sara without an h

FYI.

for all you pregnant mamas out there, asos is having a great sale on maternity clothes, which includes FREE SHIPPING. this is bananas considering they're based in the UK. just check out some of these great deals: off the shoulder striped top, $20.29 stripe bow back top, $30.44 contrast bow top, $23.67 these are just 3 of my favorites, but there is a lot more cute stuff, including quite a few things around the $10-20 mark!  i have ordered from this company before and was very satisfied with the customer service and quality for the price.  man, this is starting to sound like a paid endorsement (it's not).  as you pregnant and formerly pregnant ladies know, it can be incredibly difficult to find cute, affordable maternity clothing.  i've relied on the internet for a lot of my maternity shopping.  in my one-horse town the only maternity store is target!  i do love me some target, but i find that their preggo selection is limited and changes too infrequently.  i hope you enjoyed my tip for the day.  if any of you end up ordering anything, i'd love to see what you picked out!   can you tell i'm seriously lacking in females friends out here? p.s. if you enjoyed this style tip, vote for me!

bump!

as promised, here are my 14 week bump pictures.  i thought i would also use this as an opportunity to show off the great dress i ordered, which i mentioned here.  i will wear this to my parents' 40th anniversary party this june! i am in love with this dress.  it is so soft and comfortable! today was a fantastic day.  it was sunny and comparatively warm (43 degrees).  travis woke up to an email letting him know that he will teaching this summer in addition to next year.  GO, TRAVIS!  then we went grocery shopping and cooked a lovely dinner of artichokes, roasted red skin potatoes, salad, and olive oil focaccia.  so yummy. is anyone else super duper excited for the office baby episode later tonight?!

pretty dresses.

sorry, folks.  there will be no bump picture tonight.  i have a roaring headache and am already in my pajamas for the night.  no getting dressed and putting on make-up for me tonight!  i promise i will take one tomorrow evening after work.  may as well wait until i have to look presentable anyway! instead, i will show you the pretty maternity dresses i ordered!  i recently bought two dresses.  one is for my baby shower and the other is for my parents' 40th anniversary party.  both will likely take place in the same weekend, sometime in june!  i found both of these dresses on asos.  i'm not sure which one i will wear to which event yet.  maybe you, dear readers, could help me decide? 1.)   2.)   i know it's a little early to be buying dresses for june, but i saw these two and decided to jump on them.  they were cuter and cheaper than 95% of what i've seen out there.  travis is taking me out to a nice dinner next week to celebrate 4 years together.  i think i'll test-drive the black one then. i'm thinking the blue one for the shower and the black one for the anniversary party, but i would love to hear your input.  it is much appreciated!  i hope you have a good night.  i'll be snuggling with auggie, watching men's snowboard half-pipe, doing laundry, and trying to kick this headache/heartburn.  goodnight!

11 weeks-bump watch.

here are my 11 week bump pictures as promised! i just got this maternity shirt in the mail today, and i'm in love with it!  i almost bought it in black, but i decided my life needed more red at the last minute.

of appointments and clothing.

my OB appointment this morning went really well.  i didn't get the triple screen today (my place does that at 16 weeks), but i did get 5 vials of blood drawn.  AND i got to hear my baby's heartbeat again!  it was amazing and even faster than last time--a whopping 175 beats/minute!  i just wish travis had been there to share it with me, but he was in chicago for the day.  i have another appointment in 5 weeks and 3 weeks after that we find out the sex.  just 8 weeks from today!  april 8th at 4:00pm.  i can't wait to cut out this him/her crap and know for sure. *** i made this post on affordable maternity clothes a while back, which featured items from forever 21.  however, it has recently come to my attention that forever 21 has really disgusting labor practices.  as such, here is another post on affordable maternity clothes from places another than forever 21!  hooray for do-overs! modcloth.com has long been one of my favorite websites to find affordable and stylish clothes.  like forever 21, they are not a maternity store per se, but they carry a great deal of bump-friendly styles.  unlike forever 21, they carry exclusively small/indie designers, all of which use fair labor, and most of which are made in the good ole USofA.  below are some of the designs i'm currently coveting to cover my convex core: foxglove t-shirt dress, $23.99 donna-jo tank, $29.99 and, sadly, out of stock ode to a grecian tunic, $57.99 (definitely out of my price range, but soooo pretty for a special occasion) southwestern spa dress, $52.99 delilah dress, $54.99 pointillism dress, $49.99.  i LOVE this one for a baby shower. speaking of maternity clothes, heidi klum's lines for both motherhood and a pea in the pod premiere tomorrow.  i'm curious to see if the motherhood line with be as stylish as it could be.  i have the feeling that the pea in the pod line will be the more chic (and expensive) of the two.  we'll see. it seems the rest of the evening will be spent cuddling with my puppy and crocheting.  i started a baby pillow yesterday and am just 3 rounds from finishing it! it matches the blanket i've started.  cute.

maternity garb.

finding affordable, stylish maternity clothes is just as difficult as i thought it would be.  i finally managed to find a pair of cute, inexpensive, black maternity skinny jeans: $28.99 from kiki's fashions.  black is the only color of denim i'm allowed to wear to work, so finding a pair was a top priority on my clothing list.  now i can stop wearing the one increasingly uncomfortable pair that still sort of fit me. huzzah! i've been looking to a lot of non-maternity places for items that might work.  forever 21 has a lot of cute tops with bump-friendly cuts, for a fraction of the price of most maternity stores: $17.80 $29.80 $24.80 $11.50, available in 4 colors another awesome maternity site is yesstyle.com.  you have to weed through a fair amount of items that are $100+, but there are some pretty good deals to be found. if i could afford  topshop maternity i would probably buy everything they offer.  i particularly LOVE this adorable flowered cardigan (US size 6 if anybody wants to make my year): $50.00 on the other hand, it is extremely easy to find affordable, adorable baby clothes.  seriously, i want to have a little girl just for this amazing ensemble: $36.95 for the set, available from punkbabyclothes.net.  the cupcake?  the tutu?  UH-MAZING.