Splurge Worthy Summer Dress

 Guys! This post is a little sad.  It's my last outfit post with the bump. Obviously the bump had to go so Elle could join us, but I'm not going to lie, I miss it sometimes. It's kind of funny because I feel like I struggled a little in the beginning with how to style/dress the bump and now I miss it. 

Anyway, let's get into today's outfit shall we. 

I had my eye on this dress forever. The price tag however, always kept me from pulling the trigger. 

I finally justified it this year because I had a wedding in the Keys and a ton of baby showers on the calendar so I knew I would get a lot of wear out of it. I also knew it would still look great once the bump was gone. I actually plan to wear it to dinner tomorrow night! 

The color is what really caught my eye. When I was looking for similar (less expensive options) I just couldn't duplicate the color. It looks so good with a pink lip and golden/tan eye makeup.

It's also very lightweight which is perfect for the Florida heat. 

The best part, though, is that it has pockets. We all know girls love a dress with pockets! 

I would say this dress is definitely worth the splurge if you can justify it.

 

Dres: Revolve | Shoes: Tory Burch | Bag: Tory Burch | Sunnies: Quay Australia | Necklace: Etsy | Earrings: Target | Lips: Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner in Pillow Talk with Buxom Full-On Plumping Lip Cream in Creamsicle on top

Farmers Market

 I don't know why this look makes me think of the farmers market, but it does. 

We actually have a cute little farmers market close by that opens on Sunday mornings that I have been wanting to check out. A few of our friends have gone and say it's amazing. They have some food trucks, local produce, meats, and other stuff.  

I was hoping to check it out a few weeks ago and never got around to it. I'm thinking we will definitely make it a family outing in the next couple weeks. And when we do, I will probably wear this exact outfit. 

I specifically bought this dress the last couple weeks of pregnancy because I knew it would be great wear now and later option. I got to wear it a few times while pregnant and I've worn it a few times since I've given birth as well. I can vouch that it definitely works for both.

I can also tell you that I've dressed this look up a bit with heeled sandals for dinner, but decided to keep things more casual here. 

I think the hat and flats give it an effortless/cool vibe. And of course I had to pair it with my go-to tote bag as of late. 

J actually got this bag for me on my birthday last year. I need to do a full review on it because it's such a great bag. (Adding that to my list now!) 

Dress: Old Navy (Same dress different color here. Similar option here & here) | Shoes: Shein | Bag: Marc Jacobs | Hat: Lack of Color | Sunnies: Quay Australia | Necklace: Etsy | Earrings: Target | Lips: Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner in Pillow Talk with Buxom Full-on-Plumping Lip Cream in Creamsicle on top

Bumpin Bodycon

I definitely thought dressing my bump would be super easy. Especially because I majority of my pregnancy was in Fall/Winter. Give me a pair of leggings and an oversized sweater and we'll call it a day. However, I have to admit I have struggled a bit recently. The weather has been changing and my bump feels like it's growing by the day. 

My one go-to this whole time has been a bodycon dress. 

If you've followed me for a while you know that I have a love/hate relationship with bodycon dresses. Sometimes I love them. Sometimes I hate them. haha

I quickly learned though that they can be a pregnant girls best friend. 

I picked this one up from Target a couple months ago and figured it could grow with me. 

I styled it here for Spring with a leather jacket and some booties.

It would also be cute with a jean jacket and white sneakers or by itself with a pair of sandals.

I took my regular size medium and honestly, it's a little big. Will definitely last me these last 7 weeks! 

Dress: Target | Jacket: BLANKNYC | Booties: Steve Madden | Sunnies: Quay Australia | Long Necklace: Amazon | Short Necklace: Electric Picks | Lips: NYX Slide on Lip Pencil in Nude Suede Shoes with Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick & Lip Lustre Lip Gloss in Pillow Talk

Spanx Leather Leggings... Maternity

 Y'all know I love the Spanx leather leggings.

I think I bought them about 3 or 4 years ago during the Nordstrom sale and they are probably my most worn bottoms during the winter. 

Naturally, since I'm pregnant, I had to try out the maternity version.

I've worn them a handful of times now so I thought I would give you a little review in case you too are pregnant and debating on whether or not to get them. 

Let's start with price. I don't love that they are $12 more than the regular version. However, you will quickly learn that pregnancy is like planning a wedding... people jack the price up on everything. That being said, $12 isn't a lot at the end of the day. I just feel like most women who are purchasing the maternity pair already own the regular pair. I was lucky enough to snag mine during Black Friday for 20% off too. 

Sizing

I heard a lot of different things when it came to sizing. 

Some said to stick with you regular size and some said to go up one. One of my friends said her girlfriend even went up 2 or 3 sizes. 

Ultimately, I decided to go up 1 size. (I'm normally a medium and opted for the large.)

The main reason I did this is because when I'm not pregnant I like my Spanx leggings to be TIGHT! That's kinda what they are meant for. I like that they really suck me in and slim my hips. 

Being pregnant I definitely don't like anything being overly tight. I figured opting for one size up would be the perfect fit and I was right. 

If you already take the advice of most and size up in the regular Spanx leather leggings I think you would be fine getting your "normal" size.

I hope all that makes sense. 

Styling

These are so easy to style! You can dress them up or keep things a bit more casual. I clearly opted for casual here with my oversize sweatshirt and sneakers. 

You'll quickly learn the major key with a lot of maternity bottoms is a longer top. Because the fabric can be different from the hips up, you want to ensure that it is covered. 

That brings me to my only con. The material they use to go over your belly is very thin. It reminds me of panty hose. You obviously want something stretchy, but I feel like because it's so thin I am constantly pulling them up. I wish they had gone with a thicker legging like material. Obviously not faux leather, but just regular spandex legging material.

Top: Abercrombie *currently 20% off* | Leggings:Spanx | Shoes: Nike | Socks: Nike | Sunnies: Quay Australia | Lips: NYX Lip Liner in Nude Suede Shoes with Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick  & Lip Lustre Lip Gloss in Pillow Talk

Since that's my only complaint, I would still highly recommend them. 

I can promise you that if I was working in my office still I would probably own 2 pairs of these because I would be wearing them almost every day. 

Hopefully this helps if you have been debating. 

Feel free to shoot me an email or leave a comment if you have any other questions about these. 

First Trimester Recap

 Now that I am well into my second trimester, (close to my third) I thought I would do a recap of my first trimester. 

I'll go through how I found out, symptoms, things I bought and a few other things.

I want to try to do this for all of my trimesters for a few reasons.

1. I think it will be really fun to go back and read each one later on. 

2. I love reading other people's trimester recaps. I'm also finding them extremely helpful now that I'm pregnant. 

How we found out:

When we got home from Mexico and I had not started my period, I became suspcious. I am very regular, but every once in a while I can be a couple days late. When it had been about 4 days I decided to buy a pregnancy test, but told myself I would wait a couple more days. 

Finally on day 7 I decided it was time. 

I woke up that Sunday morning and took one of the tests I had bought. It turned positive pretty quickly. I feel like in the movies there is always a suspenseful 5 minute wait. No waiting for me. That thing was positive ASAP! 

Sadly, J was out of town for work when I took the test. I wanted to wait and tell him in a really cute way when he got home, but there was no way I could keep this to myself for a week and half. 

I immediately FaceTimed him to tell him before he went into work. 

He knew something was up because I had tears in my eyes. (He honestly thought something was wrong with Ramsey.) 

When I told him I was pregnant he was completely SHOCKED! We both had been traveling a lot the previous month so we weren't really trying. They always say it happens when you stop trying. haha

Symptoms:

One of the first things that tipped me off before I got a positive test was how tired I was. 

I'm normally kinda tired, but I don't require a lot of sleep. When we got home from Mexico though I would instantly fall asleep for a little nap around 5pm every day. I thought maybe I was just recovering from back to back vacations, but still seemed a little weird. 

My boobs were also EXTREMELY sore. I know that can be a period symptom for a lot of gals, but not for me. 

Shortly after the positive test, I started getting nauseous almost every day. Some days were worse than others, but luckily I never actually got sick. I know every girl says this, but they really shouldn't call it morning sickness. It lasted all day for me and my friends said the same thing. 

Who do we talk to about changing that name? haha

The nausea and tiredness continued until about week 12-13. Finally the nausea went away completely and the fatigue went away for the most part.

Pregnancy tired is like no other though. 

There were so many days I told J that I didn't think I would ever feel normal again because I had completely forgotten what normal felt like. 

Telling Family & Friends:

Since J was out of town when I found out we didn't tell anyone for about 2 weeks. I really wanted to see him and be able to celebrate just the 2 of us before telling anyone else. 

When he finally got home I convinced him we should tell our parents. It was killing me not to tell my mom and even though J wanted to wait until our first appointment, he finally agreed we could tell our parents. 

We got Ramsey a bandana that said "Soon to be Big Brother" and both our parents thought we were getting a puppy at first. 

We also told a majority of our friends after our 8-week appointment. I know a lot of people chose to wait until 12 weeks, but it was really hard for us to hide it. I'm a very social person and definitely drink in social settings. Saying no to everything all of a sudden would have been a HUGE red flag. I actually turned down 1 party and posted a photo of ice cream and had a few friends start to "investigate" if I was pregnant. Our friend group is also EXTREMELY close so even if something happened, I knew they would all be there to support us. 

I actually have a bunch of videos from us telling people that I need to edit together and post on IG.

Purchases:

I honestly didn't make too many purchases in the first trimester. Most of your clothes fit the whole time and there's not much else you would need. 

I did purchase a pregnancy pillow when I was super uncomfortable one night and I can honestly say it's one of the best $75 I have ever spent. 

I probably won't give it up even after I give birth.

I'll link it here in case you are looking for one. 

Vitamins:

I started out taking the Ritual Prenatal Vitamins. I had heard so many good things about them and loved that they had a subscription service so you would never run out. 

I took them to my first OB appointment and she also really liked them. 

However, I am not the best pill taker. Add in the all day nausea and I was starting to gag when I would just think about having to take them.

Since I'm not good at taking pills and so many prenatal are huge I decided to go with a gummy.

These are the ones I take and I really like them.

One thing to note is that no prenatal gummy has iron in it. I take an additional iron gummy to supplement that and all my levels have been perfect so far. 

If you can take pills I definitely recommend trying the Ritual prenatal.

Books:

I actually bought 2 books in the first trimester, but have only made it halfway through one of them. (This goes back to the tiredness. If I was on the couch or in bed I was sleeping. There was no time to read.)

I started with Expecting Better and I cannot recommend it enough. 

I honestly forgot where I saw this, but I'm so glad I did.

This is a great read whether this is your first or fifth child. 

There's so many "rules" in pregnancy and many of them are not really explained. 

This book breaks everything down and in my opinion really helps you make informed decisions. 

A lot of people on the mommy message boards will slam this book and say she isn't a doctor (which she isn't, but she also never claims to be) and that you shouldn't read this BS book. 

I'll let you make the decision for yourself, but I personally have found it very interesting & helpful. 

The other book I bought was Bringing Up Bebe. I haven't started it, but I'm excited to read it when I finish Expecting Better. My friends that have read it really liked it. It's more about raising the baby, so it's ok if I don't have time to read it until the third trimester. 

So that's pretty much it for the First Trimester. 

Let me know if you have any questions or there's something you want me to cover in my second trimester recap. Hopefully I'm able to get that one up quicker than 3/4 of the way through my third trimester. haha