An Encouraging Gift

I have had a wonderful, encouraging weekend! Just when I needed it most! My son is 9 months old and since I’ve been pregnant with him I have felt like I lost who I was as a woman. I felt like my body became a mommy body.

I have always been a well put together, fashionable person. I try hard to look nice and to frugally buy clothes that are up-to-date and unique.

Since getting pregnant I have sacrificed that part of me to be a mom. My body does not feel pretty. It has crazy stretch marks, bulges, and does not fit into any clothing. I will go out shopping and typically come back empty handed.

I also never (and I do mean never) have the time to shop. I do not have someone who can watch Roen while I go and I’ve learned from many tearful experiences that shopping with Roen is not an option. I have also been very poor. All of my money has gone to Roen. Even this last Christmas, I got money specifically for clothes. After several wasted shopping trips I spent the money on sheets instead out of frustration.

So I have been eking by on clothes that barely fit and are not attractive. I will be painfully honest and admit that one of my outfits is a swimming dress with a tank top under it. It looks kind of like a regular dress… Kind of. It is one of the few things that actually fit in my closet and looks halfway decent. I feel like one of the worst fashion disasters that deserves to be on TMC’s “What Not to Wear.”

This birthday I got $150 to make myself over with. I have not had that much cash all to myself in years!!! However, I was discouraged yesterday as I didn’t have time to shop and had no hope of finding anything even if I did. Than my husband sacrificially and yet excitedly asked me to go shopping with him.

Than another weird thing happened. I was dead set on shopping at consignment stores to get more for my money. I was just going to deal with second hand clothing that hopefully would just work. Than for some reason I just had this feeling that I had to shop at Maurices. It just popped into my head. So we went to Maurices, a clothing store that I love, but that is waaay expensive.

We got to the store and found out they had a good sale going on. However, I know how sale stuff goes. It’s typically only the yucky stuff that doesn’t look good on that’s left over. I went to the dressing room loaded down with regular items and a few sale items I figured I would try on just in case. None of the regular priced things worked and I got depressed.

Then I started on the sale items… Not only were they unusually good, but the 5 pounds I had lost finally made them work! In the end, I walked out of the stores with 3 new shirts, a gorgeous lace undershirt, capris, trousers, and a professional looking dress for $75! All gorgeous and well fitting!

I still have $75 to get a nice new haircut and pedicure. All together, I feel very put together and lovely for the first time in over a year! Such a blessing!

It was also very encouraging to me to keep losing weight and a blessing to feel pretty in the meantime.

I am also very encouraged that my appetite has dropped significantly. I am finally eating modest portions. I am still getting good nutrition, but now naturally stopping when I am full and not eating ridiculous, super-sized portions. Over-indulging just does not appeal to me. Even my birthday cake and ice cream, I only ate them to please my mother-in-law who made them for me. And I only ate a little. It is good to see that heart change (and stomach size change) really happening. This is going to happen!