NannyGate
 

Nothing more to add on substance, but I will say I already miss your "What if the hokey pokey IS what it's all about?" That was one of my favorite signature lines.

Maternity Clothes
 

I have outgrown a good portion of my wardrobe and so I finally bit the bullet and went maternity shopping. Just for the record, as someone who has to look like a fairly serious and non-sloppy person on a daily basis, which prevents me from following the "you will just want to burn it by the time you give birth so just buy cheap crap" advice of most of my friends:

Pea in the Pod sucks. The very idea of paying $300 for a polyester suit with a tie in back offends me. Deeply.
Liz Lange sucks - but at least her Target line is cheap.
Motherhood sucks (but is cheap).
Mimi sucks (but is cheap).
All the "cool" or "funky" mother places suck (both in person and online - Nom, I mean you), because they think cool means having 20 different types of jeans, boot-cut or cargo pants, paisley printed peasant blouses and T-shirts with inappropriate phrases on them.

Veronique rocks (if you catch a sale; even if you don't it is not that much more expensive than Pea in the Pod and the clothes are vastly better).
Eileen Fisher rocks.
Betsy Johnson rocks. (Really.)
My husband's sweater drawer rocks.

Also, if I never see matte jersey again in my entire life it will be fine with me, though I admit I admire it's stretchy, stainproof, fadeproof, synthetic qualities.

Er, that's all. I'll report in again when I've hit Avenue des Reves and some of the newer places down in Soho.

Maternity Clothes
 

Seriously, no one cares. Just buy some cheap crap. And while looking put together is important, you're excused from going above the business casual level for anything short of court after about the fifth month, at least in my book. Those that might care under most circumstances will chalk it up to the pregnancy, especially when you stroll back in four months later wearing your best looking pre-pregnancy clothes.*

Actually, the best option is to get decent stuff handed down from someone else (preferably someone whose taste runs to black - it's easy to look good in black). Almost all maternaty wear sucks, but it's better now than even a couple of years ago. I was amazed that almost all maternity wear falls into two almost mutually exclusive categories: loungewear, and incredibly expensive. Expensive loungewear is the more common crossover than reasonable office wear.

Of course, I'm just a guy. But I was hauled all over three cities looking for maternity clothing, so I think I have some expertise.

Gap and Old Navy both carry maternity wear, and surprisingly some of it was business casual appropriate, but the only places they carry it in stock seems to be in Manhattan. Otherwise, online. Lands End has some good, basic pieces that are business casual appropriate. Nothing fancy or particularly fashion forward, but well cut and built, and reasonably priced.


*One word: breastfeed.

Maternity Clothes
 

I care. That's the problem.

Maternity Clothes
 

Wife swears by Belly Basics,* available through BabyStyle stores and website. I can't speak for office casual appropriateness, but it does look good and the quality seems to be there. Separates are better than sets, because your top and bottom will vary in size and you don't want to put an entire outfit out of commission as you grow.

For dressy occasions, you can't beat anything with an empire waist. But I'm sure you could have figured that out already. The key is indeed to inherit as much stuff as possible. And don't buy any leather jackets or anything investment-quality.

*Personally, I find the name the only bad thing about this line of clothing.

Maternity Clothes
 

No matter what you buy, it will be crap -- the problem is, it's not cheap -- no matter how crappy.

What's the place that's on 70th and Madison? While not gorgeous, it was slightly less crappy than most of the stores. One thing I wore ALL THE TIME (and yes, like baltassoc says, you're excused from having to have a vast wardrobe) was a CK regular-clothing straight skirt with an elastic waistband. When not pregnant, it reaches my ankles. As my pregnancies progressed, the skirt got shorter and shorter.

Barney's has maternity clothing -- but that and the store on 70th and Madison (why am I blanking on the name?!?) is one of those places that seems to be only for those types who don't get fat all over (sadly, I am unable to count myself among those ranks) and their biggest sizes didn't last 'til the end for pregnancy subsequent to my first.

Maternity Clothes
 

Uh -- if you have ginormous boobs, empire waist is, how do you say? -- really, really bad. Once your stomach outgrows your boobs (and, don't worry, it will), you may be able to get away with it.

True on the inherit thing -- in fact, if you're in NYC, I'll give you all my crap (and it's all CRAP). We can arrange a double-secret drop-off at a secure location... Come to think of it, I did (still do, I suppose. Somewhere, anyway.) have a couple pair of toile pants that were actually kind of cute. You could fit three of me in them now, but I actually liked them (from that store on 70th and Madison whose name I can't remember).

Maternity Wear
 

I had some slip dresses - they were a mostly normal looking skirt, but instead of waistband the top was a dress out of thin stretchy fabric. You wear a sweater or A-line over it. They were nice because the slip part was stretchy enough to accomodate belly growth. A few of those in dark colors were enough to get to work through the last trimester (with a suitable selection of big sweaters and the afore-mentioned A-line top).

I hated the adjustable skirts, and those stretchy panels.

Maternity Clothes
 

Be a realist. The period in which maternity clothes matter is very short. My contacts tell me that, not only is it short, it is distracting. Thus, you may hardly notice that you are not sartorially resplendant.

In other words, suck it up, be a closed-door office hermit for about two months, and spend all of that saved money on something fun post-delivery. You'll need that more, anyway.

Maternity Clothes
 

This is especially true if you have ginormous boobs like dtb.

Maternity Clothes
 

HAD, not have... HAD!!

Unfortunately (well, I don't think it's unfortunate, but others may disagree...), the ginormity is no longer. The five sizes (that's right, FIVE freakin' sizes...) that I inflated are long gone.

Imaginary friends (no, not you)
 

My 2.5 year old was telling me the other night about his imaginary friend, Hanu (or Hanoo; obviously it's difficult to get accurate spelling). When I asked him questions about who Hanu was, he could tell me only that (1) "Hanu is not a monster" and (2) "Hanu is not a skeleton." There weren't a lot of other available details; he changes the subject a lot. So I'm left to ponder the significance of the fact that these particular details were offered, as if to disprove the alternatives.

This being a post "Sixth Sense" world, I am now entertaining myself with the notion that my son is communing with an actual dead person, possibly a child, possibly an indigenous American (in this case, Ohlone or Costanoan, based on our geography).

Anyone else have kids with invisible friends, or have invisible friends (other than FBI agents posing as sexual predators in chat rooms, of course)?

Imaginary friends (no, not you)
 

One child had an invisible friend for a while at about age 4. We got a variety of vague details now and then, older kid expounded and expanded on the details, and one day the imaginary friend went away. But "it" was always a friend, and always another child of about the same age.

I was informed this week that Mickey and Minnie Mouse have moved in with us. At first, I understood that they were just visiting. But it is apparently a permanent move.

I have also recently been shown several "animals" whose names I can't really pronounce, much less spell. One of them spends a lot of time in our wine rack, hopefully not sampling the product.

Imaginary friends (no, not you)
 

I forgot to muse: I wonder if it runs in families. I never had one, but my wife did. Not indigenous American, though. Totally Anglo: "Susan Collins." Of course, my wife grew up in a part of the country where there were several additional centuries in which a little Susan Collins might have lived and died nearby, so you never know . . . .