Category Archives: The Girls

What I Ate Wednesday #3

October 12, 2016

Let me first point out- today is such a nicer healthier collection of foods than the past few days. Yeah, I’ve been scarfing down lots and lots of sugar. Hello pumpkin spice oreos and birthday cake flavored target-os. Oh a cookies and cream filled doughnut, the broken smarties from halloween candy, you know, anything I can get my hands on really. It is so easy to eat carbs and sugars since they are shelf stable and quick to make. Bagel and cream cheese? Easy and satisfying. Vegan boxed mac and cheese? Pretty filling. My acid reflux has been AWFUL the past few days, which I think has made me reach for the super junky foods. It also might be making leftovers filled with veggies less appealing. Part of me wonders if the things I am craving with the reflux (read: sugary snacks) are what is causing it.

breakfastshake

But let’s start with my shake. I just wasn’t feeling spirulina this morning. I wanted to taste more of the chocolate so I took out the spirulina and blended up a small beet from my CSA. I love how it makes the shake turn a deep shade of pink. I pretty much made the same shake I always do- soy milk, banana, cocoa powder, stevia, brown rice protein, kale greens, and chia seeds. Super tasty and yummy.

latte

I was feeling a little peckish before heading out to work so I quickly made a macaccino using some ripple chocolate milk. I really love the consistency of ripple, it is so thick and creamy and possibly a little gritty. Target keeps having sales for them so I keep snatching the small ones.

lunch

Around 12 I got too hungry and ate my lunch. I ate two very small golden delicious apples and a cluster fuck of leftovers. I made a red curry that was very thin. It made quite a lot so I kept trying to make the leftovers a little different each time. It kind-of morphed into a bland linguine dish that had some angel hair pasta as well. I pretty much just plugged 1 1/2 cups linguine, 1/4 cup white beans, 1/8 cauliflower, and 1/8 green beans into Cronometer. Seriously, no clue what the nutritional/calorie count would be for that. My bosses also opened a bag of corn chips, and I might of eaten a few handfuls of those.

hinderfork

So I clearly didn’t eat this- but I didn’t take photos of many things I ate (2 apples, corn chips, or raw cookies) so I figured I would share this interesting piece we just got in at my work. It is a fork from the Hinderburg! One of our clients said he was scoping out the field for work and his co-worker accidentally kicked it around. The backside of the fork has a lot more melting going on. It is hard to see in the photo, but on the burnt part there is a little logo (you can see a close up here.) For the record- I did NOT use this fork for my lunch.

Then I got hungry again around 3, and ate the rest of the Rawdical Raisin Cacao Cookies with Oats I made. I really didn’t like them much, which is weird since I really like a similar dish from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen. I think it is the coconut oil that Emily adds to hers, it just is icky to me. Plus Ani puts hers in a dehydrator, which I think makes them a little more intense in flavor. I ate about 2.5-3 little cookies worth.

dinnerbaby

Then for dinner I made a recipe for the Vegan Mofo Blackest Dish challenge. Funny because I love this dish, it is very dark, but compared to the black rice, the stir-fry looks so brown. XD I thought the super metal dish matchy my spoopy shirt. So you guys get some tummy action. And you’ll just have to wait for the recipe for this. But it does use chunjang, a Korean black bean paste. I also used eggplant and broccoli from my CSA and a can of vegan abalone that I’ve had sitting around forever.

I might have a snack- thinking maybe half of a pumpkin mocha scone that I made from Protein Ninja. It’s the first time I made scones before, and I think I added too much flour to them. I wish she gave weights instead of cups for measurements. I plugged half a scone into Cronometer, just incase I decided to eat it before going to bed. As always, the numbers are off. The black rice and ripple didn’t have a full nutritional profile, nor did the canned abalone, I used miso instead of black bean paste, and so on. So I fell short, though I am sure I would of been off anyways.

As always, got all the calories I need- and hey I have 45 calories left! JK I had half of a broken package of smarties. I mean I can’t give it to trick or treaters right? Just got my fats requirements, all my carb, and pleanty of protein (160%, who says vegans don’t get protein?!) I am getting a lot of sugar though. I know I ate a banana and two apples, but there was a good amount of sugar in the ripple milk and in the raw cookies I ate which used agave. I am still short on a lot of various vitamins, but again, some food didn’t get fully registered, and it might of added to the totals.

Anyone else get their Halloween candy yet? And do you have a strong will to not eat the whole thing?

I know I’ve got the will to not eat the ones I can give out. XD

Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy Tags: macaccino, pregnancy, rawesome vegan baking, ripple, ripple milk, third trimester, this rawesome vegan life, week 31, what I ate wednesday

5 comments

Pregnancy Fashion and Body Image

October 6, 2016

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Pin: Kate Gabrielle (discontinued) | Shirt: A Pea in a Pod via Swap.com | Dress: Hello Miz via Zulily (available in black or teal) | Tights: Target (similar) | Nail Polish: Lime Crime

I randomly took a photo of this outfit I wore to work and posted it on Instagram. I don’t always dress up, but I was feeling it that day. I thought it looked so cute, that I should probably take a proper photo for the blog. Why? I said I would post some fashion posts with the new baby bump, but uh… really haven’t. I don’t think there isn’t enough “alternative” pregnancy fashion posts out there, so here you guys go.

If the shirt looks familiar it is because I took a photo of it during my Swap.com vs Thred Up review. And I was so tiny back them in comparison. But then again I guess that was over a month ago. The baby was more axolotl/weasel sized and now is bunny/platypus sized! And I have to admit probably my main reason for not posting these outfit posts has a lot to do with body image. You wouldn’t think it would be so taxing on self image, but it really is.

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I joked with Jon that getting pregnant is like hitting puberty again, and in many ways it is. Everything shifts. Boobs get bigger, and not just bigger, but shape and density differs. I get adult acne more often than I use to. Your stomach is starting swell, and although I knew that I wouldn’t have a big basketball of fat on my stomach, it is weird. Normally if your tummy gets bigger it is from a nice thick layer of fat, but a baby bump is hard lump. I am always trying to put my socks and shoes on while standing, forgetting that my baby doesn’t fold over like fat. I am constantly walking around in narrow passages, forgetting that my tummy can’t quite clear the table or that chair. Heck I even moved some boxes around at work because I kept bumping into them.

Sure there are pages in pregnancy books about coping with the physical changes, but almost all offer the solution of “Just think of the baby!” I can’t help but imagine everyone saying it in the same tone as “Elaine you gotta have a baby!” And I think it just dismisses a lot of the complicated feelings women have with body image. Truthfully, I think if we lived in a perfect world where all shapes and sizes were embraced, people would still find the changes of pregnancy difficult. You only have a few months to deal with these changes and after giving birth your tummy won’t shrink down magically.

Somedays I feel like I am in the wrong body. The normal curves you see every single day suddenly go away and become new ones. And it isn’t everyday that I feel weird and out of place. Some days I can look in the mirror and smile at my big tummy. I mean I clearly thought I was cute enough to share an outfit I was wearing, right? And even on days when I feel completely uncomfortable with my body, I still enjoy feeling the baby kicks.

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Maybe I focus so much on my body since I’ve been having a pretty easy pregnancy. I don’t have stretch marks (yet…), no weird darkened skin, varicose veins, digestion issues, or other aches and pains most people associate with pregnancy. So I could be possibly have more attention being focused on what is most obviously changing.

But I can now see why so many books and pregnant women tend to dislike hearing any input about their appearance. I was told that I looked so “small” and healthy early on in the pregnancy. It bothered me since it just made me think too much about how society associates thinness with health. It also felt like I was trying hide my bump, but I was mostly just trying to wear what fit and was comfortable for the hot weather. But I would hear people joke, and not in a mean spirited way, about how I wasn’t as trim as I use to be.

And there is learning how to dress all over again. We all know women’s clothing is all over the place, but now I have to learn even more new sizes. I can safely say- don’t size up. I was afraid of things being too small, and ended up with a few articles of clothing that I am swimming in. I am also getting a reminder that more money doesn’t equal better quality. The A Pea in a Pod shirt I am wearing has nice fabric, but the sleeves I think were cut properly on the bias as they twist oddly. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if they didn’t have some cute buttons at the cuff that never stay in place.

Some items you can get away with wearing into pregnancy, but I totally recommend investing in some maternity tights. When I wore some black tights with my tent dress, it became clear that normal tights will cut into your tummy and be very uncomfortable. I was able to get these awesome tights on sale for $5 from Target, which it is hard to find maternity tights for less than $15. They can be much more if you are looking for the compression styled tights.

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I also wanted to quickly talk about the pin I am wearing. I got it in a surprise pack from Kate Gabrielle. I’ve always loved her fashion blog since she has a cute style, but also she loves vintage movies. She has her own shop and had a this “Be Kind to Animals” pin, but has since discontinued it. So sad right? But she has other cute things, like a BFF heart necklace for you and your cat. And one of my favorites- a pin commemorating Oprah’s (or your) love of bread.

Posted by Jennifer in Clothing, Pregnancy Tags: a pea in a pod, be kind to animals, clothing, fashion, Hello Miz, kate gabrielle, pregnancy, scathingly brilliant, second hand, swap.com, target, zulily

7 comments

Pregnancy – Weeks 28-29

September 30, 2016

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Doctors:

Went to the doctors for one of the long appointments. I had my prenatal diabetes test done (and I got the results which say “reference range: <135 (mg/dL) ” so I passed?) which wasn’t nearly as bad as what I was expecting. The way they scheduled appointment made it seem like I would be doing the glucose test- THEN see the doctor after waiting an hour. It more like seeing the doctor after drinking the sugar drink, then waiting the remaining time before getting my blood drawn again.

The funny thing is that I don’t THINK I am a picky person when it comes to doctors. But when I meet a doctor I don’t like, I do complain a lot. I think I tend to dislike doctors that treat me as fragile, or overly delicately. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining if these type of doctors are delivering my baby, I can safely say they wouldn’t so anything questionable to rush the delivery (which I spare the details of what I mean.)

But the doctor I got recently proceeded to ask which arm I wanted a shot in because it would make it weak. He even offered to have someone give the shot in my bottom if I was worried that the shot would make my arm TOO weak. I instantly was expecting a huge needle that was insanely thick and an intense burning from the injection. But I figured get it in my arm, it probably wouldn’t be a big deal. Seriously, barely felt it, didn’t even bleed. My boss and I have a theory that maybe he got his shingle shot recently, which can cause a small inflammation on the arm. He is older, and was going on about how his recent shot was awful.

Oh he also offered to put my purse down and pick it up, which is nice I guess. But if I can’t bend over easily then how can I get various things done throughout the day?! Give me cold jaded doctors any day please.

Sleep:

Well, I haven’t slept through an entire night in awhile. It hasn’t been too bad. I often wake up in the middle of the night and turn over, then fall back asleep. So nothing too awful. I am also starting to understand why people drop $50-100 on those pregnancy pillows. Earlier this week I had horrible hip pain at night. After a few google searches it turns out that in an over simplified explanation, my legs were kind-of being pulled out of my hips sockets. All I had to do is cram another pillow in between my ankles. It solved the problem. But now it is a real pain to climb into bed, putting one pillow at my feet- one between my knees, and wedge a stuffed animal under my tummy. Actually wedging the stuffed animal is kind-of cute. It is sort of like my stuffed polar bear is hugging my stomach.

Another weird thing I notice is that my legs are super tense at night. I think it has to do with leg cramps that most people get at night. It is just very odd, I wake up feeling like my legs are soar as if I did an intense workout the day before. But once I get moving, the feeling goes away.

Clothing:

As you can tell from the picture- I gotta stop wearing that tank top for those photo shoots. It is just stretched out too much. XD I am actually finding that I should have enough clothes for the rest of pregnancy. Which is a little sad that I can stop shopping around. I have been looking around at nursing clothing. I plan on breast feeding, and I am starting to take note that some of my clothes aren’t the greatest for boob access. A quick look at my fashion posts quickly reveal that I like high necklines. Oops!

Symptoms:

I’ve been pretty good. I am starting to get Braxton Hicks contractions, but I usually don’t even notice when they happen. Which leads me to wonder if I get symptoms that I just ignore. It is funny that farts are a symptom that seems to plague pregnant women. I think I have been farting less while pregnant- except when I do fart it is embarrassingly uncontrollable. And usually when I am doing something like bending over or while walking. Luckily these are rare and usually when I am alone, so only I can laugh at how absurd it is.

I was also pretty excited to read this article that suggests that Pregnancy Brain might not be real! I think it makes sense, there is a lot on a pregnant ladies mind. I have a huge to do list with getting my house ready for baby (because I won’t have time afterwards), getting a pediatrician, dealing with the health insurance company, figuring out delivery details, managing money, etc, etc. It is just stressful, so yeah, I might not be able to remember smaller details that I normally would have time to.

Food:

Can I say cookie butter and I are totally clicking right now? I’ve been having a late night snack of Wegman’s new bajillion grain bread (might not be the official name ^__~) with Trader Joe’s cookie & chocolate swirl butter on it. Even more amazing is when I take the raspberries from my CSA and put them on top. I’ve even put the cookie butter on some Asian Pear that is from a local orchard.

Otherwise the acid reflux has been killing my eating game. It is very annoying, sometimes making me wait longer to eat dinner than with my husband. I recently posted a What I Ate Wednesday if anyone wants to take a look.

Baby Shower:

It just occurred to me that our baby shower is in 2 weeks! I am pretty excited since that means delivery day getting closer. Maybe Jon and I will get the nursery painted before the shower and start getting a nursery put together. Baby isn’t due for awhile but I am always thinking best to be as prepared as possible. We already got a gift in the mail and we now have one of those cute baby boogie suction balls.

Animals:

Last post I forgot to include cute animals! My goodness I feel so bad, it is probably the best part of the post. You learn about cool animals AND see something cute. So I included the animals that the baby was the size of from the previous two weeks as well.

Week 26: Slow Loris This small guy is a primate that hunts at night. He quietly sneaks up on his bug prey and quickly snatches them. I personally love these animals, but sadly they have a growing popularity on the internet because of some cute YouTube videos that people take of their pet Slow Loris. The pet trade is something I don’t want to promote, so finding cute photos of the Slow Loris is wild is pretty hard. But I did find some cute photos, and a fun SciShow video.

Week 27: Fennec Fox Another animal that is often found in the “exotic pet trade.” Again don’t get one, but luckily a quick google search has tons of cute photos of this animal in the wild. These cute guys live in Africa and have those big ears to help keep them cool in hot weather. They are so small apparently their main predator is an eagle owl.

Week 28: Echidna I have a soft spot for the echidna. This mammal lives in Australia and is one of the few mammals that lay eggs. Yup, that’s right eggs. The spines are for protection, and they will burrow under some leaves and dirt so all you can see of them are just the spines. The echidna eats in a similar way as anteaters, with a long sticky tongue, which is why they have so a long nose. I hope I’m not the only one who finds them cute.

Week 29: New England Cottontail Yeah I am not sure why my app decided to get real specific. I mean slow loris and echnida aren’t any specific species, but New England Cottontail? That’s a specific species of rabbit that lives in a very small amount of space. Most people see Eastern Cottontails, and I see them all the time. Since the species is so specific I don’t have any photos to share, although I did take a few snaps of an Eastern Cottontail last year.

Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy, The Girls Tags: pregnancy, third trimester, week 28, week 29

4 comments

What I Ate Wednesday #2

September 28, 2016

I wanted to do a What I Ate Wednesday at least once a month during the pregnancy, and I am almost running out of time to do my September post! It has been a pretty busy month, so I figured it is now or never. Sadly today is a little boring in my selection of food, there are lots of leftovers and repeats.

I started the day with my usual chocolate spirulina smoothie. I went back to the powdered spirulina since I found the spirulina tablets more expensive and annoyingly you need to take 6 tablets to get 1 tsp of powder. The tablets are annoying to swallow, and aren’t very pleasant to chew either. What I do like about my chocolate spirulina smoothie is that hits so many of the nutritional needs for pregnant ladies. I get about 50% of the calcium (from the greens and soymilk) and 61% of the iron (from all that cocoa and spirulina) that I need for the day. I also get about 30 grams of protein with only adding 2 tablespoons of protein powder to the whole thing. I should probably post this bad boy on the blog because I think this is a great shake. And the greens I used today? Some beet greens and a little bit of swiss chard.

I’ve been obsessed with fizzy drink as of lately. I think it has to do with the fact that I can’t really have beer or cocktails. I’ve been getting by with non-alcoholic beers, tonic water with shrubs, and seltzers. And if I am honest I am always have a sugar-free soda at work, which I know, isn’t the best, but for awhile I was bringing my own seltzer into work. I also have been bringing in powder mix packets to mix with my water. I really like the Target brand mixers because they use both sugar AND stevia making it only 15 calories. I like how they don’t use coloring in the mixes, the drink ends up being a pale white-ish or completely clear. But they do use artificial flavors. I also really like Madhava’s powder mixes, though I usually find them a little stronger than I prefer. Just like the target ones, they use a mix of stevia and agave powder but they tend to stay away from artificial flavors. But I think I mainly wanted to show my wonderful new wall color ^__~

It was nice a chilly this morning, so chilly I got to wear a sweatshirt while getting ready. I was in the mood for something warm and comforting, and didn’t want to make a cup of coffee (just in case I needed a caffeine kick in the afternoon.) So I made a little latte using Macaccino. They are a new coffee replacement that is on the market, and I think it works best as a latte rather than with just water. I made my own latte by mixing a tablespoon of macaccino with 1/4 cup of hot water. Then I added 8 oz of hot soy milk and a tablespoon of a pumpkin caramel syrup. It was pretty amazing, and perfect for the weather.

Lunch consisted of watermelon, the last watermelon of the season! It was nice, this year we had yellow, orange, and red watermelon. But I think my favorite has been the red watermelon. It was just perfect this year. I ate a curry burrito with it. I used white rice my Mother made from a previous night. It was weird rice, I have a feeling my Father bought instant rice and didn’t tell my Mother. The other half is a South Indian styled chickpea and eggplant curry from Vegan Richa‘s cookbook. Sorry the photo is so crummy, I was trying to take a photo discreetly since my bosses were there. They nicely offered me some corn chips, and ate a small handful as well.

After lunch I eventually had a snack bar that I made. I forgot to take a photo- plus they were ugly looking and nasty tasting. I was trying to make a bar using tahini, cranberries, and lime coconut chips. It was a MASSIVE fail. Oh well. I drove by Wegman’s on the way home from work to pick up some veggie dogs for Jon on Friday. He is going to a Mets vs Phillies game and his office is doing a tailgating thing. I opted out since there are so many reasons why a pregnant woman shouldn’t be at a baseball game. No beer, uncomfortable seats, peeing every inning. Besides I am not a huge baseball fan. I was pretty hungry at the end, and grabbed a small bar to nibble on before dinner. I am a huge fan of these Raw Rev bars, though I only get them on special occasions.

I originally was planning on going for a run afterwork but it was raining a little and my hamstrings were pretty tight from a workout from the day before. But I kept with the plan of eating leftovers and had some brown rice noodles with leftover massaman curry from Vegan Eats World. The curry is filled with green beans, sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and baked tofu. If you’ve never had a massaman curry before it is pretty much like a peanut butter curry. It’s awesome. Sadly, after dinner I got a lot of acid reflux, so I am not sure I will be eating anything else for dessert. It is seriously up in the air.

So how are my nutritional stats? Well, for one I noticed some foods didn’t really track any nutritional information other than what is on the label. So I might have been a little closer to some of the nutritional goals. But that is also why I take prenatal vitamins ^__~ And FYI cronometer is a little weird. I always get a lot of red because I have it in weight gain mode I guess most clients are trying to loose weight. But if you read closely, it says I can eat 210 more calories. I already ate 2400 calories! I got 100 grams of protein, 273 grams of carbs, and 90 grams of fat. I am a little shocked about the fat since I tend to have a low fat diet. Not really intentionally though.

Well, I am off to watch some TV with the hubs and count kicks for the doctors. Ugh. It’s so sad, it is always within 10-15 minutes I count 10 kicks. Plus I tend to ignore the small ones, depending on how interested I am in the TV show.

What are you guys snacking on today?

Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy Tags: macaccino, pregnancy, raw rev glo, third trimester, vegan eats world, vegan richa, week 29, what I ate wednesday, wiaw

6 comments

Pregnancy – Weeks 26-27

September 19, 2016

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Finally got to the last two weeks of the second trimester! That means it is all downhill from here. I will hopefully be so pumped about cool fall weather, finishing up the last bits of setting up the house, and celebrating holidays that I will totally forget that I am counting down the day till I can ~~have a drink~~ meet my baby.

“Nesting”

Last week I was so busy painting that I didn’t post my baby update until the Monday of week 26. Eek! But we have painted the ceiling, painted a walls bright turquoise, and the rest of the walls a nice cool grey. We are now just moving things on the third floor, organizing and making it workable. We will definitely post photos of the place when we get it to a “finished” product. Mostly because 1) It is cool and 2) It is nice to have a photo of it being all clean and perfect before it because a messy working space. XD

Then I get to fret over the nursery… which isn’t so bad thinking about how we didn’t have to choose a crib, changing table, or rocking chair. Just needs a coat of paint (on the ceiling at well ugh) and us to install all the furniture. I guess after that we will think about buying more art for the walls or whatever else we need to make the room feel less empty.

In good company

I am pretty excited to find out that my friend from college is pregnant. About a year ago I went to her wedding, and I guess I wasn’t expecting that she would try and get pregnant (totally caught me off guard.) But I think part of my excitement is that I have a friend who has a baby and the same age as me. As most people my age are just starting to settle down and earning/saving some real money. So I think most of my close friends either aren’t having kids because of money, or think they will probably live a child-free life. I think it is important to have friends without kids, but there is a part of me that would like someone that I can bring my kid to play with theirs. But, it doesn’t matter too much since my friend is a 5 hour drive away in Maryland.

Actually, there are lots of far-away friends who recently had kids or are pregnant. One of my online buddies recently had a baby girl, and my other online friend Jessika (who I’ve met IRL a few times) is pregnant with baby number two. And my old college roommate is having his first baby right around the same time as I am. But everyone is scattered in Maryland, Virginia, and Portland Oregon. Which is kind-of stinks that I don’t have someone closer.

Symptoms

Yeah, I guess I am starting to feel pregnant. I can’t big things anymore. Not because I lack the muscles, but because my arms can’t span around both a big box AND my big belly. And I am getting yelled at more and more for carrying heavy items. It’s so hard for me to not do things myself. My feet are slightly swelling (shoes are a little more snug) and I am starting to feel some Braxton Hicks contractions. Heartburn is coming back again, making dinner not very enjoyable. My back randomly hurts, but I have been trying hard to keep my back straight but hip tilted.

Emotions

I do find it a little funny when people talk about how they cried so much during their pregnancy. The waterworks aren’t going off for me. No instead I feel like an angsty teen. I went on a rant while grocery shopping about men waiting for women to pass. It makes no sense to me. If you are confused by what I mean, let me explain. There is a sidewalk lining the parking lot of Wegmans. They are wide enough for two shopping cart to go in different directions. While pushing my cart to the car (pregnant or not) I’ve had men walking on the other side of the concrete stop and wait for me to pass. I’ve seen this happen with other women too. I don’t THINK they are checking out the passing person’s butt, especially since one woman was pushing a cart with a baby in it. I assume this is some weird outdated politeness rule, like opening doors for ladies. But why? I mean what the hell is the point?! Are men walking so fast that they create wind that blow women over?

Ugh. It just makes me so mad, proving my point that I am an angsty and angry little shit (or rather huge… I mean my belly.) God helps if any strangers touch my stomach randomly.

Exercise

Hahaha…. yeah it has been practically non-exsitent. Luckily I’ve been keeping active painting, moving crap up and down 3 flights of stairs. I’ve probably gone for only 2- maybe 3 runs over the past two weeks. Somehow I am still going faster… what the heck? This morning I ran only 1.4 miles but ran about a minute per mile faster than a week ago. Go figure. But don’t think I am breaking records. I was aiming for 10 minute mile pre-pregnancy, I am averaging 12:30-14:30 minute miles.

Belly

My belly button is seeing it’s last days. I woke up this morning seeing the top half kind-of start poking out. It is only a matter of time till it all comes poking out. The baby is also really active and you can now see the kicks pretty easily. While waiting for my scanner to go at work, I was able to quickly take a video for Jon since he keeps making fun of me for staring at my belly when going to bed. I feel a little bad that I can’t be bothered to get him when the baby kicks to feel for them. It is never just a kick either. It is like punches, kicks, and head butts. Sometimes I feel like my kid is American Ninja Warrioring it in my stomach.

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My weight gain is right on track, and I try not to focus on weight but man do I love stats and charts. Look at that perfect little line. I am just starting to hit the “target” area, but the gain has been pretty steady.

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Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy, The Girls Tags: pregnancy, second trimester, week 26, week 27

4 comments

Pregnancy – Weeks 24-25

September 5, 2016

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Shopping:

Finally I am reaching the end of our baby registry rainbow! This might seem like a dumb thing to be excited about but most of my reading time has been devoted to reading Baby Bargains (not to be confused with The Baby Bargain, which has more cheap thrills the cheap strollers.) It is pretty much the Consumers Report on all baby stuff, and man was I reaching my limit of decision making. I mean none of it is particularly fun. Mattresses, sheets, nipple tops, diapers, and so many strollers. When I got to the end of things we needed to buy, I was so over joyed. I think I was so burnt out from making decisions on which was the “best” that I flipped out on Jon when he asked if “ceiling white” would be okay for third floor.

I still need to get a diaper bag. We kind-of went for backpack because I think it would be good for Jon’s sake. Plus I still have the mondo purse that I made and if anything I could make smaller compartments to better hold certain things- like a mini diaper bag. I just couldn’t find anything I liked that was vegan and cute that wasn’t $100. I know I could put it on the registry, but I already feel greedy enough as it is. Besides- I much rather have this bag as a diaper bag. Maybe I need to get into the impractical diaper bag business.

“Nesting”:

Yup I put some big ol’ quotes in there. I am pretty convinced that “nesting” isn’t a real symptom of pregnancy. Why? Because of coarse you will be worried about making sure everything is nice, we don’t make nurseries months before trying to get pregnant! This past two weeks have been exhausting because we have been repainting my old dresser. It has been kind-of fun because my sister found the old mirror that goes with it. I took it to work, took out the mirror and found out that the dresser had been built in the 50s! It isn’t the BEST dresser, but it much nicer than if I bought an Ikea dresser. We have to paint it because 1) the mirror frame doesn’t match and 2) my father scuffed the dresser pretty badly because he isn’t the most cautious person when moving furniture. We have been doing that almost every night before bed adding a new coat.

We are also fixing up the third floor to be our office/workout space so we can move our office to the third floor to use the old space as a nursery. And that involved doing some ceiling painting each day of the week. No we don’t paint the ceiling each time we paint a room, we just had a leak earlier in the year and had to fix it. This weekend will be hanging with family and trying to paint the walls. Next weekend? Moving everything to the third floor. Then we can start to figure out what the heck we want to do with the nursery. *sigh*

The Cat:

I recently went to the doctors for one of my last “boring monthly visits.” I am being upgraded to a visit with tons of tests then to bi-weekly boring visits. Lucky me! I got to meet the practices new midwife and I really like her. I am not looking for a midwife or doctor specifically, just seeing all the doctors and hoping a click with someone. Too bad I have no choice on who really delivers the baby (it is mostly who is staffed that day.) I am hoping to schedule more of my appointments with her, though I am still not down with everyone telling me that I can only lift 20 lb. No really, how do you do anything otherwise?!

I actually had questions this time around! Shocking. One was about Toulouse’s ringworm. She periodically get outbreaks and she had a really bad case a week ago. The midwife told me, I am probably fine, but I should avoid petting her (mostly to stop, you know, picking the scabs cause it is all my monkey genes coming out.)

Although she thought I would be fine, she pointed out that if I haven’t been immune to ringworm, I could have a horrible outbreak. It was best to let Jon apply the medication and I take a step back. Happy about everything I leave the office with a photo text from Jon- the cat has been sleeping in my boxes of clothing (look above- painting dresser.) I had mixed feelings of “awww cute” and “god damn it.” All week, my cat has been all about sleeping in my boxes of clothes or sleeping on my side of the bed. She stopped now that we have had another heatwave, you know, when her ringworm got back under control.

Body:

When I first started to read articles about body image issues on my pregnancy apps, I thought it was weird. I can’t tell someone their too small or they might cry. I can’t tell someone they look big or they might cry. But now I am getting it. At first I was wondering if it was bad- or good about the weight I had. All the books say I should be showing by the second trimester and I just didn’t look too much like I was. People who know me kept saying I looked pregnant, but I still kept looking thinking that I could just be bloated.

I have finally hit “tipping point” where I need almost all my clothes to be maternity wear or very stretchy. I put on my cute dress enjoying how I can finally wear the maternity clothing. Went to our art restorer to drop off some art (expensive shit like an etching of The Golfer by Rembrandt, yeah, I’m name dropping) and talked to the owner. I mentioned he wouldn’t see me in December since I was pregnant. He seemed pretty surprised and didn’t notice that my belly was fairly large. Maybe that is a sign he is looking more at my face than my body XD

Otherwise I am noting other changes- like my boobs. I look at the photos from when I first started taking them weekly and they looked- dare I say- pointy. At least compared to now. I could be just a man with a basketball and grapefruit stuffed in my shirt for all you know. Everything is super round. Even my butt is getting bigger- or more circular.

Oh, my belly is getting a little more torpedo shaped. In the morning when I stretch my arms up my belly button starts to poke out. Belly is getting a little itchier but so far no stretch marks. No linea nigra, but I do have more tummy fuzz going down my navel. It is hardly noticeable though.

Food:

I am hitting another sugar overload moment. I probably will start going back to trying to make a crunchy savory granola bar again. I guess it is better to be tired of sugar than craving more? I am eating more sugar than normal from the oreo pudding pie (will be posted on the blog this week), hemp protein brownies, ben & jerry’s ice cream, clif bars, lattes, and cookies.

Oh and the tons and tons of fruit I eat. I am always eating a banana for breakfast, and an apple for lunch. But now we have watermelon and cantaloupes from the CSA, so they have been packed in my daily lunches instead. To make it even more crazy, my in-laws are in Switzerland and Italy for two weeks and we have been picking up their shares so I have 2 large red watermelon and 2 small yellow watermelon this week.

Otherwise I’ve been pretty healthy just eating all the fresh produce we’re getting from CSA before it goes bad. We also got a bunch of blackberries, that I am still not sure what I am going to do with yet. Thinking banana ice cream or chia pudding. Too much pressure to make the best of them since they are all done for the season.

Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy Tags: pregnancy, second trimester, week 24, week 25

2 comments

Pregnancy – Weeks 22-23

August 17, 2016

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Fitness

I was doing so well working out 5 days a week, and then heatwave came, and then I woke up nauseous, and then my husband woke up with a migraine. Let’s just say not much has been done. Oddly I have been expanding my running distance. Something I wasn’t expecting to do 6 months into the pregnancy. The biggest thing holding me back is usually having to pee mid run. I might try and run to a local park so I can take a mid run potty break.

Tummy Status

It’s official- I can no longer hide my tummy. Both photos for this post I had to make sure to pull my shirt all the way down. I went to H&M and got three shirts because normal shirts are just starting to get a little too short. I keep reading suggestions that you can size regular shirts up, but I really like the pregnancy shirts with the ruching. They are completely worth it. I probably will buy a bunch from Swap.com next month.

Jon keeps asking if anyone notices if I am pregnant. And I keep having to point out that I am not quite big enough to make people feel comfortable to ask. I think people don’t want to offend someone who might have a big tummy. But just last week, I was wearing my purple dress at work and helping a customer pick up her framing. She asked if I was expecting, and I was a little surprised since I thought my outfit, if anything, hid my tummy (I am trying not to hide that I am pregnant, just trying to put on anything that is cool and fits.) I had the one lady working at Fernbrook Farms ask if I was pregnant as well, and said she was happy I was since she gets nervous that she might be wrong. XD

As for my tummy- it is starting to get itchy from the skin stretching. So I’ve been putting on some lotion. My belly button is still hanging in there. And I am starting to even see my tummy move from kicks. At first I thought I was imagining things because it looked like stomach was moving with the kicks when reading a book. Then when I stared at my tummy for a few solid minutes, I could see a little slight movement. It isn’t drastic enough to try and record, heck my husband still hasn’t felt any kicks yet. They are always totally random and all over the place.

Cravings/Adversions

Cravings? Hmm… still finding this the most blown out pregnancy myth. But then again, I keep having this problem where I sit around and don’t want to eat what I have, so I just get more and more hungry. Think I am kidding? Earlier this morning I was reading blog posts and thought “man, I am really hungry… but I really don’t want leftover harira…. but I should really eat that before it goes bad” Drove out to Whole Foods and got a pumpkin spice almond milk latte…. hot. Then finally got home and caved and ate the damned soup, about an hour and half later. I’ve been doing this with work too. I have been working on managing clients for a booster football club. And I always find myself thinking “WHAT THE HELL!? IS THE WHOLE WORLD STUPID?!” because someone asked a very dumb question or a very ugly ad. Then I look at the clock and find that I normally would of eaten lunch an hour ago.

But if there was “cravings” going on right now, it would be sugar and cold things. Smoothies, yes. Ice cream, yes. Cereal, yes. Seltzer, yes. Cut fruit, yes. Heck, I went to Trader Joe’s just to get a few vegan ice cream treats that I could grab and eat after getting home from driving in a hot car. I cry a little on the inside when it comes to dinner time and I need to turn the stove on to cook anything. Even hot leftovers are painful.

Baby Animals

Time for those cute animal comparisons. These past two weeks are animals that are very similar- a guinea pig and a chinchilla. One is a domesticated rodent in South America, the other is an animal recently introduced into the pet trade. I remember wanting a chinchilla when I was little, but as an adult, I’ve only heard about how delicate chinchillas are. They apparently make horrible pets since they can easily get depressed. But I did have two Guinea Pigs, and they were very boring. Apparently people say they are much more active when they have another Guinea Pig buddy. Want some cute Guinea Pig pictures? Well here you go.

Cute Overload

Why is everything for babies so fuggin cute? I mean all colors are muted, ruffled, with doe eyed animals. Well, let me put it this way- there seems to be a nursery divide. If you look on Pinterest you would get the impression that everyone is shopping at Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware for their nursery. I kind-of prefer this look. I mean it isn’t my FAVORITE, but I like how everything is clean, sleek, and has some bold design aspects. And I think I have a soft spot for Pottery Barn because I get emails that say PB Kids or PB Baby, and I secretly hope there is a video of a baby covered in peanut butter having a puppy lick it off. And what do you know, that is cute.

But as I put together my registry, I am finding that the people who actually make baby decor have little taste. Once I find something that is kind-of cute, I figured let’s see what else is from this brand or line. And sometimes I freak myself out. Like everything needs to match. I mean EVERYTHING. Oh that cute animal print on the fitted sheets- let’s make a crib ruffle with, and put in the curtains as well. And let’s put it on the trim of a quilt. And it just stimulus overload. Do these people not know of solid colors? Or worse- crib bumpers. They are shown to increase the risk of SIDS, and I keep seeing them for sale. All they do is make your crib look like a layered parfait of patterns.

Okay I get it- companies want to sell things, so they make them match. And they want a photo with everything together so they cram it all in one small space. But the whole patching together all the patterns just make me feel like a hobo clown decorated a room.

Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy Tags: pregnancy, second trimester, week 22, week 23

4 comments

Pregnancy – Weeks 20-21

August 5, 2016

weeks2021

Fitness
I’ve been pretty proud of myself keeping up with working out. I have been working out 5 out of 7 days a week, and even thinking about upping my weights. And then I found out that Larisa Latynina competed in the olympics for gymnastics while pregnant. This chick won 4 gold medals while 4 months pregnant! Thanks lady for making me feel like a big bum.

I also need another sports bra which makes me want to cry. My super duper awesome Moving Comfort bra had the strap un-velcro during my run. If you are above a cup size C- I totally recommend investing in Moving Comfort. They are pricey ($50-75 retail) but I have never paid more than $30 for a bra. It all started when I bought one at a sidewalk sale for – wait for it – fifteen bucks. So now that I have to buy bigger sizes, shelling over $30 for an on sale bra is painful considering I paid $12 for my recent new bras (they were originally $40, I just rock at finding bras on sale.) So, point of this long winded section- I can only run once, wash my one sturdy enough bra, then run again. Luckily I can still use the cheapie bras for weight training.

Clothing
Okay everyone here must think I am obsessed with clothes! And maybe I am, but I don’t know how many articles of clothing I bought last year. Not many. So being FORCED to buy clothes has been kind-of fun and exciting. I’ve been mentally mapping out things I want to make. For example I am still going make a dress from this pattern (or you can see an actual dress sewn from the pattern) but will wait till the end of August when we have the third floor set up for easy sewing.

I’ve bought quite a few new things now that my bump is starting to get too big for some of clothes- even the elastic-y stretchy clothes. I think I can make my goal of making it through the summer without having to buy shorts. I guess it helps that I have been buying some maternity dresses, which I think are more versitile since you can slap on some tights and a cardigan and boom! Your ready for winter. But the fall maternity clothes are being released and it is getting more so excited about cooler weather. I think this the first year I’ve been so excited about seasonal clothing.

Tummy

Okay, so some people have noted (and I have noted) sometimes I feel like my tummy hasn’t grown much when I take the photos. But it certainly has, I mean look at my post from weeks 18-19 or the announcement my tummy is smaller back then. But here is the thing, I think I keep forgetting that I am still planking, running, and standing all day, keeping my core pretty engaged. If I think hard to relax all my muscles, my tummy G-R-O-W-S. This kind-of freaks Jon out a little when I do it in front of him. So if you are wondering why these photos look my tummy shrunk from my Thred Up/Swap review, it is because I forcing my tummy out for those photos to fill up the clothes.

21weekssmallbig

And if you want a side by side comparison- here you go! I actually have to think pretty hard about relaxing my stomach muscles while standing, so I look pretty frumpy in the second photo. It’s kind-of a fun parlor trick, and I would like to think it is sort of like a mini roller coaster ride for the baby.

Baby Size

Come here only for the cute animal comparisons? Well, here you go. For week 20 the baby was about the size of an axolotl. If you are wondering what the heck that is, it is a Mexican salamander that never matures to it’s adult phase, or rarely at least. So they stay underwater all of their lives. They are originally from Lake Xochimilco located in Mexico City, but are now possibly extinct in the wild since the lake is continually shrinking. The axolotl is a cute looking guy, in a kind-of ugly way. Most photos you see of axolotls are ones raised in captivity, mostly being pale white/pink.

At week 21 the baby is about the size of a lesser weasel, or least weasel, or Mustela nivalis, or you know, just plain weasel. Weird little fact- did you know according to mythology, a weasel is the only animal that can kill a basilisk? If that sounds familiar it is because it was the monster in Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets. J.K. Rowling made her basilisk a giant snake not a big chicken-dragon-snake hybrid, so that is probably why Harry beat the basilisk not a weasel (spoilers- sort of.) Need more cute stuff? Here are photos of a weasel riding a bird, and various photos of weasels yawning.

20-weeks-web

Ultrasound

Finally went for my first ultrasound and it took forever. I spent about an hour flopping around to get the baby to move in the direction the technician needed. Is that normal to take so long? We are planning to be surprised so we got photos of the baby’s top half. Little tip for anyone going for an ultrasound- wear workout leggings that go below the belly and wear sweat wicking undies. I keep forgetting how low the baby actually is, and our technician got that ultrasound jelly all over the place. It felt so icky until the stuff dried out.

To make the whole trip a little annoying is that we went at 5. Get there at 5, you go right into your appointment, but since I had a consultation after the ultrasound I had to wait as everyone made appointments after work. The ultrasound also messed up the usual flow of the appointment, so I spent about 45 minutes holding a cup of pee instead of the usual quick hand off. By the time we got into the consultation I was hungry and was plotting out which place would be the faster to grab food at. Luckily everything is peachy keen with the baby, nothing is showing up as unusual, and the baby is a healthy size.

Since we were so hungry, we headed out to a Chipotle on the way home, and it started to pour once we were inside. At some point we had to decide to sit around and wait till it stopped raining, or just drive in a big storm. We drove home when the storm “settled down.” It was still okay, the guy working there probably put just as much guac in my burrito as rice. Guac makes every situation okay.

Symptoms

I haven’t really had much to complain about. The first trimester had been much more notable than the past two months. I was tired, I had muscle pains (probably because my abs weren’t use to budging), acid reflux, tender breasts, all that fun stuff. The second trimester has been mostly centered around my nose acting like it is middle of winter. But recently I started to get calf cramps in the middle of the night. At first I thought I just ran too intensely, but then they would cramp up on rest days. I am trying hard not stretch in the middle of the night since that seems to trigger the cramping. But hey, I guess I shouldn’t complain right?

Posted by Jennifer in Pregnancy Tags: pregnancy, second trimester, week 20, week 21

6 comments

What I Ate Wednesday #1

August 3, 2016

I really like reading posts that people do of “what I ate” posts, whether it is for the day, week, lately, whatever. I figured, some people are wondering what I pregnant vegan eats in a day, so I thought I would try really hard to take a photo of my food before gobbling it all up. And share some of the nutritional information.

Almost every single day has been a chocolate banana shake since I found out that I am pregnant. I was using spirulina (and chocolate) in the shake to up my iron, but the powder spirulina ended up being more expensive than the tablets, so I am making the switch. Which has been nice because I rarely have a “pure” chocolate shake. It’s always spirulina chocolate, fruit and chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate, etc. It’s made with soy milk, chia seeds, collard greens, some greens powder I got from Vegan Cuts, brown rice and pea protein.

Before heading to work I made myself a small iced cafe au lait. I had leftover coffee from Rook and added some soy milk since I keep hearing how I need so much calcium. So I figured why not? Snapped a quick picture next to the flowers at my work’s garden. It seems nice and quite but there was a lot of construction going on. My boss is building a deck for her backyard and is laying lots of new cement around the building, so today was a little crazy.

Since work was pretty all over the place, I didn’t even notice how hungry I was and had a late lunch. I had a green apple, which I always pre-chop and stashed in a Blue Avocado baggie. I love these reusable bag, because unlike Lunch Skins, these baggies have a zip seal so they are perfect for holding fruits and veggies. Sorry if I sound like they a sponsoring me, but I just really love these bags. Although if Blue Avocado approached me…. ^__~

Clearly I didn’t JUST eat an apple for lunch. I also had some leftover Dragon Noodle Salad from Isa Does It. Since rice noodles get hard the next day I ate it hot, and tossed in a few cherry tomatoes from my CSA since I wasn’t eating it over lettuce. It is by far NOT the most attractive dish to take a photo of, but it is pretty tasty. And I even got to use brown rice noodles, so I get a little credit for a whole grain right?

Then around three I was starting to get crabby, and was like “oh yeah, I’m hungry again.” Jon got me three months worth of Vegan Cuts boxes as birthday gift, joking that I would be a snacking monster. He was kind-of right. Each time I got one I took all the snacks and brought them into work to eat when I was running on empty. I picked this bar by Kutoa, and I’ve never had one before. It was pretty good, I liked how it wasn’t too sweet, and had some crunch from the chia seeds.

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When I got home I went for two mile run (about 3o minutes) and was hot sweaty, and still hungry. I quickly gobbled up a black bean brownie from Minimalistic Baker and took a shower. This mostly was just to hold me off while I took a shower and finished up dinner.

So what’s for dinner? I prepped some pickled eggplant on Monday specifically for this Hummus Bowl dish. Jon and I aren’t big eggplant fans, but our CSA is kind-of having a weak year combined with they are transitioning from spring crops to summer crops. Every year it’s a little slim picking at this time, but this year seems notably bad. So I picked an eggplant, and figured I would try the pickling and roasting method. It has been… interesting? The whole bowl was a little too acidic overall, at least for acid reflux prone pregnant me. I made the hummus as instructed on the site, and tossed the couscous in some soy yogurt. Since I didn’t have any falafels, I used some frozen hemp beet burgers from Protein Ninja.

So what does all this food look like nutrition wise? Well, I do plan on eating more. I just haven’t picked out what yet. Bagel with tofutti cream cheese? Maybe. Homemade purple basil ice cream with blackberries? Very possible. Wegman brand oreos? Yeah, that might happen too. So some of the stats are wrong, I am probably adding another 300-400 calories to my day. Plus, I am not getting the specifics for the bar I ate, and I just used a generic hummus instead of plugging all the ingredients in Cronometer. It isn’t perfect guys. But it gives you a general idea of nutritional intake. I excluded the shot of protein because I hit 100% on all the specifics, BORING.

Clearly I am not quite hitting all the B Vitamins I need, but if I eat the bagel with tofutti cream cheese I’ll end up hitting all my nutritional requirements. I was low on iron today, because well, I am not including spirulina in my diet like I use to. I am waiting for my tablets to arrive in the mail. But if I eat a bagel, I should get 100%. I have hit my requirements for vitamin C and calcium which are also common things that people stress about with diets for pregnant women.

Also, take note that I am using Cronometer to track my nutritional intake. Their information is only so accurate. Some foods don’t have all the nutritional information available. I also selected an option that changes my nutritional requirements. It recommends I have a food intake of roughly 2,000 calories, and I usually ignore that suggestion and go for more.

Posted by Jennifer in Health, Pregnancy Tags: blue avocado, breakfast, cronometer, dinner, isa does it, kutoa, lunch, pregnancy, Rook, Rook Coffee Roasters, Snacks, the minimalist baker, vegan, what I ate wednesday, wiaw

2 comments

Second Hand Clothes- Swap vs Thred Up

July 29, 2016

logos

I love clothing. I also love a deal, it is probably the most American thing about me. How much do I love a good deal? I had a dream that I was shopping for new maternity clothes and I found a great deal on a pack of 5 different colored tights for $7… AND it included a pair of gold tights. I was so sad when I woke up. Naturally the problem is that I know fast fashion is bad. It is bad for the environment, it is bad for human rights, and the clothes are usually crummy anyways.

Maternity clothing is particularly tricky. As with normal fashion, price doesn’t always mean better ethics, and besides that, can start to get insanely expensive. And according to many reviews, all clothing is made to be cheap and last only a few months, because well, women only wear them for a few months. Many people who avoid fast fashion but don’t have much cash tend to suggest shopping at thrift, second hand, and consignment shops. The problem is that maternity clothes rarely make it there, or last very long on the shelves. Luckily I found some online shops that specialize in second hand maternity clothing- Swap.com and Thred Up.

Motherhood Maternity sold by Thred Up

Selection

I know all readers aren’t pregnant. And heck, even if you are a mommy, pregnancy is such a short time period. So it is worth noting that both sites have more than just maternity clothing. Swap.com offer womens, mens, kids, baby, maternity, toys and games, baby gear, and DVDs and books on their website. Thred Up offers clothing mostly for women. Their main categories are women, designer, maternity, shoes, handbags, girls, boys, and basement (sort of the for sale/sold as is section.)

Listing

Hands down, overall Thred Up is most polished of both sites. Thred Up has a more polished look, listing, forms, the works. What they really have going for them is consistent photography. All of their pictures have the same pregnancy bumb torso, tilted more or less the same angle. They have special forms for skirts and jeans that do a great job showing how they look, which can be hard when laying out or on a rack because of the stretchy band.

Swap.com has a serious issue with photography. Some clothes are easy to figure out how they look, like men’s jeans. But other items could really use a body to drape over, particularly maternity clothing. There were many shirts that I couldn’t figure out what they looked like. Was it tight? Is a blouse? Some aren’t too bad, but others are just awful. Is it really that much more work to photograph everything on a mannequin? I feel like so many more items would sell if they were photographed properly.

Both websites DO have searches to narrow the selection, including sizes, brands, clothing types, etc. This makes life much easier when weeding out clothing you don’t want. Sadly, Swap.com falls a little short in this aspect too. There are lots of dupes, like they have H&M AND H&M Mama listed under brands. They have (no joke) the following tops- button down, button up, blouse, bodysuit, camisole, halter top, rugby shirt, shirt, sleeveless top, t-shirt, tank top, tankini, tube top, and tunic. It make browsing a little frustrating. I wish they had a tops section, that you could further narrow down. Some smaller brands weren’t too hard to find photos of to get an idea of what the overall piece will look like, so that was kind-of nice.

Gap from Thred Up

Quality

Mixed feelings. I think overall I liked the quality of the pieces that I got from Thred Up, but I also had a better knowledge of the brands I was getting. Gap, Motherhood Maternity, and Liz Lange/Target. Even with the nice photos, the end results were a little bit of a surprise, mostly just the long sleeved shirt I got. If I was trying it on in store I probably would of sized up.

I didn’t really LOVE what I got from Swap.com. Part of the problem WERE the photos. I felt a little ripped off that there wasn’t anything special about the pencils skirts I bought. One was longer than anticipated, but was also velvety, which was totally unexpected. This issue is equally hard to tell on Thred.com though. The dress I got was the biggest steal. I googled the designer to get a better look at the dress, loved it and though why not? It retails for $150, and I even found it on Zulily on sale for $65, so paying $27 was a STEAL. The fabric quality was great, the overall pattern design was lacking (mostly the boob darts that aren’t in the right place or cup size.)

It isn’t the fault of Swap.com, just something to be aware of. If I got it from Modcloth I could of read reviews, returned it easily, but these second hand shop have some stricter, not so friendly returns options. That being said, BY FAR Swap.com has the best returns options. I don’t plan on returning anything because I want to give these clothes another chance. They should still get the job done, and even though I already have a stretchy pencil skirt, I rather not stretch it out with my massive tummy.

box

Shipping

I placed an order on Swap.com, then the next day placed an order on Thred Up. Both orders sent “shipped” emails on the same day. I got the Thred Up order first, the Swap.com the next day. One of my biggest pet peeves about online ordering is when companies send an email saying the package has been shipped, but they are sitting at the shop waiting for FedEx or UPS to pick up the boxes. I think this was the case with Swap.com. Overall though, Thred Up makes you feel like you getting a special boutique item as it comes in a pretty box, and it is all wrapped up nicely. Swap.com comes in a plastic bag, which isn’t bad, just not as pretty. Total vanity point.

Maternal America from Swap.com

Best Deals

Hmm… hard to decide. Overall things are much cheaper on Swap.com. The best way to look at it is to do a search filter for A Pea In a Pod, one of the most expensive but mainstream brand of maternity clothing. There were a few bizarrely cheap options on Thred Up, like a pair of wool pants for 99 cents. But once you get past those handful of sales, you will find that you can get the cheaper options for that brand on Swap.com.

That being said, OVERALL Thred Up is going to have more expensive and trendy brands. They have some brands that I liked but didn’t think I would be able to shell out cash for like Boob, Ingrid & Isabel, and Isabella Oliver. So if you are a fashion snob, you might like your pickings at Thred Up better. They have more formal wear and dresses I would consider wearing to a formal event like a wedding.

I spent $52 at Thred Up for a long sleeved shirt, a winter jacket, a light fall jacket, and a sweatshirt. I would say overall an awesome deal. I was even able to get VEGAN jackets, which can be hard. Both jackets were nice since I had no intention of buying a new one otherwise. Overall each item averaged at $13 per item. As for Swap, I paid $44 for two pencils skirts and a dress. If I didn’t get the dress, it would of been only about $8.50 per skirt, which I can’t really complain about. And as stated, the dress would of been originally $150, so I still got a great stinkin’ deal.

Shirt by Motherhood Maternity from Thred Up, Skirt by Maternité Designs from Swap.com

Selling

I haven’t tried to sell anything on either site, but it seems like Swap.com has a better deal. Thred Up says that they are likely to not use 40% of the items you send in. The items that they don’t sell, they supposedly sell to third parties that will recycle the fabric. They don’t mention, but I assume you don’t earn anything for these items. If you want to try and figure out how much your clothing would get, they have an Payout Estimator which shows that you get very little back for each item, unless they are high priced items naturally.

Swap.com will charge around $9 for you ship out your clothing to have it photographed, listed, etc. But overall, it you are going to earn more than Thred Up. Some shirts and cardigans might only earn you 50 cents on Thred Up, but each item on Swap will earn you $1.50 + 25% commission. If your item isn’t high enough standard, you have the option to pay for shipping to get them back, or you can donate the item. Clearly, if you want to clean out your closet Swap is the place to go.

Overall

Hard to choose. Thred Up is much more of a selective boutique. If you like high end clothing, you will end up finding more over there. That doesn’t mean that Swap doesn’t have some great deals (hey I saved $123 on a dress!) but I do think their clothing selection is a little…. uh… lame? They have some great clothing items, but they don’t weed out clothing that simply not stylish like Thred Up does. If you hop on out of maternity on Swap.com their selection gets much nicer. I probably will make monthly checks on both sites. Swap will probably just be for some basics, like pencil skirts and tee-shirts. While I probably will be eyeing up dresses and nicer items at Thred Up.

Posted by Jennifer in Clothing, Clothing Review, Pregnancy Tags: clothing, fashion, maternity, pregnancy, second hand, swap.com, thred up, thrifted

8 comments

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