What I Wore Wednesday: Maternity Nightwear

So given I have a c-section scheduled in less than four weeks I figured I should try and get a move on getting a hospital bag packed. When I was pregnant with Blondie Boy I bought new PJs for the hospital as well as a night gown for labour, neither of which got used. The nightgown was fleece and I had it on all of 2 seconds before I was too hot and the PJs irritated my c-section incision so they were a no go, too.

So this time I still want special new pyjamas but I know to get something that's breathable and won't bug my incision (not to mention the fact post surgery I'll have a catheter so pants aren't really an option anyway). I can't really get around very well because of my SPD so I've been doing most of my shopping and searching online (mostly just places that allow me to return in store) and to be honest the nightwear options out there SUCK.

First I looked at maternity specific nightwear and umm WTF. I'm of the opinion that no grown ass woman in her right mind would ever want to wear anything with Winnie the Pooh on it but apparently the maternity retailers of the UK would beg to differ. If the maternity options don't have a cartoon character on them they have spaghetti straps and as a busty gal that isn't going to be an attractive look.

So I decided to try regular sized PJs but in sizes larger than I normally wear. I struck gold and fell in love with was a white waffles night shirt from New Look:

First off waffles are amazing, fact. Secondly it reminds me of Leslie Knope and anything that reminds me of Leslie Knope is awesome. I ordered the biggest size they had (UK18) but while it is loose in the body it is REALLY short; there is no way I could wear it around a hospital ward without wondering if my cheeks were hanging out. So now I'm back to square one and considering the following options.

Next Red Flannel Nightshirt, £22

I feel like this is the slightly nicer version of stealing my Dad's XXL shirts to sleep in. It looks long on the model and I feel like I could wear it without a bra and not look awful.

Next Dreamer Nightshirt

I love Tie Dye and upon further inspection this probably isn't tie dye but it looks sort of similar to tie-dye so I like it. It also goes up to a UK size 20 so I should be able to get it large enough but I can't tell how thin the material is.

Nordstroms Nightshirts, $20-$68

Nordstroms has some cute options but I'd have to get them shipped to my Mom's and then hope that they fit (and that baby stays put until she gets here). It's not the best option since I had issues with length in the first nightshirt I tried.

Where is your go-to place for comfy and cute (but not saccharine) PJs? What would you do?

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What I Wore Wednesday: First Day of New Job

I made it through my first day at my new job! I woke up about five times between 5am and before my alarm went off but I woke up on time and got ready and left the house at 8am to catch the bus. It was a beautiful morning and after the bus driver told me off for apparently waiting at the bus stop incorrectly (?) I had a pleasant enough bus ride especially as the bus now has free wifi--SCORE! It's a short 8 block walk (past 2 Starbucks--SCORE!) to my office from the bus stop and it's all down hill. If you've never been to Glasgow that down hill bit is important because the hills can be insanely steep in the city centre!

I wanted to wear something I'd be comfortable in but was also fairly nice because I really didn't know the dress code yet. I knew I had to wear flat shoes because I'd be walking from the bus and while I can attend events in heels I'm a long way from wearing heels all day yet! Add in the fact we had a high of 70 today (that's pretty here) and I came up with this:

Cropped Blazer, HM

Coral Cynthia Rowley Dress, TK Maxx

Studded Flats, Next

Studded Bag, New Look

Tie Dye iPhone Case, House of Holland

It's my first work bathroom selfie! What a milestone :) I went bare legged and even though my legs are so white they are translucent I'm glad I did since it was so hot today. I spent most of today just trying to get to grips with things and I think the rest of the week will be a mix of meetings and learning all the different services we offer and stake holders we have as well as reading through all of the strategy and policy--PHEW!

After work I walked a mile (this time it was up some of the crazy hills and uphill in general) to my father-in-law's house to pick up Blondie Boy. It was such a gorgeous day we came straight home and played in the backyard until I realized it was almost 7pm and he hadn't eaten dinner yet! It's 10:30 now and the sun is just setting so even though I was in the office all day I think I've gotten to enjoy the sun, too!

Unfortunately not enough sun to bring my legs up a shade from translucent to cream cheese. We are off on vacation next week to Spain so I'll need to try and get a base tan soon or I will crisp up like a lobster over there! Do other people believe in getting a base tan before going on vacation or did I totally make that up? Has anyone been to Murcia? Do you have any suggestions?

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What I Wore Wednesday: Next Children's Clothes

I like to think that Blondie Boy is a trendy little dude; I know I don't let him wear just anything and I'd hope that he would turn his nose up at certain styles too. We are both big fans of Next Children's clothing so when Collective Bias™ asked us to head to Next to check out the children's clothes on offer we jumped at the chance.

I'm a big fan of Next as their clothes wear quite well but are also stylish; I love that their boy's clothes tend to be mini (but appropriate) versions of adult men's fashion trends. I'm not sure about the US but statement tee-shirts are huge in the UK right now. Basically it's just a tee shirt with one word across the front in a varsity style font.

I loved the dude tee. When I was probably about 8 in Ohio I desperately wanted to be a Valley Girl and said stuff like "Gag me with a credit card and put me into layaway" so dude has been part of my vocabulary for a long time. Unfortunately they didn't have Blondie Boy's size in stock when I visited so I'll just have to pop back again later to see if it comes in stock.

Honestly shopping for boy's clothes there usually aren't a lot of great options but I was spoiled for choice; look at how many shoes there were alone! There were so many options to choose from I was overwhelmed! I finally decided that I'd go with another current fashion trend that is also my favourite decade: the 90's. Short floral dresses, ripped jeans and high-tops (okay they are wedged now) have made a come back so I decided to put a twist on the 90's with Blondie Boy's look:

Doesn't he look like he fell out of a Kevin Smith movie? I LOVE this Nirvana t-shirt. First of all both NotBlondeHusband and I are big Nirvana fans (Blondie Boy is more into Pearl  Jam for now who I also love) but I love that Blondie Boy can be a mini rocker.  I chose the dark wash jeans for no other reason than I wear dark wash so he can too! The flannel shirt and backwards cap just give it that extra grunge feel.

Poor Blondie Boy; he's been asking me to do a photo-shoot on the front porch every day before school recently but I couldn't understand why he seemed so grumpy for this one. Normally he's a mega poser and break dancing; turns out he's sick and has been running a fever on and off since. Poor kid no wonder he looks pissed off!

While this is the outfit I picked there were so many other clothes I could have bought if Blondie Boy's closet wasn't already over-flowing. You can see all of my favourites from the Boy's section in my Next #CBias Google + album! Where do you normally shop for clothes for your children? Do you follow fashion or prefer to stick to practicality? What do you think generally about fashion trends for kids?

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own; don't y'all know by now I only speak the truth?

What I Wore Wednesday: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

This week was NotBlondeHusband's 33rd birthday. I made him a Malted Chocolate Buttercream Devil's Food Cake with Marshmallow Filling and then gave him a present that I don't think anyone was really expecting; if I'm honest not even me: twin haircuts.

What a difference 4-5 inches makes huh? I loved Blondie Boy's long hair but it just wasn't practical any more. It was always in his eyes (I don't like boys with bangs/fringe don't ask me why I just don't) or had boogers or paint or play-doh stuck in it. We talked about it and he wasn't that bothered so he and his Daddy got matching haircuts on NBH's birthday.

The stylists couldn't believe how still he sat for almost 30 minutes and gave him a special certificate to say what a good boy he was. My inspiration for his hair was David Beckham's haircut---yes I know Blondie Boy is only three but I wanted him to have a cool haircut. You could also just say it's a longer version of his Dad's haircut. I haven't really played with it yet but I think he could probably rock a pretty sweet faux-hawk.

After the haircuts we had two birthday dinners, one on Friday with NBH's Dad and his wife and another on Saturday with NBH's Mum and her husband. Both dinners were super yummy (I ate far too much) and we finished both meals off with the aforementioned cake. On Saturday after dinner NBH and I went to a charity concert one of his friend's from work was throwing so I wanted to make sure I had on comfy shoes. I was really struggling with something that would work and I'm not 100% with what I came up with if I'm honest.

Black Sequin Loft Top

Old Navy Sweetheart Jeans

Next Studded Flats

Children's Place Embellished Button Down

Cherokee Jeans

Disney Cars Flasher Gym Shoes

I think part of the reason I couldn't find something I liked to wear was that I'm not happy with my body right now. I've put on a ridiculous amount of weight (I've been on the scale so trust me) and things are fitting the way they should and honestly it isn't healthy. I loved my eye-makeup (thanks Pinterest!) and my hair but I'm not comfortable in my own skin right now. 

I've lost weight before and I'm angry at myself that I've gotten this heavy again. I could blame it on a number of changes and frankly shitty things going on right now but that's not fair. So I've started SlimFast; it isn't something I've tried before but a 2 weeks supply was on sale at Costco and it seemed like an easy way to try and get my butt in gear. It isn't a long term solution but hopefully it is a way to start losing some weight and motivate me to start exercising, eat better and keep losing weight until I'm happy with myself.

Has anyone done SlimFast before? Any tips or tricks?

What I Wore Wednesday: Cincinnati Chic

I'm going to be totally honest; I've not taken a single outfit photo this week. I travelled down to Manchester on Wednesday for a work event that went really well but after being "on" all night when really I was still pretty upset just left me emotionally drained by the time I got home. I came back up on Thursday and didn't get out of sweats really until yesterday for Blondie Boy's parent teacher conference (beside apparently trying to bring home Playdough daily he's a super star natch).

I wore my faux leather ponte dress again for work but again didn't snap a single photo. It's not exactly professional to ask a colleague to take a picture of your outfit and I was going to snap one in the hotel elevator but it was so dark in there it wouldn't have worked. I wore an oversized cream sweater with black leggings and my new spiky shoes yesterday but again, no photo. 

I'm still in a bit of a funk about being stuck here; I've heard this afternoon that my application has been given a caseworker but security checks still have to happen and that could take 7 days. I'm not sure what other processes take place after that but it's good to know something is happening. I'm really grateful to my MP's office for helping out by phoning to find out what's going on (the general public can't).

I've been Facetiming with my Grandma and for the most part it has been great (especially the part where she asked my Mom how old I was and then insisted I only looked 28!) but it is also really hard to see her get upset and say she missed me or ask when I'm going to come and visit her. My Mom has told me there isn't much I can do and if I was there I'd be doing the same as FT but in person but it's still rough. I'd like to be there to help support her as much as to see my Grandma. Hopefully my application will be sorted soon but even once it's decided it could be another 20 days after that.

Tomorrow night I'm going to the Debenhams SS13 Show in Glasgow so that is something to look forward to and keep my mind off of things I really can't control. So since I am beyond rubbish this week I give you a photo a a little boy who's always styling:

Zip Hat-Gap Kids

Cincinnati Shirt-MiCA 12/v

Skinny Jeans- Marks and Spencer Indigo

Boots-Next

I don't know who bought Blondie Boy these skinny jeans but they crack me up; he's such a skinamarink that even skinny jeans are a bit baggy on him. He definitely looks better in skinny jeans than I do! Are there any adult trends that you find funny on children?

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What I Wore Wednesday: Surprise Snow and Lunch Meeting

I did attempt to take a photo of what I wore to my meeting down south last week in a bathroom at Heathrow but that didn't really work out. I promise it was a super cute black HM dress with my leopard heels. I was going to try again but then I flashed a TSA agent (I'm not using hyperbole here; literally my entire bra was showing from 4 buttons popping open) I threw on a cardigan and ditched my cute heels for flip flops and gave up.

Last week it was in the 70's, I was wearing Flip-Flops and had a lunch on a patio by the River Thames; today I woke up and it was snowing--seriously SNOWING. So for my lunch meeting I was decidedly more bundled up.

In addition to the snow it is also blowing a gale so apologies for the wind blown hair. Like I said it is literally freezing so NotBlondeHusband wasn't feeling up to taking more than one photo. You can sort of tell but my good friend Jef re-dyed my pink for me. It is a bit darker than I wanted but it is fading gradually to the shade I wanted with repeated washes with clarifying shampoo.

Black Feather Earrings- Monsoon

Black Trench-Wallis

Grey Cowl Neck Sweater- New Look

Black Leggings- Lime for Next

Black Boots- Sketchers

What I Wore Wednesday: Playground Chic

Okay so I'm going to be honest. This week I've looked a hot mess. I was sick the first half of the week, then Blondie Boy was sick and finally NotBlondeHusband got the crud. The three of us have been in some form of PJ's pretty much not stop. It has also been super cold and foggy so you wouldn't really want to leave the house anyway.


Today however was bright and sunny (but still really cold) so I took Blondie Boy up to Drumpellier Country Park to play on the playgrounds and see the water fowl. He loves slides and the playground had three different ones (plus two that were too big for him) for him to try out. So this week it not what I wore but what he wore; he's cuter to look at than me anyway :)

Knitted Skull Brimmed Hat- Old Navy
Pea Coat- Gap Outlet
Cable Knit Sweater- Next
Jeans- Gap
Skull Welly Boots- ASDA


I have no idea why one leg is tucked in and one is not; apparently my son thinks he's gangsta. I know I'm kinda copping out this week so here's a super cute video of him sliding down one of the slides! He started the whole "ready, steady, go" thing on his own but of course I had to prompt him once the camera came out :)

On a final note I'd like to ask if you link up that you please comment on at least two other linked posts; it can be this and another post or two other posts---basically I don't want this to just be a place to link I want it to be interactive. Plus it is just polite to say "hey" right?