Friday 18 May 2012

Wearing my bump loud and proud!

Yes, yes, I know. Where did I disappear to again?! Well, I'm going to blame pregnancy. Because I can.

Anyway, I felt compelled to write a post this week after meeting a horrid witch of a woman, who not only upset me, but infuriated me with her words.

I am now 8 months pregnant (finally!) and have gained a fair amount of weight. Such is life. I have a healthy baby, so I will focus on my weight loss once baby arrives. This positive mental attitude took a real bashing however, when a random woman in a lift expressed her opinion to me:

"Ooh, you had better stop eating otherwise your baby is going to be too big 
and will give you lots of pain!"

Just what every pregnant woman wants to hear, right?! How dare she. Having always been very conscious of my size - I was a UK size 6-8 pre-pregnancy - I really did not need to hear this.

In fact, why is it that a pregnant woman's body becomes open to public scrutiny? If I was given a baby-grow for every comment I heard on my size or every time someone randomly rubbed my tummy, my baby would be dressed for a good few years! It's not cool people.

But I'm over it and I refuse to let this woman and others like her spoil the remaining weeks of my pregnancy and take away from the excitement I am feeling. So I have embraced my extra-large bump and put together a little collection of photos.

Welcome to my maternity capsule wardrobe - all I need to keep me going through these last weeks...

AFTERNOON TEA WITH THE GIRLS
This dress has been my lifesaver throughout pregnancy. It's not a maternity dress, in fact I've been wearing it for a few years now, but it has the perfect stretching capabilities to keep me looking chic all pregnancy long. And nowadays I wrap the back ties around to my front to give my belly some extra support. Bring on the tea and scones!

Dress: Ingenue. Necklace: Mawi
Sandals: Kg by Kurt Geiger.

DATE NIGHT
I was so in love with my leopard dress, that on my last trip to London, I snapped up this jade version. It's a size larger which gives it some extra length and is therefore perfect for those extra special nights out. In fact, last night I wore it to the ballet. Hubby liked it a lot (just don't tell him I have another one on order, arriving very soon!).

Dress: Ingenue. Necklace: Accessorize

SUNDAY BRUNCH
This is my new fave purchase. It is ultra comfy and cooling (don't forget Hong Kong is currently reaching in to the 30s, so it is hot, hot, hot!), and is an easy way to add some sophistication to my swollen feet. Speaking of which, I don't actually wear skyscraper wedges in real pregnancy life. They just looked better in the photo ;-)

Dress: Isabella Oliver Maternity. Necklace: Mawi. Wedges: Miu Miu.

RUNNING ERRANDS
That should probably say 'waddling errands', but anyway... When I just want to throw something on and head out to the shops, I turn to my fail-safe skinny jeans and blouse combo. I am a HUGE fan of these GAP Maternity jeans. They don't look like maternity jeans, yet they give me all the support I need. And for £40/HK$480, they're pretty nice on my purse too.

Blouse: ASOS Maternity. Jeans: GAP Maternity. Pumps: Dune.

WORK LUNCH
I still have a few meetings going on, setting up work for later in the year. I can breastfeed and style, can't I?! Anyway,  I like the casual chic look of this outfit and the fact that it is comfortable (not something that existed in my pre-pregnancy repertoire!).

 Vest: Gap Maternity. Jacket: Topshop
Jeans: GAP Maternity. Pumps: Dune

AN AFTERNOON BY THE SEA
Being an Island, Hong Kong has lots of seaside life. What better than a nautical little number to while away those sunny days on the coast.

Vest: H&M Maternity. Shorts: H&M Maternity. Necklace: Accessorize. Sandals: Dune.

DINNER WITH FRIENDS
Hubby and I are trying to squeeze in as many friend dates as possible, before our lives change for ever!! A shot of colour is just what my maternity capsule wardrobe needs. Once again, heels are for purely photographic (read: vanity) reasons! The great thing about this dress is that it is perfect for disguising baby tummy post-pregnancy...and for breastfeeding. Score!

Dress: ASOS Maternity

I may not have many outfits circulating at the moment, but the ones that I do have fill all my needs. And as you can see, I'm wearing my bump LOUD AND PROUD! I don't care what people think, as long as my baby comes in to this world healthy and happy. So go stuff yourself silly woman in the lift!

And to all other mums-to-be...enjoy your pregnancies. We are very lucky to be going through this magical experience!

Love Mummy-to-be Magpie xxx

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Wedding dress woes...

So, after 3 months of being married and roughly 92 days spent looking tearfully at my wedding dress (I know wearing any outfit more than once is a no-no, but it's just so pretty and special), I couldn't resist a little trip down memory lane.

Obviously I'm not that frivolous that I'd spend an afternoon sitting in my wedding dress sipping champagne (well, actually that is what I had planned until the cleaner cancelled), so...

...I did the hoovering...



...the washing up...


 
...and the ironing...



...in my wedding gown. And it felt GREAT!

Then I changed in to my dalmation print all-in-one to enjoy my champers. Well...I wouldn't want to get my wedding dress dirty would I?!

_________________________

FYI these photos were taken last September, when The Bump was still a twinkle in his/her daddy's eyes and before I'd taken delivery of any furniture. We don't actually reside in a plain white box and there's no way I'd get my dress past my hips right now!!

Friday 3 February 2012

Back with a bump!

SURPRISE! I'm back!

Yes, I've been AWOL for the past gazillion months. No excuses.

Well, actually, I have a great excuse. The main reason for my absence has been due to horrendous morning sickness. Yep...I've gone from Miss Magpie, to Mrs Magpie, to Mummy-to-be Magpie in the blink of an eye!

Now that the morning sickness has abated (FYI morning sickness does not do what it says on the label. It should be called morning-noon-night-and every-minute-inbetween sickness), I can finally enjoy life again. Seriously, it was that bad!

I'm 20 weeks down (which means 20 weeks to go) and with my bump growing by the day, my existing wardrobe is not doing me any favours. 'Slut chic' is not working so well for me right now. Surprise surprise.

With traditional maternity-wear offering me NOTHING inspiring, I've turned to the catwalk, to see what my fave designers have inadvertently designed for mummas (clearly they didn't plan it that way).

Diane von Furstenberg SS'12
The beauty of living in Hong Kong is that our winter is nearly over - nahnahnahnerner!! - so this maxi shirt dress will be the ideal pregnancy partner from now until D-Day.

Marchesa SS'12
The girls have done it again with a beautiful collection and this stunning ethereal number will have me floating my way through the rest of my pregnancy (it's more of a thud right now).

Alexander McQueen SS'12
You may not agree, but I reckon I could rock this little number with my bump. In fact, I'm not even sure you'd be able to detect my tummy behind all those ruffles. I may need a bit of extra length on it (bumps tend to raise hemlines) and perhaps I'd ditch the cap (I need some level of comfort right now), but otherwise it'll do the job just fine. Plus, red is a super lucky colour over here in HK, so it's practically made for me.

Valentino Couture SS'12
The maxi dress - a pregnant woman's best friend. And this dainty version from Valentino is now on my lust list. Once I've found a bra with the right level of support (boobs enormous, but not allowed underwire. Go figure!) it'll be perfect.

Victoria by Victoria Beckham SS'12
With 4 pregnancies under her (very skinny) belt, the Queen B must know a thing or two about maternity fashion. And I reckon she designed this whilst preggers with little Harper, because I would love to be wearing this right now. 

Sadly, with a baby on the way, I've got to become a little bit more sensible, so these dresses will all remain a pipe dream for now. Unless the respective designers would like some free pregnancy advertising. I'll even wear them to pre-natal yoga. How can they refuse an offer like that?!

Luckily the sales are on in HK and fed up of hearing me moan about my shrinking wardrobe, my darling hubby took me to Lane Crawford (HK's answer to Selfridges) and bought me a wee treat...



Thank you to Ms Diane VF for making one very emotional and hormonal pregnant woman, very happy. Now I just need the occasion to wear it, but I think hubby has that under his belt too. I'm a lucky girl. I mean grown-up woman who is about to be a mum. Eeks!

Stay tuned for more pregnancy related posts coming soon (sorry - it's all I know right now!)...