Poof – I popped sometime over the weekend. Suddenly, I have a little beach ball and no longer fit in any of my normal clothes, save for one giant pair of brown overalls that C. has dubbed “The Big Brown Bag.” My hair – which I am no longer dying due to mixed reports on the toxicity of hair dye – is now a bizarre, two-tone gray/brown disaster.
Fortunately, now that I have a little more energy to devote to this kind of stuff, I’ve been spending some cycles defining a new look. It starts with asking the question: What kind of mom am I going to be? Will I be fun? Serious? Overwhelmed? Graceful? Will I be a “MILF”? The first place I turn to answer these questions for myself – is my wardrobe.
On a practical level, I must I go through my closet and pull out all my “fat” clothes and pack up all the “thin” ones. Buh bye…all the memories of dancing in these funky outfits, of giving presentations to the board in the snappy jackets, or of donning finery for the fancy dinners with my in-laws…As I seal the box, I whisper to the clothes inside, “Hey you guys, I hope I’ll get to wear you again. Don’t forget me, okay?”
Then I started noticing the leftovers…clothes I never really wore before for whatever reason. And a lot of them actually do fit – and a lot of them are actually pretty cute. After a few hours of mixing and matching, plus a quick trip to the local thrift store, I have a few different looks that feel like the mother I want to be:
1) First, there’s the old-school midwestern maternal “I just made some delicious meat loaf!” look (a sunflowered jumper, which I LOVE, with a turtleneck).
2) Then there’s the graceful west-coast 40something “I just went to yoga” look (a shirt dress with yoga pants, big fuzzy socks and clogs – snappy!).
3) The “It’s almost the holidays I will want something elegant” look of high-waisted dresses with big poofy skirt parts.
4) Then of course, the inevitable “I have no energy to give a fuck about this” look of The Big Brown Bag and whatever shirt is clean.
I’d love to hear of any other ideas (esp those that can be found in thrift stores)! 
