Look of the day and things I've been grateful for

I had a really hard time when i was pregnant deciding what I needed for baby. So here is a list of what I have found useful and what I haven't:
Love:

• change table with bath - this has been awesome. It was given to us and there would of been no way I would of bought a change table as I thought they were overrated and a change mat would suffice. I use it ALL the time, and we just wheel it into the bathroom to give Baby G her bath! I bought a nice cover for it from Toy World that makes it look a little more nicer.
• Baby bath support - this is a terri towelling support vs the hard ones you can get.  It makes bath times so much easier :-).
• Fisher Price Cradle N Swing - previously blogged about - bubba g didnt really like this until now (4 weeks), now falls asleep in it, looks at herself in the mirror and loves the mobiles YAY
• vibrating bouncer, the batteries just went flat in this and now bubba G does not love it so much, need new batteries STAT.
• wraps, wipes, bibs - G is a milk spitter upperer, I highly suspect all babies are ;-).  We have a billion of these and I am just about to buy some more they are so handy!
• a Swaddle, I bought this from Babies R Us.  I dont like swaddles but there is no denying when baby is inconsolable you need to swaddle them and rock them alot (and shhhh shhhh shhh).  So I bought a ready made one that I just pop her into and velcro up.
• Pram - city mini jogger.  If you read previous blogs you will read all about my massive indecision about choosing a pram even though this one was the first one we picked out.  Its awesome, so light and easy - its perfect!
• Pram Liners, the style up the pram (previously blogged about)
• Bonds Wondersuits that have enclosed hands and feet.  These are the BOMB. Our room gets quite cool in the airconditioning and we just rug her up in these and she loves them.
• mittens - at first we didnt use these as her finger nails didnt scratch her, but then i discovered that it seemed to calm her down in the airconditioning to pop them and socks on her so she didnt have to be properly rugged up.
• Breastfeeding Pillow - saved my life end of story.  Now that I am four weeks into Bfing, I dont actually use it that much as I have built up the muscles alot more.

Not so love:

• the zip up swaddle, I hated this at first zip. Bubba does not look good all zipped up and we got rid of this after the first try.
• lots of 0000 clothes.  I panicked towards the end of my pregnancy at the lack of clothes I had for baby and went out and bought about $50 worth of little onesies. Total waste of money, I had a big bubba and after Baby G arrived my friends and families gave her SO many clothes (which everyone said would happen but I didnt believe).  She now has enough clothes for about four babies, and the onesies I bought her in 0000 NEVER got worn :-(.
• lots of johnson and johnson products.  Turns out midwives and other mums strongly do not recommend these!
• car mirrors - see previous post.  I have not found a car mirror that actually works where I can see my baby in the back of my car - sigh.

Look of the day - me - Ally playsuit $15.  This one is a bit less sacky/baggy then the other Look of the Day one, I had a belt with it but hubby said no belt so no belt it was.  It zips down at the front for easy BF accessability.
Look of the day - Baby G - baby g is conked out in the awesome fisher and price cradle and swing wearing her ruffle flower pink onesie :-).

Rockers, online shopping angst and look of the day

So now we have made two baby purchases, only four weeks to go to baby due date, what's the rush? ;-). First purchase the city mini jogger pram in purple arrived last week. This purchase was made from an international seller on eBay at a pretty big saving. Turned out to be the most painful eBay experience I ever had, but many weeks later pram is here safe and sound! Very happy with pram, it has eased my anxiety about not having the cute bassinet pram. Second purchase is a rocker/cradle/swing: fisher and price my little lamb cradle 'n' swing. It's probably the most expensive one on the market so I ummed and ahhed about it (this is why we have only bought two things in 36 weeks!!!). After much research I found it online for $50 cheaper and have purchased. Hopefully it takes less time then then the pram did to arrive! Having a really awesome rocker has been very important to me ( much to my hubby's frustration!), we have a very spacious house so it will be good to be able to have baby in a secure movable rocker. I also want to be prepared as much as possible to have a relaxed baby and this rocker looks like it would relax even a devil child ;-). Look of the day : not much work things are fitting me anymore, this is a size large skirt I got from Cotton On for $5- it has an elasticized waist so perfect! My work vests have proved very stretchy so still cover bump fine. I went for amber jewelry theme and squeezed my fat footsies into a loose pair of stud ballet flats from dotti.

Moving, look of the day and another Faux nappy bag

Because I am in the middle of moving interstate, working full time, finishing two units at Uni and having a baby - my blog has been neglected :-(.  To add to that bundle of excuses, is that I am still waiting for my Ipad!!  This will be the last look of the day for awhile unless I can find a full length mirror somewhere as I am living out of a hotel room for two weeks that doesnt have one. 

 I actually really like this outfit though sometimes the skirt felt a bit tent like lol.  Baby bump is definetly not getting smaller ;-). I am getting alot of comments about how far along I am so I am happy that its finally obvious enough for people to ask :-).

Skirt is from SES - $4.95 (bargain bargain bargain!), top is a basic long sleeve Cotton On white one.  Brown stockings from Sportsgirl I got on sale now its no longer Winter and boots are my Favourite ones from Zu from a long time ago.

Another Faux baby bag!  I know I know, I will probably end up buying a proper one when Baby is born and I realise how impractial these probably are.  But I am still hopeful that with the nappy bag liners I blogged about in a previous post, these will work.  This is from Colette and was about $16.95 with a discount - I love polka dots!!!   I am a bit devasted though as I have moved to a place that doesnt have a Colette!!  They do have a limited online range though and they are expanding rapidly so my fingers are crossed that I wont have to wait long for them to arrive here :-).

Look of the Day and Cupcake Shower

I was a very lucky girl and my fantastic friends threw me a cupcake shower for my little cupcake :-).  I really didnt want a baby shower, so I am so glad my friend insisted on organising one.  It was such beautiful day in the park as well.  As thank you presents I gave out mini bottles of Yellow that I had relabeled to say Happy New Year from Baby (our last name) 31/12/2011.  I thought since new years eve is baby's due date that I would give everyone champers and party poppers to celebrate on the occasion :-).

Look of the day:

 ASOS dress that was $18, gladiator sandals from Cotton On last season.  Baby Bump is measuring three weeks ahead, so no wonder I was starting to feel huge all of a sudden!

Look of the Day and more ASOS

Today's Look of the Day was a work one.  It is a bit chilly still (about to come into a warm snap):

 SES dress - $24.95,Novo shoes - cant remember the price, these are about 6 years old though and in great condition, Veronica Maine cardigan $$ but worth it for the quality, mimco scarf and purple stockings!

Baby bump is pushing my dresses up to be a little bit shorter than usual... these stockings were a bit sheer, I will definetly have to wear thicker stockings and leggings under the shorter work dresses now :-).

ASOS ASOS ASOS

As posted previously, I am going to stay at work longer, alot longer another 6 weeks at least.  This means I need a few more work pieces as the bump is getting way to big to manage with the work wardrobe I have now.  Luckily ASOS are having a sale (though I am starting to wonder when it is when that they dont have a sale lol), and picked up the following pieces - the delivery came in less than a week!  The white jeans were $10, I wanted a pair of work pants but there were none on sale and I figure at this point I can get away with wearing my pair of  loose normal work pants with a belly belt and using these jeans and my Jeans West jeans as work pants.  They didnt have my size, but I am actually glad about that now as they are not skinny jeans but a little bit looser - which means that being white they wont be so clingy!  They are the cool pull up jeans just like Jeans West as well.

This dress was $28.  It is a light jersey material and is a beautiful blue colour just like the photo.  Its not as baggy as in the photo, but I am glad about that as I was worried about how baggy it was going to be.  Its not tight but being jersey material it has a bit of a cling to it - I feel comfortable in it though.

Ebay purchase, look of the day and maternity wear essentials (aka how to style the bump!)

Fox in Flats recently blogged about 10 pregnancy wardrobe essentials.  Its an awesome post because it really captures pretty much all the essential style items to get you through (I love the piles of accessories tip!). At 30 weeks, all the piles of maternity clothes I have bought are slowly now creeping into my daily wardrobe.  Because I am in the middle of a move, I have no full length mirror to take an actual photo of me wearing my look of the day :-(.  Today I am wearing: 
ASOS harem/peg pants - these were $100 reduced to $30.  These are so comfy and I love them.  They are great for work, going out - casual.  Plus they are wearable after baby bump so am very happy with that as well - good budget buy! 

This is a scoop vest from ASOS. $13.22, such a bargain,its long so will fit over the baby bump until the end!

I bought this shirt from Ebay for $16.95 (including postage).  I am not sure if its really my kind of look, but I needed a work shirt for the end of the pregnancy when bump is HUGE - the white one was to expensive so I got this in black and silver stripes.  I think it will go well with pants and work jeans:

Blogger down! Look of the day resumes and ASOS

You can read the long story on my other blog, the short story is my laptop died :-(.  But I am back (not sorted out my laptop yet but have temp loan of one).  While I was away from Blogger land, I could however still access ASOS on my Iphone and work computer ;-).  I also decided to stay at work longer, an extra 6 weeks longer - bringing me a week out from babys due date.  This meant I really needed to invest in some work clothes because the only maternity clothes I had invested in where casual clothes!  Baby bump is booming, so squeezing into existing work clothes is no longer a real option.  I bought a few work things, I didnt want to go overboard  and I plan to mix and match with a few things I can still wear with a bump belt - will review when they arrive :-)

This dress was $18.  I wasnt really sure about it, I just added it to my bag to think about it, when I was taking another look and thinking well $18 is a bargain - it came up as out of stock!  Because it was in my bag I could still buy it, so buy it I did.

Look of the Day resumes:

Ally jumper I got on sale for $16, sportsgirl knicker boxer shorts - these are non maternity are being held up by my belly belt.  I did have black heels on but the heel fell off one of them!  Lucky I had spare flats in my work drawer that saved the day.  Purple scarf and stockings cause its still chill chill chilly.

Baby Bump!!

Pregnancy Magazines and look of the day

I heart Magazines! I have about 5 years worth if Cosmo Pregnancy magazines, you know why - because some day I knew I would be pregnant and need to read those mags. Best decision ever, they have been awesome and they actually don't get released that often so I don't have that many. Mother and Baby magazines I don't find as interesting ,prob cause I don't have a baby yet! However, the library seems to stock a decent catalogue of those anyway. Recently the Women's Health magazine team released a magazine The Bump. I use the word magazine loosly because it's $14.95 and more like a thin glossy book. It actually looks really good, I won't buy it because i have a billion cosmo pregnancy mags already and pregnancy books borrowed out from the library, but if I didn't I would if picked this one up.

Look of the day. I actually lived in my dressing gown and trackies over the long weekend while I packed up my house, so I will spare you those looks ;-). Back to work today and I wore:

Zu boots $199. these are my Fav boots and I have had for five years. There is alot to be said sometimes for paying the big bucks up front for quality. Valleygirl dress $29.95, this dress is so cute it has little birds all over it. I have to wear leggings under it now even if it was not cold because baby bump pulls it up to short! Love this white snood scarf from Myers $15.

Decisions made and Look of the day

After the anxiety inducing decision of whether to use the car capsule as a travel system for the pram, therefore having to buy an attachment and $$ car capsule.  I realised after much think tanking that I needed to return to simplicity, a pram with a newborn body and head support liner placed in it and a sling.  I can always use the car capsule we are hiring as a carry system if we need to but I am not going with the travel system.  We have decided on the pram - a city mini jogger (including colour - purple), so just need to find a sling and the pram liner/inserts.

Look of the Day

Still a bit chilly!  Black leather jacket Ally $20 (on sale!!), Cotton On black scarf $10, Cotton On leopard print dress $10 (on sale!!), black leggings - not my maternity ones - I think they are Ambro thick tights, Novo glitter ballet shoes $25.

I love the leopard print of this dress but feel its slightly frumpish, but the print saves it!  Plus you cant beat ten bucks for a dress :-).  Fits over bump nicely.

Look of the day and a baby car capsule

 Today was not freezing, but a coat and scarf were still called for!  Coat from Jay Jays many eons ago.  As this our last winter as we are moving back to the tropics, it will be retired to the Farm Clothing section as it really is on its last legs.  Grey scarf..hmm not sure where I got this from, I have cut the tags off so definetly not a mimco one!







This is my SES dress I got from $14.95!! Love love, got lots of compliments today.  It is shorter then I hoped but that is probably baby bump doing that!  Grey thick stockings help maked this more office friendly look - Valleygirl $9.95.  And Cue blue cardigan, I think it was on sale for $50 - I have had it for many years and its beautiful and warm!.  Shoes were $20, I cant remember where they came from.....

Baby Car Capsule decisions - ARRGH

I had decided to hire a Safe and Sound baby capsule from the Ambulance Service, as you only need them for 6 months and for $70 they install it for you and you just return it after 6 months and get bub a proper seat.  However the pram I have chosen can attach a car capsule to it, which is awesome but it is only compatible with the Safe and Sound Unity Capsule.  I did send a query to the ambulance service asking if the capsule was the Unity, no response yet.  I doubt it is as this seems to be the more expensive safe and sound model.  I will need to ring tomorrow and get confirmation though as I have found one second hand for $150 which seems like the running price for a Unity second hand.  But then I am looking at the the extra $80 plus the $100 pram attachment - is it really worth $180 just to be able to put the capsule on the pram?  Especially as I intend to get a sling as well to cart baby around for the first six months. On the other hand, if I sell the capsule for $150 after six months use it will have only cost me $30 difference and I could probably sell the pram attachment as well.  I guess I better find out what kind of capsule the Ambulance Service hire out and try and make a decision from there...I will also have to run this past Hubby for advice and approval.
 

Maxis Maxis Maxis and Look of the day!

Because I have never indulged in anything Maxi (I always felt that it was a look to enjoy in pregnancy), now I am embracing the look to show off my bump.  Dropdeadgorgeousdaily recently blogged about the top 19 Maxis for this season, here are a few of my favourites: http://dropdeadgorgeousdaily.com/2011/09/gallery-19-best-maxis-to-hide-a-big-lunch-in/?pid=3467#anchor this is a bit out of my price range but I love the look!  http://dropdeadgorgeousdaily.com/2011/09/gallery-19-best-maxis-to-hide-a-big-lunch-in/?pid=3484#anchor.

 I found this maxi skirt at Supre, there is an assortment of colours and they are $30.  I have spent my budget bucket this fortnight, so hopefully they go on sale after that!  They also had maxi dresses exactly the same, but I was thinking of going and trying on this skirt and seeing if can be a maxi dress as well ;-).  I can highly recommend SES for cheap cheap maxi dresses, perfectly for end weeks of pregnancy and first weeks of baby.

Look of the day

 Today it was meant to be a little bit warmer, so it was officially no coat day!  And another person came up and said oh I didnt know you were having a baby congratulations :-) Only 28 weeks baking done already, but finally people are noticing baby bump.
Jacket - Ally $50, Scarf - Myers $15.  SES pullover cardigan $7.95, Cue shirt (cant remember $$ is an oldie but a goodie),  Cue Skirt (cant remember $$ is an oldie but a goodie).  Glassons stockings (bought from Christchurch while on holiday in NZ last year) $5, boots are Zu and originally cost me $199 but now six years later I have the broken heel replaced twice - $100!  Necklace $20 from a boutique and ring $2 from Diva :-).

Look of the day and a few bargains

Last week I managed to grab a few bargains at Cotton On (finallY!), bargains are very few and far between (you may have heard me whinging about this quite a bit on my blogs).  Anyhoo, I grabbed the below bargains:

This skirt was $10, reduced from $29.95. It is elastic banded and I bought it two sizes up so it fits under belly bump nicely :-).








 
This singlet is leopard print and was $10 reduced from $29.95, I bought this in a one size up so it flowed over belly bump (with room for growth).

 This dress was $10 reduced from $29.95, this is leopard print.  It is the same dress as the look of the day blue and yellow on below except it has slightly thicker material.

 Todays 'look of the day', I had a day off work today so was a bit more casual then normal.  I was wearing a $10 cotton on dress (see above), however the material for this was a bit more sackish then the leopard print dress material.  I strongly dislike the way this dress sits on me, it makes me look more pudgy pregnant then baby bump lovely so it will now stay at the bottom of the draw and become a 'house bound' dress only.  I have paired it with target maternity leggings, black cotton on long sleeve shirt and yellow cotton on shoes - oh and old school gold sportsgirl ballet slippers.

Look of the day and Pram search nearly finalised!

So after only starting the pram search yesteday it seems like we have nearly decided on baby's pram!  Yesterday we both like phil and teds smart stroller but I also like the city jogger elite, Hubby said that the city jogger was to heavy and big which was a very valid point.  So last night I did some further research and found the city mini jogger pram and today we found a baby shop that stocked one so we could test road it.  Love it! It is so easy to fold up - literally just pull the strap in the middle and its folded, its really light weight, its compact (I hate cluttered bulky prams), plus I really live the jogger look of the pram.  Now we just have to decide on the colour and as soon as I see an awesome price for it I can snaffle it up :-), normal price is $449.  I am leaning towards this colour scheme because it looks a little nicer then plain black, it also comes in red and purple but I just cant see a baby boy suiting those kind of pram colours (we dont know the gender of baby).  But will have to see what hubby thinks:

Look of the day:

Not the greatest photo!  Cotton On long graphic print cardigan, maternity leggings, black singlet dress with white horse print singlet dress over.  Sportsgirl necklace and Cotton On boots.  It is a windy/chilly day again so covered over with a Sportsgirl jacket and Cotton On turquoise scarf.  Baby moved down overnight so belly has changed shape and is bit lower and spread out more..







Next on baby buying list - baby baths!

Look of the day and Pram search started

Today it is a miserable day (again), so all my summer maternity dresses still linger unworn in my wardrobe.

 Dotti heart jumper with Cotton On long sleeve black top underneath.  I paid full price ($50) for this jumper which I never do at Dotti as everything always goes on sale there eventually, but I loved it so much.  It did eventually go on sale for ten bucks cheaper but I figured I had got quite a few wears out of it by then to justify the buy!  Cotton On top $10.
Jeans West blue maternity jeans and my favourite Adidas shoes (wearing thick bond socks to prevent chill!). I posted about my Adidas on my other blog.



Because it is so cold I also had to put a red coat from Jay Jays on ($29.95) and a grey Cotton On scarf ($10).

And a pretty headband for my hair, just because I heart headbands.  This was actually an expensive headband considering its from Tempt - $9.95.







I stopped in at the Handmade markets this morning and bought some cutesy/glamour singlets from Erin Louise which I will post about on my Everyday Girl Blog.  Then I parted ways with my girlfriend and took hubby pram hunting.  We only went to one store (I am still finding baby things overwhelming - there is to much choice and to many decisions to be made).  But we found as pram we really like straight away Phil and Ted's Smart Stroller: http://www.babiesdirect.com.au/_products/Prams+++Strollers/Strollers/PHIL+++TEDS+SMART+++PEANUT+PACKAGE-138-77218-.aspx?utm_source=%3Fgoogle_shopping&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Shopping. Compact, lightweight and small is our criteria.  I will need to get on all the baby forums to research reviews about this pram - Stay tuned :-).

Only 13 weeks until New Years Eve! And I have Joined AA – ASOS anonymous

13 weeks to New Years Eve means my baby is 27 weeks baked!  Today’s outfit below:

Kmart zipper bow ballet slippers - $12, Kmart have been a mecca lately for cheap awesome shoes – kinda how Target used to be.

Valley girl dress $29, this has been a fantastic casual work dress and I have had gotten lots of wear out of it (even know with baby bump!)

Leggings – Generic pair probably $10

Veronica Maine cardigan - $60.  This and a cue cardigan I have are awesome, you get what you pay for!

Ally black jacket - $50.  I bought this at the start of last summer and thought why did I pay full price for this, meanwhile 10 months later this jacket has appeared over and over again in chain stores at the same price, so I started getting my moneys worth early J.

Necklaces – turquoise locket chain and blue dove chain.  These were more expensive then my normal jewellery and I bought them from boutiques, I think

the locket was $40 (what was I thinking, but I do love it) and the dove was $20.

Grey scarf - $10 cotton on

So I have officially joined ASOS anonymous, after only just yesterday declaring that there will be no more ASOS purchases I caved again.  I bought the below floral peg trousers.  I have no maternity pants apart from Jeans West jeans, mainly because I will be in the tropics so figured I didn’t need any.  But they were only $19 and I figured I have 6 weeks left of work so will be able to get a few wears out of them.  Also its been a bit cold snappy where I am as well so I haven’t been able to wear any of the summer maternity clothes (apart from shorts on a rare 23 degrees day the other weekend) or dresses.  Will review when I receive.

Final Destination and Look of the Day

Today I recieved my last ASOS purchase, review below.  I am tempted to pick up just a 'few' more things while the prices are awesome, ASOS are being a bit cheeky cheek at the moment as they have sale items in their normal maternity range that are not appearing in their sale section!

This cost $9.59, you really cannot beat a bargain like that. I LOVE this, its exactly what I wanted and it will look awesome with the light short kimonos and big loose open shirts that I pictured it with in my previous post about this dress.

Word of warning, it is tight and clingy and not forgiving.  Its also a bit sheer.

 Work day today, I kinda went for comfort today and skipped the collared shirt with the vest/cardigan combo and just wore a loose Ally shirt.  Skirt fits nicely over bump still, an old Cue purchase that was on sale for about $40.  Sportsgirl tights that probably wont last much longer, though they did survive the winter so I am pleased with that.  Boots cost $5 last season Cotton On, they are only worth $5 as well as they have deteriorated badly and this was probably the last wear. Dotti grandpa cardigan a staple for work and Jay Jays $30 coat. I added a turquiose and amber necklace.




I wore this Mimco head band pushing back my hair in a top bun.  Mimco head band is a bird thats rust coloured (to lazy to actually take a photo of my headband).  I love Mimco headbands they are so quirky and if you can get them in the sales they are ok priced.  This one was not on sale, I used a lotto win to buy it (last lotto win I ever had years ago, must be being punished for wasting my lotto win!).  I have quite a few mimco headbands and they have improved their quality over the years, the early years headbands are long gone - stretched and broken :-(.