Bringing Out the Best

People often talk about how having kids changes them.  Not just their lives, but everything:  the way they think/act, decisions they make, what they say, etc.  I didn't think I would be immune to that, but I was certainly surprised by how quickly it would happen to me.  I thought it would happen in a few years, starting when Ashley starts to talk and we would have to watch our language around her.  But it started the day we brought her home from the hospital!

During the latter part of my pregnancy there were many days where I just spent the whole day in my PJ pants or Lululemon.  Christopher bought me a pair of designer maternity jeans for Christmas, my friend M loaned me a bunch of her maternity clothes, and I only purchased a handful of maternity-wear, not wanting to waste money on pieces I would only wear for a few months.  Since I work from home, most days it didn't really matter what I wore.  I had a few outfits to wear when I needed to visit customers for work, or an appointment out of the house.  What I'm trying to say is that I was quite the slob for most of my 3rd trimester, and yes - some days I didn't even leave the house and was too lazy to take a shower!

Doctor's orders for my C-section recovery limited my stair climbing for the first week at home.  I was allowed one roundtrip per day.  Because of this I was motivated to shower and get dressed before coming downstairs, since I knew that was my only chance for the day.  This got me into a good routine starting as soon as we came home from the hospital.

I know that alot of new moms say that they don't have enough time to even shower and spend the entire day in their PJs.  I don't want Ashley to be embarrassed to be seen in public with me, so I've been putting in the extra effort getting dressed each day for her (which is fairly challenging since the intersection between clothes that fit and are nursing-friendly is quite sparse)!