

    Marianne :)

  11. Hi Erin! I just popped over from your jeans post to read about your thoughts on maternity clothes. Thank you for doing this! I remember reading this in August but I didn’t need it at the time and NOW I DO! :-) Thank you for the tips and advice. I’m now in my 2nd trimester and needing to buy maternity clothes so this post was perfect.

    Question…
    Did you do anything to prevent stretch marks? If so, what? Also, I know you’ve said you work out a lot- did you while you were pregnant? What did you do? Your body looks like you haven’t had any babies!!!

    Thank you also for the story in the jeans post about you and Kenny while he was in law school and you were working three jobs. I am essentially in the very same scenario right now and it is a relief to know there is hope that this isn’t how life will be permanently.

  12. Hi Katharine!

    Thanks for your sweet comment! Congrats on the new addition coming soon!! So fun! :) Let’s see…stretch marks…I rubbed lotion on my stomach most nights before I went to bed. That’s it! I lucked out and didn’t get stretch marks and I don’t know if that had anything to do with the lotion or not. Worth a try, right? :) YES! I did work out while I was pregnant. Mostly just walking on the treadmill (really fast and up a steep hill). Of course by the third trimester I wasn’t moving all that quickly — but I still walked! It really does help your body bounce back more quickly. Then after each pregnancy I really watched what I ate and did aerobics or walk/run every day. Hope that helps! Thanks again for the sweet comment and congrats again on the new baby!

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