Dressing the belly

In this week’s column, Jenny Bullough share’s her thoughts about maternity wear.

Like a lot of moms and expecting moms, it’s an ongoing challenge for me to find inexpensive yet elegant maternity clothes. Staying stylish yet comfortable and not spending a fortune doesn’t seem like an outlandish or unreachable goal, so why is it so hard?

Part of the problem is that most maternity wear is designed to fit women who are at the most rotund stage of pregnancy – which often means that in the early months, these items are far too big. Right now I’m at the awkward stage of desperately cramming myself into my regular clothes – okay, my “fat” clothes usually reserved for premenstrual bloating – because my maternity clothes are still far too big and loose. I’m also deep in denial about the coming Clothespocalypse: saying goodbye to my cute fall sweaters and trousers, knowing I won’t fit into them until next year.

However, there is hope! A friend and new mom bequeathed to me her Bella band – a handy little piece of elasticized fabric that, miracle of miracles! Allows you to wear your prepregnancy pants unbuttoned. This should help me to make my fall wardrobe staples last a little bit longer, at least until my maternity pants will stay up! (Motherhood Maternity also carries their own version, the “tummy sleeve”.)

When the Bella band option has been exhausted, likely by October, I’m going to have to make a trip downtown to visit my two favorite mainstream maternity chain stores -- Motherhood Maternity and Thyme Maternity. Their clothes are decently priced, fairly fashionable without being overly trendy, and they have enough selection that I can mix-and-match their current pieces with the older and hand-me-down maternity clothes currently living in bins in my basement.

I’ll tell you what brand I *wish* made maternity clothes: Lululemon. I’m so tired of my favorite workout shirts riding up my growing belly while I’m trying to maintain an imprinted spine in Prenatal Pilates, or achieve camel pose in Prenatal Yoga!

What about you – do you have a favorite maternity store or brand? Or a favorite brand, period, that you wish had a maternity line?

Wii Fit may be just what I need

Even before it hit store shelves last May, I had every intention of trying out the Wii Fit the first chance I could get. Knowing it would be next to impossible to actually find one when they came on the market, I did something I’ve never done before. I used my twitter connections to find the PR company Nintendo hired to oversee the Canadian launch. Birdman Dodd was a great help.

As luck would have it, Shannon Morton from APEX PR introduced herself to me at mesh. She had read my weekly wish and offered me a loaner. Unfortuately, I succumbed to an injury and wasn't allowed to use it until I recovered. Lucky for me, the offer was still good months later.

After my recent weight loss, I needed to get exercising again so you can imagine how excited I was (as was the rest of my family) when the Wii Fit arrived. I was hoping it would be something we could all use. My kids couldn't wait to try it out but the novelty wore off quickly after they tested out the various activities (aerobics, yoga, strengthening, balance). Mr. B. had pretty much the same response. I have a bit of a Wii-phobia and kept on putting it off.

I stared at it for a long time before I actually gave it a whirl and I have to say, the activities weren't as well executed as other Wii games and activities. However, it's ability to provide fitness tests, track my progress, yoga lessons and weight loss goals are impressive.

The balance board doubles as a scale and an accurate one at that. I was pleased to learn that my Body Mass Index (BMI) is now in the normal range –– yipee! I wasn't as pleased to learn I had gained a few pounds since I last stepped on a scale. At least it was nothing major.

My fitness test results were pretty scary ’cause I'm in bad shape –– at least I can do something about that. Aerobics and yoga were my favourites. I regret not trying skiing. I learned I suck at balance activities.

While I wasn’t as wowed as expected, I am sold. Nintendo is also producing new activities for Wii Fit so people don’t get bored of doing the same exercises over and over again. Although there are lots of Wii Fit accessories on store shelves, the actual game is still hard to find even four months after it’s release. (Psst, if you don’t tell anyone, you may want to try Toy Town – this hidden gem started selling Nintendo accessories about a year ago. ☺)

Have you tried Wii Fit? If so, does it work for you?

Google is 10 today!

Google is 10 years old today, just a couple weeks younger than my little guy. I can’t imagine life before he came on the scene and that’s how I feel about Google. I love them both in very different ways.

Can you even imagine a day without Google? I can’t. For the past 10 years, it’s helped make our lives easier by giving us all kinds of incredible online tools – and all of them are free!

Even if you don’t shop online, I’m sure you do you research here first. Do you think that would still be the case if it weren’t for Google?

How Google has changed your shopping habits?

Cheap clothes for kids

In this week’s column, Jenny Bullough share’s her thoughts about shopping on a budget for young kids.

Now that fall is really upon us, my thoughts naturally turn to outfitting my 4-year-old for the colder months.

After a few years’ experience of digging through last winter’s long-sleeved shirts, pants, and jackets and finding more than half of them no longer fit, I’m prepared for a massive shopping explosion in order to make sure my girl is adequately clothed for the coming chill.

Nothing says “mommy guilt” like seeing the disapproving glances of the other daycare/preschool/JK moms and dads when they see bare ankles and wrists exposed because last season’s pants and shirts are suddenly a size too small! I speak from experience, unfortunately.

I hope you won’t think I’m a negligent parent when I tell you that when it comes to buying my little kindergartner clothes for everyday wear, I am *supremely* cheap.

Again, from experience I know that anything she wears to daycare or school is doomed to come back home stained with play-doh, paint, food, or old-fashioned mud, and most likely missing buttons, fasteners, and any fancy doo-dads sewn onto it, so spending a lot of money on daily wear is just not worth the investment since by the time she’s done with it, it won’t even be fit for passing on to future siblings or younger cousins.

For cheap kids’ wear, my first stop is always Joe Fresh. There’s a section conveniently located in our local Loblaws, which makes it easy to check out their clearance racks every week; and their kids clothes are inexpensive and surprisingly durable. Plus their pants often feature adjustable waists, which is a key ingredient to longevity in the kid wardrobe.

If I can’t find what I need while grocery shopping, Old Navy or Zellers will often have good stuff on their sale racks, and their regularly-priced merchandise isn’t too costly. For durability, go with Old Navy first; for items bedecked with your child’s favorite cartoon characters, Zellers is your best bet. I have occasionally had issues with the fit of some Zellers clothes, but as with all HBC properties their no-hassle return policy makes it easy to buy two sizes and return the one that doesn’t fit.

And finally, I always love to drop into Once Upon a Child at least once a season and I’m rarely disappointed. This chain of consignment stores scores high marks with me for their constant rotation of high-quality, gently-used kids clothing. I’ve gotten some tremendous deals there on barely-worn name-brand designer kids clothes like Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren.

Those are my top tips for durable, cheap daily kids wear. What store is your first stop when your little ones need new school clothes?