Black Sweater Dress & 34-Week Bumpdate

Houston fashion blogger styles a black French Connection sweater dress as a maternity dress with Sole Society over the knee boots and a Dagne Dover handbag.

I’ve had this oh-so-cozy sweater dress hanging in my closet for about a month now, just waiting for the first chilly day to be worn. With temperatures now close to 50 degrees in Houston, I was thrilled to finally be able to break it out of my closet!

I’m sharing why non-maternity sweater dresses are the best thing you can have in your wardrobe when you’re pregnant during the cooler months + a 34-week bumpdate below!

Houston fashion blogger styles a black French Connection sweater dress as a maternity dress with Sole Society over the knee boots and a Dagne Dover handbag.

Houston fashion blogger styles a black French Connection sweater dress as a maternity dress with Sole Society over the knee boots and a Dagne Dover handbag.

My face when people on the street start cheering “go girl!!!” LOLZ!

Houston fashion blogger styles Sole Society Leandra Over the Knee Boots in Rust with a Dagne Dover handbag.

Houston fashion blogger styles a black French Connection sweater dress as a maternity dress with Sole Society over the knee boots and a Dagne Dover handbag.

Houston fashion blogger styles a black French Connection Sweater dress as a maternity dress.

Houston fashion blogger styles a black French Connection sweater dress as a maternity dress with Sole Society over the knee boots and a Dagne Dover handbag.

Houston fashion blogger styles a black French Connection sweater dress as a maternity dress with Sole Society over the knee boots and a Dagne Dover handbag.

Shop the Look:

Most sweater dresses really don’t have much structure to them. Perfect if you have a baby bump the size of a pineapple! (Which is what my app is telling me this week.) I love this one from French Connection because it falls just above the knee and doesn’t look too short, even with the baby bump. To keep my legs warm I paired this dress with rust over-the-knee boots for a fun pop of color. This onyx tote from Dagne Dover is great for a quick trip out or when you’re running errands. The smaller size holds just what you need and doesn’t get in the way.

If you’re expecting and shopping for sweater dresses, steer clear of anything “mini.” Length with be your best friend in the coming months! Apart from the obvious, (sweater dresses are incredibly cozy), they’re great pieces to have in your closet while pregnant because you can wear them after baby too!

34-Week Bumpdate

Size: She’s almost 5 pounds now and as long as a pineapple (or an american girl doll), at 18″.

Due Date: Here’s the interesting news I hinted about in a post earlier this week. While our due date has been Jan. 16th this entire time, we now expect her to arrive on Jan. 9th! Baby girl is breech (just like her mom was!) and if she doesn’t flip on her own, we will be celebrating her birthday a bit earlier than we thought. Overall, I have an extremely laid-back personality, so I wasn’t thrown off too much by this big change of plans. Whatever is meant to be and best for my baby is perfectly fine with me.

Feeling: Some days I have SO much energy it baffles me. Other days I can’t imagine getting out of bed or off the couch. Speaking of getting off the couch, Patrick has been really helpful in that regard! Little girl is snug as a bug and doesn’t want me moving!

Cravings: For the most part, any weird food aversions and/or cravings have gone out the window. I’m finally starting to feel like my old self when it comes to food. My appetite has increased a bit, but not as much as I was expecting it to. My mom said when she was pregnant with me she could eat an entire order of fajitas in one sitting! I’m still waiting for that to happen to me … because it sounds amazing.

Recent Highlights: Seeing her 32-week ultrasound! My parents were in town and they were able to see her on “tv” too! It was so special! Baby girl was sucking her thumb again, a trend we’ve noticed in all of the ultrasounds so far. It’s seriously the cutest thing.

Up Next: I now start going to the doc on a weekly basis until little girl makes her debut. One of my besties actually works at my doctor’s office, so it’s like double win: a weekly lunch break with her and an update on baby!

Nursery: We finally found a dresser. Actually, Patrick did! We loved this one from Land of Nod but didn’t want to invest so much into such a small dresser that she might not use forever. He found this EXTREMELY similar dresser on Wayfair for $159! Crazy right? (I was so impressed with his shopping skills that afternoon.) This one comes in gray so we’re chalk painting it white to match the rest of the room this weekend.

Third Trimester Favorites:

  • Leggings and sweatpants. Oh and over the bump jeans. I’ve had to say goodbye to my below the bump stretchy jeans. They just don’t do it for me anymore with a belly this big!
  • Baby blankets from XOve Baby. They’re super soft and can be embroidered too!
  • This holiday smocked dress from Smockingbird. Okay maybe she won’t be able to wear it for a year, but I couldn’t resist! So I ordered it in the size she (probably) will be this time next year.
  • Our baby monitor. We set it up last weekend and had wayyyy to much fun moving the camera around & spying on the dogs with it that afternoon.
  • I just ordered his & hers hospital bags from Mark & Graham. They’re also early Christmas presents to each other. I’m planning on packing them up & having them ready to go this weekend. Any tips on what to bring & not to bring to the hospital would be much appreciated!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by the blog. I’ve had such fun sharing this special time with you all and I’m so glad I have these bumpdate posts to look back on down the road. Hope you all have a great weekend!

xo, alice

photos by LA Photography