Its raining babies

So, the festivities are starting this weekend :) i'm flying to Minnesota for 2 of the 3 showers planned for this baby of mine. I'm sooo excited because 1) i'm a little lonely here in Atlanta and would love to see my family and friends and 2) i'm excited to start getting things for baby. i can't wait to start decorating his room, washing his clothes, and getting everything ready, lining up his diapers, etc. The first shower will be hosted by my mother in law for her friends, the "adults, " and wil's side of the family. the latter half of the day will be the second shower hosted by one of my closest cousins, Carneth, and 3 of my closest friends, Richelle, Ann, and Shirley May. This party is more for friends, people our age, and my cousins on my side. I know it took a lot of planning on everyone's part so im so grateful for everything.

The one my cousin is hosting is a pig theme -in honor of Wil's love for pigs. Coincidentally, its his birthday on that day. Here's a pic of the handmade invites by my friend Richelle. They're so perfect - the blue and brown match the decor i'm planning for baby's room and the little onesie even has a pig on it :)

So the hard part was shopping for a fab outfit for these showers. first of all, at this stage, your energy isn' what it used to be. you get tired VERY quickly. Plus, like i said, i hate looking for specific maternity clothes so i literally have to scour the racks for regular looking clothes that would still fit and somewhat enhance the bump instead of making me look like the pear shape that i am. So they say to accentuate your best assets and i have to tell you, i have none at this point. The weight gain was everywhere- not just my belly. my arms are so flabby. I thought i had thunder thighs before - now they're like hurricaine thighs. My face is super round. Even my calf muscles grew - put it this way, i had a hard time zipping up my boots today over my calves.......so wrong! Heidi Klum and all these celebrities make it look so easy to look good pregnant, but in the real world, its so not easy. Plus you want to maintain and small budget since really, my money should be going into baby's piggy bank.

So here's what i came up with:

Its a sheer floral tunic from Forever21 from their in house line twelvebytwelve. I tried not to get anything too billowy because i really think the more fabric a piece has, the more

frumpy you look, but in this case, the sash (as most sashes do) accentuated my waist - or what i have left of it so it didn't look as bad. Plus it had a gorgeous neckline adorned with rhinestones which i think helps draw attention away from the roundness of me. lol. I plan to wear this with black leggings, peep toe heels, my pearl button earrings, and a black cocktail ring. Hopefully this executes in pictures b/c these are the memories i'm going to have of this pregnancy. i don't have many pics in general of this pregnancy so im banking on the fact that i hope to look good at the shower, and hence in the pictures. wish me luck.

So, i bought another outfit for my shower in NJ -which is in a few weeks. I'm kinda regretting what i bought:

Don't get my wrong, its beautiful - its a sleeveless tunic bubble dress from one of my favorite stores, Zara. I love everything about it- the gauzy, feminine material, again, the statement neckline adorned with rhinestones, the mink color. But i just don't think i can wear it the way its meant to be worn. the dress comes up short, mainly b/c my belly holds it up - so then i was planning to wear leggings with it/or skiny jeans. But then, my arms are flabby and you can see my back fat, so i was then planning to put a grandfather cardigan over it. But then really, doesn't that defeat the purpose of the whole outfit? So frustrating. So, i might have to go back to the drawing board for that outfit. And don't tell me to use the same outfit as my mn showers. Again, i barely have any pics of this pregnancy and if i'm gonna have pics from my showers, i'm going to have different outfits and i'm determined to look good!