Image

So the other day I had all 3 girls with me at Once Upon A Child (I know, crazy, right). You know...just walking down an isle trying to find a size for one of the girls. And all the sudden, while walking past a lady looking at a different size, she sees me with all the girls and says "another girl?" I say the first thing that comes to mind..."no" And I keep walking.

Now this was a little surprising to me as I didn't think I was THAT fat...But then again, I HAVE had 3 kids, so I'm bound to have some extra "baggage" (aka flub). And...I know there's some pounds that need to be lost.

There are so many ways to look at this...

Should I be ok with it? This is how I look after having 3 kids, it's not that bad (right?) ...Should I be offended ...either for her thinking I was pregnant when I am NOT, or her thinking I was big enough to be half way and know the sex already. I have had 3 kids and if I was far enough along to know the sex of the baby I would be a lot bigger. 

Yes I would LOVE to loose weight! And this makes me even more motivated to do so. But, it's not as easy as it used to. I used to have REALLY high metabolism. It was great! When Jon and I got married, at 20 years old I was 96 lbs. That's quite different now. 

After I told my mom this, she said "well, your not a teenager anymore, so you don't have a teenagers body." So true. I have the body of a mom. I have the body of someone who has given birth to 3 kids.

I mean...just think about that for a minute. I've had (of course at different times) 3 people growing inside me. I should not be expected to have a perfect body, or a flat tummy. No one that has given birth should be expected to show no signs of it.

Basically...if you've had a baby I expect you to have some flub. The more babies you've had, the more flub I expect you to have. If you have no flub, my first reaction would probly be, no kids. (No offense to you skinny moms)

I hope I don't step on any toes...I understand wanting to be fit. If you work out and work hard to get rid of that flub... more power to you. But not everyone can loose the flub that easily. And not everyone has energy to workout on top of all the other mommy things to do...just saying.

But I could go even further than just the tummy flub...What about all the other stuff that goes along with our new mom bodies?...

Sticking with the same area...stretch marks. Can I get an Amen? Honestly, I hate my stretch marks. And I know I can't be the only one that hates them. But it's proof that I'm a mom. Blah Blah Blah...Seriously, that's just something we tell ourselves to make us feel better. And does it help? Maybe a little.

Stretch marks and belly flub have made me so self conscience of myself. I know I'm a mom and these things shouldn't bother me like this anymore. Plus I don't want to teach my girls that its ok to have a bad image of yourself. 

But that's not always reality. We want to look at ourselves in the mirror and think 'wow, what a hott mama'. But honestly, who does that? Not me. When I look in the mirror I think 'wow, I'm so fat', or 'it really does look like I could be pregnant' (again, I am not). We always have negative thoughts about ourselves. At least I do. 

The right way to think is 'God chose me to be a mom, He knew I could handle this body'. I want my girls to learn how to love themselves, for who they are, so I need to do the same, I can't expect them to love themselves if I don't show them how.