My New Mom Uniform...

I'm a mom.  I'm always on the run, I'm always on the go, I'm cleaning , I'm cooking, I'm feeding the baby....it's a messy, wonderful, crazy job.  I've had a hard time adjusting to this postpartum, for the 7th time, baby body of mine.  It has new curves, my hips are wider than they've been, my thighs a little thicker, it's a brand new body for me. Not all of my clothes fit the same as they used to and I've resorted to wearing a lot of stretchy, yoga-y type pants.  Sometimes in the morning I grab the first thing I can find and throw it on....pj pants, yoga pants or sweats and a tee.  They don't hug my curves or flatter my body.  They don't do anything at all for me except keep me warm, comfy and they are extremely low maintenance.  This has become my MOM UNIFORM.   

When a nurse goes to work she wears scrubs.  When a farmer goes to work he wears overalls.  When my husband goes to work he generally wears a dress shirt and a tie.  When I go to work I wear pajamas.  Right??

A few months ago I wrote about how I had read somewhere that just because you are a stay at home mom doesn't mean you shouldn't get dressed nicely for your job every day.  So I got dressed up all nice and then the baby had a poop explosion on me and I was right back where I started in my scrubby, grubby comfy clothes.  I wondered, WHY DO I EVEN TRY?

Today I was thinking about how I feel like I'm slowly losing myself.  I'm doing so much for everyone else every.single.day that I just don't even know who I am.  There are days I don't even really look in a mirror much and then when I catch a glimpse of myself I'm embarrassed that I just ran errands LIKE.THAT! I'm so tired.  Every day just drags on and everyone needs every ounce of me and I'm just so spent.  I don't have energy. 

Yesterday was Saturday.  I woke up and threw on a striped tee, no bra (yikes) and some black yoga pants.  I planned to do housework most of the day but the baby is teething and was being extra clingy.  I had no energy for housework so I decided I was going to make a run to the store and get something really quick.  I put on some boots (no socks) and my coat on over my clothes (no one could tell what I was wearing or not wearing, right....) and ran out the door.  Well my 20 minute trip to the store turned into an entire day of running errands.  In clothes not fit for running errands.  I had become my worse nightmare straight out of the People of Walmart.  (I'm hitting my head against the keyboard as I write this.)  HOW DID IT GET TO THIS?!?!  HOLY COW?!?!  How did I become that mom of 7 that has no time to even care about the way she presents herself to the outside world?!  HOW?!?!  Ack!  So, last night as I got into bed and thought about the day and thought about my life and thought about my job as a mom I decided I really needed to rethink my mom uniform.  I really need to find a little bit of Alida again.  A little spice.  A little fire.  A little something. ANYTHING!

I decided to try a little experiment.  For the next 30 days I'm going to dress up every day.  I'm not wealthy, I'm not a fashionista, I'm actually not good with fashion -at all- but I'm going to dress up every single day.  I don't have the nicest clothes, or tons of clothes or the best name brands or money to go on shopping sprees so I'm just going to use what I already have in my closet.  I bet I'll find some outfits I hate and some outfits I love.  I'll find some new combinations and some clothes that probably just need to make their way to the donation bin.  I'll probably put together stuff that clashes and looks totally wrong (hopefully not too often).  I'm excited to see what comes of this.  HOPEFULLY A NEW ATTITUDE AND JOY FOR MY JOB.   I'm also going to do my makeup and do something with my hair everyday.  I don't want these things to detract from my job as a mom or make them any harder so I've allotted myself 15 extra minutes to do this each day.   I've decided to record the process here on the blog and post a picture of my "Stay at home mom Outfit of the day" to keep me on track and motivated. Don't worry if you could care less about my outfit, lol, I'll post family stuff too.  Promise.

What I hope to gain from this is:
1. New insight on this ever changing postpartum body of mine

2. A new appreciation for my clothes

3. A new appreciation for my job as a mom

4. JOY and ENERGY.  (ever notice how when you look good you actually feel better, too??)

5. I hope to gain ME again!  Right now being a mom is consuming every ounce of me to the point where I've forgotten who I am.  I hope this little experiment leads me back to me.

I'll be posting here everyday (when I can remember) and I'll also be posting on instagram with the hashtag #sahmootd (stay at home mom, outfit of the day). Feel free to play along one day....or every day...or a couple of days....

Stay at Home Mom Outfit of the Day
Sunday, March 3
Day 1

I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE TO GO TODAY.  I might need to rethink this top...it's not necessarily all that flattering to the left over baby pooch, but I did my makeup and my hair! (Stake Conference today, we had a couple of sick kiddos so I stayed home and my husband attended church for the family, hence the casual outfit.)  I think I need a new photographer....blurry. LOL.