Surviving the Domestic Jungle

I know I have mentioned a time or two on here that I walk nightly and the other day, I noticed the benefits of my dedication! My bum has completely changed! I used to have a little bit of cellulite and that’s gone and it used to jiggle a lot and now, nothing really. I noticed this the other day when I got out of the shower and was looking at my pregnant belly. I had to turn around and look at the rear end and that’s when I noticed. Before I had kids, I had a pretty cute little body but after having Avery, it was just not the same nor will it ever be and I worry about it a lot. I guess the worry comes form seeing the celebrities get back in their bikinis 2 weeks after birth and not having one flaw. How are these women doing this?? They are still human! They still need to heal! Anyway, there’s always that ‘real world’ woman who also goes back to perfect and never gets one stretch mark. I am not one of those women. My body has been affected in the tummy region and it will never go back. The skin is stretched and unless I split myself open from hip bone to hip bone and cut my skin off it will not go back. Stretch marks do fade but they are always there. I am not all that bugged by mine. I didn’t get the big red ones so I guess I got lucky. Mine are skin tone and not even really noticeable if I have a tan. Anyway, my point of all this is, after feeling kind of blah about my body for a couple of years, seeing my bum looking great was a real mood enhancer! I guess all my walking paid off and even though it has been almost a year, it has still been worth it. I enjoy my walks and if my body benefits, all the better! Another thing I wanted to mention is this website called “The Shape of A Mother’. Its basically women posting pictures of their post baby bodies and I have to say that seeing some of those women has made me feel like I’m whining for no reason. Some women have literally been torn up and they have the gumption to show their naked, scarred bodies on the Internet and here I am feeling uncomfortable nude in front of my husband. It basically put things in perspective for me to know that we all have “battle wounds” from having our babies but that we are not alone. The average woman has the saggy skin and the stretch marks and the unperky boobs. Somehow we are still lovable and attractive and thank god for that! Check out that website ladies and take a look for yourself and realize you are not alone in feeling uncomfortable with your post baby bodies. We make a lot of sacrifices to be mothers and letting our bodies be taken over and changed is just one of the first sacrifices we make. It is all worth it in the end and it is worth doing over again. I’m on my third knowing damn well that the skin will get worse and I may get more stretch marks but having children is so much more important to me than having a 6 pack. Check it out and keep on walking ladies!!

P.S. The picture I included is of Cindy Crawford who has ‘mommy tummy’ and is still wearing her bikini and is still considered a beautiful model!