MY CAPSULE CLOSET

I have a new obsession.

Capsule Closet.

Don't know what it is? Well let me share with you how I came to discover it.

I stand in front of my closet every morning and think I have nothing to wear. I know that I have a closet full of clothes, yet somehow, I have nothing to wear.

My body is different. I carried a life inside of me for 9 months, worked my butt off to lose the extra baby weight, and am now decently happy with my body. Yes, there's a little extra on my than before. But, I brought a life into this world and I refuse to shame my body for that. Anyways, because I carried this sweet boy in me, my body is shaped a little differently.

Before baby, I wore more fitting clothes. Not tight, but they showed off my figure a little more. Now that I've had a baby, my chest is bigger and my hips are wider. None of my shirts fit the same as they used to- just tight in all the wrong places, my jeans just were not comfortable anymore, I didn't want to wear my hand wash clothes [because, well, I have an 8 month old that spits food at me, or all over his hands then rubs them on me], and I needed to wear clothes that were easy to nurse in [since I still work full time in an office]. Hence, I have nothing to wear, was code for I hate the way my clothes look on me.

Begin the late night Pinterest-ing.

I started looking for comfy, yet cute, yet versatile clothes. The capsule closet idea kept coming up on my feed and in my searches. I decided to click on a link, which brought me to a blog where the woman literally said the same thing about her closet post-baby [I so wish I could find it and link it here for you to read]. She, then linked the blog that started the capsule closet- Unfancy. [You can also check out her FAQ page where she answers a lot of questions about it HERE. ] One of the things I read said that you should love every item in your capsule wardrobe and be excited about different ways to mix and match the items. Standing in front of your closet shouldn't be an I don't have anything to wear experience anymore. It should be quick, easy, and effortless.

Count me in!

All I could do was talk about my future capsule wardrobe to David. I'm sure he was/is so over my constant talking about it. But, let's be real. He's my best friend, and I was overly excited about this. I have a Pinterest board dedicated to my capsule wardrobe [you can view it here]. Really, it's ideas of what to include in it and for each season, and then a couple of specific pieces that I like. It was fun to get excited about this, see what styles I liked and what other people had used in theirs, and then start thinking through my clothes and what I wanted to have in my capsule wardrobe.

Begin closet clean out.

This was fun. And a little depressing. I created three piles- Love it, Like it, and Get rid of it. Something one of the blogs I read said, was to try on every piece of clothing. If you like the way it looks/fits and feel confident in it- keep it! If not, get rid of it. I did this. Unless I just knew that I was going to get rid of it. At the end, David exclaimed, "You're going to be naked!". We both laughed, and I responded, "but when is the last time you saw me wear any of those clothes?". David's response, "Point made". I ended up getting rid of my whole "like it" pile as well. [The below photo is just the clothes I am selling...the donate pile is bigger...yikes!]

Then began the planning.

I had to look at the clothes I had decided to keep and really see what my style was. I currently work in a pretty laid back office where I can wear jeans and a cute top to work [I could probably wear a t-shirt if I really wanted to, but I choose not to]. However, I am going to part-time, work from home, only go in the office once a week in a month, so I also had to consider that.

My style is- comfy, neutral clothing that is machine washable and can be dressed up and dressed down. Really descriptive huh? I'll share what's in my capsules in later posts, and maybe it will make more sense. Anyways, I wrote down what I was looking for to add to my winter and spring capsules...

[a little glimpse at the beginning of my winter capsule...so small!]

And then, the shopping.

This couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time, money wise. David and I just created a budget that we are really trying to stick to. Before this, I think he would have let me use some of the tax return money to shop with...not now. [We're Dave Ramsey style, and it's strict!]. Fortunately, we live 10 minutes from the outlet mall, and I am subscribed to my favorite store's email lists- so I get notified when sales are happening. I rarely buy something full price, which kind of goes against some of the rules others have set out for capsule closets, but that's just how I roll.

My "go-to" stores are- The LOFT, J. CREW, and Madewell. The LOFT and J.CREW both have outlet locations- which is a huge bonus for me. Madewell is where I get my jeans and couple items here and there.

I am so excited for my capsule wardrobe. I truly love every item in my winter capsule so far. I'm still on the hunt for certain pieces, but I have a list of what I want, so there will be no "oh this is cute!" purchases for me. I loved reading the blogs where they actually shared what was in their capsule wardrobe, so I'll share those as the seasons come.

EATING MY WORDS

Ha! Of course as soon as I posted my last post, Griffin's sleep went crazy.

Yes- I am now eating my words.

Griffin stopped letting us rock him. He fights it so hard. He is constantly pushing off of us, trying to jump out of our arms, or literally just screaming and flailing. So, Saturday, after a failed attempt for a morning nap, we went for a walk so that he would fall asleep in the stroller. Then, that afternoon, after David left for church, I was left with no options as I was loosing my mind, failing to rock my son to sleep.

I laid him down in his crib, covered him with his blanket, and told him I loved him [of course he's smiling at this point]. Then, I walked out of his room. Griffin. Lost. His. Mind. I came back in 5 minutes later- kissed his forehead and calmed him down [without picking him up] as best as I could. Then I left. Tears in my eyes, I texted my sweet friend Kelsey and asked how she did it and how long her son cried. As she walked me through it, I checked on Griffin once more, and then he whimpered off to sleep.

It has been 5 days, and Griff is doing pretty good with it. It breaks my heart every time I walk out of his room. I don't think it will ever stop. I have chosen to cherish the hours I have spent rocking my baby to sleep, because I knew there would be a day that he wouldn't let me do it anymore. And that day has come. It came much sooner than I expected.

I choose to go in after 5 minutes, because I want my son to know that when he is upset or screams for us, we will be there. I also want him to learn that his room and his crib are safe, and that going to sleep on his own is a good thing. As I stated in my last post, you have to do what works for you. This is now what works for us.

SLEEP DEPRIVATION

I have always called Griffin my angel baby. From the day we brought him home from the hospital, this little boy has been an incredible night sleeper. We have always had to rock him to sleep, but taking 30 min to rock him was worth the hours of sleep we got after.

And then something happened. At just over 4 months old, the dreaded 4 month sleep regression came like a thief in the night. Our incredible sleeper suddenly would not sleep at night anymore. He was up every hour or two. He would fall back asleep as we rocked or I nursed him, but as soon as you laid him down, screaming ensued. David and I traded off every other wake up. I would doze off in the rocking chair and wake up and hour later, or I would find David passed out in it at 7am, holding our sweet little boy. There were some nights, that out of desperation, we would bring him into bed with us. I would nurse him to sleep [and he would actually sleep! And we got 2-3 hours much needed of consistent sleep]. Now this didn't just last a week, or a month. 

Three and a half months people! 

It. Was. Horrible. 

[Now, I know three and half months of sever sleep deprivation may seem like nothing to most new parents. But when you start out parenthood with a good sleeper, it is super rough to transition to a horrible sleeper.]

After lots of late night/early morning, and sometimes desperate daytime research, I came to the conclusion that Griffin had separation anxiety. [Yes, I Facebook, Instagram, Google and Pinterest to stay awake when I'm feeding Griffin at night. I'll have a post soon about my scrollings on Facebook coming soon]. On the random nights that he slept in our bed, he would wake up, reach out and touch me, then roll over and go back to sleep. That's how I really knew it was separation anxiety. Crying it out was just not an option for getting through that.

Now I know that there are many different opinions on this, and I am not here to debate. My opinion is whatever works for you[however you and baby get sleep at night]- do it. David and I just don't agree with cry-it-out. We can't do it. Yes, I have taken breaks when Griffin is screaming his head off and I'm home along while David is at youth. Yes, we tap out and trade. I just physically cannot listen to my son scream for that long. He works himself up and makes himself sick, and it's just not worth it to us. When he cries, we are there. And it is paying off! 

Something clicked the week Griffin turned 8 months. Suddenly, he was only waking up 1-3 times a night. A miracle. It made all of our sleepless nights, rocking and comforting our little boy, totally worth it. I have seen him [on the monitor] wake up, then roll over and go back to sleep. He wakes up [most mornings] quietly and will play for a while. He's woken up in the middle of the night, and I have patted his butt for 1 minute, and he goes back to sleep for hours [this is when he wakes up sooner than it's time to feed him. If it's been 3 hours, I will feed him. If it's sooner, it's back to sleep for the little boy]. 

Now, I'm a little nervous, because another sleep regression is set to happen at any point. And I know it's coming. This kid is almost crawling, and pretty soon he will be pulling up, sitting up from laying down, and walking. Prayers are much appreciated for our rest.