Too Small

Thursday, January 30, 2014

So, two stories for you all.

One: I wore this outfit to my 24 week doctor's appointment last Saturday morning where I was scheduled to have an ultrasound and glucose blood test. Well, I had the glucose test (all is good- no indication of problems!) and went down to my ultrasound for the heart only first. The first words out of the tech's mouth were "Tai xiao le" or "too small." Well, poop on a stick. They claim that the size of this kiddo is closer to 21 or 22 weeks (which could really only be possible if I had a 7 or 8 week cycle and got a positive pregnancy test approximately 6 hours after ovulation. TMI? Whoops), so I'm figuring that maybe we're off by a week and I'm growing a kid just the same as everyone does on my mom's side of the family- little kid, little bump, little momma. So, I'm rescheduled for my OB and ultrasounds for next week instead (which turns out to be totally fine- Rob will be back in town and gets to come with me for the first time!)

Two: About 8 short weeks into my pregnancy, I 10000% broke the zipper on these grey jeans. I squatted to stretch them out a little (they always fit a little snug) and the zipper slipped down past the bottom teeth and that's all she wrote. Well, now that I'm not buttoning or zipping anyway... welcome back to the rotation, I guess.





Furball

Saturday, January 25, 2014

I was introduced to the most strange and wonderful mashup of hangout conventions.
A Cafe. With cats wandering around. In a rented apartment. Running as a real business. In a gated community highrise, unmarked and on the 7th floor.

I still have no idea how my colleagues at the office found out about this place, but it was seriously fun. We went during a weekend a little while back and I'm really considering taking my kitty to check it out sometime during the break. If she'll stay in a purse to travel on the bus. Don't know if she'll let that fly, though.

So, was a black sweater a good choice for visiting a room full of hairballs? Probably not, but I sure enjoyed myself. Miles and Eddie were wildly curious about where I'd been when they smelled me later.




Close Enough

Friday, January 24, 2014

The snowboots kind of ruin most of the could-be good looking stuff I wear lately, and I'm not totally sure I care. This was from a few weeks ago before my break, and we did have a meeting for which I changed into nice looking ankle boots, but, let's be really real. I spent the whole day in these bad boys. Best investment I made before I left the States. Thanks, LL Bean, for making a shortie pull on fuzzy lined boot perfect for both my daily commute and frigid office as well as pajama dog walks.

What about you all- any guilty pleasures you've been wearing lately and deciding it's "good enough" for winters that just never fricking end?




Neutral Overload

Monday, January 20, 2014

Ladies and Gents, I'm in the midst of Winter Holiday. Thaaaaank goodness.

Moving on. It's time to adios these pants. They were once really great thrifted, lined wool, perfect light grey trousers. But they're getting a few more moth holes and the lower rise means they don't do the job of covering all of what ought to be covered anymore. And I only have a finite number of long-hem blouses to cover that mess up with. So, thanks, grey trousers, for coming overseas and helping me out through a solid handful of early 2nd trimester cold winter workdays. But you won't fit from here on out this winter, and any amount of weight that sticks around for next season will help you to remain unwearable. So long.

That said, this outfit was a stinker. Not a total bust in real life, but it photographed way more mono-tone than it was. The sweater is a little darker oatmeal in person, but, it was still pretty one note. Well, now I know. The look was saved only by this half up-do that actually made my hair look good. A tiny bit beehive, but mostly just out of my face chic. I'll take what I can get.

Have you worn a dud outfit lately? Am I the only one with no shame who actually posted it for the good ladies of style-blog-land to see? (Actually, I know for a fact that a handful of the women I follow have posted and mentioned "meh" looks lately or did a "worst of 2013" post, and that's why we're internet friends. Honesty is the best policy.)



Stretch Dresses

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Being a beanpole and pregnant all at the same time is proving to have it's own set of interesting dressing conundrums. I'm finding out pretty quickly that while pants (toootally unbuttoned and worn with a belly band) are my most layerable and warm option for the cold and clammy Suzhou winter, there's something tragically uncomfortable about the situation. I'm finally getting a little bit of a belly, but that must be nothing but other organs migrating north. Because this kid is still hanging out way low. Which means I'm trying to cram not only pregnancy weight, but the entire body mass of a 20 week kid below a waistband. All you mommies and pregnant gals out there- how did you carry? Any tips for my sitch? I'm going to go try looking for a maternity fashion store out in the city over the weekend, but I'm not feeling very good about my chances of locating anything even close to flattering.

Let me paint you a word picture of one young mama to be that I saw in the fall who was probably around the 35 week mark. It was daytime highs of 65, no real need for bundling, and this lovely gal was wearing the following: a dull ivory turtleneck under a Cosby sweater, which was in turn under the most humpty-dumpty in jodhpurs pair of overall-jumpsuit hybrid khakis I've ever seen. And the scary thing? Darting and seams that made it tragically clear that the offending leiderhosen were meant to be maternity wear.

I will not succumb, I promise.

So, moral of the story is that I will be seeking many opportunities to buy el cheapo stretchy dresses from H&M in a few sizes too large to maintain some semblance of ladyhood as I get more and more basket-ball-y. I'll cross my fingers for Rob to find a pair or two of maternity pants when he goes back to Houston in a week to bring back for me, but I'm going to have to find a way to keep making my regular pants and repurposed dresses work. Because if my fears are confirmed, I will not be doing any Chinese maternity brand shopping.



Chomp

Saturday, January 11, 2014

I'm repulsive and I'll admit it. 

I haven't really had cravings so far in this pregnancy, per se, I've just been eating large quantities of things. Usually it's pretty normal like a big helping of fried noodles, or 3 too many dumplings, or more than my allotted half of a cart-food filled Chinese pancake. I can stand to gain a little weight, so it's not unhealthy yet. And pretty typically I eat healthfully (except for when I gobble up more than my fair share of potato chips once every three weeks, but that was a pre-pregnancy habit anyway). So, I asked Rob to bring home fruit the other day when I sent him to the veggie market to get peppers and onions for dinner prep. And he brought home a lovely bag full of tiny clementines.

Which I demolished in one sitting. Imagine one of those boxes of Cuties clementines. Half of that whole box was in this bag and I laid waste to it in under 20 minutes. The quantity was a little outrageous, but the speed was what really made me ponder my life choices at the end.

It's better than a weird pickle or smelly Chinese dehydrated fish-snack craving, I guess. I'll be sure to let you know when that kicks in.


...stretching just a liiittle too tight.


Nearing the End of Semester 1

Friday, January 10, 2014

Well, folks, I think all of the Western World's holiday breaks have already come and gone. And China has only had a 3-day celebration of the new calendar year (which I worked Saturday and Sunday prior to it to "make up the days")... so I am really looking forward to rubbing in my sloth when the Soochow University semester ends next week. 18 week semesters (!) deserve a nice long break, so I'm especially grateful that the whole country builds in a nice long hiatus to celebrate Chinese New Year. 

Rob is heading to the States solo next week and I'll be hanging with my critters and kiddo bump (who is still smallish) here in China. I'm a little sad not to have the opportunity to travel to use some of this extended break time, but I'm not going to say a peep because it's several weeks of quiet, training and adjusting with critters, and the chance to do some shopping without having to work around any sort of schedule. I like that.



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