Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Maternity Shopping Blues

On the restaurant tip- I have decided to cancel the reservation. Husband has worked himself into quite a lather (He also read yelp reviews stating the service was terrible) and I think I'll just go another time without him! ;) I also am not sure how many people will be in our party so I keep worrying if I will be charged for the additional person if they do not come, or if I take them off the reservation and they show up if the restaurant will be able to accommodate us, so I think I'll just go somewhere with a normal reservation policy and save myself the heartburn.

As of last weekend I was so excited to go out and buy some maternity clothes. For some reason I was thinking it was going to be easier this time around. Boy was I wrong. First off, I thought I would have access to a lot more hand-me-downs. With my first pregnancy, I was one of the first people I knew to get pregnant so I didn't have anyone to borrow from. This time, lots of friends have had babies recently BUT...

- one friend borrowed almost her entire wardrobe from other friends of hers that I do not know well enough to borrow from
- another friend already lent her stuff to a relative (who is due in June I think, so that stuff may yet come my way)
- another friend DID give me a bunch of stuff. But it is all winter clothes

Not to mention my first pregnancy was also mainly in the colder months, should I ever get the wherewithal to dig my old stuff out of the bowels of our basement.

SOOOoooooo. Here I am. Looking at having to purchase at least a significant portion of my maternity wardrobe. No problem! I am thinking I just want to buy a bunch of cute dresses to wear all summer long. I can wear them now and in the early fall with tights or leggings and sweaters.

I can't seem to find what I want out there for the price I want. I am willing to spend 20-30 per dress, I figure I need 5-7 of them to get me through and maybe a nice pair of jeans. The dresses are all either TOO summery/beachy (I want stuff to wear both at home and at work. We have a relaxed dress code but not THAT relaxed) and the ones that are suitable are either:

- Too expensive
- At a lower end retailer ( I just don't want to spend $30 on something from Old Navy, it's a thing I have)

I was able to only source one other consignment shop in town that for sure has maternity, but I'm starting to get kinda bummed. My sister is all about the ebay, but I don't have the patience! I have been scouring the internets but haven't even really found any online retailers with good deals.

So I'm getting bummed out now. I really wanted to look cute and stylish this time around.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every time I go to Target, I always find my eyes drawn to the Liz Lange stuff, and then get bummed when I realize it's maternity! Lisa

Jason Loper said...

I agree with Lisa - Target has amazing maternity clothing. And, it's probably more than you want to spend, but if you want to support an indie artist instead of a corporate conglomerate, try etsy.

stef said...

I did go to Target- but the Liz Lange was way smaller a section then I remembered and the clothes were either inappropriate for my needs or too much money for target clothes. And I DID try etsy and couldn't find anything!!! Maybe I need to try a different search term?

Stacy said...

I can give you Lisa's clothes this weekend, so you should have some more!

Lakeview Coffee Joe said...

C'mon Stef, relax a little! I feel your anxiety coming through your blog. You're pregnant, you're going to be cute regardless of what you wear.

I wonder what that restaurant would do if you made reservations for 6 and only 5 showed? Huh. That's a good point. It would be really shitty of them to charge you for that empty chair.

Anonymous said...

I would just go ahead and spend the $30 at Old Navy/lower end stores. You might not be getting top quality, but exactly how many pregnancies are you planning to wear these dresses through?

Dad said...

I learned that the proper thing for a male to do when dealing with all things related to pregnancies is to nod sympathetically and keep one's mouth shut :)

alexis said...

I am mailing you 5 moo moo's. I will buy them at the street market here. Perfect for all occasions

Pulisha said...

I wish I had not sold/given away all things maternity & baby b4 we moved :( Are their any outlet stores near you? When I was preggers with J we went to these outlet stores in San Marcos, TX, and I happened upon on a Pea in the Pod outlet, which carries some higher end design stuff. I'll keep an eye out on Ebay for ya! ;)