Mom Jeans

There have been a few changes over here at Mommy and the Sin City. First, I finally (after a few comments about having trouble reading the blog title and heading) changed our template and background. I liked the crazy bird drawings from before, but I like making simple, aesthetic changes once in a while. Not sure how long this one will be here, I'm already having some second thoughts. Too much pink, maybe?

I've become a member of BlogHer, and added us to their blog directory. I signed our blog up for NaBloPoMo, since apparently November is National Blog Posting Month. The rules are simple, you have to post every day for a month. I figure, since we've been doing so well already, might as well give us some extra momentum. Sorry Juliet, I probably should have consulted with you first! No worries though, I think we can do it. If you're interested in joining NaBloPoMo, click on the icon to the left and it will bring you over there. (You've got until tomorrow to sign up if you want to be on "the list") If you get stuck without any inspiration, they've got daily suggestions that you can follow. Apparently, there are also prizes!

Now that those announcements are done... onto Blog content.

My dedication to the South Beach Diet has waned, significantly. Although I still want to lose weight (Jillian Michaels, 3 times a week, yoga on the alternate days!) the whole no-sugar thing stopped working about 3 weeks into the whole thing. I don't have much direction on the weight-loss road anymore, but I am trying to consciously make good choices (Today: greek yogurt for breakfast, turkey sandwich on whole grain bread for lunch, turkey burger on a whole grain bun with a side salad for dinner - turkey twice was not intentional, but not bad). I'm still losing weight, but not quite at the SBD pace that I set for myself in weeks 1 and 2.

Unfortunately (and realistically), this means that I have not hit my goal of fitting back into my regular sized jeans before the colder weather hit Las Vegas. I put them on in week 3 and found that I was still inches away from buttoning them. Last week, there were a few days when I looked totally ridiculous coming into work in capri pants, when the rest of the office has already busted out their jackets and full length slacks. So, off to the Gap I went, trying on every single pair of jeans they had in their store, one size up from my regular size. It was one of those times when I didn't want to just to pick a pair, but wanted to hold out for a flattering pair that would make me feel confident, that I would actually wear. A pair that didn't look like the dreaded MOM JEANS.

I realized that I would have to stay away from my staple low/mid rise jeans. Now, I need the extra support to hold up the post-baby wiggly belly. If I put any kind of waist band across my pooch, it muffin tops like crazy. Even a jersey skirt with a loose waist looks dumb if it cuts me off at the wrong place. It turns out, there isn't a section of the store that sells "Mom jeans" that you are supposed to avoid. Every pair of jeans I put on, whether they looked totally trendy on the mannequin or not, were in fact... Mom Jeans. It's not so much the jeans that make them Mom jeans, but the one who is wearing them. I hoped for something trendier, something that I could tuck into my boots when I got colder, but I couldn't find the perfect combination of mid/high rise and slim leg. Instead, I settled for these:

Photo curtesy of Gap.com

They may not look like Mom Jeans on that model, but I promise you that they are. Hopefully this whole Mom Jean phenomenon is only temporary, and my belly does shrink back a little bit. But for now, I look nice. And nice is better than I would look if I tried to squeeze into my old, decidedly non-Mom jeans.