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.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click around and/or buy something, I make a small commission. Thanks for your support as I continue to share content like this!

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)

Thank you Village Harvest for sponsoring this post. Every day Village Harvest is planting seeds of change and growing possibilities, one bag of goodness at a time.

I'm a big fan of poke bowls--when we first moved to California I think I ate at least one a week for a couple months. There's a place down the street from our house that makes great ones, but they can get expensive, especially if you make them a habit. I decided to make a few at home the other day because I hadn't had one in a while. Raw fish isn't exactly pregnancy-friendly, so I made mine with cooked crab (most of the ones I used to order had a mix of poke and crab, so it's not too much of a variation from what I normally would have ordered).

Recently Village Harvest was kind enough to send me a box of three of their Organic Benefit Blends to try, so I decided to take the Organic Antioxidant Blend for a spin instead of regular white rice. They also have an Organic Ancient Grains Blend and an Organic Protein Blend, but the antioxidant blend is made with black rice, black lentils, and black quinoa; so not only does it have a ton of nutrients, but it also looks really cool in your bowl. 

Ingredients (makes 2 bowls):

• 1 cup of rice--for this recipe I used the Antioxidant Blend from Village Harvest Organic Benefit Blends
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1/4 pound of ahi tuna, diced
• 1/4 pound of snow crab leg meat, chopped
• 1/2 of a large cucumber, diced
• 1 large carrot, julienned or peeled into ribbons
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic chili sauce
• 1/2 of an avocado
• Sesame seeds, for garnish
• Sliced green onion, for garnish
• A few tablespoons of pickled ginger on the side

Instructions: 

1. Prepare the rice according to package instructions. Allow to cool slightly.
2. In a large bowl, combine cucumber and carrots with diced tuna and chopped crab. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic chili sauce. Gently toss to combine.
3. Assemble bowls by spooning rice, then topping with veggies and seafood. Top with sesame seeds and sliced green onions and serve with pickled ginger.

And the best part? Village Harvest has pledged 1% of their profits to run programs that give back to the local communities from which they source their products. By the way, if your local grocery store or market doesn't carry Village Harvest, you can fill out this form to request it.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.