My new high fasion

Since my baby was born, I've lost 25 of the 35 pounds I gained during my pregnancy. While I feel much better than I did at full term pregnancy, I've become a little delusional. Somewhere in my mind, I think that these pounds melting away have left me a size smaller than I was before getting pregnant, but the reality is my fat clothes still don't fit, but my maternity clothes are swimming on me. And frankly, those maternity clothes have all seen better days...I really wore everything to death by refusing to buy more clothes at the end of the pregnancy...I mean, seriously...it's so NOT fun to buy clothes that resemble bed sheets. So anyway, yesterday I volunteered to do the shopping for our dinner, and planned to hit the nearby Gap beforehand and buy a few new things to get me through the last 10 pounds.

Before heading out, I pulled up the Gap online...in the interest of saving time away from Alia and just to get some ideas and do a little previewing of what I'd find in the store. I haven't left the house for anything other than pediatrician and lactation appointments; I feel like I've been in a retail cave.

To my dismay, what I saw online didn't work for my new lifestyle. There were lots of things with sassy necklines, dry-clean tops, pants that looked too narrow for my birthing hips...basically I didn't think I'd find anything in the store that I was looking for...and then I saw it...the "Lounge and Pajama" section. Precisely! I want draw strings. I want washables. I want something that doesn't look like I slept in it so that when a random UPS guy or Postal worker knocks on the door, they won't think I'm wearing my pajamas, regardless of the sub-category my new clothes were found beneath online.

So off to the store I went. On arrival, I was bummed to see that the fall clothes dominated both the regular and the Gap Body section. The things I saw online? Not even on the sale rack! So in the end, I came home with 4 t-shirts that I didn't even bother to try on, and a couple of new tanks, and NO cute track suit made just for new Moms...no draw strings, no washable outfits that can get pooped on. And that was my outing! That was my me-time. I was crushed.

A few hours later, still in a sour mood as I put on my new t-shirt with my old pajama bottoms, I realized that time has a new value in my life...especially any time that is dedicated only to myself. That's why I was so upset...not only did I find the time to shower, put on an acceptable amount of make up, find two articles of clothing that was both clean and fit well enough, work it out with Ajay to watch the baby for the estimated hour and a half that I'd be gone...I'd invested in the hope. The hope of finding just a couple of things for myself..the hope that retail therapy as I had once known it would be there for me in this time of need!