She’s a deep thinker, this one

Honestly, I don’t know that this photo needs any words.

The fact that my 8 month old pulls up on anything and everything, then is able to creep along for quite awhile? And is already attempting to let go and stand on her own? Yeah. That scares me.

Mah baby! Where oh where is mah baby?!?!

Because this little booger is WAY TOO GROWN UP to be my baby!

And we start off with a day I forgot to take a photo… Mostly because we were actually pretty busy this day – story time, long walk with friends (despite the FREEZING COLD), play-date with warm tea… And in my book, having a good day chock-full of friends and fun is definitely more important than remembering to take a really bad self-portrait

Monday, February 13

Argh. This photo really demonstrates the problem with most of my pants: my lack of a booty = saggy pants (and all breast-feeding weight has come off that area, so pants are not fitting so well at the moment… but I don’t have the cash to buy all new pants, and also don’t know if/when the booty might reappear, so. yeah. I have a saggy bum. Oh well.)

Attire: J. Crew cardigan, Lands End Canvas white button-down shirt, H&M skinny belt, Banana Republic pants. On Meeka: Carters outfit that was promptly puked on and changed; she’s also holding my second option of skinny belt, also puked on. Oy.

Tuesday, February 14

Terrible, terrible picture. Horrible. So sorry. Also, I somehow managed to take this horrid pic of myself, and none of Meeka in her adorable Valentine’s outfit… Attire: Radcliffe of London jeans, red top bought at Marshall’s a few years ago, Gap black cardigan. Please forget you ever saw this picture. I am going to try to forget it exists, as well.

Wednesday, February 15

Somewhat better! YAY! Attire: James jeans skinny jeans, Lands End Canvas striped button-down shirt, Lands End Canvas cardigan. On Meeka: Carters pants and onesie, Old Navy T shirt, baby faux-hawk courtesy of bath-time playing

Thursday, February 16

??? Not sure why I don’t have a picture for today, perhaps it was accidentally deleted by the husband?

Friday, February 17

Just a casual day, no effort put in here at all. Attire: Ann Taylor LOFT chinos, black Old Navy sweater, hair piled on top of head. On Meeka: adorable striped pants and T-shirt, both Carters.

Saturday, February 18

We spent a wonderful day just chilling at home (and cleaning- you can see the mess all around us!) and dressed the part… Attire: black leggings (bought at Daffy’s), Gap long-sleeve tissue T, Ann Taylor LOFT shrug/cardi. On Meeka: yellow jumpsuit from unknown brand (seriously, the tag fell out after the first wash)

Sunday, February 19

(No, I am not throwing the baby… We are dancing and this is our finale – “the dip” – and that expression on her face? Pure joy. She LOVES being dipped/turned upside down. Also bounced. Thrown. Generally any kind of baby-daredevil-shenanigans you can think of)

And for the second day of this long weekend, we also did a lot of playing together (though did venture out and about on this day)

Attire: Old Navy brown cords, Old Navy grey cable sweater. On Meeka: Child of Mine white onesie, Old Navy red fleece pants.

***

Although Monday being a holiday I also went with comfy-casual-easy clothes, this week I am gleaning some inspiration and attempting outfits that are out of my usual patterns… Though I can’t promise the self-photography to be any better, sorry!

And usually he deletes the “bad” photos before I see them. But? Sometimes those so-called bad photos are the ones that are the best – even if they’re blurry, etc, they just capture that moment, ya know? And so, I’m happy to present to you some out-takes from the past week:

these cheeks just kill me!

again with the cheeks!

haha, this expression cracks me up! “Another picture, mom? Really?!?!”

… as for the outfit… well… first thing in the morning, Meeka and I have a battle of wills. I want to change her first; she wants to nurse first. Since I’m bigger, stronger, and don’t play fair, I win. But, since she’s littler, very cunning, and has a set of lungs, sometimes she manages to get her way a little earlier than I’d want. Hence the half-on PJs. She’s trying to make it her “look”

haha, mommy! I win!

She’s very excited about… something… here

The constant motion and “jumping” on the bed (I took video, too… it’s adorable! If I do say so myself, as a *completely* unbiased observer. Yes, indeed)

The new way to use a pacifier (she’s never taken to one, but loves to chew on them as toys)

Climbing up mommy (her FAVORITE activity)

concentrating VERY hard here…

Meeka can cross the floor in seconds when she really wants something…

And she really, really loves to tip over all her toys and make a huge mess!

(And then put everything in her mouth)

Jumping! YAY!

Tipping over the toybin… again…

Now, a lot of people like books (or say they do). A lot of people put “reading” in their “interests” when sketching little bios of themselves (Hi, I’m X, I like bubble baths and long walks on the beach. My hobbies are painting my nails and reading (because that makes me look smart). I’m looking for blahbitty blahbitty blah)

I don’t know what liking reading looks like to a lot of people. I don’t know what saying “I read a lot” means to them, or to you. I only know what it means to me. Because I like reading. And I read a lot. As in, daily. As in, I read 25 books in the month of January.

Yes, 25. TWENTY-FIVE.

(I knew I read a lot before starting this writing-them-down-thing, just hadn’t realized exactly how much)

I’m lucky that this is one interest of mine that having a baby actually enables… because nursing time = reading time. Pumping time = reading time. Getting up with baby in the middle of the night = potential reading time (though more often than not, it’s drowsing time). So I can read just as much now as I did before. Which is pretty awesome.

Because if you haven’t realized it yet, I love to read.

And looking at how much I *do* read, I also realized, perhaps I should, you know, try to do something with this love of mine? Maybe look into jobs where you, ya know, READ? Turns out, there are some jobs like that. Professional readers. WOW. Some lucky people out there have the job to just… read! They read manuscripts, etc, from the “slush piles” at publishers and then summarize and recommend (or not) for publishing. Now, how can I get this job?!?! (No, really, how? If any of you out there are publishers looking for a prolific reader who can also write decently – and is a grammar fiend – please let me know!)

But. You want to know WHAT I read, don’t you? Because anyone can read 25 childrens books of the “See Spot Run!” variety.

And here’s why I am always shy about talking about my reading habits… because while I do read actual BOOKS, I tend to gravitate towards, well… trash. OK, OK, not really. Not all of the time, or all of the books. But really? At the end of a long day? I want to shut my brain down, and for my reading to be like a warm, comforting blanket. And for me, that means I read a lot of fiction – often YA Fiction, or Fantasy, sometimes Sci Fi, sometimes trashy beach reads, and recently, realllllllly trashy historical romance novels (yeah. really. and THIS is why I don’t usually talk about reading with people in face-to-face conversations)

But, in the interest of brutal honesty – so y’all out there can see the REAL ME and all of that – I’m going to share with you what I read last month:

The Good (aka real literature / books that make you think / books to spark a conversation) :

Abraham by Bruce Feiler

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Because I said So by various authors

The Bad (aka YA Fiction, for the most part):

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

The Otherworldlies by Jennifer Anne Kogler

The Luckiest Girl by Beverly Cleary

Debris by Jo Anderton

Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce

Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Wolf Speaker by Tamora Pierce

And The Ugly* (aka ROMANCE NOVELS, OMG!) :

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

A Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh

Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas

Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas

A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas

Mine til Midnight by Lisa Kleypas

Somewhere I’ll Find You by Lisa Kleypas

Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas

Lady Sophia’s Lover by Lisa Kleypas

Someone to Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas

When Stranger’s Marry by Lisa Kleypas

Only With Your Love by Lisa Kleypas

* You’ll notice I was on a Lisa Kleypas kick this month… that often happens to me, I’ll go through a phase of reading one entire series/author/etc for a while, til I’m done with that and find a new one… Also, I should note that as these are pretty much brain candy books, none of them took me more than 2 days to read (and that was if I started one at night, and then finished the next day) – most were “consumed” in a day, the perfect little morsels of guilty pleasure

“Don’t worry, Meeka isn’t SICK. She just, you know, well. She crawled into the couch and now has a bruise covering her entire forehead.”

Indeed.

My baby, the daredevil.

What? I’m *NOT* supposed to run into things head-first?!?!

This picture was taken a day later, when most of the swelling had gone down, and her forehead was a tad more symmetrical; the day before, let’s just say “goose egg” was indeed a fitting description.

This baby girl, she does indeed take after me.

I had many a goose-egg growing up.

My brother hit me in the head with a hammer when I was two.

I was again hit in the head with a baseball bat when I was a little older – perhaps 6 or 7? – which was especially notable because 1) no one saw it and I didn’t tell anyone (I was batgirl at a little league game, was hit by a player who was warming up on the side), and 2) I was wearing a baseball hat that I didn’t take off – and then COULDN’T take off, due to the swelling!

I was also a competitive gymnast, with all the bumps and bruises that entails.

You know how your parents always chuckle when they tell you “I hope you get a child just like you, some day” … I think that wish came true

Who, me? (And a photo-bombing dog hiding in the background!)

Nah, I’d *NEVER* do something silly like run full-tilt into an immovable object… or try to dive head-first off the bed… or climb up the ladder on the slide (and make it up two steps, indeed!)… or chase around after any and every big kid I see… No, not me!

I’m popping out from under the rock I’ve been hiding under to post a few more crappy pictures of what I’ve been wearing… Somehow, these pictures are even worse than the previous ones, don’t know how that happened…But enough about that, on to the (horrifying, can’t believe I’m posting these) show:

Sunday, February 5

Sorry, dropped the ball and don’t have an outfit picture from this day (and don’t really remember what I wore, it certainly wasn’t anything spectacular…) Instead, please enjoy this picture of Meeka walking the dog (gotta teach ‘em how to work early, ya know)

Monday, February 6

Ah, laziness, that is my inspiration for this outfit! Attire: Worn jeans, H&M belt, Gap long-sleeve T; Pottery Barn Kids bag (contains Meeka’s essentials for the day). On Meeka: H&M socks, Carters pants and onesie, Gap shirt-dress

Tuesday, February 7

Attire: James jeans, Banana Republic shirt, scarf c/o my mom, drugstore headband. On Meeka: unknown brand onesie, Carters pants, Gap socks (that remained on her feet for less than a minute once I put her down…). Picture courtesy of my husband, which is why it isn’t quite as horrible as the rest…

And here’s a terrible picture of just me, so you can see that I actually do wear shoes (Italian boots from Daffy’s, bought years ago… possibly the item in my closet that gets the most queries of where I got ‘em, because yes, they are that fabulous and kick-ass – literally, look at the toes, they could kick some SERIOUS ass!)

Wednesday, February 8

And here’s where we get to the truly terrible photography (these coming photos had to be extremely lightened in PS to even be seen… no idea what happened to my camera settings, other than to say a certain little munchkin likes to grab at things that aren’t *exactly* toys) … And no, I have NO IDEA why I am posing like that!

Attire: Ann Taylor Loft grey pants, Gap Kids belt, Gap blue button-down shirt, Gap black cardigan. On Meeka: All Carters, all the way!

Oh, and in case you were wondering what I look like as I actually head out to work:

I’m wearing my Danskos again (boring black… next time, I’m gonna have to go with some wild and wonderful color or pattern!) and my Guess grey jacket, scarf, gloves (which you can’t see)

Thursday, February 9

Hmmmm… Well… Yeah. No picture from today. OOPS.

Friday, February 10

Oy. This was one rushed, horrible, no good, very bad morning. As you might be able to tell by the look on my face. I just kinda threw on anything I laid my hands on. Attire: Worn jeans, Banana Republic T, O’Neill black hoodie

BUT! Later that day, after things took a turn for the worse (more on that later), they did an about-face and got better! Because! DATE NIGHT! (No use celebrating Valentine’s on the actual day, plus we had extended-hour daycare on this day, so… YAY! Dinner! Adult conversation!)

Now, this is a truly, truly terrible pic. But, I was all dressy! Like, in a dress! Really! Attire: Banana Republic dress layered over tights and H&M shirt (it was cooooooold), black boots; silver necklace (owned forever, possibly from F21?), silver earrings from Santa Monica (bought with a necklace I wore for my sister’s wedding!) We went here, and it was truly fantastic. I highly recommend if you are ever in NYC.

Saturday, February 11

While we had a big day planned, we ended up scrapping most of it and just spent the day cuddling and napping. We did, however, manage to make it out to one of the events – a Valentine’s party! Attire: Radcliffe of London jeans, Gap T, Patagonia fleece. On Meeka: Carters tights and pink onesie, adorable heart bubble dress from ?

—

Just because life is busy chewing me up and spitting me out (hopefully whole, though a little gnawed upon) I’m just doing the same-old-same-old this week, but starting next week, I hope to change it up — I will be using some of my stylin’ pins as inspiration

Which brings me to my request – anyone with any suggestions, please send them my way! Pictures, or just general descriptions (like, “I’d like to see you dressed head-to-toe in purple, please!” Which, if that’s your request, well: 1. grape fetish, much? and 2. sure! in the privacy of my own home! But if you expect me to be an eggplant in public, you’d better also be sending me a large sum of money to make it happen … You can email me at meekasmommy@gmail.com ! (Little sis, I’m looking at you, oh stylish one!)

Forward momentum achieved. We’re officially crawling.

It’s a good thing she’s so cute, because between the teething (almost to 4 whole teeth now!), the illness (back to the snot –> cough –> puke routine… and mommy’s shirt is still the puke receptacle of choice), and the frustration with not being able to navigate forward (we’ve gotten to the 4-5 “steps” forward via crawling point, and she’s pulling up on everything and trying to take real steps as well…) – mommy’s gotten VERY little sleep these past few days, and boy, is she feeling it today!

Anyways, back to the point of this post.

Clothes. Style. Fashion.

Boredom.

That is, I am bored of my clothes. Usually, one can overcome this by going out and finding an item or two to infuse one’s wardrobe with something fresh and new, thus overcoming the fashion flatness. But, at the moment, that is just not a possibility for me due to some strict budgeting concerns. So? What to do?

Well… I’ve decided to make this Fashion February. What that means is – I will (try to) take a picture of what I am wearing every day. For the first two weeks, I will just wear what I usually do, and document this. Then, mid-month, I will change things up – take some inspiration from others (ummmm, Pinterest, anyone?), maybe (hopefully!) get some suggestions from y’all… and document the changes (and hopefully, resurgence of interest) in my fashions.

So. GULP. Here we go.

(Please, please, please excuse the crappy pictures. Note from week 1: try to get better pictures… quality sucks at the moment!)

Sunday, January 29

So, in the interest of keeping it real, here is my usual evening/morning/weekend attire: scrubs (or pyjama pants), realllllly old black fleece from Gap (interchangeable with sweatshirts, other fleeces, etc). On Meeka: fleecy pyjamas from Carter’s

Here’s what we wore out and about (to Story Time!): Flexees shaper cami, Radcliffe of London shirt (worn backwards for nursing ease), Aeropostale jeans from ages ago (YES, I know I am not a tween… BUT these jeans actually fit my lack of hips and butt and so they are kept in the closet, despite their age and origin. Le sigh. I never said I was a fashionista), CK Bradley belt. On Meeka: Carter’s onesie and pants

Monday, January 30

GAH! HORRIBLE PICTURE! Please ignore the hair, the expression on Meeka’s face, and, well, pretty much everything here… Attire: Ann Taylor Loft pants, Banana Republic shirt, Gap cardigan; on Meeka: Carter’s onesie, adorable Guess outfit from Auntie K, baby Gap socks (which she promptly pulls off within minutes every.single.time)

Tuesday, January 31

OK, so I had to do some creative cropping of this picture to prevent you from getting a lovely view of dog butt. YOU’RE WELCOME. (Unfortunately, this cropped out the fact that this is the one and only picture in which I am actually wearing shoes) Attire: Flexees shaper cami, Banana Republic shirt, William Rast jeans; on Meeka: Carter’s pants and T-shirt; on Mooji: wagging tail, begging face!

Wednesday, February 1

Dude. I really need to get better at this self-portrait thing. Attire: Lands End Canvas button-down shirt, Old Navy sweater from years ago, Old Navy brown cords also from years ago… On Meeka: Carters pants, H&M sweater (you can’t tell, but we matched that day!)

Thursday, February 2

Again with the socks, the awkward posing, the horrible expressions… GAH! Attire: J Crew Tshirt, Banana Republic cardigan, Radcliffe of London jeans, plain old white socks (I’m pretty sure I wore my Dansko clogs that day, fashion don’t that they are); on Meeka: once again, an outfit from carters! Imagine that!

Friday, February 3

Aaaaand… we’ve devolved to a picture with wet hair and no make-up. For this one, I’m sure you’re glad for the crappy picture quality! Attire: H&M lacy tank, Gap sheer T, Ann Taylor Loft chinos, Gap Kids belt from, um, highschool?!?! (indeed. and at the moment, it’s one of the few belts that actually fits me! nursing seems to have sucked all the weight outta my hips and butt, but left it on the places I’d actually like to see some slimmage) ; on the moving Meeka: long sleeve onesie from ??? and H&M pants (we were having a comfy clothes day in the hopes of warding off her cold… it didn’t work)

Saturday, February 4

Missed the boat on a picture today, since all we have is this one… But really, replace the scrubs with jeans, and that’s pretty much what I wore all day. Attire: Gap long-sleeve T, Oakley fleece jacket, Nike fleece headband, scrubs/jeans; on Meeka: we did comfy PJs all day, white fleece jumpsuit on top for walking, Bass winter hat, Baby Bjorn; on Mooji: Halti gentle leader, excited face to go out and sniff!sniff!sniff!

Notes to self:

1. Better pictures, mmmmmkay?

2. Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!