Mid Life Melanin MaMa

Hey family how are you on this day?

Have you ever said something similar to this? That's not my life! Often times it is said that we should dress for the life that we have not for the one that we want. When I first began my style journey I wanted to have that aspirational look. I thought I needed button-downs and heels and makeup and all the latest and greatest. Needless to say that did not work for my life. Angie was a fresh person that really heard that said dress her life that you have not the one that you want.

So let's talk shoes I had to bid a fond farewell to 90% of my shoe wardrobe recently. They were all comfortable pretty stack block heels that were chunky enough to support my lovely curves for hours upon hours. Why the sudden style shift you ask? First off thank you for asking. Next because my whole life has shifted.

So as most know I'm 43 and will be 44 in one month. I have my beautiful rainbow baby and my body has physically changed. When pregnant my feet started to grow and spread. I knew that they may not ever go back to my size 11 wide. I knew that my feet were growing so I bought temporary shoes. The shoes that will fill the space until my feet reverted back. Well I had to say goodbye to those shoes.

This is my new reality that I am finally accepting. I have one pair of heels in my wardrobe left only because I bought them in two sizes size 11 wide and size 12. So this is turning into my spring wardrobe early summer I have to figure out something in the summer.

Suggestions for summer shoes are more than welcome I like closed for shoes. I'd rather invest into good pair of summer shoes then a whole bunch of cheap e fill in the space shoes.

Well hello my fashionable family long time no see. Well virtually see! It is so good to be back on the boards I have missed you all so much as we have been taking this break from winter year 2017 until spring of 2018. I thought it would be a wonderful time to come back with Vivid color for spring.

I cannot wait to reestablish old friendships and connections and to see all of the new faces here. And so we begin with our first outfit. This weekend was all about celebration of life of Resurrection of renewal and a 1st birthdays. So I really wanted our wardrobes to reflect the joy we were feeling inside.

The first outfit for me to be honest with you was a hot mess. We went out to a pre Mother's Day brunch celebration with our thrifting group. My daughter looked beautiful but, I just felt like a hot mess. I didn't know what to wear. I was out of sorts and I felt that discombobulation of being a new mom. And although my daughter turned one-year-old today on the 2nd of April I just couldn't pull myself together. I look forward to learning and growing from the group again as I reestablish my fashion sense in style. My daughter on the other hand looked like 1 million bucks. She had a gold Afrocentric top on denim leggings and her first walking shoes. The coat was just everything, is everything as you can see.

The second set of pictures 6, 7 and 8 made me feel much better. My daughter was gifted a Easter dress and coordinated with a white polka-dotted blouse and it doesn't show up on the pictures but a polka dotted blue Palazzo pant. And it hand made velvet hat. I really like this outfit I can't say much more than that this is not used to look and again my little one in her red hat. Again I look forward to our journey on the fashion boards and thank you all for reading.

We are taking a social media break.

I know that people always wonder why make a big announcement like it's life-changing. Well Zi'Joy has a lot of aunties and uncles and we just didn't want anyone to worry. Social media is fine and has it's place but now it's time to get to living. I take a break every year from social media so this is not a surprise to some. Just wanted to let y'all know for now. We will see you all in the spring summer renewed and refreshed

Have a blessed journey from Zi'Joy & Mama.

Currently 8 months and 43 years.

Well hello family!

I always wondered why we celebrate baby's birthday months. I kind of understand it now. It's because we never know what the future may hold. So we celebrate the MOMents not really the month but the moments.

So in our family we have this tradition of singing the Stevie Wonder version of Happy Birthday to you. Today I woke up well today Zi'Joy woke me up with her traditional smile and laughter and rolling. She knew that something special was going on today. I realized that today was her 7 th month birthday.

For 9 months of pregnancy and 7 months living in this world today my little one turn 7 months. I have blogged about our Journeys our Adventures not every day but Faithfully, stylishly and in our truth. I feel like this Blog My Life our journey together has been so much more Fuller because she has become such a big part of my life. She makes each day enjoyable even the challenging times like when I took a vacation day off the other day just so we could have Halloween together and enjoy ourselves. We were going to do a Mommy and Me day but it things don't always go as planned. Poor little on the suffering growing teeth. So we just spent the day at home and made the best of it heading out trick-or-treating candy.

I have to remind myself that is not about the destination but it is about the journey and I think being an older mom 43 for the first time it gives me a perspective that I would not have had as a younger Mom. I'm more relaxed and more laid-back I am more open to things not going as planned. I think the one commonality that we all have is as mother's as women it can be challenging. We are expected to be Superwoman I want to bust that myth yet change the narrative that being single older mom can be a wonderful thing.

This is our stylish Journey to and through her 7 months. Right before fall settled in comfortably and the coldness overtook us this beautiful photo shoot took place at a park after our church service. I love these photos the pink and the yellows they all somehow work together. Pictures 1-4. Zi'Joy with her big flower she is known for her signature flowersr. I with my African print head scarf just a piece of African material that I wear more often than naught.

Picture 5 was from this morning her joyous smile and her bib that says born sassy.

6/7 another coordinated outfit of mother and daughter we went out to visit family and friends on this day.

8-11 our Halloween wedding coordinator looks. My daughter's calendar is full we went to 3 Halloween party and on this day of Halloween I was so tough it out of Halloween costumes I decided to be comfortable and coordinated with my daughter as she was a ladybug and I just decided to coordinate in the Beautiful sweater and head wrap.

The other pictures are among some of my favorites of the past 7 months. Ahhh how quickly time flies when one has a child. Very cliche but very true it seems like in the blink of an eye we have made it this far. By taking one day at a time one Journey at a time one step at a time when smiling Time 1 stylus Journey at a time we have made it here.

I sincerely thank you for reading Rocking With Us stylishly. Going on this journey with us. Reading Lurking commenting etc etc.

Until next we meet as always be well on your stylist Journey.

Visiting our local Black History Museum in Chicago. The DuSable is full of rich historical artifacts and futuristic art.

What really made the greatest impact on me was the slave field cradle. The work never stopped and babies never stopped coming. The slaves had no time to rest and went back to work right after giving birth picture 11.

Our looks:

Zi'Joy thrifted denim dress with pink kisses. Thrifted Leopard print pants rolled at the calf. Pink moccasins Wal-Mart. Her signature thrifted red hat and custom made flower headband.

MaMa Donna upcycled custom made dress by Creative Flow designer Oshun Bey. Earring hand crafted. Thrifted heaswrap, flower pin, denim leggings. Shoes Wal-Mart. Surprisingly comfortable given we walked a museum.

I try to tie in our our looks with accessories. Today it was our flowers.

Have a great day and let us know What you think.

History on Jean Point Dusable. He was the first permanent settler in Chicago was a black man named Jean Baptiste Point DuSable. He was born on the island of Haiti around 1745 to a French mariner and a mother who was a slave of African descent.
DuSable was educated in France and then, in the early 1770s, sailed to New Orleans. From there, he made his way up the Mississippi River to Peoria, Illinois where he married a Potawatomi woman named Catherine in a tribal ceremony.

Greetings Everyone

On this day which was the middle of the
week I decided to take us to our local library. We have been spending
more and more time there lately. On this night they were having Super
Hero Movie Night. Different Games and Activities for kids and you could
dress up as a super hero if you wanted to.

You had me at Super
Hero! I remember the last movie I went to it was the day Zi'Joy was
born April 2 with my youngest niece. We went to see Beauty and the
Beast. It was awesome by the way. This time it was the new Wonder Woman movie.

# warning picture and color overload #

Zi'Joy is 5 monts old already.

My favorite time of the year of the four seasons has to be the fall the hot chocolate the Autumn Leaves and just warm sweaters and Boots. Summer in Chicago is just as vividly beautiful with its colors. One of the things that I've mentioned many times is that I love seeing things from my 5 month old Daughter's Eyes. Things that kind of have dimmed with time and age worry and life give a vivid new meaning to color and joy.

This weekend with the unofficial end to Summer here in Chicago. Kids starting school, Summerfest ending weather turning Crisp and cool. Saturday had Zi'Joy joy and I realizing that it was her birthday well her 5-month birthday and so we decided to celebrate. All weekend.

It's funny what babies can do she's at the point of scoot crawling rolling and just wanting to be more mobile. So. In honor of all of these milestones I decided to purchase her a walker and an ExerSaucer thst she can run around in a circle on.think hamster wheel. We also purchased two lovely costumes for Halloween from Once Upon a Child. Once Upon a Child Gently Loved items for babies, children and young teens. They have everything it's really amazing where at some stores you by all the stuff new they have it on sale at a fraction of the price. Now Zion is walking backwards I'm sure she'll get the hang of walking it's like she wants to walk before she even starts to crawl.

For that trip all got were selfies. I've gotta learn how to take better selfies or get my selfie stick.

On Sunday was just a church day and an art festival we really wanted to go to but sometimes days seem to go by so quickly. This is a three-day weekend so we had Monday that we could attend the festival and that's what we did.

This Festival is called the African Arts Festival and this is the 28th year for the festival. It is a 4 Day event held in Chicago. It is one of the most colorful experiences I have ever been to. This was my first time going so we got to experience this for the first time together. It is my first time but I think it will be a family tradition from now on. It's where my Vivid colors that I love to wear finally made sense. It was very hot this past weekend and so I tried to dress up accordingly cool temperatures too hot back to cool.

My friend gifted me with a long t-shirt that came to about mid-thigh I decided to try my own upcycling technique and cut the side of the shirt and tie them making fringes on each side and then on the shoulder arm part. I decided to just cut them and pull them so they could hang like a loose string hanging effect I think it came out well. I find that I don't have any shorts. So I had a pair of denim leggings that were very thick material and I rolled them up to just underneath my knees. I think it turned out well. My boots are by Toms and they were very very comfortable for walking the grounds because I think we covered about two miles of Art and artwork. And my hat was a custom made hat. I just love hats this one is a denim mesh mix and I got to pick out my afr and the Fro got to stand out. For Zi'Joy the day started off cool so I put her in a denim jacket with kind of artsy flare colorful mix on the trim of the pockets and the Cuffs. I put her in a dress onesie and the print was so pretty I thought it fit in well for the flavor of the Fest. Is he also have some cute little booty she was gifted a headband she was gifted and I always believed form follows fashion and or function and so she had a cute little son had we purchased $4 and then the headband we just put over the top later on I put her in a light terry cloth jacket that was perfect for the wind that was sweeping around.

The sites in the sounds of a colors at the Fest were just amazing they had different staging areas they had a drum circle stage they had a soul music stays they had a African dance stage the beautiful beautiful time to include all of the art and the artist and just everything from people saw that and they heard her name and our last name which is an African origin from the tribe of Nubia she was gifted a lot of things from aunties.

As usual I hope you enjoy the pictures the sites and hopefully we can show you some of the sounds later thank you for once again looking commenting or just viewing the pictures. As always be well on your fashion Journey

To borrow from U.S. Senator Maxine Waters.  From the weekend before last and this past weekend.

Good morning everyone as always I hope this post finds you all well.

This weekend as most were filled with rest relaxation excitement and for us Church. We started off on a very high note on Saturday was our annual Bud Billiken Day Parade. This is the 88th year of the parade and we celebrated watching the entire parade that stretches for 3 miles.

Essentially it is a back-to-school parade and this year's Grand Marshal was Chance the Rapper a well-known local and International rap artist who has become famous for being a wonderful generous entrepreneurial person and helping the Chicago public school system with donations of funds and finances. Well we didn't get any pictures of us we did get many pictures of the parade so I'll include those in here. Chance the Rapper also handed out 33,000 backpacks filled with school supplies. He also handed out free tickets to his concert to teachers and fathers for their children and did a free concert that evening.

Sunday as usual we went to our local church and had a phenomenal time as we always do the dance filled with singing Praise. Zi'Joy is not smiling in any of these pictures. My poor little one was not really feeling well she started her vegetables this past week along with school she had a bit of a tummy ache by the end of Sunday all was well and she was back to smiles and laughter. I thought her serious face reminded me of me so much. I think she looks more like her father but these images capture who I am so well not that I'm always serious but the looks I can give.

The Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic is an annual parade held since 1929 in the Bronzeville/Washington Park neighborhoods of Chicago, Illinois, United States; it is the largest African-American parade in the nation.

On this day we both decided to wear leopard print. I in my drop waist leopard print peplum top and Zi'Joy in her leopard print pants. Because baby girl was not feeling so well I decided to try and keep her outfit simple without being constricting so everything was very flexible it was kind of cool so she wore a beautiful sweater top which was pink and had a heart on it and her new pink booties her first and she is actually decided to keep these on. I was in a pinstripe pants denim jacket and beautiful purple head wrap. The day was just beautiful so we decided to go to the park after church. Our park is so ginormous you never see the same thing twice very beautiful and very lovely to walk in so we just enjoyed the day.

Please pray for everything that is happening in the United States and around the world so many things that are affecting so many people so many tragedies. That's why I include the prayer as this is a fashion site I try not to get too involved in Daily homegoings but I just needed to say that we are praying for all those who are involved in these tragic times.

Good morning family!

As the beginning of another week starts I'm always in awe of how the time flies. I always look back and say wow that's quick and no matter how many pictures I take it still just seems to pass by quicker and quicker. When I was younger I had this friend and he was in the sixties. I used to say I'm So Young blah blah blah la la la la life goes on. And he would say just wait, just wait the older you get the more time will fly. And I never really understood that until I became now middle-aged. I now view life im moments anyway enough of me rambling.

Zi'Joy and I had a fulfilling weekend. Friday was a visit and orientation to her new daycare and learning facility. Saturday was a family get-together and celebration I would say a mini family reunion and a visit to the park to enjoy the natural Wildlife which consisted this day of dragonflies butterflies and frogs. Sunday we had great intentions to celebrate a wonderfully gifted artist and folk singer named Ella Jenkins but time ran away with us and so we stayed at home and relaxed. Ella Jenkins was a folk singer who was inducted into the national History Museum and the Library of Congress for her beautiful works and songs for children. We were celebrating her 95th birthday here in Chicago at our local Navy Pier but it wasn't until 4 in the afternoon out on the lawn. And if you have to work the next day and life goes on it's hard to make those kind of things sometimes.

So on to what we wore on Friday I had the pleasure of repeating an outfit because I had jury duty. It was so nice I just had to repeat it. I only wore it for a little bit. The fit was a great way to meet and go on a tour and orientation for baby nuggets new Learning Center. This was as close to yoga pants as I get. Soft blue material stretchy material with polka dots a nice denim vest with a Peplum look blue top and a African print necktie.

Saturday in the Park it was very difficult choosing something to wear as we had a family gathering also to celebrate birthdays and just get together. I find myself struggling with what to wear. Most of my clothes pre-pregnancy worked brfore with my flat stomach which to me was one of my assets. Now I have a tummy and to be honest with you. I think without a tummy tuck it's not really going anywhere and it makes it harder to accommodate my older clothes so I wound up trying to do some camouflaging and trying to figure things out. The weather was wonky. It was a cool hot Cool Rain kind of day. Zi'Joy had a beautiful onesie that was dark blue and a beautiful pair of socks. We decided to just enjoy the park which is just beautiful I love that our Suburb has beautiful parks and wr can just get out and enjoy outside. Zi'Joy srems to love talking to the trees and just nature.

Sunday was a very relaxing day we decided to do pattern mixing color mixing headwraps we are a maximal family. Well at least until Zi'Joy is able to give her opinion at two or three to decide what she's going to wear. I just love dressing baby she is really a no-fuss baby and a happy baby even though she's teething at this point. I wore a lot of layers I'm wondering if I'm hiding my body. I'm not sure but I really liked how it came out everything else I've worn before here on the site the long layer of the top is a green mesh. I wore a camouflage tank top underneath I had a dark green wide leg linen pants oh my God these are so beautiful I love them so much. My head wrap was green and off-white and I just love this look shoes are a repeat because I refuse to acknowledge that I'm a size 12 now instead of a US size 11. I'm sorry I didn't capture Zi'Joy's full outfit because she was so pretty she reminded me of Cruella Deville from 101 Dalmatians just a color scheme going on and she rocked the heck out of everything so here's a selfie that we took in church after church was over. She's just so cute.

The last picture is from school today baby girl it's growing she's 4 months old and this is a quick drop off of my sister and me dropping her off. I didn't get emotional and I didn't cry cuz I realize that you know this is a necessary part of what we have to do and I'm so thankful that we found a wonderful day care facility daycare center. Facility sounds so bad.

So I know there are many pictures and commentary but thank you for reading looking commenting all are welcome as usual. Or just stop by to say hi now I'm off to read your post and look at pictures because I just love looking at them. I may not be able to comment on everything as usual but I really thank you for reading and I hope this week and this post finds you well until next time be well on your fashion Journey.