I Might Not Like You Right Now, But I Still Love You

Patrick and I had the incredible honor of being married by one of the Lanes' long time and very good friend. We provided him with a bit of a script, but he also chose to deliver his own homily.  And it was AWESOME.  One of the things he said in closing, courtesy of his awes wife, was that there will be times when we don't like each other, but to remember that we still LOVE each other.  I choose over and over to love my husband; he is such an amazing man, and I am so fortunate to be his partner.

And I can apply this same advice to how I feel about my body.  I want to go on record saying that I LOVE MY BODY.  I may not like it right now, but it is mine, it is amazing, and I LOVE IT.  When I feel down, I remind myself (I've been doing that a lot lately!) of the incredible things this body has done - its been catapulted into the air, its run a couple marathons, participated in triathlons, it danced to a National title, it created life, it birthed two wondrous little humans, it fed those little humans, it carries those little humans...  My body has done some really AMAZING things!!  WOW!!

But.........

Then I do some jumping jacks and feel my belly bounce up and down, and I can hear my thighs slapping together.....oh ugh blech awlk.

This is my kind-of-ugly-not-so-pretty-cover-it-up part of postpartum.  I created life?  YES!  My body fed my little babies?  YEP!!  My belly is squishy, bumpy, and kind of hangs over my pants?  Oh, yeah...

When I decided to start this blog, I thought I would post a ton of pictures and be all fun with my before and after snapshots.  Well, I don't have any after snapshots yet, but to keep up with my bargain and in the interest of full disclosure, I am posting my belly before picture.   Don't be concerned about the weird marks above my belly button...I had it pierced twice (the first time, with one of my bridesmaids; the second time with another one of my bridesmaids!  Brother E = SO SEXY.  The big giant skewer needle = not so much.)

I had been planning to have an after photo shortly; if you have been to my MyFitnessPal profile, you'll see that I haven't 'checked in' lately.  Its hard to admit that after using a fun, easy to use, motivational weight loss tool, I've actually gained weight.  I decided I won't check in until my progress goes in the opposite direction; until then, I'll keep tracking, keep moving, and keep telling you all about it!  Keep on keeping on!!