The Pink Elephant: Happy New Year - 3rd trimester maternity style

2014 is here and the Otto bean will be arriving before we know it. I had a slight freakout when the clock struck midnight on NYE -- I can't believe I can no longer say and think, "Oh the baby isn't coming until next year." I'm honestly still a bit in shock that we are having a real live baby. It's happening...so we better get ready. We are down to less than 10 weeks to the due date. Josh loves to tell people the nursery is almost done. Let's be real, I have mostly decorated it, but we have only one thing for the actual baby and that is a crib.

Speaking of 10 weeks, what a difference 10 weeks has made. This belly sure has grown! I can't believe it's going to keep getting bigger for 10 more! Ignore my pitiful hair in today's pic...yikes!

Even though I look like I swallowed a watermelon, I've bought only a handful of actual maternity items -- mostly pants. I love my AG jeans and intended to buy a pair of J Brand maternity, but at this point am thinking maybe just a cheaper pair of Old Navy skinny jeans and make due. For work, I bought a pair of black J Crew Minnie maternity pants and have really loved them. I found all of the pants mentioned ran really true to my pre-pregnancy size.

After reading Natalie from Designer Bags and Dirty Diapers raving over the Spanx leggings (here and here), I decided to buy a pair to add into my pants rotation. I got them from ShopBop today and they really are comfortable and flattering, even 7 months pregnant. Typically, I'm completely on the Kelly Ripa leggings-are-NOT-pants bandwagon, but for the third trimester, I'm embracing them more than ever. For the most part I'll wear longer sweaters with them to completely cover my bum.

After splurging a little on these leggings (they run nearly $100, so I do consider that splurging for leggings!), I decided to peruse Forever21's website to find some reasonable items to pair with the leggings. Well these 5 items arrived on my doorstep at the same moment as the Spanx and they are quite the match! These will be my uniform for the next few months (and after...the beauty of not buying actual maternity). I ordered a mix of smalls and mediums to try and make sure the ones that looked shorter would cover the watermelon, but kind of wish I'd gotten a small in all of them since they are all stretchy and long enough on my 5'2" body. I'm happy though and keeping them all.

Textured Knit Sweater Cape $27.80 (this is one size fits all)

Relaxed Eyelash Knit Sweater $29.80 (ordered M and should have ordered S)

Southwest Bound Sweater $32.80 (ordered a S. Love the colors and pattern of this one, but it is a little bulkier than it appears in the picture. It's also a tad itchy, so I'll likely wear a long-sleeved shirt under it)

Longline Metallic Thread Sweater $24.80 (ordered a S - love the buttons on the back of this!)

The fifth sweater is actually no longer availble. If you want any of the above items, act quickly since that's how it goes at Forever21.

ASOS has a large variety of cute maternity items and I did order a shirt (which is no longer available) and dress from there back in early December. I wore the dress NYE. I didn't want it to be too tight and ordered a 4, but the ASOS maternity runs big according to the two purchases I made. I'd recommend ordering in your pre-pregnancy size for a better fit -- even if you are busty.

ASOS Maternity Knitted Dress with Leather Look Pockets (originally $72.60, now only $21.78!)