Baby Shower Convert

My sister-in-law Beth, my awesome nephew F, and me

F and me, chillin' with a giant pile of presents

My in-laws: Cary's aunts, sister-in-law, and mom (to the right of me). Love these people!

Academia: I have long been uncomfortable at baby showers. For a long time, that was because I was trying to get pregnant and baby showers were sad for me, but even before that, I had a hard time finding things to talk about at showers. I was always the only childless person at them, and what did I know about bottles, diapers, and nursing covers? I went to a shower once when people oohed and aahed over what I swear was a disembodied arm designed to simulate the weight of a mom's arm to comfort the baby in mom's absence, while I sat there with my mouth hanging open. I am so not making this up, but the internet has completely failed me and I can't find a picture. What should I search for - "disembodied arm for baby?" It was the weirdest moment in a long history of weird baby shower moments.

But. BUT. I have discovered that when you are the mom-to-be, baby showers are wonderful. There's yummy food, you finally have something to contribute to conversations about swaddling blankets (aside: my fabulous sister Suzanne got me these and they are so soft, I might steal them for myself and let Baby C deal with it. I have actually had dreams about the softness of these blankets), and you get so. many. presents. Plus, you're surrounded by people who love you and your baby. What could be better?

I've had two showers now: one at Cary's work, and one on Saturday, hosted by my priest's wife and attended by lots of church ladies, plus several of my in-laws (Cary's mom, sister-in-law, and two of his aunts), my sister, and the most fascinating baby on the planet, my nephew F. Both were great, but the presence of family at Saturday's shower made it extra special. It was such a lovely afternoon, and I left feeling so grateful that my baby has so many people supporting her and praying for her before she's even born. The baby shower lovers have won me over - I can't wait for the next one (even the next one that's not mine)!

Sartorial: You can't see my whole outfit in these pictures (many thanks to my mother-in-law for taking and sharing them), but this is what I wore to the shower. This dress was cool and comfy in the June heat, and I think the flower in my hair added just the right amount of whimsy. I felt pretty and maternal all afternoon.

Bonus Sartorial: My nephew F is wearing a tiny polo onesie and tiny khaki pants. Isn't he the preppiest little thing you've ever seen? I could just eat him up.

Parenting Practice

Academia: I'm still off conferencing in Houston, and hopefully will be able to report to you next week that it went well (I'm writing this on Sunday night before leaving). In the meantime, I give you another outfit I wore last week, on a day when the students were really wearing me down. It wasn't a bad day at all, but just a day in which everyone had a question, or a weird problem, or a complaint.

It was exhausting, but in a way, probably good practice for parenthood. After all, Baby C will be here soon and she will need me way more than any student I've ever had. I'm sure it will feel different - I'll love my daughter more and differently than my students, which will make meeting her needs easier in some ways. But there will probably also be days when I feel run down by how dependent she will be on her dad and me. For those days, my job can be an excellent warm-up.

Sartorial: Wearing fun clothes can make tiring days a little better. Bright purple and red, comfortable jeans, and a big flower in my hair all make me smile. That's something to keep in mind for those inevitably tiring days with Baby C: putting on happy clothes might help ease that worn-out new mommy feeling.

To any moms reading this, how did you make yourself feel a bit more human on long days with your baby?

It's a...

Academia: Among all the exciting days in my life, Tuesday was probably in the top five. Cary and I went for an ultrasound and got to find out the sex of our baby. I'm so psyched to tell y'all. Are you ready? It's a...

...girl!

I couldn't be more thrilled. I think I would be equally excited if she had been a boy - I'm really just happy to be having a baby - but I keep thinking about how close I have always been with my mom and imagining all the fun girl stuff my daughter and I can do together. Cary is excited too; he made a t-shirt that says, "It's a girl!" and wore it to school today to announce it to the kids in his fifth grade class. I can't wait to see him in action as a dad.

Plus, all the adorable baby girl clothes! I went in Gymboree after my ultrasound and saw a bib that was in the shape of a giant strawberry, complete with ruffly little green leaves. Who can pass up that kind of stuff? Keep an eye out late this year, y'all; you may see some mother-daughter posts on this blog. Having a girl makes it way too easy to have a super-stylish kid.

Sartorial: I was feeling very girly yesterday (must be all the extra estrogen), so I wore this. I couldn't think of anything better to be wearing when I told my colleagues and students that I was having a girl. Baby C kicked me a lot while I was wearing it, so I think she liked it too!

Mental Fist Shaking

Academia: I think my university is the only public institution in the US that doesn't celebrate Presidents' Day. 364 days a year, I love, love, love working there, but on Presidents' Day, my alarm goes off, I look at my blissfully sleeping public schoolteacher husband, and I mentally shake my fist at the powers that be. And that's how yesterday went for me.

Sartorial: I'm also starting to mentally shake my fist at my wardrobe. I don't have enough maternity clothes to make a full wardrobe, but none of my pre-pregnancy pants or skirts fit comfortably anymore, so every day I just look at my closet and sigh. This in-between stage of pregnancy is killing my style mojo.

I felt better over the weekend when my friend Lilly, whose due date is one week before mine, said she was feeling exactly the same way about her clothes. She always looks really stylish to me, so that gave me hope that maybe I'm not looking as blah as I feel when I get dressed every day. I think a good solid hour of shopping for more clothes that actually fit would give my style mojo the boost it needs. I hoping that can happen this week; stay tuned for results.

I know I sound super whiny today, y'all. I promise I'm not fishing for compliments, and I hope to be back to my non-whiny self in my next post. Thanks for bearing with me.

Anne of Green Gables

Academia: Things are quieting down from the beginning of the semester, for which I am sooo thankful. It's nice to be busy at work, but it's also nice to have quiet days after the busyness. Yesterday I had a few minutes to sit in my office armchair and put my feet up on my desk chair. It was delightful.

Sartorial: Another delightful thing that happened over the weekend is that my mom came and took me maternity clothes shopping! I thought everything would be too big still, but it all fit perfectly, so apparently I'm showing more than I thought. I can't tell y'all how nice it is to have clothes that look right on my body and don't make me feel like a sausage squeezed into a too-small casing. I got three dresses, two skirts, and a pair of jeans. And may I just say, why aren't all pants made like maternity pants? They're so stretchy and wonderful. A friend of mine called them "reverse Spanx." Instead of squishing you in, they just expand to let you be as big as you want to be. I must find a way to keep wearing them forever.


This is one of the dresses I got, and I feel so pretty in it. The ruffly collar and the flowers remind me of Anne of Green Gables - they seem so feminine and old-fashioned. Of course, Anne didn't get pregnant until book five of that series, and then I doubt her maternity dresses were 100% synthetic fabric (or that they even called them "maternity dresses" back then... they were probably just "dresses"), but I like to think that if Anne were not fictional and walking around today, this is what she would have picked.

Okay, I'm imagining a fictional character from an Edwardian-era novel shopping at Motherhood Maternity. It's definitely to stop writing and go to bed. I'll be back soon with more new maternity clothes and less rambly weirdness, I promise.

One-Track Mind

Academia: I'm afraid this will be a brief post, y'all. My morning sickness, which seemed to have gone a few weeks ago, is suddenly back with a vengeance, and all I really want to do is go to bed. I think the pregnancy gods heard me bragging that I hadn't thrown up once and are now smiting me. Gross.

I'm sorry to have been so all pregnancy, all the time lately, readers. I know when I was trying to get pregnant, it killed me to have to read about other people having babies, so if you're in the same boat and need to stop reading for a while, I completely understand. It's just that being pregnant is way more all-consuming than I thought it would be - when I don't feel bad, I'm thinking about what the baby will be like, or what we'll name him/her, or what clothes I have that still fit. I'm hoping my regular brain will come back a bit once I get used to being pregnant, but until then, thanks for bearing with me and my single-mindedness, y'all.

Sartorial: This skirt used to be too big. Now it fits perfectly and I don't need a belt. Yay!

Watch Downton Abbey. Seriously.

Academia: It's late and I need to go to bed, but to sum up today, may I just say that any day that ends with catching up on Downton Abbey is an awesome day. If you haven't watched Downton Abbey yet, get yourself over to Netflix immediately and set aside six hours of your life to watch season 1. And I mean six consecutive hours, because you won't be able to stop. Who knew that the inner workings of a 1910s English country estate were so completely engrossing? Well, now you do. Even if you don't give a hoot for British period dramas, it's worth watching for the clothes. So. Fabulous.

Sartorial: The only bad thing I have to say about this outfit is that it's not the clothes from Downton Abbey. Although my earrings are a bit 1915. So yay! Downton Abbey earrings! Now I just have to hunker down and wait for this look to come back in:

Seriously, I need these clothes.

Ever Seen a Movie About New Year's Eve in Manhattan? Yeah, I Thought Not.

TOMS

Academia: The last day of classes in any semester is a whirlwind of insanity, but yesterday felt more insane than normal. One of our administrators was out sick, so there was a lot of scrambling to cover the million-odd jobs she usually does. On top of that, the students go into panic mode at the end of the semester when they realize they have too many absences/are failing their classes/haven't made hotel reservations for the holidays/will miss the final because they bought their plane tickets for the wrong day. Fun times.

Amidst the normal hand-wringing that shows up in my office at the end of the semester, one crazy problem stood out from the rest yesterday. A very nice, very conscientious student came by and said that he wanted help making a hotel reservation. I said sure, where did he want to go? Times Square, New York City, was his answer. Fine, I said. What day?

December 31. Yeah.

I tried to explain that Times Square is the most popular place to be on December 31 in the entire United States of America, but he wanted to forge ahead and find a hotel. He was shocked to see that every available bed, army cot, sleeping bag, and folding chair on Times Square - nay, the entire island of Manhattan - costs $500 and up on New Year's Eve. I felt bad for him - I mean, he's not from here, he couldn't really know - but OMG, dude. Just OMG. Not surprisingly, he ultimately decided to go home and re-evaluate his plans.

Sartorial: I like to bring a little color to a day of insanity and hand-wringing. Purple tights make me feel better when I have to say things like, "Hmmm, I guess you could stay in Newark. Which is not actually even in the same state you're trying to be in."

Happy Legs

Academia: Thanks for your kind words yesterday, y'all. I feel like I keep e-melting down and y'all keep cheering me up, so thanks for bearing with me. My mom told me yesterday that when you're going through something hard, like infertility or the death of a loved one or losing your job or breaking up with someone, you just have to keep living, and do things that distract you and make you happy. Writing this blog and knowing y'all makes me happy.

Sartorial: Another thing that makes me happy is wearing purple tights. Horrible clunky segue, I know. Just humor me. Today is colored tights day on Everybody Everywear, so I pulled out this lovely pair and they made my legs feel cheery all day. I wore this exact outfit more than once last winter, and it's one of my favorites, so y'all can definitely expect to see it again.



Bonus happy things: The creme-brulee-sized sweet potato pie my friend Melina brought me at work yesterday, the new Three Musketeers movie (so cheesy, so fun), and these two spoken-word poetry performances that my friend Debra emailed me yesterday. She says the first one is for fighting the good fight and the second is for feeling good, so if you need to fight or feel good (and who doesn't?), check them out.

Comfort Ninja

TOMS

Academia: I'm still sick, but I dragged myself to work yesterday anyway. Luckily, our receptionist had taped a note to my office door saying that I was sick on Monday, so the students all asked me if I was feeling better, rather than expressing dismay that I hadn't been there at the exact second they had wanted to talk to me. They've done that before. I'll come back from a day off and someone will invariably say, "Why weren't you here? I needed you!" It's hard not to say, "I wasn't here because I don't live to serve you, thanks." But everyone was very sympathetic yesterday, and I managed to catch up on the work I missed, so all in all, it wasn't too bad a day.

Sartorial: Being sick at work demands clothes that feel like pajamas but look like regular work clothes. Amy at BiblioMOMia told me once that she calls this being a "comfort ninja," because only you know how comfy you really are. It's like a comfort sneak attack. So I went with leggings, a loose cotton dress, and TOMS. Perfect for curling up in my office armchair to shut my eyes, which I definitely did just for a few minutes did not do in the middle of the day.

Feel Good, Look Good?

TOMS 

Academia: I had a bit of a frustrating day at work yesterday. I felt like I talked to students all day who were either rude for no reason, or who were asking for my help with things they should have learned how to do a long time ago and had just opted not to. But. BUT! The day ended with shrimp and grits and Project Runway with friends. Any day that ends like that can't be too bad.

Sartorial: I felt good in this outfit yesterday, although when I look at the pictures now, something about it seems a little off. Do y'all ever wear outfits like that? I might try to recreate this in the future with different accessories, because I think the core pieces are working, but it's probably the accessories that are throwing it off.

Generally, I believe that if I feel good, it probably looks good, but maybe that's not always true. I mean, I feel good in pajamas, but that doesn't mean I should wear them outside. What do y'all think? Does feeling good always equate to looking good? And what's going on with this outfit?

Frappuccinos and Flattering Pants

Brian's Etsy Shop, Bracelet 

Academia: Yesterday was a blessed relief after the previous 10 days. I worked quietly in my office, I helped students with very manageable problems, and got out of a meeting across campus early enough to treat myself to a frappuccino on my way back. I'm sure the semester holds plenty of challenging days yet, but yesterday wasn't one of them, and for that, I am grateful.

Sartorial: Walking to a cross-campus meeting in 90 degree heat calls for simple clothes. I wanted to wear this white t-shirt again, but I had an awful time trying to decide what to pair with it. After half my closet was piled on my bed, I pulled out these trouser jeans, which I was sure wouldn't fit because my diet lately has consisted of Sonic and Starbucks. But what do you know, they slid right on and flattered all the parts they were supposed to flatter. Just another small happiness, like my mid-afternoon frappuccino, that made yesterday a nice day.

Complete Sentence Clothes

Academia: My check-in week duties officially ended yesterday, a week and three days after they began. The visiting professor I was responsible for chauffeuring around town, eating lunch with, and arranging meetings for headed back to his country this afternoon. Normally my boss is in charge of hosting visiting professors, but she's out of the country, so it fell to me this time. It was a big responsibility, but I feel like everything went well and the professor seemed to be happy with his trip. And if he was, I really hope he emails my boss and tells her so. Fingers crossed.

Sartorial: Since the mandated period of business wear that is check-in week ended, I felt perfectly okay finally wearing leggings to work yesterday. Yay leggings! I paired them with this dress, which I love but is a tad too short for work. Combining two pieces of clothing that can't stand alone to form a complete outfit made me happy, just like combining a dependent clause with an independent clause to form a complete sentence makes me happy. Yes, grammar makes me happy. I teach English, y'all. I can't help it.

Labor Week

Brian's Etsy Shop

Academia: Happy Labor Day to my American readers! I am taking today as a much-needed rest after laboring all weekend. I had two special program groups arrive over the weekend, one of which requires a LOT of hand-holding, so I worked 10 hours on Friday, seven hours on Saturday, and three hours yesterday. And today I have to take delayed baggage to some of them, which I picked up at the airport last night when I was getting another group of students. And then this week is also normal check-in for all new students. Can it be Saturday already, please?

Sartorial: I wore this outfit on Friday for a normal day at work, followed by a late-night airport pickup. I've never paired this dress with this blouse before, but I ended up really liking it. And the professor who was with the students I picked up said I looked "great compared with last year" in what I'm sure was a cross-cultural misstep and not just a backhanded compliment.

Harry Potter and the Versatile Dress

Dress 

Academia: God bless my boss for insisting that I take a vacation. So far today, I have slept until 9:30, read, done some laundry, and had lunch with out-of-town friends, the kind of people I haven't known very long but are so energizing to be around that I can tell we're going to be good friends. My soul needed today.

Also, Cary and I are driving to Orlando to go to Islands of Adventure this weekend! It was a last-minute decision, but we thought we needed to escape into something fun, and what better way to escape than to pretend we're going to Hogwarts? I'm going to drink my weight in butterbeer, y'all.

Sartorial: For a laid-back day, I wanted a laid-back outfit. This dress is so comfy and cool, and with a new headband and brightly colored sandals, it's perfect for today. I know I've worn this a million times, but it's just so versatile and feels great on. It can go from laying on the couch to lunch to Cary's work party to the car ride this evening without breaking a sweat. Although it would be kind of weird if a dress did break a sweat. Maybe at Hogwarts.

Easy, Breezy, and Hopefully Beautiful

Brian's Etsy Shop

Academia: Today was an easy peasy day. The students were just taking their exit test, so all I had to do was send some final stern attendance letters, rate some writing tests, and take a couple of students to a volunteering orientation at the hospital. After such a hectic semester, a slow day was just what I needed.

Sartorial: For an easy day, I wanted an easy outfit. A breezy skirt from college and a t-shirt were just right - I stayed cool and it was the next best thing to wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Nothing too special, but I was happy in my clothes, and that's pretty much all I want from my clothes.