Good Old Rubber Band Trick

I've invested in two belly bands--one black and one white--and they seem to be doing the trick splendidly for when I wear pants.  But I shaved for church yesterday, and wanted to take advantage of the situation, so I opted to wear a skirt to work today (which I rarely do...I admit that it's affiliated with the shaving-legs thing...I blame my Berkeley-hippy mother). 

Anyway, the skirt has five buttons on the side, and while they all buttoned perfectly fine this morning, I found that the middle button was the tightest  I found that I could just leave that one unbuttoned, and my shirt would easily cover the gap.  But by buttoning the top two buttons, it essentially gave the skirt a high-waisted appearance.  But it seamed to work fine...at least this morning. 

But I've found that my belly seems to expand during the day.  Yes, I realize that it's constantly growing--but this is more of a "settling" throughout the day sort of phenomenon.  I discovered that what looked "fashionable enough" this morning...did not look so this afternoon.  So I resorted to the good old rubber band trick--where you loop the end of the rubber band through the button hole and then attach it to the button.

Am I being cheap?  Perhaps.  But it also felt somewhat like a "rite of passage" to invoke this old trick.  I know that I've been saying it for a couple of weeks now, but I really am going to go shopping this weekend.  No seriously--I am!  My husband has drill this weekend, so to save money, we'll drive up first thing Saturday morning so he can start PT at 6:00 am, and then I'll have to find a way to entertain myself until after noon when we can check into the hotel.  So really--I plan to shop this weekend.  In terms of pants, I think that I'll be able to survive with the belly bands for a couple more weeks (and I admit that the maternity pants scare me just a bit).  But I think that I'm ready--both physically and emotionally--for some cute maternity tops.  I plan to get some "basics" (ie, tank-tops and long t-shirts), but I'm also looking forward to purchasing some really "cute" tops that really accentuate my bump.  Until then, I'll leave it up to my belly bands and rubber bands.

Today's blessing was the chance to "browse" for baby gear with my very-dear friend.  I think that my husband is just a tiny bit overwhelmed at all of the things that we need to get and all of the things that we should get and all of the things that I want to get.  I want to get make it as painless on him as possible, so it was really nice to be able to go with another pregnant friend and play around with all of the strollers, car seats, swings, bouncers, gliders...etc., etc.  We had a lot of fun, and I've got a better idea of what I like and what I can live without.  She leaves for five weeks in Europe on Thursday, so it was a really nice blessing to be able to spend some quality time with her before she leaves.