The Trend Lottery

For the past two and a half years or so, it seems like fashion trends have been working in my favor.

At first I just thought I was lucky when I was still newly pregnant with LG, (The Summer of 2010) when Boyfriend Jeans, and Grandpa Sweaters were trending, which made it really easy to hide my little baby bump until I was ready to share the news.

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Then as my tummy grew, I was so thankful that flowy tent style shirts were in style.  

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I never even shopped for maternity shirts.  I just wore the flowy shirts I already had.  Which coincidentally later doubled as post baby belly hiders as well.

As I continued in my pregnancy, I didn't make it to the salon quite as often as I should have, so my dark roots got pretty evident, and way longer than they ever should have.

So I could not believe it, when having blonde hair with dark brown roots also became...trendy?  Seriously?!?  How did I get so lucky?

Leggings were also trending while I was pregnant.  Did you know there is nothing more comfortable than stretchy pants?  Especially when your belly is the size of a beach ball.

After LG was born, while I was working to get my belly back into shape, I wondered if I could ever fit into my low rise jeans without spilling out everywhere again.  But once again there was a convenient trend there to save the day.  High waisted jeans, a new Mommy's secret weapon to pull that tummy in.

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I would also like to give a shout out to yoga pants.  Although they are not socially accepted to wear at social events, after LG was born, I appreciated wearing them around town, posing as someone who just left the gym.  Even though, on most days I was not that someone.

When LG first became a toddler and it was (and still is frankly) super tough to get ready. (Like kid-hanging-on-your legs-trying-to-get-you-to-hold-him-while you-maybe-get-through-plucking-one-eyebrow tough.)  There was definitely no straightening my hair, let alone brushing it.  But lo and behold, messy braids and messy buns were trending.

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I could just roll right out of bed, tease my hair up, and throw it into a quick braid.

Who am I kidding, I didn't need to tease anything, that mess was natural.  Thank goodness, it was cool. I am still stretching this trend out as long as I possibly can....It is still cool right?

I don't even care if it is or not. I will probably still be trying to stretch this messy braid trend out for years to come. I might even be like those middle age women you see in the grocery store. You know the ones who you can tell when the last year they were considered cool was, because they still have the same hairstyle from that year. Yeah that's right, I might be like them some day. But it will be worth it to rock the messy braid forever.

Now that I am pregnant again, with a baby who seems to think that it is socially acceptable to sit so low that I can't even wear maternity jeans comfortably. (He [or she] must get that from the Mexican low rider side of my family...juuuuuust kidding. But seriously, this kid sits way too low.) So Maxi skirts have become my wardrobe crutch of choice. 

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Ah Maxi Skirts. the best piece of clothing ever created. They are like super loose flowy stretchy pants with no restrictions whatsoever. They go all the way to the floor so who is ever the wiser if you missed shaving your legs that day (Or that month...e-heh.)  They are definitely a girls best friend. Diamonds got nothin on Maxi Skirts.

In the midst of all these convenient fashion trends these last couple of years, somewhere between the high waisted jeans, and the messy braid, I realized that I wasn't just lucky.

These were tender mercies from heaven, sent to make me feel like I could still look beautiful, and in style, at times when I have felt the most uncomfortable and imperfect.  And I am very, very grateful.