Mad Hatter’s Tea Party + a Baby

It feels like a very long time ago that these photos were taken. Except it wasn’t. Despite being #38weekspregnant, we’d journeyed back to the West Country for my mum’s 60th Birthday. I was determined this baby wasn’t going to arrive. We celebrated mum’s 60th by having a Mad Hatter’s tea party. Knowing I’d never get Daisy to wear a hat, she was the Queen of Hearts, in a revolting synthetic princess outfit (that she loves and I didn’t buy) with pink lipstick hearts drawn on her cheeks. Relishing that it’d be a long time till I could wear a dress again, I wore this Fabric Mix T Shirt Dress from Next’s AW16 maternity collection. It also has the added benefit of going with any bonkers hat.

The dress is a really simple T shape, but panelled. The front is jersey, but the back is made from a lovely silky fabric. This nice twist turns a basic dress into something a little bit special. I particularly like the asymmetric hem shape, which is very contemporary.

On the Sunday, we had a lovely day back in London. We did the usual Sunday morning things; croissant for breakfast, a failed attempt to read the paper followed by a trip to the park. The weather was beautiful, so I wore this maternity embroidered skater dress from Next.

You may notice my love of dark clothes even in summer. The truth is that dark colours are flattering. Essential when your thighs are like tree trunks and you tummy the size of a beach ball. I particularly like this dress because it ruches under your bust leaving plenty of room for the growing bump. It also has a handy zip at the front, which means it’s breast-feeding friendly. Tick. But, little did we know that this would be our last weekend as a family of three. For at 10 to midnight on the Monday, my waters broke.