Maggie Maternity — Review and Giveaway

Posted on June 28, 2009 by The Daring One

So I’m pregnant and I know a guy, a guy (well gal) who works with Maggie Maternity and wanted to hook me up with some maternity clothes to review on my blog. The clothes looked gorgeous and more expensive than I’m used to paying for maternity clothes so I said, “Sure.” Besides, on their site they mentioned that Angelina Jolie was seen wearing their tank top at the Cannes Film Festival and I thought it would really do her self-esteem some good if she found out she was wearing the same clothes as me.
maggie summer
So they sent me their summer box and I was a bit skeptical because everything in it was black. However, I know black is slimming (which I need) and decided I’d try and wear it mostly in air-conditioned locations or on overcast days (which we have a lot of here).
I was pregnant with both of my other kids primarily during the winter and nearly everything I have is dark, thick and long-sleeved. When I wear it, I boil.

That is not the case with these clothes. Despite being black in color, they’re very lightweight and breathable. They really are perfect for summer. The fabric is a Spandex/Rayon blend and feels amazing next to my skin. These truly are the most comfortable clothes I have ever worn, maternity or otherwise, including pajamas.

maggie-maternity1I decided to do my serious testing of “the box” when I was running our PTA fundraiser. The event lasted for 4 days and I spent much of my time on my feet working with kids and walking around the school. For 3 days I wore at least one piece from the box and felt like I was walking around in my most comfy PJs. The best part was that I got compliments on everything I wore. Words like “elegant,” “classy,” and “why are you so dressed up?” were thrown at me.

I felt super cute when I wore them and again, you can’t beat the comfy. After my 4-day test was over, it had sort of become a tradition to wear them… every day. I wear at least one piece almost daily. I wear them to church, to the park, to dance recitals and just lounging around the house. When we leave for summer vacation, they’ll be the first things I’ll pack. I’ve washed them all several times and they are holding up great. The look of the fabric has changed slightly but they haven’t balled or pilled.
maggie-maternity
They are machine washable but should be laid flat to dry. I hang them on a drying rack. I love them. Honestly I’m a very cheap person and I look for bargains in maternity clothes because you wear them for such a short period of time, but if I get pregnant again and my size has changed, I plan on buying another set of these in my current size. Because they’re so versatile, you wear them so often that it makes them worth the price. The sizing is a bit generous. I was wearing a 14/16 when I got pregnant and I got the biggest size they make (4) which says it’s a 12/14 equivalent and if anything they’re a tad on the large size.

The pants are probably my favorite piece because of the way they’re designed. You can wear them folded over at the beginning of the pregnancy but then pull them up as you get bigger or to avoid showing a waistline under your shirt. They work well as take-your-kids-to-the-park pants or you can dress them up with a classy top and wear them to the ballet and no one knows that you secretly feel like you’re wearing nothing on the bottom. The skirt is a close second favorite. It looks great and is cooler for summer weather.
maggie-maternity2
If you’re pregnant, plan to be, or know someone who is, you should check out the site. For now, leave me a comment on this post and I’ll enter you to win a $100 gift certificate to Maggie Maternity. I’ll chose a winner on Thursday at noon PST.

Click to Read My Product Review Policy

Posted in contests, fashion, preg-nancy, Reviews, shopping | 88 Comments

Too Much “Info”

Posted on June 25, 2009 by The Daring One

We do not have the cable. Our television has two wires on top of it in the form of an antenna. Sometimes it’s dressed in foil. We decided to try and live without cable for a few months when we bought this house… 3 years ago. Once you go without that bill for a while it’s just so hard to justify adding it in again. Do I really need to watch reruns of Trading Spaces whenever I’m a wee bit bored? Do I need it $40 worth? Am I enjoying reading books and you know, having a life?

So we stuck with our rabbit ears. When we heard that the digital transition was coming, we got our magic box and waited. When it finally happened, we lost channel NINE! THE PBS WAS NO LONGER WITH US! Channel 9 is our favorite channel not only for the great documentaries, motivational speakers and antiques road show, but also because it has cartoons the kids can watch and learn something from with no offensive content and no obnoxious commercials.

Well the digital box didn’t pick up PBS but it did pick up a station playing reruns of the A-Team and Airwolf and one that seems to play Dances with Wolves about half the time. There was also a cartoon station called Qubo that I was excited for. It could be just like PBS in the mornings only different.

The difference comes in the lesser quality of the programs and the fact that it’s chock full of commercials and not just commercials but annoying obnoxious commercials about selling all of your spare gold to make a fortune or infomercials about fabulous must-have beauty products.

I left the kids watching Qubo for the first time and went upstairs to take a shower. When I got back, Laylee was bursting at the seams.

“I just saw the BEST. COMMERCIAL. EVER!”

“Oh yeah?”

She then proceeded to describe a magical product she had discovered called something like “Heel Magic.”

“It’s a kind of a stick that you rub against your feet and it takes off all the cracked dead skin and yucky stuff. You can have perfect smooth feet. Dad can use it. You can use it. We can all use it and our feet will be beautiful!

“It only costs $20 and it comes with a nail file and all this other free stuff!”

“Wow. That’s pretty cool,” I said.

“But it gets better. If you order NOW, it only costs $10! I mean $20 is pretty good but $10 is practically nothing.”

I told Laylee seriously, “You know I hate those kinds of commercials. They always make the stuff they’re selling look way better than it really is. I’m sure that magic heel stick really isn’t as good as they say it is.”

“Yeah. You’re probably right. But imagine if it WERE. Then we’d buy it for sure.” She looked dreamy.

So, um, no unsupervised Qubo watching for now. My kids are just way too easily shaped by the media they see. And besides, Dan figured out which direction to point our antenna and pick up channel nine. We have to sacrifice one of the major network stations to get nine but it’s not hurting us any and the kids are back to learning to read via the magical blue box of light.

Posted in kid stuff, television | 16 Comments

I Prefer My Glucose in the Form of Peach Rings

Posted on June 24, 2009 by The Daring One

Today I took the dreaded glucose test, or as the instructions on the bottle of sugar-water read, the test that you just fit into your daily routine without any inconvenience. (I’m paraphrasing there a bit.)

The bottle basically says to go about your business as usual, eat your breakfast and/or lunch as usual, then wait exactly two hours, then drink the bottle of putrid sugar water that’s supposed to be lemon/lime flavored but really tastes like rancid sugar dissolved in barely-potable water. You must drink it all in 5-10 minutes, stand on your head, not vomit, begin driving the 40 minutes to the blood draw facility where you should tell the employees exactly when you finished drinking it so they can take out half of your body’s total quantity of blood at exactly 60 minutes past the time that you finished your last drop of liquid. You should continue not vomiting and not eating until after your blood has been taken.

I’m not sure what all those vials of blood were for. I know one is to test for gestational diabetes, which is what the sugar-water is for. (Am I the only person who thinks of Edgar’s wife from Men in Black when I say “sugar-water”?) I suspect the other 13 vials are either just to make you feel like your whole trip was worthwhile or to continue the Jane Austeny tradition of “bleeding” someone to get the oogies out of their system.

I had an OB appointment directly following the glucose test in the same building so I wanted to plan to get done with the blood work and to the doctor at precisely the correct time, which meant I made a plan where I followed the directions backwards from the time of my appointment, figuring out when exactly I had to eat breakfast in order for all the planets to align.

It worked. My blood has been taken and I visited with my doctor. I told him that the test went fine but I’d rather have taken my glucose in some other way, like by eating a pound of peach rings. He said someone has actually calculated the exact number of jelly beans a pregnant woman has to eat to equal the amount of glucose in one of those drinks. I told him that next time I’d take the jelly bean route.

“Next time? There’s going to be a next time?” he said with raised eyebrows.

“Well, you know, if,” I backpedaled. I told him that a next time would be much more likely if he could help relieve some of the symptoms I’ve been having lately. So I’m off to physical therapy, water aerobics with old people, and he even gave me a little something that’s supposed to stop me from waking up coughing on my own stomach acid at night. Such a helpful lad.

Only 12 more weeks to go, peeps.

Posted in Random | 22 Comments

Camping with Graham Crappers and Shmarshmallows

Posted on June 24, 2009 by The Daring One

Dan and Magoo went “camping” last weekend. Read all about it over at [Parenting.com].

Posted in Random | Comments Off on Camping with Graham Crappers and Shmarshmallows

Old Lady Stereotypes as Witnessed by a Young Mom While Shopping at Costco

Posted on June 17, 2009 by The Daring One

They walked slowly and with apparent effort and their gait actually reminded me of the way I walk right now, pregnant sick and slightly crippled. They made me think about how similar many of my symptoms are to the symptoms of old age, the indigestion, the swelling, the upset stomach, the painful joints and general discomfort. “At least my pain has a timeline,” I thought. 9 months of this and my body will start to bounce back.

Older women experience symptoms equal to or worse than I’m experiencing but their due date is never or at least not in this life. Maybe they’ve earned the right to be cranky. I’m so glad that so many of them don’t take advantage of the excuse. I can’t say as much about myself.

Read more about my encounters with old ladies at [Parenting.com]

Posted in Random | 5 Comments

A Foot-Long with Appendages

Posted on June 15, 2009 by The Daring One

When I was pregnant with Laylee, I read What to Expect When You’re Expecting religiously. Every week, every few days, I would read about the baby, how big she had grown, whether she had toe-nails yet, how much she was starting to resemble a humanoid.

With this pregnancy I’ve had so many other things on my mind, sickness to deal with, a home to repair, and 2 other kids to chase. I feel like I have a general picture in my mind of how a baby develops and I don’t necessarily need to constantly check the toenail directory to feel connected to my role as a mother. This baby is also a monster-muffin ninja-face, moving around with ferocious speed and force inside me so it’s hard not to be aware of her presence. She’s been making herself known for months.

But yesterday I saw WTEWYE sitting on my bookshelf and I picked it up out of curiosity. How big IS she that she can move in a way that I can see it from the outside and feel it from everywhere inside? The book said that at the 6-month mark she’s about a foot long. All I could think was, “A foot-long? My baby’s a foot-long?” Now every time I think about her wiggling and punching and using her nunchucks in there, I picture her as a subway sandwich with arms and legs sticking out between the lettuce and meat. And I laugh out loud when I’m all alone in my house. There’s a living, swimming foot-long curved into a C-shape and growing inside of me.

It’s a fun visual, much more humorous than a little human baby.

Laylee on the other hand is more realistic about things. When asked on her Father’s Day survey about Dan, “What does your father run like?” she answered, “My dad runs like a human.” It’s all too true. He is very homosapien-like in his athletic abilities.

Then at dinner, Dan observed a problem with our dining room light, he investigated the problem and solved it. I pointed out that what he did was very scientific and narrated the kids through the steps of his methodology. They looked skeptical. “Yes he is a scientist. He could totally be on Sid the Science Kid,” I remarked.

Laylee shook her head. “No he couldn’t! He doesn’t look like playdough.”

Oh that’s right. We’d already established that your dad looks and runs like a HUMAN. Sorry for the memory lapse.

Posted in family fun, parenting, preg-nancy | 9 Comments