I follow plenty of those women on Instagram, I ooh and ahh at their photos and imagine myself in pretty pastel knits perfectly accessorized with a rose gold statement necklace and freshly manicured nails....then the real me puts down the Ipad and casts a despairing eye over my beached-whale self in 2 day old pajamas covered with splatters of whatever food my toddler has eaten that day, hair scraped back in a ponytail, glasses on in an attempt to cover up the under-eye circles that no other man-made product could conceal...and I realize that my reality is never going to quite come up to that standard.
But of course there are days in life that do require me to change out of the afore-mentioned pajamas and squeeze my ever expanding stomach and impossibly gigantic breasts into some kind of clothing acceptable to wear in the outside world...and on these rare occasions, I do find myself suddenly overcome with the urge to put on a bit of make up, do my hair and try to look somewhat human.
So I thought I'd share a few snaps of what I like to wear when those days come around!
I'm no fashion expert but I do enjoy clothes and experimenting a bit...one look I've been loving lately is hats! Fedoras in particular - they look so glam yet effortlessly stylish paired with a poncho and some patterned leggings.
I recently bought one for myself from New Look, and put it together with this outfit on a Christmas dinner out with some friends.
Sadly...I didn't have the nerve to actually wear the hat outside of the house. I loved posing around with it indoors, but I feared I looked more like a quaker than a fashionista and so it stayed at home that evening....and probably won't see the light of the day again!
Oh well, it was fun to try!
I do love the rest of this outfit though - the green tartan print leggings from Matalan are my current go-to whenever I need to leave the house, and the oversized black dipped swing top from BooHoo is SO COMFORTABLE to wear while massively pregnant and I love that it doesn't cling anywhere!
Another favorite staple item at the moment is basically a very similar pair of leggings but in a red tartan print! These are from Primark and they are SO comfortable!
I wear these with my black plain t shirt all the time!
Sticking with the patterned leggings theme (When I like a fashion trend, I find it difficult to hold back and end up buying every available option as though they're....well...going out of fashion?!) - this outfit is another current favorite. The leggings are again from Primark and they're what they call "Comfy Leggings"...they feel much silkier than your standard legging and I do enjoy this added little luxury as they feel a bit more special than bog standard leggings! I wear these most often with a plain black fitted t shirt (This one is from New Look) which shows off the bump completely, and I usually pair it with a statement necklace too.
This was an outfit I wore to a dinner party I recently held for my family - the blue kaftan top is from the Apricot range at New Look and was something I bought before I was pregnant - I wasn't sure it would still fit but because of the style it does and it actually frames the bump pretty well!
I wore it with navy maternity leggings and my gold glitter pumps got their first outing too!
I also recently treated myself to this new dress - it was in the Outfit sale for £5 (As shown in my recent Sales Haul!) and I love it! It's so comfortable and easy to wear with just plain black leggings, but looks like I've made a bit of an effort - particularly when worn with this floral headband!
I've been loving my new brown boots from my recent Sales Haul, and have been wearing jeggings more than usual too...I picked up this checked shirt for our recent bluestone holiday and I'm quite liking wearing that open with a t shirt underneath.
I also picked up this plaid t shirt from New Look and I love it! The photo doesn't do it much justice but its nice and loose, super soft and sooooo comfortable - it's also nice and warm without being as claustrophobia-inducing as I find some jumpers can be during pregnancy! And of course, as always, plain old black leggings are a constant wardrobe staple for me!
I bought this long line green cardigan from New Look last week - It's impossible to photograph outdoors as you can see, it just gets swept away! - but usually it has quite a flattering fit and I love wearing it over very plain clothes paired with a leopard print scarf!
Another current love of mine is ponchos.
These are the ones I have so far (Both from New Look).
None of my pre-pregnancy coats fit me anymore and, since I`m hoping to get my health issues sorted and lose a lot of weight after this baby is born, there doesn't seem much point in paying out tons of money for a maternity coat - so a poncho is the perfect solution!
So that's how I'm dressing the bump this time around!
To read more about my second pregnancy, please take a look at the following posts: Our Pregnancy Announcement | Our Gender Reveal
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