Shopping and lunch with mom

This Saturday, my mom took me maternity clothes shopping. I have officially gone crazy with maternity clothes!

I'm ordering from websites left and right, I've won several ebay "lots" that are in transit, and mom and I did some serious damage at Destination Maternity (Motherhood and Pea in the Pod super-store). Most notably, a gorgeous Pea/Pod business suit that's just as nice as my regular suits. I think I'm the only person I know who loves maternity clothes! I'm serious. Things are fitting really well, and I'm loving my little "bump"! And everything is stretchy with panels - soooo comfy! I just have to hope that I keep expanding forward, and not sideways... otherwise, nothing is going to fit!

But the best part was the time with mom. We never really went clothes shopping together when I was a teen, and DH and I eloped to Hawaii, so she missed out on wedding dress shopping. We really seemed to have the same opinions on all the clothes, so sorting the yes's from the no's was easy. And I found out some interesting things...

First, she told me that when she got pregnant with me at 21, she had been overweight. During the whole pregnancy, she didn't gain any weight, and then after she delivered, she weighed less than starting out! Pregnancy was a weight loss program for her! I've never heard of anything like that. And it was surprising, because all of the pictures I saw of her as a young mother, she was thin, so I always assumed she was thin as a young adult and lost the baby weight quickly. Unfortunately, when she gave birth to my brother at 31, she had a more typical experience - gained weight and had a hard time losing it after. And now I'm pregnant at 41, we'll see what happens with me...

She also told me all about her birthing experiences with me and my brother - drastically different in that 10 year span, and also very different from today. It was really interesting hearing about her experiences and feelings as she went through giving birth and comparing it to what I'm learning about my possible birthing experience.

We also started talking about my baby shower. Feels kind of funny talking about having a baby shower at my age, but heck, I want the gifts!!! She was planning on throwing it with DH's mother, and we had been thinking about having it at my house, since we can fit more people there than at theirs (and then DH wouldn't have to lug everything back home). But then, she tells me that her two sisters (my aunts) have offered to throw me a shower, and hold it at the clubhouse in one of their developments. How nice is that!?!? So I think the moms and aunts are all going to get together to plan it for mid-October. I'm excited! I need to get moving on our registry!!

And then we talked about childcare and who would watch our little one on which days (my mom is taking 2 days, DH's mom is taking 1 day, and there will be 2 days in day care). She also gave me some great perspective on child development. She's a retired librarian, and always did a lot of children's programming for the library, so I couldn't ask for a better caregiver!

It was really a great day with mom!