Smooth. E.

Loving our mommy bodies, our lady bodies, means taking care of them the best we can.  Right now we are really into smoothies.  Well, the three Reid ladies are; Daddy not so much.  

I thought I would share some of the recipes I thought sounded yummy.  My aim is to try them because most of the time I just throw a bunch of stuff in the blender and if it doesn't taste good I add PB or Nutella to disguise the taste.  Eh, whatever works.  

Do you have a favorite smoothie recipe? Kind of your "go to"? I would love to hear it! 

Here are a two of the ones I found on Pinterest that sounded amazing and easy to try! 

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie (super easy)

Beet (yes, beet) Strawberry Lemon Smoothie

*we would love your vote-we are moving on up in the ranks thanks to you!*

Happy.

I love BIG voices.  Mandisa is a strong woman with a big voice.  This song is one of my favorites.  Enjoy.  Dance (especially if people are watching). Realize HE has you. Always.

A little love.

It's the weekend.  I'm spending time with the family.  Running errands with the girls; making goodies and delivering birthday surprises.  I didn't run today.  More on that tomorrow or Monday.  I did want to share some love to a few of my favorite fellow 31 day challengers as well as some shops I'm loving for great Mommy goodies.  Happy weekend!

31 day favorites:

Jessica from Hand Me Down Grace is finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Heather over at Tickled Yellow is writing letters to herself AND you

Hayley fixing our wardrobes at The Tiny Twig

Melody Joy is dancing in the rain.

All Our Days has some sweet printables EVERY October day

Joel & Kitty + two pigtails and a cowlick (liked the name so I clicked...then I stayed because I enjoyed the read!)

Courtney from Style and Grace is talking Family Life

Reeve is telling us What Love is All About

Rene' over at Bargain Hoot is all about owls (and you know WE are too!)

Mommy goodies:

Miskabelle Vintage 

Layla Avenue (handcrafted jewelry)

Free Spirit Jenny 


*ALSO- MISTY MORRIS!!! You are the Matilda Jane winner!! E-mail me: RiciReid@gmail.com so I can send you your giftcard!*

Community

We are so blessed to have found a place we fit. As a family. As individuals. It truly helps to have such amazing community in our lives. People who are growing to become family. Women growing to be sisters. 

Do you have this my friends? If not and you are in the Gaston County/Lincoln County/Mecklenburg County Of North Carolina I would love to have conversation with you about it. If you aren't in our area I would love to pray with you about finding a community where you feel this way. Please don't hesitate to email me. 

Yesterday.

My yesterdays are filled with moments of not loving my mommy body.  Actually, my yesterdays are filled with moments of not loving my body before I became a mommy.  Truth be told, even some of my days now are filled with moments of not loving my mommy body.  Some days my jeans are a little tighter in the waist than I'd like.  Some days my shirts don't conceal that mommy belly that I've tried so hard to get rid of.  Some days I don't get out of my running clothes; claiming I am running that day (I usually AM but I could change clothes).  Okay, most days I don't get out of my running clothes.

You know what though? He has loved me through it all.  He has been there reminding me, in those fleeting looks of approval in the windows as I pass them by.  He has whispered to me when that pair of jeans fits just the way they should for the first time in a weeks.  He has shouted out that he knows the number of hairs on my head as my stylists trims those same hairs.  Sometimes though, I don't hear him.  Sometimes I'm so wrapped up in my disapproval of myself that I miss those windows, I don't put on those jeans, and I miss those hairs on the floor. 

Today, I am going to try and hear Him. I am going to listen for His sweet whispers.  His sweet reminders that He made me just the way I am.  That He loves me; on the days I miss the windows, when those jeans don't fit, and I miss the hairs on the floor.  

Because, Sisters, He has been there in my yesterdays. He is truly with me now.  He will be with me tomorrow. His agape love for me is unfathomable.  Focus on that with me today. Focus on His love for Us. Because it's everlasting and never sways.

  

Right. This. Second.

Hey Mama,

You who just had a baby two weeks ago.  That size you were before that sweet babe (or two)? It will come back.  You just grew a child and delivered said child.  Give yourself a break.  Today celebrate that you are beautiful.  Right. This. Second.

You who are in your 30th week of pregnancy and feel like you are bigger than you have ever been and know there is more to come. You are GROWING A HUMAN, please show yourself some grace. You are beautiful. Right. This. Second.

You who just went back to work, just because you ate an extra cookie from the commons area or your afternoon snack before lunch, don't sweat it. Don't you dare beat yourself up.  That one slip up is not going to take away from your beauty.  Because You are beautiful. Right. This. Second.

You who stays at home with your littles or your bigs or both all day long, still got your PJs on? That's okay. You are investing in something precious.  And you know what? You are beautiful.  Right. This Second.

You who just left Target feeling defeated because you're PMSing, bloated, nothing is fitting, and those florescent lights got to you?  Shake it off.  Florescent lights SUCK and you would think if department stores wanted to actually sell clothes they would figure out how to make us feel better not worse.  You are so not alone.  Please remember that 99% of women hate fitting rooms.  Remember that you are beautiful.  Right. This. Second.

You who recently walked your sweet babe down the aisle? You have done an amazing job.  And you? I am pretty sure that you looked beautiful at that big moment.  Pretty sure you are beautiful. Right. This. Second.

Love,
This Mama

Let's do a giveaway. The Matilda Jane kind.

picture from last fall.  by far one of my favorites. 

By the time fall makes its way to North Carolina, I've already been in skinnies, leggings, and cardigans, and sometimes boots, for months.  My wardrobe is typically full of fall year 'round and typically increases the likelihood of obvious sweat stains but I can't help it! I love the season. I especially love the clothes.
And ladies, if we're going to love our mommy bodies, we need to love what we put on them.  I am as guilty as any.  I have a closet full of clothes. Seriously, it's ridiculous.  During these 31 days in October, I am following along with Hayley and building a wardrobe I love.  Part of that was purging (stuff is still for sale via my Instagram) and the next part is filling in the holes.
That being said, the sweet people at Matilda Jane Clothing sent me a gift card. A $50 gift card to be exact.  Typically they are known for their witty and adorable girls clothes like the ones they sent Teagan but did you know they sell ladies clothes too? They have some really cute stuff.

Some of my favorites are:
The Grape Leaf Cardigan 
The College Kimono Dress
The Lucy Dress


Now, I need you to promise me something, that if you win this gift card, you will spend it on YOURSELF.  Not the kiddos in your life.  Promise? Okay, I'm trusting you. Let's do this.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blogger is angry at me.

Blogger is not working.  I had a picture and a nice little written segment.  However, Blogger hates me right now.  I'm tired and so I'm going to bed.  Sometimes you just have to listen to your body and allow yourself to rest.  So, here is me resting....

Motivation

These girls are my main motivators for loving my mommy body.  Other than loving Jesus, one of the most important things I want to teach them by example is to love themselves how He made them. Fearfully and wonderfully.  Just like He made their mommy.

Take a moment.

Mommies. Take a Moment. Take a Moment like this today.  I dare you. 

I did.  After the littles went down.  It was glorious. 

Love that Mommy body today.  You deserve it. 

Clouds.

I took this picture yesterday when we reached a stopping point on our drive home. It made me think about how we, as Mommy's, isolate ourselves. Not necessarily physically but about our physical self. 

It's the mental and emotional isolation that slowly creeps in like this cloud. After a play date, a run to Target, even after church on Sunday.  We compare ourselves to each other, then we pick at ourselves allowing, the lies to seep in. The wishes to overcome us. Those legs, that hair, those eyebrows.

Why, Sisters? Why? Why is it so easy for us to forget how loved we are? Why is it so hard to wrap our heads and hearts around that fact? Why is it so hard to remember that HE, who made that cloud so intricately also made you and I? Do you know the intiricate details of a cloud?  I looked it up and found that it involves words like droplets and ice crystals and vapors and condensation.  We are even more intimately made than that cloud. He made us AFTER the cloud. He wanted more.  We were made to be his Beloved.  He created our legs, our hair, our eyebrows, just the way they are supposed to be. He calls us by name.

So Sisters, please spend time with HIM today. Allow HIM to remind you when you look up today that HE made you. He wasn't satisfied with that cloud. He wanted and wants you. Just the way you are. 

Day 2 of 31. Legs.

Oh legs.  My legs have been the catalyst to the distaste of my body for so long.  From a young age through college I was involved in a lot of sports.  I happened to be involved in the sports that required and developed strong thigh muscles.  Now, what I would say in a perfect world is that I was so thankful  for how strong my legs were and how they gave me the ability to do those things.  I am not going to say that because for me it was so far from the truth.  I hated my legs.  They were too big. Even in the midst of an eating disorder they were the only things that would not change.  And I tried...oh how I tried.  There were nights I would draw with markers all over them words that I'm not even gong to repeat.  Around the words I would draw surgical lines like I was going in for some kind of plastic surgery.  Y'all it was bad.

And now, you would expect me to start this next paragraph with the fact that I now love my legs and I've come to develop a newfound appreciation for them.  Well, I'm not.  Because it would only be half true.  I will tell you that I don't hate my legs anymore but we are definitely not bffs.  And another truth I am going to share with you is that the simmering hatred for my legs was still close to knocking the proverbial lid off the pot until last week.  

Those legs.  The ones I don't like really well?  They carried me for 18 miles.  Those thigh muscles that I have loathed for so long?  They allowed me to run those 18 miles.  They allowed me to run 18 miles with a smile. In a tutu. Training for my first marathon.  Allowing me to try and raise money for the Getty Owl Foundation.  So, no, I still look in the mirror and frown a little bit when I see them but I have a whole new appreciation for them.

What is your least favorite part on your body?  Let's figure out together how you can go from hatred to at least being able to stand next to each other on the elevator.  

  

Loving my mommy body.

I have struggled with body image since I was in middle school.  Thinking back to elementary school I'm pretty sure there were some struggles bubbling below the surface but I was too busy having fun and not really caring to be bothered by them.
The struggles got fiercer as I got older.  As I grew my friend base.  As I was exposed to more of the "real world", watched more TV, read more magazines.  The struggles developed into obsession.  Obsession developed into sickness.  Sickness into disorder.  I developed an eating disorder and severe clinical depression.  As I got older those thoughts got harsher.  The hatred grew stronger.  I was never happy with what I saw in the mirror.

When I got pregnant, a lot of people were worried about how I would react to gaining baby weight during the pregnancy but also what would happen after the baby was out.  Thankfully, Teagan nursed well and for an entire year postpartum.  I had her completely dependent on me being healthy.  Otherwise, she would suffer.  With Kyra, the nursing wasn't so effective but the having two sweet girls that needed a healthy mommy was.

That being said.  It has been hard.  I've hated boobs my whole life.  I've been pretty close to duct taping them down a time or two over the years but I've never quite gone that far.  With two pregnancies, they got bigger, of course they got bigger.  With two pregnancies, the hips got bigger, of course they got bigger.  With two pregnancies, my nose got bigger, I think that is because I had girls (hello, old wives tale).  With two pregnancies, my feet didn't get bigger, hooray!!

We mom's should give ourselves a serious learning curve when it comes to our post-pregnancy bodies. They are new. They are alien.  Sometimes they are just plain crap.  However, WE GREW A HUMAN IN THERE.  So, let's give ourselves some grace, shall we?  I tell our girls so often they will eventually spout it in their sleep talk that they ARE fearfully and wonderfully made.  You know what? SO. AM. I.  I am a child of the King too.  He knows how many hairs are on my head (and my legs a little more often than I'd like to admit).

So, when I saw an opportunity to challenge myself.  To challenge other women, not just moms, to love our bodies and see ourselves the way HE sees us? I jumped on it.  I'm not sure what it's going to look like just yet.  But I'm excited.  I would love to have you on this journey with me, Sisters.  Let's love ourselves a little more each day this month, for the 31 Day Challenge.  And when we can't see the good, we can lean on each other, but mostly we should remind each other that WE are fearfully and wonderfully made.