Fashion frump

Ok, so I have been looking at various mommy and baby blogs in the last few days and I have noticed a certain trend with lots of these blogs.

The Fashion Section.

Almost everyone has a section in their blogs where they have posted these great photos of themselves wearing cool/eclectic/vintage/trendy clothing with very nice shoes and then photos of their cute little toddlers and/or babies wearing equally cool/eclectic/vintage/trendy clothing with very nice shoes!

Why? Am I missing something? I don't mean to be rude, but really, why?

And who is taking these photos of these beautiful people?

It's more. Every time I see these posts and I pore over tons of gorgeous photos with gorgeous people and gorgeous clothing, I feel worse and worse about myself. I start to wonder if I am the only mother who owns 3 pairs of tracksuit bottoms (it is winter after all) that simply get rotated throughout the week. They vary in stages of cleanliness and some have green bean and cereal stains on them that I have not yet removed (Emmeline is learning to eat, I clean them today, she throws food on the tomorrow). I have various tops to wear around the house, but most are baggy and some now have a tie die appearance from when I washed them with the fuchsia bathroom mat whose colour ran all over the other washing. Twice. I could 'dress up' and wear my jeans, but they cut into my post pregnancy stomach and since my t-shirt seems to be wrapped around my chin a dozen times a day either breastfeeding or expressing milk, I don’t want my saggy belly hanging out over my jeans. It makes me feel like crap. Hence the tracksuit bottoms. I am not a slob by any means, I shower every day, I have clean hair etc. But honestly some days it takes me a few hours to get a chance to brush my teeth and change out of my pyjamas because I am running around trying to get a coffee and a bowl of cereal shoved down my throat before hauling arse to prepare Emmeline’s cereal and then fight the fight of trying to get her to eat and swallow her cereal. Then there is the cleanup of her and me, then finish off her breakfast by offering booby as a large part of cereal inevitably ends up everywhere but her mouth. Then there is changing nappies and clothing, and getting the cereal out of her nose and her hair and by this time it is nap time and I am still running around in my pyjamas with smelly breath and my fringe standing up like a little thatch roof over my forehead hoping like hell that no-one knocks at the door to see me in this state. Once Emmeline is asleep I have half an hour before she wakes up to de-thatch my fringe, get myself cleaned, clean some random part of the house and wash the dishes. I don’t have time to straighten my hair or apply makeup and put on nice shoes and stand in a corner with my perfect daughter and take photos for my blog!

Now don’t get me wrong, the tracksuit bottoms DO NOT leave the house unless it is to go to the gym, only then is it acceptable! Ok then, perhaps also the quick dash to the corner shop on a Sunday afternoon! But I also get dressed up, I put on my nice shoes, I even put on makeup. But I don’t take pictures.

I wonder if all these beautiful mommies and all their beautiful children get dressed up like that to stay in or is it simply to go out. I reckon it must be to go out, that would be far too much hard work to maintain that look whilst running after little babies who are throwing their veggies on the floor. Or is that just my life?

Actually who am I kidding? Even when I dress up to go out, I don’t look even half as good as they do!

Am I doing something wrong as a stay at home mommy? Am I the only one who lives in tracksuit bottoms at home? Should I be rushing out to buy myself a pair of laundry day heels?

But if I don’t, and I continue to live in my tracksuit bottoms until the weather gets nicer, please can I still be part of the mommy blog club?