Why I Am a Frumpy Mummy
May 27, 2006 by kate baggott
Filed under Finances, Mental Health
Today, I hope to shower and comb out my very curly, very tangled hair. It may be the only attention I give my appearance all day. I have had a style meltown. I have big feet, so I hate shoe shopping like I hate all exercises in frustration.
Since becoming a mother, I find I need both hands free. So I wear a backpack to carry diaper supplies instead of using a handbag. Besides, when I was single, a date I took to a fancy party once told me that I carry a purse as if it were a weapon.
Once the shoes and bag are dismissed, there seems little point to shopping for clothes. I do buy beauty supplies, but I tend to use them once, find out I’m allergic when my skin breaks out or gets rashy and the little bottles sit in the bathroom cabinet for a year, or five, until I throw them out.
Now, add the constant spot of spit up to my work-from-home wardrobe and you have one frumpy mummy.
It isn’t popular to be a frumpy mummy in this era of MILFs, Yummy Mummies, and Hot Moms.
It wasn’t always this way. True, I have never been an expert at make up. When I had to have my picture taken for something, I always had my hairdresser make me up. Fortunately, it wasn’t very often. But, I used to dress well. I used to think about what my wardrobe needs were and what image I wanted to put across. There was a collection of little black dresses I held especially dear. I wasn’t the only one. A friend of mine once said she wanted to do a series of my in my LBDs, my unique classic-boho-corporate look. I shiver, remembering those dresses and, I feel a bit sick when I think of my former credit card balances.
Those days are gone, but as I sit here in my oldest bathrobe, thinking creative thoughts, I can tell you that something is brewing. Some new style consciousness that will fit me and my life now and feel good. I don’t know what it will be, I don’t know when or how it will express itself, but it is coming.
Do you have a new style now that you’re a mother? What is your secret?
LOL… I’m sitting in my robe as I type this, but you gave me the push I needed to get up and dressed. I’m even going to put on some makeup. I’m trying to cover a bruise… I have a black eye from tripping over speaker wires. Now try to get gorgeous with a black eye and green bruises on your cheek!
Maybe I will just stick to the robe and be done with it.
Honey, a robe and a black eye say frumpy mummy. That look says pro-boxer. You and rocky.
As an incredibly busy work-at-home-mom I have no time at all for worrying about my makeup and wardrobe. A quick shower is about all I get. And jeans are my wardrobe staple.
Susan,
I have to confess that my showering habit went down to 3 times a week the moment baby 2 was born. At least, I am saving water.
I am sitting here in my wore out flannel pj pants and t-shirt. LOL I work part-time and today I came home from work and wanted to get out of my work clothes. So, I chose my comfy pj pants. I need more of them.
Since having kids I seem to have a hard time getting my haircut. Then my layers get too long, my hair gets stringy, and I end up wearing it in a ponytail almost everyday for a few months until I make my way to the salon again. I have recently adopted the term “BK” into my vocabulary. “BK” meaning “before kids”.
I have a new style, but I think I’d still be categorized as a yummy mummy a lot of the time. Even my sweats are stylish. I love feeling put together– it makes me feel better about the 10 pounds I still need to lose (though four months out…seems like you wrote “nine to gain nine to lose” or something similar). My style will continue to improve once I hit the States for the summer, as most of my pre-pregnancy clothes are there! For now, I make do with what I have and look forward to dressing from my US closet soon!
Hm, I try to dress my best, but I, too, find myself in my robe late into the morning. I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup growing up so the lack thereof now can be blamed on that. I do think I have neglected my appearance more since becoming a mom, and the shower is not as close of a friend as it once it.