20 minute Maternity Jeans

These are things I'm really wanting to buy right now.

Dansco Clogs

Sofft Black Heels

Simply Vera, Vera Wang earings

However, what I NEED is Maternity Jeans. I have lots of maternity capri pants but
#1 it isn't sandal/flip flop weather any more and I look dorky in sneakers & capris

#2 I am preggo enough that I don't care to shave my legs any more.

But Bubba needs new jeans too--more than I do. So it's the old sewing machine and helpful online tutorials for me. Yay.

This tutorial on Craftster is the best maternity jean tutorial I've seen. It took me 20 minutes from start to finish and that included the time I took to find the jeans, dig out an old t-shirt and thread, and get my sewing machine out of storage--where it has been banished while I'm in DIQ!!

Here is my result! I'm so proud!! Retail therapy is great, but the self-fulfillment that comes from making something useful out of stuff you already had is much more lasting.

1 Tutorial from Craftster. I *heart* Craftster!!

1 pair $7 clearance jeans from Lane Bryant that I was only skinny enough to wear for about a month. Perhaps they shrunk in the wash?

1 old t-shirt generously, albeit unknowingly, donated by my DH.

ha ha just kidding. I used my own shirt. I had one that was really too small that had a good lycra content for stretchy but firm.

1 bit of thread, scissors and my handy dandy Bernina 1008.

I did 2 things differently from the tutorial.
#1 I didn't have to sew the zipper shut because I couldn't zip it even 1/4". I just cut the whole zipper out. I also didn't cut off any of the jeans waist band in the back. They were low rise jeans and I wanted the belt loops. Just because.

**note scissors do not cut through rivets--even if they are gingers. The sewing machine needle will not penetrate rivets either.

#2 I made sure to cut the strip from the bottom of the t-shirt so I didn't have to roll the edge and hem it. Duh! I also cut it wider than 6" because I like the full belly coverage better.

Then after I finished sewing, I went to my friend's house this morning and she loaned me more maternity pants, including a dressy black pair. It's all I ever wished for. Life is good.

So, does skinny = beautiful?

I ran accross this article in the New York Daily News.

It was all about how quickly celebrities lose weight after having babies. and how jealous we should all be because they get their "svelt" bodies back so fast. I quote, "Don't hate on them because they're famous. And rich. Hate on them because they look so darn good so soon after having kids."

First of all, Some of them don't appear to have lost that much weight--they're just smartly wearing clothes that camoflage it.

Second of all, I'm sure those celebs who did lose the weight spent like 4 hours a day with personal trainers and weights and treadmills to lose the weight so fast. Also, they ate nothing but salad and vitamin water and they could get away with that because they have maids to clean their houses and don't have to worry about having energy to clean and cook.

But that isn't my main point.

I looked through the photo gallery of 50 different Hollywood stars and Runway models. Each had a baby bump picture and a post baby skinny picture along with a brag about how quickly she got skinny.

The thing I kept thinking as I looked at the pictures was the pregnant celebs were prettier than their post baby skinny selves. Preggo they look glowing and radiant and healthy. On the other hand, in their skinny pictures, most of them have really sharp, anglular faces that look tired and starved next to their rosy pregnant twins. Also, you can see their arm bones under their skin, even on their upper arms.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like to lose some weight after I have this baby. I would. And I'm proud of those celebrities who had the sense to eat food and feed their growing babies even though that meant they had to work their buns off later (literally). I'm just saying, I don't think skinny is necessarly the only judge of pretty and happy. I don't think the skinnier the better. I'm saying skeletal isn't pretty, in my opinion.
What do you think?

**all pictures came from the article mentioned above

***Yes I cheated and used the pictures that were the most extreme examples of what I'm talking about. But I noticed that many of the preggo pictures were taken at 6 months pregnant or earlier. Thus, those celebs got a whole lot rounder than they let us see.

Protien is my Friend

I have to share this in case it will help someone else too!!

So I've been murderously morning sick for about 3 weeks now (It seems longer.) I know there are women who get much sicker than I do, which is small consolation. I don't actually throw up ever. I just feel like I'm about to all day long. Like being very car sick all the time.

It's really hard to make myself do things like clean the house when all I want to do is lay on the couch and moan,"I'm so ill, I can hardly speak." (name that movie)

Tuesday the man of the house felt sorry for me and grilled steak for dinner so I wouldn't have to cook. (Perhaps he felt sorry for himself, too. Meals I cook when I'm feeling like ralfing don't often end up tasting very good.)

Anyway, all Tuesday evening after eating a big steak, I felt amazingly well. Wednesday morning, I wondered to myself, "Was it the steak?" So I had a bit of leftover meat at about 9 am. I felt pretty good for most of the day.

Eureka! I sure wish I'd figured this out 5 or 6 pregnancies ago. But I'll take it! I can't eat steak every day, but I do have eggs (Which I can eat if I don't think about eating them first. I just tell myself, "I'm cooking these for the Man and the kids." Then suddenly they are on my plate and disguised with a little ketchup and some fried potatoes and I can get them down.) And I've got protein powder (non flavored) that I can add to things like milkshakes and soup and oatmeal. It is a little tricky, because what I feel like eating is mashed potatoes and frosted flakes and ice cream and veggie soup. But those things don't make me feel better.

So I've gone from feeling awful to only feeling mostly tired and vaguely queasy once in a while. I can actually function without having to drag myself about layering on the guilt to force myself to keep moving. I'm happy. My new motivation does not extend to finding pictures for this post.