Loves a Dramatic Entrance

Worn to take Eleanor for a visit to my office. I decided when I woke up that morning to channel my inner Countess Luann from the Real Housewives of New York (she has an epic collection of capes and enters rooms dramatically in them on the regular). Best decision I’ve made recently.

pants: Zara / cape: Winners / booties: Camper / shirt: Dynamite / necklace: Stella and Dot

Feeling Like a Regular Person Again

It was a mid September miracle when Eleanor slept from 12 am to 5 am (she's doing it pretty regularly now though, and has even extended her sleep time from about 10 pm to 6 am) and I actually felt semi-well rested in the morning and was able to don some regular people clothes to go running errands in…pregnancy has irrevocably changed my body and some of favourite pre-pregnancy pieces just aren’t “right” anymore (I’m looking forward to shopping!!!!) but this dress still totally works. Hooray!

dress: Saks Off Fifth / shoes: Spring / sunglasses: Aldo / earrings: ModCloth / cuff: Jenners

All the Frills: Four Months and Plugging Along

Guys – Eleanor is older now but here are her four month-old photos. I mean, objectively, she’s a damn cute baby. She also recently came down with her first cold, unfortunately. Baby's first cold is no joke - she was utterly miserable while her immune system figured out how to deal with it and I was sick myself and just wanted to rest and, of course, couldn't because Eleanor was so upset. So it made for a pretty ugly week around my house. But we knuckled down and got through it and now she's all smiles and giggles again.

Here are the things she's infatuated with these days:

• The dancing fox on her activity mat (we call it Dancing Foxy)
• Making a lot of insanely high pitched noises as she explores her "voice" (we now refer to her as the Queen of the Porpoises)
• Sleeping - we're trying to get her on a daytime nap schedule (she fights us on that and is still all over the map, making my life difficult because I never know when, or even if, I'll have a bit of free time to do all those luxuries like eating and showering) but she's an awesome overnight sleeper and regularly goes down from 10 pm to at least 4:30 am and oftentimes to 6 or even 7 am (thanks Satan!)
• Looking at herself in a mirror and just giggling for a solid 30 minutes

She still HATES being on her tummy but we diligently have tummy time every day. I'm hoping that any day now she'll be ready to start rolling...and then I'll basically have to alter how I do everything but it will be a huge milestone.

Weekend Reading:

• Who doesn’t love the Winchester Mystery House?
• I love it when Yale lands in the news for something cool.
• This bullshit wherein men only condemn sexual assault or other misogynistic behaviour because they have daughters needs to stop.
• The people behind this Noah’s Ark idiocy sounds like unstoppable morons.
• This is utter bullshit.

The Day My Feet Officially Returned

When I took these photos I was fixated on the fact it just felt soooo amazing that the swelling in my feet finally subsided enough after the C section for me to wear both an open toed shoe and a small heel! It was a pretty happy day.

leggings: Target / tank top: Joe Fresh / shoes: ASOS / cardigan: ModCloth / necklace: Oak and Fort

Into Post-Baby Rotation

When buying maternity clothes I tried to invest in a couple of pieces that I thought I’d be able to continue wearing after my pregnancy. This dress was one of those pieces – I bought it in my second trimester (so I wasn’t super big yet) and I think it’s made the transition to my post-pregnancy wardrobe fairly well. It also pairs well with my chronic resting bitch face.

dress: Thyme Maternity / shoes: ASOS

Newborn Photo Shoot

Worn for the second set of baby photographs we had done, these ones taken in our home. These were taken not long after we got Eleanor home from the hospital and I was right in the midst of my C section recovery, so hideously swollen and in a lot of pain - and you can definitely see it in these photos. Seriously the amount of water I retained from that C section was nothing short of horrifying.

leggings: Simons / shirt: Simons / shoes: Primark / necklace: Stella and Dot / bracelet: Stella and Dot / cuff: gift from my mother / ring: House of Harlow

Transitioning Out of Maternity Wear

I loved this maternity dress from ASOS too much to simply stop wearing it once Eleanor arrived (and, in truth, until all the swelling, etc from my pregnancy fully went away, wearing a smattering of maternity clothes still made sense from a comfort standpoint – while I can now fit into most of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe again, plenty of items are now just too weirdly fitted for me to comfortably wear - basically the dimensions of my body have been permanently altered).

dress: ASOS / shoes: Target / necklace: Stella and Dot / sunglasses: Target

All the Frills: Buying For the Future

Even though she can’t wear them yet, I’ve purchased Eleanor some pretty ridiculous clothes lately (as those of you who follow me on Instagram know). I desperately wish they made this cape and this brocade dress in adult sizes. I’m that smitten with them.

Weekend Reading:

• A lost da Vinci.
•  Fuck Harvey Weinstein. Seriously, the whole thing is just sickening and depressingly not really that surprising. I wonder how this will affect Marchesa though. I’ve been hearing some things and they are not good…and, of course, now she's distancing herself from it all.
• IKEA pet furniture! Seriously, I need most of these things.
• Learning how Lucy died does make me sad.
• The best Jeopardy! answers ever.

Fully Recovered for the End of Summer

This maxi dress, that I ordered from ModCloth shortly before Eleanor’s birth, was the perfect piece for me in the last bit of summer that we enjoyed here (also known as the tail end of my C section recovery time). It’s super comfy and soft and very easy to toss on when I have to run a quick errand. Plus it’s totally in line with my ongoing commitment to dress like goth all summer long, temperature be damned. It’s all about goals guys.

dress: ModCloth / cardigan: Pins and Needles / shoes: Aldo / sunglasses: Aldo / necklace: Jenners

Out and About

Since Eleanor’s birth I’ve had to dash out of the house for doctor’s appointments, grocery runs, walks, etc but these photos were from the first time that I actually dressed myself in proper clothes and invested a smidge of time in doing my hair and applying makeup. The occasion? We had to take an infant CPR class and, because we’d arranged for my awesome parents to babysit, the helpmeet and I decide to squeeze in a quick dinner out as well – you know, to really make the most of things. I was a little sleep deprived (that’s basically my baseline now) and definitely still swollen from the C section, but it felt soooo good to put on my old clothes and get out for a bit!

leggings: Simons / top: Simons / shoes: Target / jacket: Joseph Ribkoff / necklace: Aldo

All the Frills: Three Months In

So I totally lied last week, but I promise this really will be my last Eleanor-related post for a bit (I can’t help it guys – she’s basically just swallowed my entire world). Here she is at three months, looking all kinds of adorable!

Weekend Reading 

• This exhibit is stunning!
  
• I HATE Hugh Hefner. Like legitimately. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one. Really nice.
  
• You know I love me some cats on the internet.
  
• Holy crap, a killer clown!
  
• This photography project, charting the life of a child prostitute named Tiny, is poignant.

Some Things I'd like to Erase From My Mind

So these photos are a bit traumatic for me. These were taken just a couple of hours before my ob-gyn appointment went irreparably sideways and I was rushed in for an emergency C section (I write about it here). Anyways, I’m mostly just trying to push all thoughts of my actual birth experience with my daughter from my mind (it was scary, traumatizing, and just all around horrific) and focus, rather, on all those perfect moments that started to roll in after my post-surgery drugs wore off and I could actually start doing things like visit Eleanor Elizabeth Medea in the the NICU and spend quality time with her. I debated deleting these photos all together but the historian in me refuses to allow myself to just erase the record. So here they are.

leggings: Thyme Maternity / shirt: Old Navy / blazer: F21 / sandals: ModCloth / necklace: Express / sunglasses: Aldo

Pregnancy as Performative

Guys, when these photos were taken, I swear all I was thinking was “seriously, I can’t take much more … please let this be over soon!” I am unabashedly not one of those women who had a good experience of pregnancy. I know some do and that’s great for them, but that was definitely not me (and the fact that some people kept tut tutting me and saying how sad it was that I wasn’t enjoying pregnancy actually served to make me irritable and resentful – I swear society excepts women to “perform” pregnancy with a smile and a “glow” and people react like it’s some woeful situation when that’s not what happens, even though it’s a pretty common experience for many women). I don’t think I had one time in the entire nine months where I felt comfortable. Sigh. Sorry, not sorry, rant over!

leggings: Thyme Maternity / dress: ModCloth / necklace: Stella and Dot / shoes: Aldo / sunglasses: Aldo