Dress With Less: Project 333

 

We recently watched the movie Minimalism on Netflix which is basically how we are so very prompted and pushed by society and media to buy things we don't need and how wasteful it truly is. I learned about something called Project 333 during that movie and I decided to challenge myself to partake in this project.

 

 

 

Project 333 is a minimalist type movement where you choose 33 items from your closet and live on them for 3 months.
Your 33 items include everyday clothing, accessories, shoes and jackets.
Your 33 items do NOT include underwear, lounge/sleepwear, workout wear or sentimental jewelry.

 

As I was listing all my items I found it at first, really easy to pick out items that would work wonderfully for 3 months. So many choices..."this will be a piece of cake!" Then I realized I was just listing clothing items. No shoes, jackets or accessories. Yikes.

 

I apparently could not figure out how to do math so I immediately wondered over to Pinterest for inspiration and to see how many of each items is suggested for this type of capsule wardrobe. That is the semi-official term for it I guess. I found this image which I used to pull pieces for my capsule. I did edit it a bit because I do not ever use a purse unless it's date night, I don't own a knit hat nor do I need one unless it's winter and I decided I would only have 4 scarves instead of 6.

 

 

 

My items are as listed:

2 flannel shirts
1 black t-shirt

1 white t-shirt

2 coral t-shirts

2 tank tops (some lists say this can or cannot be counted since they are sometimes worn almost everyday)

1 3/4 sleeve shirt

3 long sleeve shirts

1 chambray shirt

4 cardigans

3 pairs of jeans

1 pair of black skinnies

1 pair of leggings

2 jackets

4 scarves in multiple colors

1 pair of brown boots

1 pair of brown booties

1 pair of flats

1 pair of tennis shoes

1 pair of flip flops

 

 

Disclaimers:

I do have one necklace I wear on occasion that I am not counting. And by on occasion I mean once a month if that. I am also planning on purchasing some sort of dress for Easter and I am not counting that in my 33 items because I will probably only wear it once or twice in 3 months and none of the clothes in my capsule are Easter appropriate. Also not included are my glasses. Which I wear everyday.

 

A lot of the capsule wardrobes I would see online were mostly black, white and grey with a couple pops of color. I decided I wanted more color in mine because honestly, wearing black, white and grey everyday would be depressing for me.

 

Also, work out clothes are excluded from the capsule so long as you are actually working out in them. When I work out I usually do not shower right away (hello...I have a kid!) and so I stay in my workout clothes most of the day. Further more the guidelines also state that you cannot shop for any new items to add to your capsule. However if an item becomes so worn you cannot wear it anymore you can replace it. It is suggested you only pick items that you feel good in or that make you happy so you are not tempted to buy something just because "I feel fat and horrible in this".

 

What a lot of people do is challenge themselves to create a new outfit everyday for the first month and post it on social media to sort of keep themselves accountable. I doubt I will do that because again...I have a kid and I ain't got time for that. Then again, maybe I will. You never know.

 

I love this challenge because we have a small house with small bedrooms which have small closets. Half of my clothes are in Audra's closet because they wouldn't fit in mine. How often do I actually go to her closet to find something to wear? Hardly ever. After picking out my pieces, all of my clothes fit in my half of the closet with room to spare! It feels incredibly refreshing!

 

I read somewhere, that in your life you only ever see yourself twice. In a photograph or in a mirror. Every other moment you are not looking at yourself so why do you spend so much time on what you don't see? It's other people who look at you and if you feel confident and happy in your appearance then why care what they think anyway? However that being said I can take forever to pick out an outfit. My husband can attest that it at times has taken me over an hour to get dressed and that is ridiculous. I mean all that time and who the heck is going to know if you pulled your outfit together in 1 hour or 5 minutes? No one. I went to a birthday party a while back and my mom and I were talking about how we couldn't figure out what to wear to it. Back and forth between options and ideas when my smart mother says "All this planning and it's not like anyone is going to look at us let alone care what we are wearing. But WE still care don't we? Why?"

 

So there you have it friends, my challenge to myself to live with less. I am in no way admitting that I am or ever will be a minimalist - I could never live in one of those tiny houses but I wanted to challenge myself to live with a little less and enjoy other things more. I hope that at the end of this 3 month journey I can open up my huge garbage bag of clothes that are now in the basement and find that I don't need so many items. I may or may not continue this throughout the year. Let's just see how the next 3 months go.

 

Because I haven't taken a picture of much else recently

 

 

 

If I Knew Now What I Didn't Know Then

The past month I've found myself in reflection a lot. Mainly in part because Facebook's "On This Day" posts and every week I see a blog post or a picture I posted last year. I go back and read them and just think about what crazy crying-filled days those were. I was also scrolling through videos and pictures of Audra on my phone with my mom the other day and while watching one video of  2 month old Audra kicking and babbling my mom says to me "see...you made it." So I thought I'd do a post about things I would go back and say to myself a year ago when I was in the thick of it or things I wish I would have done that other people told me to do.

1. Stop and Breathe
Oh my gosh this is just something I wish I did more of this during those first months. I was so consumed by this baby who changed controlled my life completely that I barely stopped to just breathe.

2. Dinner doesn't HAVE to be done at 5 on the dot
I was so worried that my husband would think less of me if I didn't have dinner ready to eat when he got home that I ran myself ragged sometimes stressing about what I could make with one hand and would it be more nutritious than a bowl of cereal? I also felt like a failure because I was not that Pinterest-perfect first time mom who spent the last 3 months of her pregnancy making meals to freeze and pull out when baby arrived.

3. It's ok if the baby stays in pajamas all day
Don't get me wrong Audra stayed in sleepers all day for the first 3 months. But I was under the impression that at exactly 4 months and beyond she was no longer technically a newborn so she had to be dressed each day in a matching outfit. Yes even though we saw no one except each other for days, her outfits had to be matching. And when we went out in public she had to also have a cute headband on that matched and accented her outfit. Seriously? Why was I so worried about people seeing her in pajamas? Babies in pajamas are so gosh darn cute!

4. Lower your gosh darn expectations
I expected it to get easier when people said it would. It didn't.
I expected Audra to sleep like Google said she should. She didn't
I expected to loose weight like the books said I would. I didn't
I expected my husband to bring me home flowers every day because I was an awesome mom. He didn't
I expected to have an easy to follow schedule. We didn't
I expected that she would love eating solid foods and would wean easily. She didn't

5. You will miss this
You know I wished those days away so hard in the beginning. I just wanted time to myself. I just wanted sleep. I just wanted a clean house and dishes that would clean themselves. I just wanted to be an all-star mom who never got frazzled. I just wanted her to let me put her down so I could make dinner. I need to continue to look back and see how fast that year went and I am making more of an effort to soak up these days we are currently in because they too will be gone before I know it.
In the middle of washing dishes and Audra wants to read a book? Ok, stop, sit down and read a book with her. She wants me to just hold her so she can point and talk about all the things she sees? Hold her and talk back. She wants to explore the yard and put rocks in her mouth? Fine, go girl. (To a point of course).


If I could just go back and give myself a pep talk it would probably be something like this. "Honey, just take care of your baby and everything else will just fall into place. Nurse her more because it will be gone one day and you will cry. Believe me, you will. You are doing awesome even when you feel like you're failing. You will loose it a lot. And that is ok. All that baby needs is you. You're life will even out and you will soon be able to leave her with daddy and go do stuff by yourself but you have to wait for that. And trust me, when you get out you'll be so happy to get back to her and see her run to you, arms up ready to be picked up and hugged. This first year is so tough but you will make it through and you'll wish for it back".


Some random photos from January.

Look...no toys or clothes or rubbish anywhere! Oh and the baby playing peek-a-boo is adorable too

Audra's first dress up time. She's got a few years to grow into this dress.

A rough night leads to waking up on the couch with Daddy. That hair though.

When mommy needs to make cookies but baby doesn't want to nap or be put down.

 

 

I will hopefully be putting a post together about my Project 333 Journey starting tomorrow. Yikes. Thanks for reading friends. 

Audra: A Year in the Life

I am so sorry for such a lapse since my last post. December was a blur between the holidays and buying a house. January was a blur with adjusting to the new house and Audra's Birthday. But I was prompted to sit down and get this post out at my La Leche Meeting last night where I met two girls who have 5 week old babies and all the questions that come with being a first time mom. I just sat there in awe and reflection as that was me a year ago and I cannot believe how far we've come.

*The following post was written on Audra's first birthday last month but I am just now posting it and adding to it a little at the end.*

Let's see if I get through this post without stopping to wipe tears from my eyes.

A year ago today I came home with a brand new baby. I cried the whole way home so scared for what lay ahead. Not just the next few months but the next morning when Jonathan would go to work and it was just me and her all day. I struggled day and night to adjust with lack of sleep and the smell of spoiled milk on my shoulder, arms and legs. I cried at least 3 times a day. Ok maybe more. I begged to go back to life before her. I begged for time to fast forward to those moments that people told me it would get easier by. I never wanted to quit anything so hard in my life as I wanted to quit nursing her. I never knew how I would survive. I just knew if I made it until the time Jonathan would come home from work or until my sister-in-law would come over with dinner I would be OK. That first week where I was barely coherent or able to sit without immense pain seems so long ago. Those days as tough and humbling and horrible as they seemed are just a faint memory and sometimes I wish I could go back. I know right? Never saw that coming.

*cue the tears*

The weeks and months that follower brought smiles, coos, babbles, rolling overs and grabbing. Nursing got easier at exactly 11 weeks. I hope I never forget the pride I felt when I made it that far and realized she could actually burp on her own and she nursed properly. I hope I never forget the pride I felt when I made it to this one year mark of nursing. That was my goal. If I wasn't "allowed" to quit that I had to make it to a year before stopping. And I made it. We made it. I love the bond we have because of it.

I would like to share a snippet of something I wrote on my phone to Audra when she was 8 weeks old. I had a lot on my heart the one day and decided instead of showering, napping, eating or cleaning I would type out my heart's words.
"...We've only known each other for 2 months but it feels like it's been 2 years. These 8 weeks have been the longest most humbling of my life. I have lived 30 years where my only priority was myself and now my life is all about you. Nights and days blur together without end. I wish longingly for space from you but when I get it I can't help but crave you again. This hold you have on me child? This is true love."

As we fast forward through Audra's first Spring where we would spend time outside everyday. She went from laying on a blanket to sitting to crawling off the blanket. Then to standing while holding on to walking away. Summer brought Audra's first fireworks, first time to the beach, first ice cream, and wearing nothing but a romper. Seriously I could stare at her in a romper all day. Summer ended and Fall began. Our time outside was shortly filled with walks in the stroller but when it became colder we couldn't go outside as much. Winter began and getting up when the sun wasn't

even up yet was my least favorite thing of the day but getting to your room and seeing you standing there with a smile ready to start your day made it worth it. I could be in the worst mood but if I walked in and saw her smiling face my heart would soften and immediately felt nothing but gratefulness.

It has definitely been a year to remember and I don't know if I'll ever understand how I made it except with all the family surrounding me. I would have not made it this far without all of them.

And lastly to my Audra Lynn. I don't want a day to go by without seeing your smile and hearing your laugh and feeling your hugs. I want to teach you everything you could possibly learn. I want you to grow in the Lord stronger than I. I want you to know you will always have my heart. You will always be my little girl and I cannot be more blessed to be your momma.

In quick addition to those two girls at my meeting last night I reminded them that they are amazing and doing an awesome job. The one girl broke down in tears (exactly me a year ago) because being a mom is way harder than she ever thought. This probably scared the momma-to-be that was across from her in the circle and due in 4 weeks. The other girl was complete opposite. She was confident in holding and rocking her newborn. She was not rattled by anything. She had this mom-thing in the bag and oh how I wish I was more like here when Audra was 5 weeks old.

This just shows that every new mom is different. Every veteran mom is different. We're raising our babies in the circus of life. Trying to soak up every cuddle and wish away every tantrum. Secretly dreading the day when they get the keys and drive away to more independence. Heck I secretly dread the day Audra can buckle herself in her car seat even though I equally hate the struggle it brings right now.

I was talking to the Dr. at my appointment yesterday (sore throat that I'm certain will never go away) and he congratulated me on getting through the first year of motherhood. I needed that congratulations more than I realized. So if someone hasn't said it to you lately, congratulations on getting through the past year of motherhood. The last month of motherhood. The last hour of motherhood. Though the days drag by they are also flying by at the same rate. Soak em up.

Month 11 Update

Eleven months ago we had a baby.

This past month it seems like she just grew and learned new things every day. She decided on November 8th that she would become a walker full-time. Crawling is too slow and the girl's got places to go and things to do.

This month she's grown out of most of her 6 month and 9 month clothes. We had headed into 12 month clothes for which I'm almost not ready. She has mastered the words "da da", "uh oh", "ball", "hot", and "bye" as well as others she repeats perfectly but will not say on command. She gives high fives and can find her nose, cheeks and ears with daddy's help. She loves to read books and pull all her toys out of her toy bin.

Her food vocabulary is also increasing weekly. Mashed potatoes, tomatoes, bread, cheese, eggs, cucumbers, noodles, fruit, and anything else that she can get her hands on. We still have a hard time giving her vegetables because we don't eat much of them anyway but anytime we have them they are on her tray and she always tries them. One vegetable we have had lots of luck with is tomatoes. She loves tomatoes so much I have to cut her off. I've never had to cut her off of anything before!

One thing that we are working on with her is walking while holding our hand. She was so independent in walking that we rarely ever held her hands and helped her walk so she never got used to it. And Little Miss Independent did not like it at first when we held her hand and walked with her but she is getting better. I am also working with her to do some basic sign language and one of these days she'll say mama right? The only sign she has partly down is "finished". If I ask her if she is finished or all done she puts her arms up and down a few times. Not really the sign for "finished" but at least she is consistent on it. But since she seems to learn new words quickly so I'm not sure how beneficial sign language will be if she can talk.

Shopping for Christmas for her has been fun but also a little frustrating because I don't want to just buy baby toys that she will outgrow in a few months. I want toys that she can grow into and continually learn from. We did buy her the Little Tikes Activity Garden for Christmas because I know she will grow into it and use it until she is at least 2 or 3 years old. We also bought her a couple books and a music toy which she can carry around the house.

We had Christmas with her one set of Great Grandparents over the weekend and while she did enjoy it she was exhausted and could not enjoy it to it's fullest extent. Out of all her toys she got her favorite was the plastic candy cane filled with Hershey kisses. Chocolate IS a girls best friend right?

We are so excited for Audra's first Christmas this Sunday. I see her eyes fill with joy and excitement when she sees all the fun...boxes and scraps of paper and plastic ties and tags. So glad we spent money on all those fun toys. ;)

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Almost Hibernating

Well reader friends apparently I've been almost hibernating lately because it's been about a month since my last post. Maybe I could blame it on the Thanksgiving holiday and I was in a turkey coma for a few days. Or I could blame it on all the mommy and me things Audra and I have been doing lately. Lastly I could blame it on the fact that I use nap time to work out or shower or prep dinner but that's only half true. The real truth is I didn't feel I had much to write about and I didn't want to put all the effort into opening a new post only to write a  few sentences and then get distracted and quit.

The last few weeks around here have been consumed with a walking baby, sucking snot out, and Christmas prepping. Yes Audra is a non-stop walker. I don't even remember the last time I saw her crawl more than two seconds. And yes we are in the midst of another cold. Babies with colds suck. No sugar coating it. I hate it. Going thru boxes of kleenex, sucking out snot, slathering vicks, cleaning and refilling the humidifier,  having smears of snot on my shoulders, knees, stomach, calves, etc. I thought I was seeing the end-of-tunnel light but now I don't. She's holding on to this one as tight as her last cold. I've tried everything I did last time and then some but nothing is kicking it. Maybe for Christmas I should just ask for kleenex and saline drops because were going through that stuff faster than anything. But I know I know I should not complain. Audra is healthy besides that and life could be so much worse.

Christmas less than 20 days away can you even believe it? We always add a million things to our Amazon list and then push "complete order" around now. Then I have everything thing delivered as it becomes available so I get single items almost every day for a week and a half. I just love getting packages in the mail.

Last but definitely not least is our town finally got a coffee shop and I'm trying not to go every single day. But if you're going to go into debt, go into debt buying good coffee, can I get an amen? No? Ok just me then.

Audra turns 11 months in 2 days and I will try and put together a separate post for that before it gets too late. Happy December reader friends!

Enjoy some recent pictures of Audra and Daddy.

Daddy was tightening the cabinet pulls. Audra wanted all the things in the cabinet. 

Cannot. Stop. Swooning. 

Ten Month Update

"Goodbye" October and "Hello" November aka the holiday season! I'm incredibly excited for Audra's first Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and then birthday. It's going to be a whirlwind of excitement!

Last week was Halloween. Audra's first and I originally was not going to do anything because I think babies "asking" for candy is ridiculous. But then I knew it would be a nice night out watching her cousins go from house to house in their costumes. We all dressed up but Audra did not go door to door. We in turn went to Walmart the next day for half priced candy - score! I also was not going to dress her up but I found the most adorable strawberry costume at Once Upon a Child and could not even resist. I bought scrubs at Goodwill (aka my new happy pants) to go as a nurse and daddy wore his homemade ghillie suit which was a hit with everyone, even the lady he scared halfway through our route. It was a fun but chilly night out and the first time I had been trick or treating in years and years.

So since my mind has been all holiday-filled I almost forgot about Audra turning 10 months. I literally remembered last night on the 7th "Oh dude I need to take your 10 month pictures..." Yes cannot believe I almost forgot. So here are the shots. I seriously couldn't narrow it down to my favorites. I love all these pictures.

Month number 10 has been very good to us. We sleep well at night. We eat well at meal times. We play well by ourselves and with others (unless they are in our face and then we just.can't.deal). Audra's favorite foods are any noodle with cheese, eggs with cheese, waffle with peanut butter and strawberries, green beans, pears, apples any processed puffed food and squeezy pouches are back in the picture - yay! We had cheesy Spaetzle the other night and she proved her German genes are in perfect working order. I could not put it on her tray fast enough, she gobbled it up in no time and fussed when it was all gone. Atta girl!

Her favorite toys are anything that make noise and light up. I have to confess that before having a kid I was as anti-noisy toys as one could be. I swore I would take all the batteries out of them. But now? Audra is a music fanatic and noisy toys let me know that she is playing and being entertained. It also let's me know where she is if the noise is coming from other room. Have noisy toy, will travel.

Audra crawls a lot still but it's usually to a solid or semi solid object she can hold on to while standing up. Table, yoga block, chair, stack of books etc. If it holds her weight without sliding she is using it to stand up and then promptly walk away. Her record as of yesterday is 10 feet of walking on her own. She has even tried running a few steps from me to the couch. It's adorable now but a few months from now when she takes off in the store or in the house I will be saying "hey remember those days when you didn't walk? That was adorable. Let's go back to that k?"

Audra continues to learn new things - sometimes all by herself. She loves music and dancing. She loves watching the kitty and standing at the back door staring outside talking about all the fun things to do out there. She loves to people watch and ride in the grocery cart. She loves to feed herself and sample what I have on my plate, "if you eat I eat mom". And I continue to stare at her in amazement that she is really ours and really thriving. Not to mention stare at myself and realize that I'm surviving this mom gig. 10 months and counting little girl. You are my world. 

Good-bye to Summer Photo Shoot

I received this dress as a hand-me-down from my dear sister-in-law. I knew the moment I saw it that I loved it more than anything and I either had to have Audra wear it for a super special occasion OR I needed to photograph her in it so we can really remember it. However since Audra is small for her size this dress being a 6-9 month is just barely starting to fit. I was hoping it would fit in the Summertime so it could be worn more but oh well. P.S. I know it's hard to see the dress because she is sitting and it somewhat blends in with the quilt. My apologies. P.P.S I wish this dress came in my size.

I took advantage of the last warm day that we'll have until next year and had a mini photo shoot session with my beautiful model wearing a beautiful dress from her Aunt, a hair bow from her Mom, sitting on Grandma's quilt, holding Great Grandma's pearls. Be still my heart.