Every time I start a blog post with "I don't want this to become a mommy blog..." you can bet I'm about to share something pregnancy-related. However! I've been working on this post for a few days and then someone actually requested it from me on Instagram so here it is!

I've worked really hard to get rid of all the clothes I don't absolutely love and wear all the time, so the thought of buying maternity clothing really bugged me. I decided to see how long I could go before I had to buy anything specifically for my changing body, and it worked really well! I'm still mostly wearing the clothes I owned before, and have only recently bought a few items to get me through the summer. I'm hoping that when the weather cools down again, my regular wardrobe of leggings and baggy sweaters will serve me well and I won't have to keep buying new stuff.

So without further ado, here are some of the things I already had (or bought in my first trimester) that aren't actually maternity pieces, but worked really well through 20 weeks or so of pregnancy (some of them are still just great)!

• I have a couple drawstring rompers much like this one that were the first thing to stop fitting, but worked really well for a few months (although when you have to pee all the time it's kind of a pain to get on and off).
• These tanks are less than 5 bucks at Old Navy and I bought 5 or 6 of them (size large, for reference--I'm usually a small or medium). They're fitted but stretchy and long enough to fit over my growing bump.
• A big baggy sweater to throw on in the mornings--I love that the Bay Area is always chilly early and late every day. I wear something like this to the barre studio or when I'm walking Ender.
• The first thing I wanted to stop wearing were regular bras, and this sports bra is perfect under a tee shirt or tank top. It doesn't have a ton of support but it's soft and really comfortable. 
• This dress still fits great and I wear it a lot. It's also just really flattering on, pregnant or not.
• I've been living in athletic wear even more now that I teach Pure Barre a few times a week, and these Alo leggings have been a lifesaver. They're high-waisted without a seam so they don't cut into your belly and they look very smooth under a shirt. I just got this style recently but the others I linked to below have stuck with me since before I got pregnant.
• Baggy tank tops like this were great those first few months when I felt like I was getting a little bigger but not really ready to let people know that we were expecting. (I always feel like I'm getting way more for my money when I buy shirts I can work out in or wear out somewhere.)
• These leggings are probably the coolest pants I've ever owned. They're so pretty and make me feel like a bit of a badass. I love the mesh detail and the pintucked panels. They were my first Alo purchase and I was a little unsure about the high price tag but I wear them so much they were absolutely worth it.

That's it for now! Do you have any pieces of clothing that you wear all the time no matter what? And please let me know if you have any other requests for posts--clothing/pregnancy-related or not! I'm teaching a bit less and just finished a big project so I'm excited to spend some extra time on the blog for the rest of the summer and into the fall, and I always love hearing from you guys with questions and/or requests.

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Dear Baby,

We're halfway to meeting you and it's kind of blowing my mind. For weeks (okay, months) I couldn't really picture anything about you--I knew you were in there but you still felt so hypothetical, so unreal to me; this little bundle of cells, more alien than baby.

But then we saw your little face and nose on the ultrasound, the curve of your neck and skull and even your brain--I feel you moving every day and your dad can feel your kicks around 6PM when they're especially strong, and the other night we lay in bed talking about how you'd be a toddler before we knew it, and when you turn 15 or 16 will you even need to learn how to drive? Our neighborhood is right in the middle of Silicon Valley so every day we see self-driving cars being tested on the roads and I can't help but imagine you as a teenager, laughing at how much manual driving we used to have to do when you were a brand-new baby.

For as long as I can remember I've had one particular baby girl name picked out, and then we found out you were actually a girl and now we can't seem to name you. You're so real now, so human to me, that it makes you even more magical; more unreal. Naming an actual person like you feels like such a responsibility. Is that your name? I flip it over in my mind and wonder. Kick twice if that's your name. 

One thing you don't know about me yet is how much I'm obsessed with fall, when the weather turns cool and the leaves change color and it smells like campfires every morning. Every year around this time (sometimes even earlier--the 4th of July is my new limit) I find myself wishing the rest of our summer days away and counting down until September, October, November. You'll be here this November, though, and there's so much we still need to do, so much to prepare for, that I'm trying so hard not to wish these last few months away. But then I think about your tiny face and how much we love you already and it's almost impossible to not get caught in a daydream where we're both wrapped up in a blanket, you with a tiny hat on your head, me with some hot chocolate (or maybe a boozy hot apple cider...let's be realistic), soaking up our first fall and winter together.

I'll talk to you again before then. Are you getting enough hash browns in there? I'll keep 'em coming, just in case.

With love,

Megan (AKA your mom--so weird)

GIRL!

Rob and I were so surprised at our appointment last week to learn that this little baby is actually a she. Rob is one of four boys and his oldest brother has two sons--ever since we've been together I always pictured myself as a mom to sons.

For the past few months I've tried to picture this tiny person in my head and couldn't do it--I thought it must be a boy, but maybe it could be a girl? I never had that gut feeling one way or another, so I figured I'd wait until the ultrasound and just be as surprised as anyone. And still, part of me felt like it must be a boy, not because I knew it in my bones or anything, but because I just always assumed I would have a son first, maybe only sons. I guess I always pictured our family looking somewhat similar to my in-laws'. I wrote down two boy names for every girl name and refrained from adding anything pink to our registry.

And then there we were, unknowingly watching our daughter on the screen, waiting for the sonographer to let us know what we were looking at. 

"How do you feel about a girl?" she asked.

We looked at each other and burst into laughter. But our hearts immediately felt so full. Maybe on some level I had already known it, but at that moment it felt like the best surprise in the world. A girl! Born in California, just like her mom.

I'm so looking forward to meeting our daughter in November, and I get teary-eyed thinking about Rob as a dad to a little girl. He is going to be the absolute best. I went home that afternoon and added some adorable pink moccasins to the baby registry, because why not?

I think I could get used to this.