Mom Jeans

This is the first time since university where I've had almost no need for dressier work type clothing. I'm all lounge wear, all the time. I've also been forced to take into account much more practical considerations than in my pre-baby life (Waterproof? Machine washable? These things matter now). And finally, I have waaay fewer opportunities to actually shop, so my shopping ground has narrowed from all of the city to shops up and down Commercial Drive and the Gap/Banana/Old Navy which is pretty much the only easy online shipping us poor deprived Canadians have access to.

With all this I was a little concerned that I might end up living in outdated clothes circa my pre-baby days or my old maternity yoga pants and sweatshirts. Which is totally fine if that's your thing, but as someone who's a little on the vain side and also surrounded by cute, hip moms, I really didn't want to turn into one of those ladies walking around in mom jeans. Or more accurately our generation's version of mom jeans, which I believe are leggings and/or yoga pants, although I have to confess that I have been wearing leggings quite a bit. I thought I'd drawn the line when it came to leggings as pants, but I did have one horrifying experience when James' parents offered to watch H while we went out for a drink. I quickly threw on my rain boots over my Gap 'dance' pants (really just super tight yoga pants) and we were out the door. Only when I caught a glimpse of myself in the bar window I realized the slight flare was totally hidden by my boots and for all intents and purposes I was wearing leggings as pants! Ack!

But the occasional disaster aside, I've managed to find a few things that work really well for life as a new/nursing mom. And because this was the sort of information I was desperate for pre-baby, I thought I'd share.

The fact that I'm always casually dressed means I've been able splurge a bit on a few items (Hell-o Hunter boots... never could have justified them before but since I pretty much wear them every day now they have been worth every penny). I also spent a bit more on a sweater and a new jacket simply because they were within walking distance of my house and I had no time to comparison shop. So here's the first couple items on my list of new mom essentials:

1. Raincoat. Yes, I live in Vancouver and haven't worn a raincoat for years. I preferred cute non-waterproof coats and umbrellas until now. But when I decided I needed a new coat this past fall and found myself trying on my usual thing, a wool peacoat, my eyes drifted over to a rack of raincoats. Ick, so practical, I thought. Luckily at this point H woke up crying and I had to get out of the store before I bought anything. Because once I started to think about it, how exactly was I planning on carrying around an umbrella and a baby and all the junk that goes along with a baby? Luckily, on closer inspection there were some cute raincoats at Spank (which is my favourite place to find coats, by the way). And I've been sooo happy to have a rainproof coat this winter.

2. Hunter boots. I've loved the looks of these boots for ages but just couldn't justify the expense. But after my friends Rachel and Jenny staged an intervention (OK not quite, they just both came to visit one rainy weekend and showed me the error of my Hunter bootless ways). The great thing about these boots is that they are so comfortable I can actually wear them for walking, and every time I find myself standing in a gutter putting H's carseat into the car I'm so glad my feet are dry. (True confession time, I might go out of my way to tromp through puddles when I'm wearing these... what am I, 8?)