Maternity Mu-Mus

Canadian summers are amazing. The food, the sun, the swimming and the heat all can't be beat. I've spent a summer or two out of Canada and I have to say that Canadians really know how to take advantage of a good thing while it lasts.
This summer, as I've previously mentioned, has been bittersweet for me. I love summer but I struggled in the heat. Apparently preggos are hot. I can attest to that. I'm hot and to Wendy, yes, I'm bragging.

Today is the first day of school after the summer vacation for many Canadians. The weather totally reflected it. It was grey and cool here in Toronto. While all the children walked to school hand in hand with their parents today, I sat in my house and realized that I, for the first time in three months, was cold. The air conditioning wasn't blasting, the windows weren't open and I could not for the life of me figure out who turned off the sun and warm.
Like any reasonable person, I went to my clothing collection to find a good sweatshirt. I must have tried on about four reasonably sized shirts and none of them fit over my baby bump. Uh oh!
I also grabbed some long sleeve t-shirts and tried them on in a panic. Not one of them were long enough. Crap.
I grabbed my oversize Mr. Rogers cardigan and ran out the door to train my sister-in-law. Luckily we moved around enough so I would warm up. I was so warm after our session that I was actually sweating; not a real feat for me but it felt nice to be warm. Then my sweat dried and I was FROZEN and cranky.

I'm going to interject a side story here about my shopping habits to help explain the conclusion of this saga.

Many months ago I was wearing a pair of pants that I hated. They were too long and they were just not flattering. I bought them from Adidas as apart of a work uniform and they were not flattering for my body at all. I'm sure if I shortened them, I would like them more but for the sake of the story, they were awful and had to be dealt with RIGHT AWAY!
I was so uncomfortable that I drove to Lululemon and immediately tried on a pair of capris. Because my previous pants were so bad, I bought the pants on the spot. I didn't even take them off after I determined that they needed to be mine. That was that. The old pants went into the bag and eventually came home. I felt much better not to mention that I looked fabulous. Yes, I can still wear them. To date, I've bought almost all my maternity clothing at Lululemon.
If you had asked me previously if I needed new capris, I would have said no.
I impulse buy when I'm pushed to my limit; when I can't stand something about my wardrobe. Luckily, this doesn't happen often but when it does, I make a quick trip to Lulu and walk away with a snazzy new solution to my previous problem.

So, there I was, frozen and cranky.
I did the only thing I could think of; I drove to Lululemon. Here's the catch though: Lululemon designs its clothes for small people who are NOT (I repeat) NOT pregnant. I've been really lucky in the sense that all my Lulu clothing is stretchy and grows and shrinks with me. Some of the things are not malleable...like warm wear.
I went anyway.
I found a wrap sweatshirt that was really cozy. It was also stretchy and can be worn seven ways from Sunday to accommodate a preggo. Thank God!
They didn't have the purple colour I wanted but the dark grey will work fine with my assortment of black everything else.
I put it on, made the guy behind the counter cut off all the tags, jumped up on the counter to remove the security device, paid and left. I am now the proud owner of a flattering piece of maternity wear that can be worn postpartum for breast feeding. Woot!

I'm happy to admit that I am terrified of buying real maternity clothing. It isn't the reality that my body is changing, its the idea that I am going to spend money on something that I will only wear for a short time (and perhaps again in a few years when its out of style). Thanks to Alex, I look at every purchase as an investment into the future. Clothing should not apply. I can't break the habit though. Luckily, I've found that whatever I need, can be fashioned into appropriate maternity and postpartum wear.
My best buddy Zach thinks I should just give up and succumb to the mu-mu. Zach is very fashionable himself but I don't think he's ever been (or will ever be) pregnant. If he wants to start wearing mu-mus then I will fully endorse it however, I will not follow that trend.  I'm not that hip.

Fall weather will be a nice change and now that I'm better prepared for it, I welcome the crisp mornings and chilly evenings with my snazzy new wrap.