Two years ago I was in a very similar season as to where I am today (minus one child). I had a 2 year old and a newly turned one year old.
I was finally emerging from the sleep deprivation caused by a full two years of back-to-back pregnancies and newborns. My oldest two are only 18 months apart, so Silas was only 11 months old when we found out we were pregnant with baby number 2.
So for two years my standard uniform was a nursing tank layered under a cardigan or t-shirt, with some yoga pants. Comfortable and practical for nursing and for resting while taking care of two under the age of two.
But after Amelia turned one I was only nursing first thing in the morning and right before bed so I really didn’t need to be wearing nursing tanks anymore. I was just dressing this way out of habit and because it was comfortable but it was far from attractive.
One day I finally just had enough and decided to start getting dressed in real clothes… real bra, makeup and all! 
My struggle came when I opened up my closet to realize it was a jumbled mess of clothing: maternity wear, postpartum “big” clothing, and pre-pregnancy clothing, most of which I hadn’t worn in over two years and many didn’t even fit.
I was overwhelmed with the mess and didn’t even know where to start! So I knew that before I could even start dressing for my days I had to tackle my closet. Thus my first 31 Days series was born, 31 Days to a Wardrobe You’ll Actually Love.
My main reason for blogging through the process was for my own sanity and to keep me accountable. I never realized how popular and big that series would become. To date it’s my 3rd biggest traffic referral and I keep receiving emails and messages from many readers about their own journey towards creating a wardrobe they love.
After the initial series was complete, I mulled over it for a while and thought about going back to re-edit and add a ton to it to make it even better but then the light bulb went off. Instead of updating the original series, why didn’t I just make one complete resource with all the information in a one easy location?
Thus the inspiration for the eBook Simply Dressed: Inspiration to Dress for the {Everyday} Ordinary Days was born. To be honest the process of compiling, updating, expanding, editing, re-editing and launching that eBook was a lot more work then I expected. It took much longer than I expected and even still I go back and make changes to edits that were missed during the editing process.
It was (and still is) a labor of love.
Fast forward to today and I have added another baby to the mix and I am back in my standard nursing attire. While Jack still nurses frequently throughout the day, I’m ready to get back into the discipline of getting dressed everyday again.
I’m ready to move past frumpy mommy attire to a more put together look. Not necessarily dressing to the nines, but actually dressing to make myself feel and look better, to dress for my husband and to be an example for my kids.
I do strongly believe that getting dressed everyday (especially if you are a stay at home mom) is a discipline. It’s easy to dress in yoga pants and lounge wear (and some seasons and days it’s not only practical but also entirely appropriate) but I have found that when I make the effort to get dressed every day, in something that makes me look and feel good, I am much more productive, get more things done and generally have a better attitude.
Later this month, Simply Dressed will celebrate it’s 1 year anniversary and as a way to honor that huge milestone in my life, I’m going to make the choice to get dressed everyday and clean out my closet so it’s only filled with clothing that fits and looks good.
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Here is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of Simply Dressed:
First Things First
Many Christian women struggle with the area of fashion and spending time on their looks because they feel it takes away from where their true focus should be. While I agree it can turn into an idol if you are not careful, I don’t believe it is wrong to care about how you look and dress. I actually think it’s beneficial to spend a little time and effort getting dressed every day and making yourself feel good. But how do we find the balance of seeking true biblical beauty and trying to live up to the worldly standard of beauty? We can’t serve two masters but we can understand how God views beauty and how to honor and glorify Him in our daily appearance. We can seek to put on the full armor of God every day by preparing our hearts and minds to focus on God’s grace and beauty, meanwhile dressing ourselves to prepare for the day ahead.
Sure you may not be going into physical battle, but there will be many things that attack you on a daily basis. There might be meetings, telephone calls, meals to make, toilets to scrub, crying babies, and fighting children to teach and tend to. When we prepare ourselves for the day, first in God’s Word and prayer, then by getting dressed, we are prepared to stand strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might (Ephesians 6:10). We are equipped to fight the good battle, to do the work of serving our families and honoring our professional duties, either in or out of the home.
While I am obviously an advocate for dressing ourselves every morning and spending a few minutes to look and feel put together, the first thing we have to do is spend time with God. To allow His Words to penetrate our hearts and minds, to pray over our day, allowing Him to guide and lead us. It doesn’t matter if I get to shower, dress and even put on a little makeup, if I don’t have my daily meeting with God first thing, then I will never be ready to tend to my family the way I should.
There are many different ideas and beliefs about morning devotion times. From a practicality standpoint, of having two young children with pretty inconsistent sleeping patterns, I get that a solid chunk of time every morning might not be realistic. There are plenty of ways to meet with God when you rise before dressing for the day until you get the chance to spend some time in devotion. Consider praying a short prayer before you even get out of bed or even in the shower. You can even keep a Scripture card on your bathroom mirror to can recite and reflect on as you are brushing your teeth. Or simply turning on soft praise music to help prepare your spirit for the day ahead is a great way to start the day. There are lots of different ways we can meet with God every morning to help us prepare our hearts, minds, and attitudes for the day ahead.
For the remainder of the month, Simply Dressed: Inspiration to Dress for the {Everyday} Ordinary Day will be $0.99, both the PDF and the Kindle version (coupon codes do not apply to this sale).
If you haven’t had the opportunity to read it, I hope you will take advantage of this special anniversary pricing. And if you have read it and was encouraged and inspired, can I ask you a favor?
Would you please go to Amazon and leave a review?
Head here and once you leave a review, email me your review link because I am going to be picking one lucky reviewer to win a $25 Amazon gift card! If you have already left a review, email me too. I will randomly choose a winner on November 1st. You can email me at creativehomekeeper {at} gmail {dot} com with “Simply Dressed Review” in the title.
The post The Discipline of Getting Dressed {Simply Dressed One Year Later} appeared first on Creative Home Keeper.