Long, Lean, and Green

Speaking of post-partum wearing of maternity dresses: kindly refer to Exhibit C. My husband's Bromance sent a package before Violet was born, including a teething bead bracelet, hilarious pacifiers (reading "Pull to Sound Alarm" and "Mute Button"), a sketch book for me, a pillowcase with his own face on it because he knew we were going into withdrawl, and this magical, magical dress. Ladies, this thoughtful man is single. How? I'm still not sure.

Anyway, I've been wearing this nonstop all summer long. It skims the lumpy post-C-section bits, has a perfect amount of stretch for boob access, cinches nicely in at the natural waist, avoiding the maternity mumu empire waist and the too-low that-would-never-fit-a-pregnant-belly waist line. Magic.

Grab a scarf of your choice for nursing cover duty and rock and roll.

Nice spit-up stain on the thigh, Violet. 

Swing Dress and the Swing of Things

Shocker. Another no-bra, dress, and scarf combination.

I can't tell you all how much more of a joy life has been the last few weeks. We ironed out a system of overnight pumping (Violet has been sleeping from 9:30 - 7:00 pretty reliably and Holy Engorgement, Batman) so the one or two bottles she does seem to want during the day are solely pumped milk, or maybe only 1/3 formula. Her little belly is full and happy, she sleeps like a champ, we're figuring out naptimes, her grins and alert time is spent exploring and observing with almost no crying anymore. We had a non-colicky, but really shitty and uncomfortable first few months. And it was so frustrating that I knew this sweet kid was hidden by a gassy, hungry but not getting what she needs scream-machine. All of a sudden, at about 15 weeks, Real Violet showed back up and we started to really get into the swing of things.

Flashback: Scarf and Chucks

If you're thinking my foot and neck gear looks familiar, you're right on. Lazy dressing and accessories at its worst. Recycled scarf and Converse pairing, because the casual grey is oh so good. And slouchy maternity jeans and white long sleeved tee. So simple, so easy. I love no fuss looks like this, especially when I was pregnant. Because, really, who was I trying to impress?

Flashback: Maternity Dress

Before we get too far along, I have a few maternity styles to share with you guys that I never got the chance to post. Not many, but a few fun looks that we're nice nods to springtime. 

This dress was a maternity MVP. So comfortable, so stretchy, and so cheap. Thanks, H&M, for being abundant in China and for having good stretchy dress options. One size up, this one was perfect. 

Cultured

I'm about a week behind in sharing this look, but here it is, anyway.

Rob and one of his colleagues organized and hosted a pretty extensive World Music Festival last week, which included several lectures about different cultures' music, ethnomusicology, current trends in composition, etc. Plus, one high profile performance (Indian Tabla!) at the Suzhou Culture Centre, which was performed for a full house! Do yourself a favor and go listen to some of Abhiman Kaushal's tabla performances- insane. Better still? He's a heck of a nice guy and a really engaging teacher. And if you're in a New Music mood- listen to some of Shi-Hui Chen's pieces (she's Rob's teacher from Rice and the reason we found out about the job here in Suzhou). All such good stuff last week!

So, in order to impress absolutely nobody except the gaggle of Indian and Chinese 19 year old students who flooded the concert hall for the performance, I kicked my maternity style up a notch and wore this snazzy little stretch dress, a loud overcoat, silk scarf (so beautiful and SO hard to wear since it's a massive square shape) and actually curled my hair. And then stunk it all up when, after the concert, we joined the performers for a late-night Hot Pot meal. Seriously, wear old clothes when you plan to order Sichuan spicy soup. You'll reek for days.

Meeting Mommies

I got out last week to visit with other local Expat mommas in town. It's going to be a lot of fun getting to know many of these families and going through the adventure of having tiny ones in China together, getting all the tips and tricks of where to find what we need, commiserating over the strangeness of motherhood abroad with occasional nights out together. It's a great group of ladies and I'm really excited to finally have the time to get to know some of them better in the upcoming weeks. More than anything, after my nervousness about my little booger hanging out breech (I won't speak too soon since I haven't been to an official appointment yet, but I felt a decidedly rotating movement on Sunday), I got two offers to email friends to gather intel on moxibustion and acupuncture specialists in town. Beyond kind, exceedingly reassuring, and incredibly thoughtful.

Plus, it's really fun to hang out with so many lovely people who have THE. BEST. ACCENTS. I am far and away the minority as an American- I've met tons of German families (Bosch is in town), women from the UK, India, several from Spain, Pakistan, and one from Ireland. And the best part? I said adios to the remnants of my nasally a-sound Ohio accent and never picked up any y'all's in Texas, so nobody can place where I'm from.

I mentioned last week that I've been buying and wearing boys' stuff as maternity wear. Here's more proof (and a bump-hiding oversized woolen sweater- my very favorite fiber!). Also, my wispy shorty-bangs of new-growth-pregnancy-hair (the only hair "benefit" I've seen from these hormones) are popping out in every frizzy direction to say hello.

Wasted Brain Cells

Not much to say. I've been getting dressed and I don't do a good job of taking photos. Whoops.

We've been re-watching That 70's Show on DVD in the evenings. I really forgot how much we quote back and forth from this series. You, know- silly everyday expressions that you've plucked from a line in Pop Culture. Like, if I overzealously pour granola all over the counter, Rob will quote "Whoa, that really shot outta there," from the episode where Red accidentally eats special brownies and shoots off a fire extinguisher. Or, when offering one another something to eat, we quote, in our best Wisconsin accent, "Hey there Bob, you wanna piece of pie?"

All obscure references and quotables for which my darling husband has a mind like a steel trap. He's like a bad Pop Culture encyclopedia. Anyone else have a loved one with genius skill in something useless?

Standing Out on St. Patty's

I was so hopeful these jeans would fit still. I bought them on clearance in a size above my normal and dryer shrunk the crap out of them the last few years pre-pregnancy. Now that my hips got all wide and funky, they're a little too tight, but I couldn't not wear them- this springy color combination was begging for white jeans. And the most fun part is this weird little scarf in my hair has been my St. Patrick's Day go-to little bit of green(it has green cherries and little fuchsia vines on it) for years and years now and I just decided to go for the loud and bright complimentary look. And all my adorably reserved office mates thought it was the most awesome thing ever.

So, moral of the story is this: in the last week of work, wear whatever you want to and all your colleagues and every other Chinese person on campus will stare unabashedly at you and your pregnant belly. No disguising being one of the only white girls working at the University and dressing up anyway, let alone sporting a huge baby bump, so give 'em all something spring-like to stare at.

Free Fallin'

A few major steps to manage in our website redesign project, administrative stuff for a faculty meeting, and whatever other madness comes along this week, and I'm outta the office. Just in time for some sunshine coming up!

The bad news? It rained at the end of last week and I slipped on the metal steps of the stairwell of the faculty cafeteria on my way out and landed right on my tailbone. No butt meat or cushion, just tailbone. I don't think it's cracked, just a mean nasty bruise and a little back muscle tightening. And kiddo is completely fine; in fact, I didn't even feel any jostle in my belly when I landed, but daaaaang, it's hard to sit in an office chair all day now. The other bad news? I broke my own fall with my right forearm and sat directly on my right middle finger. The worse news? What should have become a really rocking forearm bruise to rival the mystery table run-in bruises my sister gets faded perfectly after I used coconut oil on it. I didn't even get a chance to long-distance show it off.

To all my pregnant blogging buddies- watch your ass. Literally. A banged up tailbone hurts like none other when you go down with extra little person weight. Oh, and coconut oil is filled with miracles and rainbows.

Strategy

Winter gave me a major case of the "blahs" this year. I know it doesn't hold a candle to the miserable winter so many of my Midwest buddies had to tough out (sorry you're so snowed in and pissed about it, mom) but everyone here has said last summer was the hottest on record in decades, and this winter was one of the coldest with the highest humidity in the last few years. We got no more than a pathetic sprinkling of snow, but commuting in the soak-into-your-bones cold has been darn unpleasant. Add into that the fact that my favorite coats all now fit like sausage casings and it had been too cold and clammy to leave them unbuttoned. Boo hoo and shut up, Kate. I'll keep reminding myself that my masterful 3-undershirt layering skills kept me mostly warm enough every day without turning me into a puffy coat and Cosby sweater Chinese fashionista. Outer layers, like this cardigan, never did piddly for keeping the chill at bay- it's just for show. What you can't see is that I consistently wore a skintight camisole tucked into my pants so there was never any cold gusts, a GapBody stretchy long sleeved tee, and an outdoor-grade undershirt or two under the sweater of my choice. Every dang day. 

Plus those unattractive LLBean boots. 

I better keep an eye on those poor boots- I'm afraid Rob will send them away before next winter. I just hope he has enough sense to realize that they're my pull-on-dog-walking-shoes, too, and if they disappear, so does my obligation to get up to take the beagle out at 6:30. 

Sausage casing coat. Good look, Kate, good look.

Cultural Shifts

Third Trimester. Boom. And it's a bump that's finally a bump, not just a burrito, which makes me really happy. Every few weeks, I get really hungry and kiddo grows like a weed, and next thing you know there's more happening out front. And I'm really grateful so far that family genetics have been good to me and I still feel fine.

I've noticed a cultural difference in attitudes about pregnancy over here. We passed a woman last night who must have been right around the same due date as me. And, while I'm still pretty nimble and limber, thankfully, goooooosh, she was waddling. I've not seen a woman who was visibly pregnant walking like she didn't have a softball balanced between her thighs. It's crazy. I don't know if the Chinese physique really does get very uncomfortable much sooner, but I'm inclined to believe that women are expected to appear faint and helpless and not lift a finger during pregnancy. The wider the waddle, the more effective the baking of a kid? And most of them don't seem to be loving it even a little. Babies must be for grandparents. Because mamas look pretty blah about the whole thing. Weird.

Snuggling

While it's still a little too chilly to be prancing around in one of my newly acquired stretchy dresses with shorty sleeves, it's not half bad if one layers supa slim undershirts and double layers of tights (folded way low below my bump- it's getting squishy) under them. Oh, and spend the workday under a blanket.

Desk blankets. They're a thing and they're good stuff.

Also, this photobomber has been all up in my business since the beginning of the break. It got more intense as the fireworks were going off for the Lunar New Year, but she's been a permanent fixture on my lap whenever it's available and my little shadow as I mill around the house. The dog and I are usually little peas in a pod, so it's kind of fun to have this lady hanging around. It really was nice to have a routine of spending the day taking care of the house and critters (while snacking to my heart's content... there's something about cut carrot in a baggie that's way less satisfying that carrots fresh cut and in a bowl). So, Eddie, get ready, because we're going to snuggle like mad this weekend. And I'll snack on potato chips so you can lazily swipe one from out of the bag as you're perched on my lap.

Out and About

It reverted back to winter. Which is okay since I'm still on break and spending most of my time inside, but ultimately makes walking the dog really difficult. We call Miles "Little Mister Prissy Paws" when he gets all worked up about having to *shock and horror!* walk on the cold grass and pavement. And strictly business walks are okay, but it's when he's all wound up and needs to work kinks out of his back leg that it gets tricky. He charges off after a scent, then realizes he's made a horrible mistake, is too far from our building, and gets all tip-toe-walky the rest of the way back. And then can't be bothered to wait for me to use my tap card to open the foyer door and bashes his head into the glass. And let's be real here- if he was still in Ohio with my parents, he's be subjected to the whole snowpocalypse, so he's got it good here.

And despite the chill, Rob and I have made time to get out of the house together and figure out more about our city. We've pretty concretely determined that we'll move to the more Expat-populated area of town next year- convenience, more interesting stuff close by, fewer students, more diverse food (grocery and eating out), but, most importantly, the increased probability of finding friends. It's been a struggle since most of our neighbors in this area are apartments filled with students and multi-generation families. And the English speaking/ bilingual population is either 22 years old or in the midst of a career boom. So, we'll try for friends elsewhere! To kickstart the process, we've found a few restaurants that list things like Taco Tuesdays, Quiz Nights, Mommy Meet-Up's, etc. that we'll start making efforts to go and try to meet people. It's like dating. But worse, because there's not a lot of language overlap. Huge German, French, and Chinese speaking cool-people pockets of young professionals and mommies. And plenty of English speakers, but they're either 23 or 55. Where are my 27-37 kindred spirits?!

Not to worry, I'm putting my extrovert husband on the hunt.

Too Small

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.

 

Close Enough

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?

 

Chomp

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.

Loud Fall Looks

A month between blog appearances is normal, right? Whoops.

So, what's been up in Suzhou, China?

1. My cool new job at the School of Music got really ridiculous really fast. I am now the International Recruitment Tour Manager for a joint audition/ recruitment concert tour in Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Which is awesome. But it morphed out of a very casual concept and there's big holes in information and I'm still learning what got glossed over and what was a very informal arrangement versus a venue booking. Which has a lot of bearing on press materials. Oh, and we're only 30 days away from departure now. Way stressful and complicated for being thrust into management of a major project.

2. But, I get to travel with the group for all 6 cities! Many are brief stops (2 jam-packed days), but I will add three countries to my list of "been there's." That's pretty cool!

3. I also travel back to the US in mid-December to pick up my babies. My critters will have been MIA from my life and couch for almost 5 months. And it's been literally the worst. I am a pet owner, through and through. I'm meant to take care of fuzzy things and fall asleep with fur in my face. I'm beyond excited to have them here.

4. Other points of excitement for the trip to the US include buying coconut oil, baking soda, rubbing alcohol, and clarifying shampoo. My options for bathroom stuff here has been slim. Whitening lotion (my skin is plenty pale, thank you), creepy tonics to clean scrapes, and moisturizing shampoo which make my hair lay plastered flat to my head in greasy strings are not doing it for me.

5. Despite the crazy-busy of getting a brand new school up and running, life is good! We're adjusting, finding great places to eat, found our favorite veggie vendor, we're making friends and figuring our new city out. A few pop-over trips to Shanghai and Wuxi (for the nearest Ikea!), a little hanging out at local expat haunts, a lot of enjoying the fall weather.

Jeans: Gap Always Skinny...Sweater: Gap...Scarf: H&M...Bag: Longchamp knockoff...Shoes: Sperry via DSW