// The New Normal

Y'all! I'm wearing real clothes! Sure, my dress is wrinkled, my cardigan is pilled, my hair is both way too greasy and way too dry at the same time (not to mention tangled), and I haven't shaved my legs in well over three weeks... but I'm wearing real clothes! I'm outside! In the sun! There's absolutely nothing about this "outfit" that deserves it's own post on a blog, but I'm dressed! I needed to document it haha! I have been living in nursing bras and loose jersey knit maxi dresses with my hair in a bundled mess on top of my head (even the term "top knot" does it no justice...) It feels weird to put on clothes now and realize that I actually have a waist again. There's a whole lot going on with this post-baby body that I'm not totally loving, but I'm trying to find the little things to celebrate.

The new "normal" of my outfit post isn't really me wearing actual clothes (seriously, it's almost like a fluke these days), but instead it's wearing Linden everywhere. One of the only ways I can get anything done around the house is if he's all squished up in his wrap. Luckily he sleeps really well while being worn, but there have been days where nothing will console him. I'm trying to find peace in the fact that some days I won't even touch my computer or think about opening an email. I've started on some new design projects and I'm being very cautious about how much I take on at once because I simply don't know what each new day holds. Same goes for this little blog... Who knows if I'll get around to writing another post this week? I've made it a priority to give myself the space and time needed to tend to the family, and then juggle the rest of life's responsibilities.

We had our first official "outing" the other day when Mike, Linden and I headed to Murfreesboro to spend the afternoon with his grandma. It was her first time meeting Linden so it was nice to just lounge around for a few hours, catch up, and watch him do adorable things. Toby had a jampacked weekend with both sets of grandparents, so while I know he was sad to miss his Grandma Ginny, he was living it up with nights at the drive-in and days spent in the pool. Can't complain too much, right? After having lunch with Mike's grandma we headed over to The Avenue to do a little errand running and to pop in to see a friend. We headed over to Target in Franklin shortly after and then we hightailed it home. Just a few hours out and about and we were all done for. Luckily Linden did really well and he never got fussy or upset. It feels good to have that first little jaunt out from under our belt and I think I'll feel more at ease taking both kids out together next time. We didn't even leave the house on the following Sunday or Monday though! It was nice to just relax with nowhere to be. Mike had last Monday off from school so it gave us a little extra time to spend together before both he and Toby headed back for full days.

I didn't get a chance to say it here on the blog yet, but thank you all so much for the incredibly sweet comments left on my 2 Weeks with Linden post, my Instagram and Twitter, and in my inbox. I was flooded with so many amazing emails from other moms out there, reassuring me that everything would be a-okay in the end and that this too shall pass. Luckily we had a really amazing weekend with Linden so I'm feeling a bit more chipper these days. It's still hard, don't get me wrong, but I'm not beating myself up over things I perceive as "shortcomings" in motherhood. Linden is happy with a full belly, no matter where it's coming from, and I'm learning how to balance out some work time during his naps. We're moving in the right direction! Though I am looking forward to the end of the month when Mike gets a full week break from school haha I do count down every single minute until he gets home during the day... It's a constant struggle, but one that I'm happy I get to experience at all.

Marshall's dress
Charter School Cardigan
Ipanema sandals
DIY knit wrap

// Onyx - Maternity Style - 38 Weeks

Today is the day! Well... more like tonight is the night! Mike and I are headed into the hospital at 10pm to be admitted for an induction starting around midnight. I'll be 39 weeks and as nervous as we are about everything that's about to happen, we're anxious to meet our little man. I ended up being admitted to the hospital yet again yesterday after my 2 hour NST at the OB office, and I laid up in the labor beds for 4+ hours getting checked. Baby Flynn is doing okay, but he was awful quiet/still during the whole ordeal so they wanted to be safe by having me stick around for the remainder of the day. I know my whole family must be so ready for this ordeal to be over because it's exhausting and taxing on everyone. Carting me around to appointments, sitting around with me in hospital rooms, shuffling Toby between sets of parents, and just the overall anxiety of the past 5 weeks. I feel confident that my doctor knows what she's doing so here goes nothing!

Check out that BUMP! This kid managed to drop quite a bit the morning these photos were taken (Saturday). I woke up and everything looked normal and then by the time we strolled out of the house to run errands I was calling Mike into the room to say "Look at this thing!" He couldn't really tell what I was saying, but I spotted a huge shift in such a short amount of time. It was so cool to notice, ya know? This outfit is what I wore when Mike and I had our last little "date night" on Friday. By date night I mean we spent a ton of time in Target and I ate a boatload of pancakes at Cracker Barrel haha! Going out with a bang, y'all! (Real talk: I've been craving Cracker Barrel pancakes this entire pregnancy, and I finally ate them at the very end).

Anyway, this dress is another one from Belly Dance Maternity. I have never worn something so ridiculously comfortable in my life! I don't know what makes it so soft, but Mike said it was like wearing a sleeping bag with the feet cut out haha It doesn't feel like a sleeping bag, but it's just so cozy that I want to wrap up in it. It might look like an ordinary black maxi dress, but I love how classy it feels. It can easily be dressed up or down depending on the day/mood/accessories. The sleeves are something totally different for me, and I love that it's an actual maxi dress. Bonus points that the small little slit is in the very back rather than up the side of the leg like my Old Navy and Target ones!

I kept the accessories super minimal by only adding this tassel necklace from my most recent Stitch Fix shipment, and my favorite Urban Expressions clutch. This bag holds so much, but it's not obnoxiously big. The zipper compartments allow me to make it wider or thinner depending on what I want to stuff inside there haha. This outfit garnered me quite a few comments while we were out and about running errands. I guess it really did highlight the belly because everyone and their mother was letting me know that I am basically 85 months pregnant. (Thanks guys! I kind of knew that already...) Ha. 

After months and months and months of abstaining from all kinds of goodies, I'm looking forward to a nice, cold glass of pinot grigio soon! Brie also sounds really good right about now... haha And maybe sleeping on my stomach again! Oh boy! I've loved being pregnant but life after baby sounds like it's going to have it's perks. It's just so hard to believe that this is my very last outfit post with Baby Flynn on the inside. Guess we'll see y'all on the other side!

Heidi dress c/o Belly Dance Maternity
Stitch Fix necklace
Urban Expressions clutch via Stitch Fix
Urban Outfitters sunglasses
Ipanema sandals

PS; I have my Things I Love Thursday post set up to go live Thursday morning, and I think I might even have something set for tomorrow, too. I'm not sure when Baby Flynn will make his appearance but you can follow along with our little journey on Twitter and Instagram if you'd like! Otherwise I'm sure he'll be making his formal debut on here in a couple of days! (But first sleep! And cuddles!) xo

// Screensaver - Maternity Style - 38 Weeks

Okay, so the outfit title... Who remembers those wacky (dated!) screensavers from the Windows 98 era? The pipes that threaded together, or the brick maze? How about the 3-D "bubble" that sort of hovered around your screen like a mouse under a rug? Well, my belly in this dress is totally that screensaver! I cracked up when I saw the photos on the camera because my brain instantly went there. At this point this thing just bulges out like crazy! This is by far the most snug dress I've worn my entire pregnancy, but I love the navy and white stripes. I have to do a little shimmy to get my booty in it, but it's so comfortable. I opted to pair it with a totally inappropriate-for-the-season colored cardigan because rust and navy are just so nice together. I could say I'm looking forward to Autumn but I promise I won't be one of those bloggers just yet haha! Summer can stick around as long as she'd like because I'm digging the sunshine. 

This dress is from Belly Dance Maternity and it's insanely well made. I received a little package of goodies from them last week and I wish I had known about them early on because I probably wouldn't have worn anything else. This was also the first time I dared to wear wedges while pregnant, too. Probably not the brightest idea I've ever had, but my trust MIA wedges are as solid as can be so I didn't have any trouble teetering around. Truth be told I wore them out to dinner and then was back in flip flops after... ha! (Sorry for the lack of consistency in the photo colors... They all look the same on Flickr, but leave it to Blogger to fudge things up!)

Today I'm headed to my doctor's office bright and early for what could likely be my very last non-stress test. After my NST on Friday my doctor ordered me to do a third 24 hour urine and then pop into the hospital on Sunday for blood work. She told me that if the baby didn't come on his own this past weekend then we'd be picking an induction day today... so hopefully I'll know the plan in just a matter of hours! It feels so crazy to know he's coming so soon. I got the dreaded preeclampsia diagnosis on Friday, but luckily my symptoms aren't crazy bad or anything. Obviously they're still serious enough to schedule an induction, but I know it could be much, much worse. I'm trying to play it cool and keep myself from getting too worked up about anything. Who knows... I could be induced today and have a baby tomorrow! What! Hope y'all don't mind the lingering outfit/pregnancy posts that have yet to make their way to the blog. By the time they're over it'll be hard not to post all-baby, all the time haha

This past weekend was majorly productive on the nursery front. Mike and I cleaned the entire house top to bottom and we finished up most of the baby's room. I still have a few art pieces I'm working on completing, but they'll get done eventually. The baby will be sleeping in a moses basket in our room for the first little while anyway, so I'm not too stressed on having everything completely and totally done. I am excited to share more of the room, though!

I didn't get all ~*professional blogger and schedule a bunch of guest posts or anything to make up for my inevitable absence over here. There's plenty of great content out there for y'all to read and hopefully I can pop in every so often to share some updates. I've taken a much more relaxed approach to my blog in the past 6 months and I like the way it feels. It feels... less forced. I've already received comments asking to please not "turn into a mommy blog" but the fact is: I plan on blogging about what feels natural and relevant at the time. And I bet this baby is going to be taking up most of our lives haha I'll try not to bore you with every single little detail or anything (that's what I have Instagram for, ha!) but if baby things drive you bonkers, come check on me in a few weeks/months when I've gotten it all out of my system! Heh.

Happy Monday, friends! Here's to hoping Baby Flynn makes a safe and smooth entrance into the world! xo

Stella dress c/o Belly Dance Maternity

Mak cardigan c/o ModCloth (last year)

Baggu tote via Stitch Fix

Omerica Organic plugs (save 20% with code KAELAH)

Sweet Clementine necklace c/o Noonday Collection (last year)

MIA Jukebox wedges via Ideeli

// Sun Shower - Maternity Style - 37 Weeks

Yesterday was Baby Flynn's final baby shower. My mom and her friend Amanada hosted such a lovely little event for me and the baby! We are seriously so lucky to have so many friends and family that love us and want to shower us with their time, attention and sweet gifts. It felt like such a wonderful way to end this journey and I'm over the moon with how everything turned out. I'll share more about the shower another day, don't worry! But this outfit is what I ended up wearing to the little shindig. I ended up tossing an oatmeal cardigan over it since the shower was indoors, but it felt really nice to wear a short, fit and flare dress again. Every time I'd look at myself in the mirror (from the front) I'd be like "Whoa! I don't even look pregnant!" ...And then I'd turn to the side and be like "WAHBAM!" haha! I'm in love with the oversized collar on this dress. I know Peter Pan collars are overwhelmingly twee, but it's such a change of pace from what I've been wearing recently. Don't get me wrong, maxi dresses are so comfortable! But this felt like a nice little pre-pregnancy throwback haha. I probably won't be able to nurse in something like this, so I might as well get a little bit of wear out of it while I can! To be honest this shouldn't even count as an outfit post because I'm wearing two articles of clothing... a dress and some sandals that you've seen a billion times. I guess fashion really isn't the focus of my blog anyway though, so whatever. (Let's get real: at this point my blog might as well be a "look at how I hold my bump" maternity blog haha! Bear with me!)

Mike, Toby and I spent the day traipsing around Nashville on Saturday, running errands, seeing friends, and trying to tie up some last minute details before we settle in for newborn life. I'm kind of stoked on how much we managed to get done in just a few hours! I feel like it was probably our last weekend outing before this kiddo comes. Maybe we can squeeze one or two more errand trips in, but even if we don't, I think we'll be okay. We headed over to my friend Jenna's house in the evening and she was kind enough to snap a few family photos of us in her lush backyard. I was sweating buckets though, so who knows how they turned out! We're sending off the film today so I guess we'll know in about 2 weeks or so! If we just get one good family photo I will be so stoked! We don't really even have any family pictures from our wedding, so I really really wanted to try and get at least one moment captured.

Today I'm hoping to work on the last couple design installations that I have, and churn out some nice progress on a logo client. After that I'm going to work on the nursery's final touches and shipping sign orders. I'm crossing my fingers I might be able to unload one last load of clothes on Kaelah's Closet before D-Day. I went through my closet the other day and found so many pieces that need to get the heave-ho. There are also a few pieces from my Stitch Fix hauls that weren't perfect, but were cheaper to keep than send back (thanks to the 25% discount) so they'll be in there, too. Let me know if any of you might be game for a Kaelah's Closet update and I'll try to make it a priority. Maybe it'll be a good use of time while the weather is gloomy and rainy outside. Anyway, here's to a new week! xo

Bea & Dot dress c/o Modcloth (currently 50% off!)
Ipanema sandals (via WWDMAGIC)

// Turquoise Sunset - Maternity Style - 34 Weeks

Greetings from the beach (and 35 weeks!) I wasn't planning on writing anything while we were away on vacation, but Mike snapped some quick outfit photos of me the other day at our camp and I figured I might as well share them before I run out of "maternity" time haha One of my favorite things about where we stay when we come to Florida is just how insanely gorgeous it is. Staying in a condo or rental house definitely has it's perks, sure, but after staying here a couple of times in the RV, I honestly wouldn't want to vacation any other way. We're currently half-way through our trip and we've had a blast so far. The weather has been wonderful (albeit humid!) and the adventures have been plentiful. We're making sure to take time to relax, too though. Mid-day naps and movies in the RV have been staples. I've undoubtedly been over-gramming our vacation (sorry!) but I promise to try and save some photos so my recaps aren't just Instagram rehashes! 

So far I've played it pretty safe on the pregnant-but-on-vacation front. I started feeling pretty yucky on our first full day at the beach but I think I just got a bit overheated. Luckily a quick cool down in the car did wonders. Here's to hoping the rest of the trip is just as successful. We're trying to take advantage of the gorgeous scenery at our camp to snap a few more maternity photos (with Mike and Toby in them, too - ha, wish us luck!) My parents really wanted some nice photos of them taken so we're hoping that when we snap theirs they'll be able to use our cameras and capture a few of us as a family of three. Mike took a few more of me on a walk through the park the other day but I'd love to have some of us as a group. (I'll try to be mindful of photo overload when they finally get developed and shared on the blog... but I can't make any promises! haha)

This specific outfit is one of my favorites to wear as of late. It's another Mossimo dress from Target (same as here, just a different pattern) and these things are amazing. Lightweight and breezy, but still comfortable and incredibly stretchy! I love that I don't have to resort to only maternity options, even at 35 weeks pregnant. Just for reference, mine are size large and they still have plenty of room for this house I'm carrying on my stomach haha If you're looking for super-stretchy, non-maternity options for maxi dresses, run to Target as fast as you can and snatch them up! (I type this as I wear the third version of this dress, too) I wore it out to dinner the other night and then again the next day when we played around at the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola. And then again yesterday when we went kayaking... haha They're the perfect all-around cotton dresses. And at under $30 a pop, they're not a bad buy! (Though they're currently buy one, get one 50% off, so that's even better!) I feel like I've worked the cost-per-wear down on these things already. Is that enough gushing about a silly dress? Yes? Okay.


Mossimo dress (via Target) - currently buy one, get one 50% off!
Mak cardigan (via Stitch Fix)
Baggu tote (via Stitch Fix)
Sanuk flip flops

// Lavender + Lace - Maternity Style - 33 Weeks

Today I am 34 weeks pregnant (!!!). Holy moly! (These photos are from this past weekend) I'm still totally in shock that this whole thing is flying by as quickly as it is. On Saturday I headed up to West Nashville where my sweet friends Lauren and Maya (and Elle, from afar!) were throwing me a small baby shower. It was such a treat and I loved every single aspect of it. It's really hard for our big group of gals to get together in the Summer because everyone is traveling, attending a wedding, or just swamped with their own life stuff. Even though many of the girls couldn't make it, I loved spending a few hours with the ladies. They had a yogurt parfait buffet (!!!) set up and mini bagels, too. Elle made a cute geometric pennant banner that said "#thelittlestflynn" even! More than the gifts and the food and the attention, I really just loved hanging out for a while, chatting and laughing with everyone. I know things will be so different soon, but our little blogger get-togethers are seriously the most fun. I'm still tickled pink that they went to that much effort!

On Sunday Mike woke up really really sick. It wasn't the best Father's Day experience for him, I'm sure! He had a lot of studying to do so Toby went swimming for a little while and I left him to his schoolwork for a bit. That evening we went to my parents' house for dinner and tried to make the best of his sudden Summer cold. We were in bed by 9pm and I don't think anyone was complaining! Of course at this point I'm just wondering when it'll hit me because I spent all Sunday night getting coughed at right in my face (bless his heart!) haha I'm hoping that if I do get it, it'll come and go before this weekend! It was probably the most sick I've ever seen Mike.

Anyway, this outfit! I picked up a few of these cotton maxi dresses in the Juniors section of Target a few weeks ago and I've been living in them ever since! They're so lightweight and easy to wear. And they're not maternity-specific so they won't look weird if I were to wear them post-partum, too. You'll probably be seeing the other 2 here shortly since I tend to rotate between the 3 almost exclusively. I normally wouldn't jump out and grab a purple dress like this, but I love that it's so different from what's normally in my closet. I had this crochet lace crop top that I scored from Ross a while back and decided to throw it on top of my outfit because it was far too hot to wear a cardigan on Sunday! I know my bag is all kinds of clashing, but I love this Baggu tote that I recently got in a Stitch Fix shipment. Another item I wouldn't normally go for but I kind of fell in love with it when I received it. The footwear is purely based on comfort at this point! These are my yoga mat Sanuk flip flops that Mike got me a few years ago and let me tell you: They are heaven! They may not be the most stylish option out there, but when your feet are swollen and you want something easy to wear, these are king!

So far I've been pretty stoked on how productive this week has been. I've been in a mad scramble trying to prepare the blog to be gone for so long, and tying up loose ends with design clients. Something hit me on Monday when I was working on design mocks and I was just on fire! I sent off a first mock to a client and I was seriously so attached to it. I try not to get too emotionally invested in the way something looks when it comes to commissioned projects because obviously what the client says goes, but this one was impossible not to love. I told myself that if the client didn't like it then I'd either make it a pre-made design available for purchase, or I'd just use it on my own blog haha! Luckily (or not?! haha) she loved it and I can't wait to unveil it soon. It's probably my favorite design I've ever done, and that's the best feeling ever!

I'll be working some long hours tonight as I paint the wooden signs that I had on my pre-order list. I'm going to try and get every single one of them painted, proofed and shipped before we leave town on Friday. It'll be a stretch, but I think I can do it! If you're hoping to nab one of your own (they make great wedding gifts!), check out a small sampling of the ones I've posted on Instagram, and shoot me an email for more information! I promise I'll get the sign page up and running eventually!

If you need me after Friday, your best bet of reaching me will be via Twitter! Feel free to tweet me if you need to get in touch as I'm going to try and avoid my inbox as much as possible! Happy Wednesday! xo

Target maxi dress
Pinky lace crop top via Ross
Urban Outfitters sunglasses
Baggu tote via Stitch Fix
Sanuk flip flops

// On The Open Sea - Maternity Style - 32 Weeks

I've been trying really hard not to skip any weeks when doing outfit posts, not so much for the "maternity style" aspect of it, but mainly to look back and see how this bump progresses. Of course that's easier said than done when pajamas are far more comfortable than any "real" clothes and when you actually do manage to get dressed, you wear the same thing five days in a row. Just me? Whoops! I actually did get dressed every day last week, but the weather was never going to cooperate to photograph anything. We've had some crazy wet weather the past few weeks and it's putting a damper (literally) on my Summer! Even these photos were taken early in the evening yesterday but the sky quickly became overcast and the thunder started rolling in. After 3 solid weeks of rain and storms, it's looking like we'll get a reprieve later this week! Then you know, mid-90s days full of 95% humidity... Awesome! At least we'll be able to get in the pool...

I've also been trying to get a lot of wear out of my maternity dresses lately. Now that we're so close to the finish line (33 weeks tomorrow!), I know I probably won't get a ton of use out of them after the baby comes. Honestly I'll probably be too self-conscious to wear anything that hugs my mid-section post-partum haha! This is the same dress I wore here, but with a fun, nautical feel to it. (Sidenote: what do I have to do to get that dreamy hair back?! Humidity is not my friend...) I put it on yesterday before running errands and I asked myself why it took me so long to pair it with a bright red cardigan! I love me some red, white, and blue outfits! Of course I also made the remark to Mike that I felt like a big ol' bouy out in the ocean, but hey, what are you going to do? 

We got a few big things squared away for the baby/nursery so far this week and I feel like we're chugging along! I wrote the outline of my birth plan and now I just need to polish it off and finish my hospital bag list. I'm actually loving my current workload with clients because so many of the designs I'm doing are so fun and different! People are keeping me on my toes and I can't wait to launch them all. I'm going to have so many installations going in the next week and a half, I'm not sure I can keep up! Other plans this week include: making our packing list for Florida, preparing as much content for our vacation as possible, lining up the next several Rad Gal features (email me if you're interested!), and shooting a few more outfits while the weather is nice. Here's to hoping we can get it all done! Today's biggest priority is starting design mocks for the 2 new clients I booked over the weekend. It's going to be a busy one for sure. Happy Tuesday! xo

Liz Lange maternity dress via Target

Target cardigan

Gold link necklace c/o LoopsWay

My Biotiful Bag (c/o)

Ipanema sandals

// Always Be A Unicorn - Maternity Style - 31 Weeks

Mike and I have this little Christmas tradition where we make something for the other person each year. Holiday shopping can get a little difficult when you're in a rush to shop for everyone else in your life, and it's hard to keep things secretive in our house. (Seriously, I just got his Father's Day gift in the mail and I fight the urge to give it to him every single day!) Anyway, for Christmas 2012 Mike made me a really adorable graphic poster. He's totally not handy when it comes to Adobe so the fact that he learned how to operate Illustrator (with the help of my dear friend Elle) to make the present, well, that was gift enough! The poster said:

Always be yourself. Unless you can be a unicorn. Then always be a unicorn.

And of course I loved it! Every time I see something unicorn-related, I instantly think of that sweet gift. It's something I'll totally cherish for as long as possible! When I saw this unicorn dress, I knew I had to have it. For some reason I wasn't expecting to be so "mystical" in person... like maybe slightly more tame or something. But there it is, in it's bright, sci-fi glory! I tried to dress it down a little with the saffron cardigan and brown accessories, but that thing is loud! I'm not totally sold on the length of it since it really sort of stumps my frame, but at 5'2" that's to be expected. This would for sure be the perfect length for someone more like 5'7" or so! It's a little "Labyrinth"-ish, isn't it?

This week has been super productive at our house. I've booked a boatload of new design clients (!!!) and I think I'm about ready to shut it down so I can focus on them and not overwhelm myself before the baby comes. We're just 3 weeks out from 2.5 weeks of solid travel that we have planned and I'm both excited and slightly overwhelmed. I've started planning out my hospital bag so I can stock up on stuff this weekend, and we're trying to do a few furniture things in the nursery. Toby's very last baseball game of the season is tonight so I'm hoping it stays clear for the festivities. Toby will be getting his very first trophy! I'm trying to plan out blog content for June since I'm sort of behind and need to gear up for our vacation to Florida. (If you have anything specific you'd like to see in June, let me know! I'm eagerly accepting suggestions... and I know how sad that sounds! haha)  

This weekend is one of our last "event free" weekends to enjoy before my due date. We were hoping to just be able to relax and enjoy it, but of course we have a huge list of errands to run and things to buy and things to build, etc. I'm hoping there will be a little bit of extra time to squeeze in a date with my sweet husband, and then possibly some pool time, too! Mike is planning on shooting some DIY maternity photos of me next weekend when we finish up with a client shoot, so I'd ideally like to have just a little bit of a tan by then! Otherwise I might look like a giant marshmallow in my white dress...

Unicorn dress c/o ModCloth

Charter school cardigan

Yigal Azrouel tote

Target flats

PS; I know, more "bump cradling" shots... Sorry! I just feel so huge so it's like if I acknowledge the bump, then I feel less awkward? I don't know. I'm probably lacking logic here haha!