girl look at that body

This is the picture I posted of myself this past weekend. I didn't post it for praise, to boost my confidence, to get attention or any of the vain reasons that may have been perceived.  

I woke up that morning to go fishing with my husband and for the first time in years I wasn’t ashamed of my body, which is hysterical because of how much my body changed after having a baby.

Let’s be honest… once you have a child you will never be the same, neither mentally nor physically.   Regardless of what I look like now, or before, this day, I woke up, threw a bikini on and smiled. Not because I believed I looked awesome and liked the way I look, but I liked why I look the way I do. I lost my pregnancy weight because I solely breastfeed; if you want to drop the lbs. quickly and safely that’s the secret. However, don't expect it to be as easy as that. Breastfeeding is like a full-time job and I worked extremely hard (and long, late night hours) to get where I am today. I can honestly say it is one of my greatest accomplishments and I am very proud of myself. My son has not had one ounce of formula and he is almost 7 months old. Let me clear the air now- I have nothing against formula or moms who don't breastfeed! I think we are all awesome and sometimes formula feeding is what is best for children! 

Now, weight was never my concern it was those darn stretch marks that had me wanting to wear a parka.  I have been beating myself up about the marks I gained from my pregnancy. I believe it is my fault because I was almost 200 lbs. the day before I had my son. One too many Oreos with peanut butter! So, when I put on a two piece and didn’t cringe it’s because I realized that they were tiger stripes. Do you moms have any idea how awesome we are? I mean HELLO! We created HUMANS! That’s pretty freaking awesome and I am PROUD of my battle scars.

Moms, please don’t hate your mommy bodies. In fact, I’d be pretty upset to hear if you do, because we created a miracle while with these bodies.  Hating our mommy bodies would be like hating what sunshine and rain does to plants; they both create beautiful fruits and why should we hate the fruit of our loins? At the end of the day my son was worth every pound and every mark I gained. 

So, why did I post this picture? I posted it to show my flaws and show that I am no longer ashamed of them!