The look of a Mom...

You know you're a mom the day you realize that your hips have spread 

and they are never, ever going back into place again. 

~How many of you have that perfect picture of yourself?  I have one I really like when I was like 19.  I was sitting on the floor, turned toward the camera which was behind me, my hair looked good and I looked thin.  I have decided that once you have babies you can never quite think of yourself as thin again.  Oh, sure a lot of moms lose all the baby weight, even more, but we will never look quite the same again...at least to ourselves. Not too long before I got pregnant the first time, my husband told me that I have good birthing hips.  If you know my husband you would know that this was actually a compliment.  Now, I keep this memory as a badge of honor...I do have good birthing hips and I make beautiful babies.

~For me, being a mom is all about loving.  Really though I had no idea that I would be filled with so much love from the moment I knew I was carrying a baby.  My first labor was so hard that when I held my Liam for the first time I was so exhausted that I don't even think I smiled.  The pictures that we have don't reflect one anyway.  I have never admitted this before but I felt guilty about that moment.  I was so filled with love for this little one that I had waited so long for and I was so completely worn out.  I decided that I would get over my guilt because that is no good thing for a relationship.

Finn, my number two popped out with hardly any effort that it was easy to hold him and smile and say 'Momma loves you' over and over.  Honestly though the pictures aren't any better.  Just goes to show you that it doesn't matter what you feel you can never count on a picture to make you look good...and secondly, when you have a picture with a  newborn baby, nobody is looking at you.

Today as I held my Finn against my chest and he spit up down my shirt as I read Liam a story before his nap I realized that it doesn't matter what I look like or when the last time I had a shower was, all that matters is that I am showering my boys with all the love I feel in my heart.  May they always see the size of my heart and know that they are worth everything!  My hips have spread and will never go back to the smaller size they once were, but so has my heart and that is what truly makes me a mom.