I was recently at a mommy and me group and one of the moms declared with sadness that she "used to be cute". In her words, "I used to do my hair and wear cute clothes and be skinny. The other day I put on high heels and I just couldn't walk in them anymore. My husband told me to take them off."
Let me first say that I never used to be cute. But there are some definite changes in my general appearance post-baby. I would say a lot of the changes stem from the fact that I don't get up and go to work every day. It's amazing what you'll let yourself get away with if you don't have to show up to an office at 8am. My footwear of choice? Flip-flops. Or, when it gets a little cooler, sneakers. I can't fathom putting on heels or boots given my current daily schedule. I also realized, as I sweat through shirt after shirt these 100 degree days, I don't have a wardrobe equipped to handle extreme heat. Mainly because in the past I usually entered a building at 8am and left at 8pm and, for the hours in between, froze my butt off in an overly air conditioned office (often times using a space heater under my desk even if it was 80 degrees outside). I was lucky I could utilize my enormous scarf inventory year round. But no longer. I need to invest in a few more tank tops and shorts. I will admit that pre-baby I still neglected my hair and wore a lot of ponytails. But now I literally can't remember the last time that I blow-dried my hair. It's now permanently pulled back.
But let's talk about the vomit. And the stains. That's definitely the biggest change. On a daily basis, and always when I'm getting into the car to go somewhere, I look down and discover that Jack has spit up on me. Or that I have dried pureed peas on my jeans. Or that Jack has put his hand in his rice cereal then grabbed my hair, leaving strands of crusted hair. At this critical junction, I choose the path of least resistance and climb right into the car and speed away. With junk in my hair. And the stain on my shirt. But, hey, I just throw on the Baby Bjorn and no one ever knows how stained my shirt is. Now what to do when Jack outgrows the Bjorn....
I think you're cute now and were cute before - my definition of cute doesn't necessarily involve heels or styled hair.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the biggest change (ha!) since Simon was born was a permanent shift - an increase, of course - in my clothing size. Well, pants and skirts, anyway. Just one size, but thank goodness I didn't start my new job until after he was born, or I would have had to buy a whole new wardrobe to replace too-small work clothes.
Well, I certainly don't mean to fish for compliments so stop that t. I just meant to say that I am often covered in some crusted stain and I don't care. And, of course for me, the bigger pant size is a given. it's so obvious (I'm sure from space satellite pictures) that I even forgot to mention it.
ReplyDeleteYou have always been cute, Lisa, and now have that cute Mommy-glow going for you too (loved you in the pictures in the last post).
ReplyDeleteAfter the Bjorn is retired just throw a tank top in your car (and a brush) if you care by then. My spit up stains have shifted to peanut butter on the ear, mouth stains on my skirt from kisses, and the occasional blood stain from a bloody nose. The joys of motherhood.
i was just crying these blues to kevin last night, only of course i was fishing for compliments. :)
ReplyDeletei can add a lot to this list. i rarely shave. i haven't used face moisturizer with retin since i got the + pee stick, and my irish/swedish/german skin is showing it. my skin is desert dry, sometimes i think irreparably so, especially my feet and knees. i'm sure part of this is the breastfeeding, since i never used to use lotion really, but it's awful. i wear the same three pairs of pants and two skirts to the office so that i can wear flats; the rest of the work wardrobe requires heels unless i get to the tailor like i've been saying i'll do for months. (the stack of to-be-shortened pants is sitting in the co-sleeper that's still attached to our bed, unused for months and filled with violet's junk.) and on the weekends i wear the same VERY FADED black (maternity!) tank tops and two pairs of jeans (the only ones that work with flats), both with ridiculous holes in the knees from bouncing/squatting/crawling. i took marah's advice and bought a pair of jeans from the gap last weekend, but of course they went into the tailor pile. maybe i will get to that before 2012.
i leave my cardigan off until i get to work so that i can put it on to conceal most of the baby food/snot/spit-up/gunk. the few times i've worn anything but stretchy or button-down shirts, i've regretted it, with a dress hiked up to my chin in the drafty pump room, so i never look cute at work either.
and my kid is turning a year in like 10 days! (which means i'm almost done in the pump room, thank god.)
it goes without saying, but i always think you look cute, lis. you wear a ponytail well.