Post-pregnancy fashion

We are going to Mexico for my cousin's wedding in late November. I am super excited since our vacations usually have "road trip" or "third world country/mission trip" in the description. Jeff and I and a baby, presumably, will be at a swanky resort and I am quite certain that nothing I have in my present wardrobe will be appropriate. With this in mind, I set about to do some summer clothes shopping for the trip and encountered these obstacles:

• I AM 9 MONTHS PREGNANT and have no idea what size I will be in 3 months
• I AM 9 MONTHS PREGNANT and can't try anything on that isn't the size of a tent
• I will be about 6 weeks post-partum and will be breast feeding a newborn
• I don't want things in my wardrobe that I know I will never wear outside of Mexico since there are other ways I would like to spend my clothing budget

The summer clearance sales are underway and I found some good deals with all things considered. Here is what I found:

This dress is from TJ Maxx and was $7. A good bargain makes my day and I found some fantastic ones at that store. It was originally over $50. It is pretty stretchy, has a built in bra, and is still fancy enough to work for the rehearsal dinner or other wedding events where the dress code is "beach chic." The necklace is from Target. I love that place.

Gap.com and Piperline.com had some good deals as well and I shopped from the convenience of home and imagined myself skinny -- or I should say, skinnier. This skirt is also stretchy and will travel well. I got the sandals to hopefully go with most of my outfits. My world now consists of hiking style Chacos and chipped toe-nail polish. A total transformation will need to happen in the next few months.

This shirt and the next one are to wear with the white skirt. I'm not too sure how nursing will work here, but it was only $5. How could I argue with $5?

I love clearance sales. Really I do! This shirt was from Gap.com as well and was $9.99. I can actually see wearing this next summer, so the "splurge" is okay.

This is my favorite dress and I couldn't leave it at the store even though it was SO over budget. Can you believe $14.99? I am such a cheap-skate. I think I can make this work for the winter with a brown sweater or jacket, right?

I also bought another $7 dress, a $5 pair of white capris (that is as much as I am willing to pay for white pants of any kind), a rather vibrant pink top for $3.97, and new swim suit that should hide the post-pregnancy jiggles -- I have come to the point in my life where a skirt on a swim suit is good idea. Over-all I am pretty happy with my expandable/breast feeding friendly clothing selection for the trip. I hope that it will work if I lose 7 pounds or 20 pounds or none at all since I will be throwing desserts in my mouth as fast as possible including brownies, chocolate chip cookie dough, pie of any kind, and Blizzards of any flavor.

Jeff's fabulous vacation wardrobe is easy: Dockers and polo shirts, shorts and t-shirts, and a new pair of flip-flops.

The deals on baby clothes in size 0-3 months at this time of year are amazing. For the baby, I got a few cute short sets and a little white sun hat. I think he needs to be "beach chic" too, so we are all set. Except for the baby not actually being born yet and having no birth certificate or passport for the little one. But who is worried?