A Goodbye to Chubby Mom

I have lost 26 lbs now. I still can't believe it. This is bringing me so much joy. I had no clue how wonderful this would feel and I am so glad that I spent my summer working so hard. I bring this up because I bought new jeans last week that are 3 sizes smaller and on top of that...they are skinny jeans! I never in a million years thought I would ever EVER wear skinny jeans. Hell, they have the word "skinny" literally in the title! Heaven help me! I bought them and then ordered a pair of tall boots on sale. They came this afternoon and I tried on the boots and jeans together and I must say that it made me teary eyed. It has been several long years since I put anything on that made me that happy. I have spent an awfully long time feeling like a chubby mom trapped in sweatshirts and seeing clothes that I wished I could wear. The nagging little voice in my head that says, "you can't pull that off!" finally went away today in front of the mirror. I actually bought something trendy and for probably the very first time since I gave birth to my son, I feel good about myself. I had gotten to the point that I didn't recognize myself and I saw the old Chalna in the mirror today. I have always felt like two different people; the girl before Colin and the mom after Colin. After I gave birth and came home as big as a house, I never really got the old me back. I feel like I have finally merged the two people together. I have realized that I can still be focused completely on being a mother while taking care of myself at the same time. I have learned that if I feel good about myself, I am a better mother. It really does matter. I am writing all of this down today because I have tried and failed a dozen times since Colin was born. I finally did it and I know that the time will come when I have to do it again. When I have our second child one day, I want to have this to look back on. I want to be reminded of how good I feel right now. I should have done this years ago and knowing the way my body works, I will be right back in this boat after my next child (or after Christmas!) and I want to remember that I did it once and I can do it again. I can! :-)

Drum roll, please....Here I am before, on May 31st

And here I am today...in my awesome new jeans and boots. I much prefer "after"!

Now THAT is worth celebrating! On a side note, that is clearly not the top that will actually go with my new fall boots and jeans. I just happened to have it on today. ;-) And now for the outtakes from my oh-so-professional self timed photo shoot. Colin wanted in on the action. It is really unfair that lugging that boy around doesn't make me skinny on it's own. I mean, really. :-)