Welcome Rosemarie Jeanette!

I don't know if anyone ever checks here or not but... Hey, I had a baby and I went up for tenure and we bought a fixer upper and Emilia started school and we sold our house and we moved and and and...

It's been a lot but it's all good things. I'm posting sometimes on Instagram (@jesspgh). My outfits are rarely clean right now so they hardly seem worthy of documentation. I am also on maternity leave and undecided on a good spot in the new house to take photos. I will be back when I have breathing room. Thanks so much to anyone who might be still checking in here! I hope you are well.

Pea in the Pod OOTD

This dress was an eBay find from The Pea in the Pod last time around. I wore it a bunch toward the end of pregnancy then and I am wearing it a lot now because unlike the majority of my maternity dresses from before, it has short sleeves and is pretty lightweight.

I can't believe how close I am to the end of pregnancy. I am kind of in panic mode because there is a lot going on. We are buying a house that needs some work and eventually selling our house. I am finishing my book thanks to my NEH grant (for which I will to complete and submit a report on my accomplishments thanks to the funds). My tenure file is due at the end of the month. Chris has work travel that takes him off the continent. And on top of everything, I am going to have another baby soon! 

I need to comfort my very tender feeling kiddo through all of this change and transition. I worry about how she will process so much at once. I feel a lot of emotions and I feel them in a very pronounced way. Last week was the anniversary of my early miscarriage. I felt heavy from the memory but it is not lost on me that I am so lucky that things have (on the whole) been ok with this pregnancy. All of these things are a lot. But most of it is good. After this week especially, I feel reminded of how my "lot" in life is so fortunate, even when I'm overwhelmed. My thoughts are with those who are processing significantly traumatic events with understandable overwhelm. 

Another Maternity Favorite from Last Time Around

This dress was a favorite of mine for both pregnancy and postpartum times when I had Emilia. The design of the front made it nursing friendly and I wound up wearing it to a number of holiday parties when I had her in late 2012.

It is by "Three Seasons Maternity" which is a brand I found on Amazon. It runs a little small in case you are looking. But it is priced reasonably so I recommend it. I wore this to campus for a Faculty Senate meeting and to teach in the early part of my third trimester.

Details:
Three Seasons Maternity dress
Cece cardigan
Spanx tights
Ferragamo My Joy flats

Another Pregnant in Boden OOTD

I wore this to campus near the beginning of my third trimester. I kept such good visual records during my pregnancy with Emilia and feel guilty that I haven't made it a priority this time around. But at least I do have outfit photos and rough gestational estimates.

It's a lot harder to prioritize weekly belly photos with everything that is happening around here. Grant work, my annual review, the assembling of my tenure dossier, and the revisions of my book manuscript have kept me very busy. On top of that we might be buying a bigger house, moving, and selling our current house. The bigger house is in the neighborhood where we already live happily and it has a ton of potential to be great. But bringing out its greatness will take a lot of work. Work I can't really do in my third trimester, with the professional responsibilities I have looming over me, with Emilia needing plenty from me, with a husband who travels for work in a demanding, stressful job, with a newborn in a few weeks, and so on and so forth. Suffice to say, I am nervous.

Somehow, so much has to happen before baby comes in July... I am very overwhelmed but it isn't lost on me that these are all very good, if time consuming developments. These are happy, exciting "problems." I feel pregnant with anticipation while being pregnant the regular way.

Details:
Boden dress (procured at the sample sale in Pittsburgh a while back... unsure of the style name)
Spanx tights
Tory Burch flats

Pregnant in Boden's Must Have Tunic

By far the most clutch dress of this pregnancy has been my small arsenal of Boden's Must Have Tunics in every color way available. I bought them in 1-2 sizes up from my usual and in long length. And deep into my third trimester, I am still rotating these dresses. Here, I am wearing one of them in the middle of the second trimester and the other on the cusp of the third trimester.

I love the comfort and softness of the fabric. I also love that these dresses are offered in prints and colors that are pretty fun/cute. But I think the simple, classic cut of the dress keeps things from feeling overly precious, hence my belief that the Must Have Tunic can actually be a work-friendly non-maternity maternity option. I've even begun wearing them with cropped leggings on warmer days. Per usual for this time of year, I'm not ready to be bare-legged just yet.

Details:
Boden Must-Have Tunic (now on clearance!)
Banana Republic Factory cardigan above and random Piperlime (rip) cardigan below
Spanx high waisted tights (on sale!)
Tory Burch Revas (on sale!) above and Salvatore Ferragamo My Joys below

Old Maternity Favorite OOTD

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I received this Olian dress from a boutique. It got many compliments then and now. I have tried to wear it as much as possible knowing this will likely be my last chance. Here, I wore it later into my second trimester.

Details:
Olin dress
Spanx high waisted tights
Marc by Marc Jacobs flats

Pregnant in Boden: Early Second Trimester

Like many second timers, my body has shown pregnancy earlier than it did with Emilia. Even so, when I look back on these photos from the end of my first trimester and the beginning of my second, I don't really look pregnant. I look fuller but it was also right after the holiday break when I am usually fuller in general. If you follow me on instagram, you already know that I am showing a lot more than these photos indicate. That is because they were taken a while back.

I've been delighted with how the regular, non-maternity Boden in my wardrobe has transitioned throughout this pregnancy. I think this dress is called the "easy pocket dress" or something similar. I found it on Ebay. It isn't stretchy but it is shaped in a forgiving silhouette. Even among pieces made from non-stretchy fabrics, I have found that Boden's dresses are designed to accommodate a midsection fluid in size. Even my unforgiving pieces have pleats, darts, and shaping that enable the room for a bump. This makes it less of a bummer that Boden isn't doing any maternity specific pieces at the moment.

Details:
Boden easy pocket dress
Spanx high waisted tights (also non maternity but they come up high enough that they function as a makeshift belly band)
Tory Burch Reva flats 

Pregnant in Boden Glenda Dress

My pregnancy with my daughter occurred during a time when I was in the thick of an ongoing retail fascination with all things Anthropologie. As a result, I documented my attempts to try to make Anthropologie pieces work throughout my pregnancy. You can read through my "pregnant in Anthropologie" series by clicking here.

Over the last few seasons, Anthropologie's style and mine seemed to head in different directions so I bought less and less from them. Even my old favorites sort of feel different from my place in life at this point. I should probably do a big eBay purge eventually.

This time around, I am wearing a lot of non-maternity Boden pieces. Boden actually used to have a maternity line, though they don't seem to carry anything maternity-specific at the moment. Still, they offer plenty of stretchy dresses that bridge my changing body shape and my style nicely. As a result, as I've settled into the second trimester, I've been rotating through a lot of Boden pieces. I've only broken out my maternity dresses here and there. Since I'm just over halfway through this pregnancy, I'm sure I'll be needing actual maternity clothes more and more and I'm glad I waited so that what I have doesn't get as much of a chance to bore me.

Outfit details:
Boden Glenda dress (still available and on clearance! Plus it will work for nursing!)
Spanx tights (Which I'm still wearing because they come up very high and feel nice and supportive on my belly. But I'm guessing they won't do much to hold in said belly after getting all stretched out from being worn during pregnancy... Oh well!)
Sam Edelman Petty booties

Nursing friendly staples

Cardigans
Maternity Tops

The last few weeks of wrangling my newborn and getting the hang of this mom thing haven't left me with much spare time to dress up or be fussy. If I'm not being covered (albeit lovingly) in drool, I'm worried about spilling something on myself due to sleep deprivation-induced clumsiness. More than ever, I need my clothing to be functional and machine-washable.

For this reason, I've sought out comfortable, stylish layers to keep warm but maintain constant access to Emilia's source of nutrition. My drapey cardigans are getting a major workout because they offer warmth as well as additional privacy when I'm maneuvering her under the nursing cover. I've beefed up my nursing-friendly top wardrobe too. Gap put a bunch of nursing shirts on clearance (FYI, their nursing clothing is clustered with Maternity... my favorites are this cowl top and this crossover shirt) and at the advice of a dear new friend from my mom's group, I also picked up a few Bravado tanks. I was hesitant due to the retail but they really are worth the money. I'm not small busted by any stretch and the support these tanks offer put Target's Gillian O'Malley nursing tanks to shame. They are long enough and have fabric thick and sturdy to provide additional stomach support.

For fit reference, I find that Bravado nursing tanks run true to bra cup and band sizes. Though I've not had them for long enough to know how stretched out they will become or how they'll hold up with lots of use/wear, I am glad to have them around to try. I've felt much less exposed and all over the place since they've become a part of my wardrobe.

Larrivo Dress Review and Giveaway!!

Larrivo is an American brand specializing in maternity and nursing clothing. I was lucky to become familiar with them when I visited A Mother's Boutique back in October. I tried on two Larrivo dresses. The Ying Anytime and the Irene. Both of them were comfortable, vibrant, and stylish. In terms of size, I found that although I could wear a medium I preferred large to offer a bit more bust room. I chose the Ying Anytime dress because I am a huge fan of prints but the Irene was very flattering and pretty. For the price, I find this brand to be very good quality. These dresses are smart buys because you can wear the pieces during and after pregnancy. And for me, the biggest challenge of dressing a breastfeeding body is finding dresses. Tops and tanks are plentiful. Even big box stores carry them. But nursing dresses are a different story. I also appreciate that many of the Larrivo pieces can be styled for professional settings, making pumping at work less of a challenge.

A detailed size chart can be found on A Mother's Boutique's website.

As promised yesterday, A Mother's Boutique has generously offered one lucky reader of Consume or Consumed a chance to win their very own Larrivo Ying Dress (maternity AND nursing friendly!) in the color of their choice. The dress comes in electric blue print (as shown above), solid olive green, and solid hot chocolate.

The giveaway is open only to US readers. The winner will be chosen via random draw. A Mother's Boutique will arrange for the dress to be sent directly to you. 

Entering is easy!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Black and blue OOTD

Although it hasn't been included on the blog, I wore this Larrivo maternity and nursing dress (called the Ying Anytime Dress) a bunch over the last few months. I wore it to my second wedding anniversary dinner at Salt of the Earth. I wore it to a party when I was very pregnant. I wore it to teach. And most recently, I wore it to visit family. I love the graphic print and the very functional empire seaming that opens to enable breastfeeding on the fly (see below).

Larrivo is a fantastic, relatively affordable designer brand that offers versatile "wear during and after pregnancy" pieces. It is carried by A Mother's Boutique. I will be giving away a Larrivo dress from A Mother's Boutique in my upcoming review so stay tuned!

outfit details:
Ying Anytime Dress by Larrivo c/o A Mother's Boutique
Spanx High Waisted Tight End Tights
Streets Ahead bow belt (similar here and here)
Gucci wedges (similar)
Glass flower pendant necklace (anniversary gift Chris bought from Wildcard)
Target Neiman Marcus make up bag (worn as clutch... easier to throw into a diaper bag this way!)
Vintage bracelet; Kors watch

Favorite Outfits of Pregnancy

For me, 2012 was most memorable because of Emilia. Even before her arrival, my life began changing in ways both large and small. Dressing a transitioning body was just one of the mundane aspects of change.

Outfitting my pregnant body was challenging because I couldn't rely on emphasizing my waist... at least not in the same manner to which I was accustomed. Here are some of my favorite pregnancy ensembles:

As I look at some of my belly photos (see them on my pregnancy and parenthood blog) and pregnancy ensemble posts I feel a lot of amusement and nostalgia. I think it's very funny that I legitimately believed I was visibly pregnant at like 16 or even 12 weeks. Unless outsiders were scrutinizing my body with the same level of intensity reserved for female celebrities, I just looked like I had a big lunch. Sure, my body was changing. But visibly pregnant to strangers, I was not. And my wardrobe reflected that. Until I got to the third trimester I could mostly avoid maternity clothes because stretchy fabrics and empire waist maxi dresses were everywhere last summer. Some of my maternity pieces became fast favorites and I already lament no longer having my prominent bump to fill them (as silly as that might sound...). I am still wearing a few of them particularly when they are nursing friendly. I will be writing about that soon enough. Nursing-friendly wardrobes might be even more difficult to assemble than maternity wardrobes!

Anyway, Happy New Year and thank you so much for reading in 2012!