Oh My! Monday: Getting back my confidence after a baby

"You will get fat. Your boobs will sag. Stretch marks are going to cover your body. Oh girl, you are so tiny now that you will bounce back. Are you having twins? You are carrying low, you must be close to delivering. Do you have the big blue line on your belly? You have the biggest rack now. Oh, penguin waddle, how cute. Can you get your pants buttoned up? You not having morning sickness is a sign of an unhealthy baby. You will never look or feel the same way down there again. Oh, yea, sneeze and pee. Welcome to the club of poop and vomit on your clothes. Enjoy never sleeping again. It took me a year before I even lost a pound of baby weight."

These are just a small amount of all of the things that I was told while I was pregnant. I did my best to ignore the horror and myths but yes, they will linger in the back of your mind and can rattle the strongest woman. I didn't buy into the gender predictions, I did do them all and they all said I was having a boy and still ended up with a girl. People who have had a kid suddenly think they are the expert on everything pregnancy and kids. You are given unwanted advice from family, friends and even strangers. I had one lady at the grocery store come up and put her hand on my belly. I put mine right back on hers and gave her a look of yea, this is happening. She immediately stopped and walked away.

Jump ahead to 8 months pregnant, Jake and I are dishing up for dinner and my feet started to turn into maple bars with little sausages at the end. Swelling is a normal part of pregnancy for many women. I thought nothing of it because I had been deep cleaning my house for the past 3 weeks. Luckily I had a check up in the morning. As I was getting ready to leave, my hands and face started to look a little puffy too. I got to the appointment and was sitting in the room swelling up even bigger. My blood pressure was very high, I was a literal water bed and had a high amount of protein in my urine sample. I gained over 20lbs in 3 days of water weight. It stretched out every part of my body. I had two tiny stretch marks that you couldn't see on my belly. After that, my belly, hips and thighs are now covered in them. It was extremely painful.

Audrey is almost 18 months old and while I have lost a lot of weight, I sure as heck do not look like that skinny lady I see in the photo the day we found out about her. My stomach is saggy and in some outfits, I still look 5 months pregnant. It is sad. I am embarrassed sometimes. Luckily, I am very fortunate to have someone who tells me I am sexy. He doesn't care that I'm not 117lbs like I was when we met. Then again, I'm not 16 either. Yes, shopping for clothes sucks. I hate standing next to woman who have a kid who is half the age of mine and they are tiny and look like they never had a child.

Here is the difference between me and a lot of other moms. I remind myself every time I feel down, I ATE TOO MANY DOUGHNUTS I MADE A HUMAN INSIDE MY BODY! A beautiful human, with ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. A human who looks at me like I am perfect and loves me unconditionally. As I am writing this, I am wearing a pair of shorts and a Seahawks shirt. No, I don't look like Alyssa Milano on NFL.com in it but I look good. I may have the appearance of a muffin top from my saggy skin but remember... THE MUFFIN TOP IS THE BEST PART OF EVERY MUFFIN! Your body is amazing with all of the things it can do. It can heal itself, change over time and grow humans. Now you tell yourself this every time you feel bad... I MAKE HUMANS AND I AM AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL! Look at women in these tribes in third world countries. They sag, are round and are absolutely happy with who they are. Why? Because they are moms and they know that being a great mom with a happy kid is more important than being tiny. Personally, I don't want to look like I did before puberty. No offense but I enjoy have some curves now. It will take a long time to get small and I may never be pre-baby looking again, which is ok. Because one, I like to drink and eat and two, I plan on more kids in the future and each time I get pregnant, I will remind myself that I will change and to be happy with that. I'm going to go kiss my kid now and thank my man for supporting me. I suggest you do the same and stop resenting yourself.


Stay beautiful!

*Alyssa*

Toddler Tuesday

I have a toddler, a wild, messy, loud, crazy, sometimes makes me pull my hair out toddler. She is so smart. Too smart already for her mama to deal with at times. Although it balances out because I have never met a more affectionate child.

This is my first Toddler Tuesday and I will be covering things that are, you guessed it, toddler related. From the trying to not trip over there own feet, tantrums, learning new skills and dealing with strangers. I will also show all of the activities/crafts that Audrey does with me. It's in her genes.

Yesterday has been a week since we ditched the pacifier cold turkey. Audrey made her mama snap. It was her lunch time and she wanted her pacifier instead of eating the pb&j she just helped me make. Oh can that girl throw a fit when she wants to. It was insane. I love my daughter more than life itself but she can really make me crazy. I took the pacifier and put it out of sight while she yelled at me for 20 minutes from her highchair. Still throwing a fit when dad got home from work. That's when I decided I was tired of it. She turned 17 months old that day and it was time to ditch the pacifier.

Going to bed was fine other than it took her longer to fall asleep than normal. Which it has been that way every night since. Oh and she likes to wake up early. We used that pacifier so much. She wined, popped that bad boy in. It was a great plug.

So here is the tradeoff, she isn't asking for it and is sleeping fine with out it but oh wow is she having the biggest tantrums. Audrey has learned the art of lying on the ground and flopping like a fish out of water. Mama don't play that game kid.

I believe in defusing a situation before it gets any worse, whether with work, family, life, kids, defuse it!  How do I deal with these tantrums you ask?  Wine, beer, deep breathing. But really, deep breathing helps me so much. Always has. It's crazy because I am a very impatient person until it comes to kids. Then I can be so relaxed and understanding. It's always easier to deal with someone else's kid than your own. But when Audrey throws a fit, I first try and figure out why she is upset? Is it because she got knocked over by the dog again? Hungry? We didn't make it to the big girl potty in time? Figure out why and how to fix it. It may take extra time to fix it but I will do what it takes because I obviously don't want my child upset but I refuse to give in and let her have what she wants.

Audrey now waves her little index finger and says, "No, no, no." She gets told that something is a no and she looks at that and tells it no. I am glad. I tell her to sit in her chair for a minute time out and then I will get her up and she sits. She may cry the entire time but she sits. I made sure to let me kid know, I am the boss lady. Audrey may not always like what I have to say but she sure as hell respects what I tell her.


Here's to the toddlers and the crows feet and wrinkles they cause,

Alyssa