Happy Valentine’s Day Ladies of YLF!

I have missed the forum these months I’ve been away. I thought I would make my re-entry with an outfit that I’m wearing to run errands. I’m wearing a cozy lavender/gray JLo sweater from Kohl’s, skinny (Rockstar) jeans from Old Navy, with my black Timberland Bethel Buckle combat boots.

You may notice that I’m a little rounder and if you have you’ve got sharp eyes. I’ve been MIA because as of today I am 4 months pregnant! I am very excited and expecting the little one sometime in late July or early August. I’ve been absent from the forum because I had a really tough first trimester with nausea and fatigue as constant companions for about eight full weeks. (Glad that’s over!)

I looked pretty much like myself wearing my regular clothes (except for the I-feel-really-skinny-today jeans) until late last week then pop – all of a sudden my little bump was there. I am not afraid to tell you there was about 12 hours of sheer panic where I had no idea how to dress my evolving body.

After recovering, having a loaded baked potato and turning in for the evening I pulled myself together the next day and started the process of going though my entire wardrobe piece by piece to check the fit. My biggest problem right now is I have a lot of tops with absolutely no stretch (yay structure!) so they aren’t getting worn for a good long while. My second problem is because I have a short torso the shirts I have with stretch are going to look inappropriate really soon because they won’t quite cover my belly in about 3 weeks (my best guestimate).

I have a few tops that are both oversized and stretchy, even fewer that are simply oversized. I have been forced to experiment with new or slightly altered silhouettes because my regular silhouettes of choice are temporarily unavailable. Ironically pants aren’t an issue because I’ve always preferred roomier fits and tended to size up. I’ve been experimenting with a bellyband and pants in different cuts and sizes. My go-to jeans are my BF’s and up-sized skinny jeans (with lots of stretch -- go Rockstars!), of course leggings work just fine but it’s not warm enough to wear them outside just now.

Until my new cache of longer looser tops (some maternity some not) arrives I have assembled some tunics, chunky sweaters, stretchy tops, dolman and kimono-sleeved tops to get me through the next week or so.

I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions you have to turn my current offerings into a reasonable facsimile of a maternity wardrobe. Thank you in advance for all of your suggestions (big or small!)