"I Like Your Tummy, Libby!"

It's funny how your perspective changes when you see things through a child's eyes.

Occasionally, I get to watch this cute little girl...

Reece is a typical almost 3 year old girl. She's into everything princess, and frilly, "girly" things.
She has been so excited about the baby, she is much more into it than William is. From the beginning she's been so curious and excited about Tatum, and is fascinated how every time I see her, my tummy has grown a little. (or a lot...) She also like to tell me about the baby in HER tummy :)

We got to play with Reecie Roo this week, and of course, she asked questions, wanted to feel Tatum moving, and was so excited to see the bed we'd just set up for her.

As she was leaving, we were saying our goodbyes and she looks at me and says "I like your tummy, Libby"
I didn't quite know what to say, so I just laughed and said "I like your tummy too, Reecie Roo!" What I didn't realize is that I would be thinking about that little exchange for the next few days.

Before I got pregnant with William, I can't remember really having body image issues. In fact, I will admit, it was almost leaning in the opposite direction. I was lucky to have a pretty slender body, and perhaps had a bit of a false sense of security in it. Then I had a baby. Scratch that... then I had an over ten pound baby.

I understood WHY my middle was growing, but that didn't make it any easier to see the numbers on the scale going up every week. I got very self conscious, and felt very out of place in my own skin. This was not the body I was used to. I know it may seem a little self absorbed, I should be grateful that I'm able to make a baby, and believe me I was, it's just hard to fully appreciate the miracle of life, when you don't even feel like yourself.

Fast forward a little, the baby weight from Will came off pretty fast. Much faster than I anticipated, and I'm not going to lie, I was a little relieved. Recovery was pretty rough after having Will, and this helped me feel a little more like myself.

Then I got pregnant with Tatum.

I've found that I am one of those women, where you can't really tell that I'm pregnant until about 20 weeks... then I blow up! And now, here I am at 30 weeks, and I don't feel like I'm over-exaggerating when I say I'm pretty close to how big I was when William was born. Granted I don't weigh as much, but the belly is just as big. The last few weeks I have been having those same thoughts creeping in. Every time I pass a mirror I get a little disheartened. I already feel like this tummy is getting in the way, of holding Will, of me feeling like a human, it literally gets in the way of Billy and me.

Then an almost three year old told me she like my tummy.

As frustrating as it can be to have this belly in the way, as hard as it is to feel self conscious about my growing middle, as much as I strongly dislike the side effects of being pregnant, there is a little girl out there who still finds it all so magical. It's become so mundane and almost annoying at times that I forget just how amazing this big tummy of mine is. It is holding my sweet baby girl, that's what I just keep telling myself, that and it doesn't last forever. I only have 9 weeks or less of having this baby all to myself. So instead of focusing on the negative, I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

I'll just keep telling myself I like my tummy. :)