mama is wearing:  free people sweater, free people dress, forever21 jeans (similar here), target booties (similar here) 

little man is wearing: first impressions sweater, vest, mama made scarf, h&m pants, gap socks, converse shoes

today i am linking up with 8 (yes 8!) other stylish mamas to give you a little insight into what i wear and to hopefully inspire you in your own wardrobe choices!  as if finding the time to get dressed and put effort into our look as mamas isn’t hard enough, when this time of year comes around and the weather is cold and the mornings are frosty, it seems like it’s always a little harder to get dressed for the day.

each of the hostesses will be sharing her favorite outfit and 3 items she believes must be in every mama’s style arsenal and we want you to play along!

this is a typical “mama” outfit for me.  i love wearing dresses and layering them to make them work for the season.  before i had holden, i felt like i had to buy all designer clothing in order to be stylish.  that’s what all of my friends wore, shopping exclusively at bloomingdales and spending an entire paycheck on just a few items.  and even then, i was never really satisfied with my look.  but then when i got pregnant, that wasn’t really an option anymore and i found that getting creative with where i shopped and finding clothes that i was comfortable in actually made me more stylish.  i looked to mommy bloggers for outfit inspiration during my pregnancy to get the most out of the clothes already in my closet and i truly feel like it opened my eyes to options i had never thought of before.  since having holden, i don’t have as much time to plan out what i’m going to wear or get ready in the mornings as i used to so finding a way to look put together and stylish without a lot of time or effort is key!

my three mama style must-haves:

1.  a few quick and easy hairstyles.  my hair changed after pregnancy and the things that worked so easily before holden (like curling my hair!) no longer seemed to work.  because of the crazy baby hairs that showed up during pregnancy and for some reason have still remained a year and a half later, messy buns don’t look that great on me anymore.  so i have a few easy, go-to hairstyles that don’t require a lot of time, but look like they did.  my favorites at the moment are fishtail braids and no heat curls.

2. comfortable dresses.  dresses are the best way to look and feel put together.  i love throwing a sweater over a maxi dress or wearing leggings under a mini dress.

3.  a pair of low-heeled booties.  the little heel makes you feel dressy, but make it easy to chase after a little wild man.

THE MAMA STYLE HOSTESSES:

1. Casey Leigh of The Wiegands
2. Nicole, Emily, and Jenna of The Small Fry Blog
3. Cara of Cara Loren
4. Laura of Ascot Hart
5. Jen of Deep in the Hart
6. Anna of In Honor of Design
7. Bridget of Tales of Me and the Husband

HOW IT WORKS:

1. first, head to each of the hostess’ sites beginning monday, january 28th, check out their mama style post, and follow their blog!
2. you will then link up on any ONE of the hostess’ sites. our links will be interlinked which means that your post will be displayed on all of our sites.
3. share your own mama style outfits and tell us how your style has changed since becoming a mama.
4. the link up will run through friday, february 1st.
5. at the end of the link-up, we will be choosing our 3 favorite mama styles to be posted on each our sites.

remember: you must follow all 8 hostesses in order to participate!!

This is a fun way to get some style inspiration, make new friends, and increase your readers!

SO GRAB A BUTTON AND TELL ABOUT THE PARTY!

<a href="http://www.holdenonbaby.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb380/CaseyWiegand/january2013/mamastylelinkup.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>