I'm blogging less often as life revolves around newborn baby T and I spend a lot of time in pyjamas. No one wants to see my daggy PJs, so I only blog when I've got dressed and had time to take a picture.
One of our friends let us know that they were passing by and wanted to drop by and spend some time with baby T. Thought that I'd add a scarf to the plain knit and jeans outfit to dress it up a little for visitors. We even had time to clean the house a little before everyone came by. Quite a productive day!
I have a lot of accessories I can use to dress up outfits - but I haven't been wearing jewellery a lot. Usually before baby I'd wake up, know what I was going to wear and pick the accessories from my jewellery stand next to the bed. Now, I'm woken up by baby T and getting dressed can happen quite a few hours after I've gotten up and made him happy! Scarves are great for that, they are nice "afterthoughts" to an outfit I've hurriedly pulled on but they help make it look a little more put together. I keep mine right by the door too, so it's easy to grab one on the way out. Haven't worn this one in a long time (over two years!), but thought that it went perfectly with this outfit.
My family came over to spend some time with baby T. We had lunch, and they were able to baby sit while I popped out to a doctor's appointment. It was sunny and warm, so I just wore my Havaianas.
This is just another "stay at home mum outfit". I tend not to put too much effort into what I wear if I'm just going to the doctors! It would have looked really nice with a necklace, but baby T can be a bit grabby sometimes and I don't want him getting tangled up in any of my necklaces.
The hoodie was a lovely gift from my bestie, she's so generous! We both have a love of Juicy Couture trackie dacks for lounging at home or dog walking. I've been wearing mine a lot more often now, spending so much time at home. The hoodies have been popping up on the blog too as some days a blazer or leather jacket seems too dressed up and a cardigan is just too thin for the winter weather. They are a nice casual cover up.
Bit of a rush to take photos Monday morning as it started to shower as soon as I stepped out the door. Cooper wasn't having any of it and wanted to run back inside when he got rained on, so he's missing from the photos. Although I did snap one pic of his grumpy little face that I shared on instagram.
When I bought this shirt last year, it was labelled as both a regular shirt and a maternity shirt, something I missed when I bought it. Grateful for it now with the growing baby bump! :) The longer sleeves were nice for the cooler morning too, had even considered a scarf.
This is one of the tops I found in one of my wardrobe clear outs. After moving it to the front of my wardrobe for a while, it still remained unworn so I was about to add it to the donate pile when DH mentioned he liked it too much for me to give it away. I used to wear it a lot when we were dating. I remember buying it on our first trip to Melbourne together, after I went shopping for the afternoon while DH caught up with one of his mates. It looks great with jeans, but after changing jobs to an office where I don't wear denim every day it's gotten no wear for years. Found an old photo of me wearing it to work in 2007!
Figured I'd at least wear the top one more time before deciding if I should donate it or not. Glad I decided to keep it, I had 3 people come up to me today to tell me how beautiful it looked. And one lady who refused to believe I'd bought it from Cotton On and not somewhere more expensive, haha! Might have to keep it in the wardrobe a little longer.
Rugged up against the cold on Monday with a scarf, although in the chilly morning I did wish I had added a jacket too. Was really sad when I noticed a huge tear in the back of this shirt in the evening - no idea if I had been walking around like that all day!
Had been hoping to keep on wearing this top and use it as a nursing top. Tucked into jeans or a skirt it would have looked awesome and been really practical with the buttons. Unfortunately, no way to repair the tear at the seam. I paid $9 for it and got 3 wears out of it, not too bad I guess. Definitely would have worn it more if it had stayed together.
This shirt is one of the pieces I picked up in the last Jeanswest 40% off sale. Because I can never turn down something striped, haha! Hopefully I won't manage to tear a hole in this one..... ;)
When this parcel arrived I tried this top on with what I was wearing, the grey maxi skirt. I thought it was a good combination, so decided I'd wear it this way on it's first outing. Plus the scarf to keep me warm when I went out to the doctors. Had to wear thongs (flip flops) though as I puffed up a bit today and shoes were out of the question! Couldn't even get my rings on in the morning!
The upside to having a backlog of outfit pictures is that I can get on top of blogging and schedule posts in advance. The downside is that the outfits don't always make sense afterwards!
As I'm typing up this post, I'm enjoying the beautiful 35+ degree weather (95 fahrenheit) and I'm contemplating turning on the air con... while I look at these photos taken earlier in spring just a couple weeks ago with jeans and cardigans!
Currently sweltering weather aside, these outfits are a great spring outfit formula for a colder day. I've shared similar ones before, it's such easy SAHM style.
I wore this to attend my local ABA mum's group meeting and run a few errands. It was a slightly cooler morning so I added the cardigan, although I took it off when it warmed up in the afternoon. The group topic was babywearing, which was perfect for me as I wanted to see if there were different ways to wear my Ergo baby carrier. I learned how to back carry which is awesome, as when you back carry it's easier to sling a cross body bag over. I find when I front carry the thick shoulder straps make it tricky to get any bag to stay put for long.
I really like this navy polka dot tee with the black skinny jeans - in the past I was alway unsure about wearing black and blue together. It was actually an ASOS sale purchase that convinced me, a colourblock dress I no longer have but you can see waaay back at the start of my blog! Since seeing the dress and subsequently buying it, I realised navy and black looked pretty good together, and I've been wearing it since. Sometimes just shopping opens your eyes to new combinations!
Wore this to work from home, with a cold morning making me reach for my favourite cosy cardigan for daycare drop off. By lunch time I'd taken the cardigan off, although I did need to wear it again for the daycare pick up in the afternoon.
I don't usually carry such a big bag on my work from home days as even when I run errands before daycare pickup I don't need to carry much. I was pretty tired that morning though so grabbed the bag I'd used for work the previous day. The Balenciaga part time is a cross body bag, but I prefer smaller cross body bags that are closer to my body when I'm wearing a bag around my boys, even just for daycare drop off and pickups.
If you're unsure about colourful cardigans, a monochromatic outfit like this is a good time to wear them. It lets the purple be the only pop of colour in your outfit and you know everything will go together nicely. Easy, fool-proof mum style when you're too tired to function in the morning and put a lot of thought into your outfit!
Need a way to switch up that mum staple of skinny jeans? Try a printed top like I have in the outfits above. You can go one step further and add colourful accessories - a bright cardigan is a good option for a spring day and the fluctuating temperatures that occur. If you're worried about matching colours, just throw on your colourful cardigan with a monochromatic outfit full of neutrals. Easy!
Consistently, the Marc by Marc Jacobs Ukita bag is one of the most clicked items on my blog. Probably because the rock lobster colour is awesome and it brightens up a neutral outfit really well. It's the perfect size for taking to work too.
What I wore:
Necklace: thrifted pearl and heart charm long necklace
As it was a slightly cooler day, I figured I'd get some wear out of my maternity jeans and wear them to the office again like I did with my last pregnancy. I did want to wear a button up shirt to look a little more professional, but couldn't find one that actually buttoned over the baby bump, ha! it was too hot to consider a blazer too, so I just wore the bright tank by itself.
I'm surprised I haven't worn this tank and bag together before, the colours go really well together.
Fully embracing the casual side of business casual with a grey tee and a pencil skirt for another day in the office. I'm lucky that my workplace has such a relaxed dress code and I can get away with wearing tees in the middle of the week.
After my Melbourne trip and drooling over some scarves and twillies in Hermes, I decided to get my twilly out again. I really can't pull off the neck scarf look without looking like a flight attendant, but I like wearing it around my wrist. I've done so before, but silk is not the most practical fabric to wear around a toddler so it hasn't been worn much recently. Need to make more of an effort to wear it. It was a nice way to have some colour in my outfit even when I wasn't wearing the bright Ukita bag.
In the third trimester my wardrobe options get limited even further, so I'm pretty much wearing nothing but maternity clothes now. A positive to this is that I have a few green pieces I've been wearing. It was previously a colour I found tricky to wear, but I'm seeing the positive side as I've been encouraged to branch out and try wearing it more often.
It was actually a cool summer day, which was a welcome change. I decided to get my maternity jeans out again. They haven't been worn as much in this pregnancy as they were last time, due to being pregnant over the different seasons. I'm enjoying my denim maternity shorts but it's been good to wear these jeans again when I can as I loved them so much last time around.
Thought I'd give the green tee a go with the navy kimono. I liked the colour combination, and the kimono was a cosy addition that came in handy for family birthday celebrations in the evening as it cooled down a little more.
This kimono was a complete impulse buy. I wouldn't have paid full price for it, but for $3 I strongly felt I should buy it! I figured even if I only wore it a few times it would be a good cost per wear. It is really quite oversized on me, but I'm loving it. It's simple to wear, it's not too hot for summer, and I love the cocoon style, even if I do sometimes worry it seems to swamp me in photos. I'm glad I bought it.
Returning to my maternity shorts as the summer heat was back. This was a perfect outfit for a morning playdate with toddler T and some friends.
Another blue and green outfit! I'd always heard the rule 'blue and green should never be seen', which is probably why I had so little green in my wardrobe, given how much blue I have in my wardrobe! But I really liked the colour combination in this outfit. A good example of why trying different combinations is a good thing. If it doesn't work you can just take everything off again, or you could find a new combination you love.
Easy spring stay at home mum style for me has quickly become jeans, colourful cardigan and a fun bright bag. It's simple to pull together and I always feel confident in it. No matter how great you feel or think you look though, there are days of motherhood that are far from perfect.
Cooper was being so cute I had to include this pic on the blog! He was staring at me intently while I was trying to take outfit photos this morning for some reason. Adorable.
I loved this outfit. I had time to do my hair in the morning, and an incredible day planned out down the coast for a girly day of shopping (I still have lots of gift cards I'd planned to spend to celebrate the end of #6MonthsWithoutShopping). I wasn't sure if it would be warmer on the coast so took a cardigan, although I did take it off in the middle of the day. My tank ended up untucked too.
Sadly, the outfit was the only thing I loved about this day. This is the perfect example of photos never representing real life. I could talk about how much I liked the colour combo, it's simple and perfect SAHM style for a fun day of shopping....but nothing turned out how I expected. Just a reminder that no matter how great something looks online, you never know the full story!
Long story short, just before we went out shopping I had one of those slow-mo moments of motherhood where you see something happening but are too far away to stop it and time seems to slow down. Baby Boy fell face-first from a height onto his nose. Lots of screaming, tears and blood later we headed to the nearest doctors. More screaming during the x-rays, a half-hearted attempt at shopping and then we went home. Thankfully nothing broken, and I was in the best company all day, but I felt so horrible for not being able to stop the accident and for derailing everyone's day off plans.
Could have been a lot worse, and will be a funny story later I'm sure. Right now it's not so funny when everyone gasps at your baby's bruised face and asks what happened!
This was a much less eventful day! This pic was taken a while ago, as you can tell by Cooper's winter fur coat still being on!
It follows a similar outfit formula to the outfit above, so of course I loved this too. When I bought this polka dot tee I was thinking of pairing it with my mustard yellow cardigan. I love blue and yellow together, and really liked the mustard and navy. And of course I just had to wear my mustard yellow micro Regan bag if I was wearing the yellow cardigan!
This was a simple but colourful outfit for baby boy's planned specialist appointment.
As it's the second time I've worn this tee on the blog, my purchase review:
I like to review everything I buy after wearing it twice to see how it's working for my wardrobe and learn any lessons that could avoid shopping regrets in future. Sometimes though, there are impulse buys like this tee that prove I don't need to over analyse everything before I buy!
This was my first and so far only purchase with my end of #6MonthsWithoutShopping celebratory gift cards. I'd actually walked into Jeanswest to try on another top, and picked this up just to try it on as it was so soft. While I didn't get the top I originally went in for, I couldn't leave without this tee. I have lots of tees. I particularly have a lot of blue ones. But this is still a piece I keep reaching for, and I'm glad I bought it. An impulse buy that worked out nicely!
Skinny jeans are a stay at home mum staple as they work for whatever life throws at you (even if your planned day out ends up consisting of sitting in doctor's waiting rooms). In the cooler months, it's so easy to add extra colours to these outfits with a bright cardigan. A bright bag that compliments the cardigan is a fun accessory choice, and something you can continue to wear as a pop of colour in your outfit as the weather heats up and the cardigans get packed away.
I'm pleased that the embroidery trend is continuing! Gives me more justification to wear these lovely embroidered pieces from my wardrobe. I'll still wear them when the trend dies down, but it's nice to be able to wear something I'm constantly reading about in blogs. An embroidered top and black skinny jeans is an easy stay at home mum outfit, but to add extra interest to each outfit I have wore additional prints and texture too.
Hadn't worn this jacket for a while so it was nice to get it out again! I wasn't sure if the embellishment paired with the embroidery on the top would be too much, but I quite liked the resulting outfit. It was a nice change from last time I wore this embroidered top with black jeans too. Now that it's spring and warmer weather, I can hopefully wear this jacket more. It's a bit thin for winter.
I like how this jacket dresses up a casual outfit a bit - even if I was just popping out for a little shopping while hubby watched the boys.
I've tried to wear other prints with these chevron printed Sass & Bide jeans in the past and not been entirely happy with the results. Just like the first outfit, I decided to try something different by pairing the chevrons with the detail on this embroidered top. I liked the result, but not enough to want to wear it again, haha! Will stick with wearing plain black jeans with this embroidered top next time.
Even though the embroidery and print together was busy enough, I added a little extra texture with the cardigan. I love the purple accessories with this - the cardigan is so cosy and wearing the cardigan and plum mini MAB tote bag together is a favourite combination of mine. Kept me warm on a very windy day.
The plan was to go to the in-laws for dinner, but after baby boy wasn't his usual happy self when we went out in the morning, we decided to stay home at night and let him rest and feel better. It's been such a tough winter with illnesses, I'm glad it's spring now as I'm hoping the warm weather and sunshine keeps the bugs at bay.
Black jeans are a great base for any outfit! The are the perfect backdrop to let an embroidered top or jacket shine. You can mix things up a little by buying black jeans with a print on them if you feel plain black is too boring.
Also, I'm thrilled to share that another of my posts was featured on Links a la Mode!
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