Happy new year! Kicking off the new year with how I intend to continue, in casual and comfortable mum style (even if I wore these back in December!). Two simple mum outfits for summer days with the kids - pairing some colourful v-neck tees with striped maxi skirts for easy outfits on hot days!
I really like yellow and blue together, and I've worn this mustard tee with another navy striped maxi skirt recently. I love stripes! Thought it was a nice colourful outfit choice for a day with the boys - stopping at the park for a bit of a play before the heat sent us home again!
We spent the afternoon wrapping a few Christmas pressies and chilling in the aircon. It was such a hot day, skirt and a tee was the only thing I felt like wearing. I like how easily a maxi skirt works at the playground too, you don't need to worry about the length when running around with the kids or pushing them on the swings!
With the bright mustard yellow and nay blue, thought that this neutral tan Rebecca Minkoff MAB camera bag was a good choice.
Another v-neck tee and maxi skirt outfit! Again, wearing a striped skirt although this pinstripe doesn't show up well in pics and the skirt just looks grey. I really liked the lilac tee with it, it's nice with the grey.
Added a little extra colour to my outfit with this blush tassel necklace, I like pink and purple together too and I felt it dressed up my casual outfit a little more for church and then lunch and an afternoon shopping with my mum. Was so good to spend time together, even if it was a little crazy trying to get a car park as it was December! Was so nice getting time to decorate the house later too, it was our first Christmas in our new house so I was very excited and kept wanting to buy more decorations.
I think the studded sandals helped dress up this outfit a little more too, as I'd just worn my casual Havaianas in the first outfit. Although not quite as colourful as the first outfit, I thought the Rebecca Minkoff MAB camera bag was a good companion with this outfit too - it goes with everything!
A maxi skirt is a great piece to have in your mum wardrobe! The perfect length for running around with and bending down to toddlers all day, and still looks and feels a little more pulled together to go to church or a lunch date! Worn with a simple colourful tee it's an easy outfit choice for a hot summer day.
It's no secret that I love maxi skirts and dresses. While I recently bought a lot of shorts for summer, you can't beat a classic maxi dress in December for all the Christmas related events. I almost always wear a maxi dress on Christmas day too, it's such a good choice. Comfortable for opening presents, running around with toddlers and nice and loose so you can indulge in all that yummy food!
The two jersey maxi dresses below are some of my fave wardrobe oldies. There's still plenty of time to order a maxi dress now and have it arrive before Christmas so you can wear it on Christmas day too!
What I wore:
Necklace: Uniquely Made with Love Sea Change necklace
I wore this a little while ago! We had our family Christmas photo, and as usual I went with the easy maxi dress option. I picked this one specifically as I'd bought the boys little blue poloshirts for the photo, and with hubby in a blue shirt too we were all perfectly themed but not too matchy matchy!
I had a bit of a giggle when we got to the photo area though - it was a blue background! We really coordinated! We usually go to Westfield for our photo, Chermside do pet Santa photos. Unfortunately they had cut their pet santa photos down to just 2 hours over the month and they were of course almost immediately booked out as a result. We ended up booking in with the RSPCA Santa Paws photos for the first time and while it was more expensive, the resulting photo was much better quality. Santa was very understanding too and they took the time to help and suggest things so we managed to get a good photo of us all despite our terrified toddler, who never got anywhere near as close to any other Santas we saw! I recommend them if you're looking for a photo with the whole family, we can't imagine our annual photo without Cooper!
Last Christmas delivery order date varies depending on your state but can be as late as early morning on the 22nd for same day delivery, or mid-morning on 21st December for next day delivery.
Another Christmas event, another maxi dress! It seemed the most obvious choice for a Christmas party with the boys. I like grey and yellow together, so when I saw one of the style challenges in Instagram for the day was 'bold hue', I knew I'd pick yellow accessories with this dress. I've worn the dress and bag together before, it's a nice combination. The little Christmas bow on my wrist was a fun addition for the party, and met yet another Instagram style challenge for 'tied'.
This was such a fun party for me to attend. Last year, we had been looking forward to it. I was in hospital with Baby Boy but we had been confident that we wouldn't be in there long, just a few days at most, which would mean we would be out for the party. Instead, we stayed there much longer than expected and the party marked day 6 in hospital as I continued to room in with Baby Boy. Toddler T's grandparents took him to the party solo instead. It was just a kid's party, but was quite emotional for me reflecting back on where we were last year. I didn't have time to dwell on it for long though, there was a lot to do and see and then we had to dash to swim lessons, and celebrate putting the Christmas tree up in the afternoon.
For me a maxi dress will always be a go-to over December. It's the perfect mum outfit as it's quick and easy to wear with minimal accessorising required, although you can add bright accessories if you want a bit of a pop. Maxi dresses are comfortable and casual enough for running around with toddlers but dressed up enough for parties and family Christmas photoshoots. There is still enough time to order a special dress in for Christmas too, with great options under $50 at ASOS, Amazon or The Iconic linked above. I love next day shipping at the Iconic for last minute gifts too.
When the heat hits, I look for simple easy outfits that don't have any unnecessary layers. A plain tee and a printed maxi skirt is simple summer style. And spring style, as I wore these a few weeks ago when it was still spring!
I adore this skirt so much and it was the first one that came to mind when picking an outfit to wear to meet Sasha. It's so light in the heat and swishes beautifully when you walk, kind of creating its own breeze. The day was forecast to be extremely hot, so we ended up spending more time indoors than anticipated.
Sasha is another Brisbane blogger and while she lives a little distance away from me, we caught up at a mid point in the city, at the state library. The cafe there was lovely and very quiet until I showed up with the boys! In the end we ducked into the kids play area at the library so the boys could run around a little more and we could continue chatting. Always so nice meeting another blogging friend in person, even more so when they are as interesting as Sasha. We spoke for a couple of hours, which seemed to be over in a few minutes, before I took the boys for lunch in the city and headed home.
Keeping things simple with the outfit, I went with a neutral black tee, a red bag to match the red skirt, and my latest necklace purchase to match the gold hardware on the bag. You can see why I enjoy Sasha's blog so much, we have very similar style! Thanks to Mr 4 who kindly took the photo for us.
Thankfully this day wasn't as hot as the one above. As you can see, there was even a bit of a breeze! I kept to the simple outfit formula I'd liked so much above, going a little more colourful this time with the basic red tee and navy striped maxi skirt. I accessorised with the baby friendly necklace as we spent the morning at our local ABA group, the topic was baby / toddler massage.
The last time I did a baby massage class my now 2 and a half year old was a tiny little 3 week old, so I was really looking forward to it! I went in with two very eager to help little boys, which quickly turned into me chasing kids around the room in between attempting to practice the massage techniques. I definitely don't do the massage techniques as often as I should, but there are so many benefits to it so I'm going to try do it more often. It's a lot more fun to do when the boys are big enough to give feedback on what they like too!
Printed maxi skirts can be a little daunting as they are such large pieces of print! You can keep things easy and simple by picking a plain tee to wear with them. You can go with a neutral black like I did in the first outfit, or try something different and add a little more colour like in the second outfit. You can't go wrong pairing a plain basic with a fun printed piece!
I have a lot of fitted tanks in different colours. I liked wearing them while pregnant but haven't been loving them as much lately. Partly because I prefer lifting tops up rather than pulling them down for breastfeeding and it's not easy to do that in something so fitted. Being honest though it's mostly because they cling so much around the tummy area.
After two babies in two years I knew my stomach would never be perfectly flat. I'm still happily rocking my bikini post-baby - despite a visiting obstetrician telling me during my last pregnancy that my stomach would be "ruined" and that I'd never go to the beach or wear a bikini again! I am proud of my belly, however lumpy it is. I love every extra wrinkle and am truly happy with my "tiger stripes".
However, with tight clothing you don't see anything other than a bump. Which I worry looks suspiciously like a baby bump from some angles. Although trivial, the awkward "nope, not pregnant" conversation just felt a little too stressful to handle! I preferred to cover my belly up in clothing and avoid giving anyone the opportunity to notice and comment. While it's easy to hide a belly in photos it's trickier in real life.
Since wearing these outfits I have had someone mistakenly congratulate me on my "pregnancy" and have had to point out that nope, I'm not pregnant, just got a mum-tum! And you know what? It wasn't as horrific an experience as I thought it would be. I just laughed it off and didn't get upset or make the person asking upset. I wasn't even wearing a fitted tank when it happened, ha! It made me realise I was worrying unnecessarily.
Wore this to run a few quick errands in the afternoon. I'd planned to go out in the morning but never managed to get organised quickly enough to leave before baby's nap, so an afternoon outing it was.
I really liked the colours in this outfit! I think the blue and purple are lovely together. The multi-coloured necklace tied everything together nicely.
Same kimono, different shorts and tank. I wasn't enjoying this outfit as much as the one above. I felt the stripes really accentuated the mum-tum and was feeling a bit self-conscious about it at the time. I also couldn't help thinking that my grey and white striped tank probably would have looked better with the grey kimono.
An okay outfit, but one of those that seem better in theory when you're planning them than they do when you wear them.
You can hide a baby bump in pictures, you can dress in ways that disguise any leftover baby weight. Or you can keep it real and show it all off in a bikini. Your body, your business. Remember a photo never tells the full story, never compare your behind the scenes to someone else's highlight reel! Don't feel bad about how you look post-baby, every pregnancy and post-pregnancy journey is different.
I'm a little sad that Kmart hasn't brought these strappy tiered sundresses back again this year, I was so hoping they would! They are such a staple in my wardrobe and they aren't just worn in the summer months. Today I'm sharing two spring outfits I made with them by knotting some tees over the top. I did this in winter too with knits.
I wore this a little bit too late for Halloween! But I did like the black and orange combo. This v-neck tee is a recent purchase from the Jeanswest sale. I picked it up as I loved the orange, and went to try it on. Then it looked so mustard in the change room. I asked the SA as I was buying it, it's definitely not mustard right?! ha! I do love mustard but I already have a mustard tee.
Like you do with a new purchase, I wanted to wear this shortly after I bought it and realised it would be a great pop of colour with this little black tiered sundress. With the nude studded gladiator sandals and the grey Rebecca Minkoff love bag, I wanted to add a little more colour to the outfit and this Ruby Olive necklace was perfect! It was a Christmas gift from my bestie last year.
I liked the slight extra warmth this tee gave layered over the sundress for church too - always so cold in church with the aircon!
Another outfit I wore to church, another tee knotted over a sundress! Unlike the first outfit, I let the dress be the colour with the blue and pink print and went with a neutral grey tee to match the Rebecca Minkoff Love bag. Picked the black ankle boots as I wore this a few weeks before the first outfit, where I wanted a little extra warmth for the cooler spring morning. It turned into a beautifully warm day by the afternoon though.
This grey tee is such a wardrobe staple - I have a 30 ways to wear post coming up with it soon because I've finally achieved over 30 wears with it. It was one of the pieces I searched through my blog archives for first when I heard about the 30 wears challenge, so sure that I'd have already hit 30 wears with it! I have finally got over 30 wears with it now, and I've been putting a 30 wears post together every month for almost 2 years, haha!
I knotted this tee to the side but I preferred the way I knotted the tee in the first outfit, making the knot more of a statement.
A v-neck tee is a wardrobe staple and pairs so nicely with denim - jeans or shorts! For something a little different and for a cooler spring or autumn day, try layering a tee over one of your fave summer dresses to create a whole new look!
What I Bought In November:
I'd usually do an extra post for this with a video but I've been a bit unwell this month and lost my voice for over a week so I'm just adding a little note onto this post. I also only bought three things:
I used up the last of my Christmas gift cards in the Jeanswest 40% off sale to pickup some colourful pieces for summer, and as I was hunting the opshops for books for our Christmas book advent calendar I couldn't resist this cute necklace for just $3!
A quick errand in the morning, my local ABA mother's group meeting and then a doctor's appointment for Baby Boy in the afternoon. As it was such a hot day, I wanted something nice and easy to wear. I knew I wanted to wear this dress again, but wasn't sure what kimono to wear with it. In the end I settled on this tribal print kimono as some of the print is similar to the Aztec print on the dress. The night before I held them up side by side and figured it would look okay.
When I put it on in the morning, I loved this outfit. I like the extra colour the kimono adds to the dress, and this was perfect for a day with a bit of running around. This dress is loose and flowy and knee-length on me so it's just as good for a doctor's appointment as it is sitting down on the floor chatting to my mum friends who have younger babies doing tummy time. I wouldn't change anything about this outfit. So glad I was able to buy this dress at the end of my #6MonthsWithoutShopping challenge, I've loved it every time I've worn it.
Another doctor's appointment! Vaccinations for baby boy meant we were going to have a quiet day. After the doctors, we headed out to do a little shopping and take part in a fun plant pot decorating activity for the boys. Surprisingly we have managed to not only keep the seeds alive, they are now sprouting quite nicely! As someone who has killed succulents and cacti I'm quite proud we are keeping these plants alive so far.
The morning came undone when we stopped at Kmart to buy some new shorts and tees for the warmer weather and someone wanted to buy a train (even though they had just convinced their Grandmother to buy them two trains the day before). Ended up getting lots of side eyes as I hurriedly finished shopping and headed home after realising nothing I was saying was helping end the tantrum. Not quite the quiet relaxing day I had planned, but will be a funny story to tell later! "Remember that time you screamed in Kmart and all the way home because you wanted a train?" 😂
At least I liked my outfit, plenty of people saw it when they looked around to see where the screaming child was! Toddler tantrums are just an unavoidable part of motherhood.
Kimonos work perfectly in spring when you need a light layer. While they look wonderful with denim shorts and jeans, they look equally good worn with dresses. It's a quick and easy spring outfit. If you're unsure what kimono to wear with your dress, you can pick one with a similar print, or add some more colour and print with a kimono over a plain dress. Linking up with Flashback Fashion, Friday Favourites, Shoe and Tell, Mix It Monday, Hello Monday, Modest Monday.