Daddy-to-be Having Fun

Americans love T-shirts. They wear them everywhere: work, gyms, travel, casual gatherings and parties. With so many famous authentic All-American fashion designers/companies continuously innovate in this area, T-shirts aren’t a simple, casual white knit shirt that absorbs sweats well anymore. It is more a fashion statement for Americans who emphasis individuality and humor. There are so many to explore about the T-shirt culture in America, but I am not going to enumerate here. Just recently, I found some companies selling humor Tees for expecting daddies. They are so much fun and cool that I want to record here. This small example also reflects the American T-shirts culture perfectly.

Nowadays, there are enormous wardrobe choices for fashionable mommies-to-be to have fun during pregnancy. As an equally important part of the human being-creating project, daddies are getting some actions in their wardrobes too. With no exception the easiest way is to express their excitements and proud through their favorite tees.

“CHANGING THE WORLD, ONE DIAPER AT A TIME”, this statement is the first one that caught my eyes and I felt it especially interesting to me. I was wondering if the designer borrowed this line from my Alma Mater's (Stanford GSB) tagline which says, “CHANGING THE WORLD, ONE PROJECT AT A TIME.”

And there are tees for proud daddies like:
“YES, IT’S MINE”
“LOOK AT WHAT I DID”
“YES, I DID IT”
“THE MAN BEHIND THE BELLY”

Further more, there are provocative statements like:
“MY BOYS CAN SWIM”
“HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES”
“BULLSEYE”
“I AM THE MILKMAN”
These statements are really funny but I think it takes quite some courage to wear and show to the world in some culture.

Isn’t pregnant life more fun for women with these little gestures from their hubbies? I love these humor tees. Too bad that as a conservative Chinese, my guy XJ is not willing to wear these tees except for the first one. He said, “Honey, I am more willing to peel and cut one more apple for you everyday.” Well, life is also about tradeoff, isn't it?

First Close Interaction with Maternity Clothes

When I started the blog, I had blogging about maternity fashion in my mind. While it was not until this Sunday had I had the first close interaction with maternity clothes.

Honestly and shamelessly, the first thing I was worried about when I first got to know that I was pregnant was not about how to be a good mom-to-be, instead I was wondering what I was going to wear during pregnancy, how to keep in style with a growing belly, how to be hip instead of boring…silly me, hah? Anyway, researching on maternity fashion turns out to be a good distraction from the notorious hardship of the first trimester so far. With so many brilliant maternity fashion companies and designers offering beautiful maternity clothes, we are able to indulge ourselves a little bit on clothes while going through this tremendous “project”. It is a privilege, I declare.

A month ago, immediately after the pregnant test, screaming and laughing, XJ and I went to Amazon.com and ordered seven pregnancy books, four of them are about maternity style according to my requirements. I have finished all style books and am still working on those books with REAL stuff. What can I say? It is just easier for me to read the style books. (Sometimes, I feel I am really a superficial person. Luckily, XJ thinks it makes me a very interesting person. ) And reading those books did make me enjoy my pregnancy much better. I was amazed by the autobiography written by the founder of Mother Works Inc., Rebecca Matthias, how she turned a simple idea to a business, how she found a niche market and built a successful public company based on it. It is absolutely inspirational. Also, I enjoyed Expecting Style by Lauren Sara. It tells you can be much more creative and fashionable than you could imagine during belly days. It also makes me feel less guilty to care about the appearance because some people out there make it as a career.

This Sunday, when we drove to Boston via route 9, we made a stop at the Destination Maternity store. The moment we drove to the parking lot, we “smelled” something different. All the cars in the parking lot are either SUVs, or Volvos, a.k.a safe cars. Our compact, fuel efficient car easily tells that we are yet serious, responsible parents. Upon entering the store, XJ and I quickly located our separate destinations, with him settling in a big sofa with a big flat TV screen broadcasting sports events and I heading to racks and racks of maternity fashions. As usual, I picked out what I liked, went to fitting room, put on every piece and showed them to XJ. It is our shopping routine that I always get his second opinion because I am a big spender and he pulls our wallet string. Today, I picked three winners and he killed one. I ended up with bringing home two pregnant dresses without a showing belly yet. And here they are: