The shape of a mother?

Have you seen this website? It's an eye opener. It has pictures and stories from mothers of all ages, shapes, and sizes, both during and after pregnancy. Some of the pictures are jarring and frightening to those who have not birthed. Some are impressive and jealousy-inspiring to those who HAVE birthed. But I think they, overall, provide a unique glimpse into the female body.

But, my point is not to get your TOO wrapped up in that very engrossing website. It's to bring something up that I sort of skirted around a few days ago: having a baby changes everything, right down to the curve of your belly and the texture of your skin.

I started a project awhile ago on this blog, one which I have yet to complete because I don't feel it's ready. I wanted to get pictures of women - real women - in swimsuits and share them here. I wanted all women...thin, fat, tall, short, moms, not...to share pictures of themselves showing what REAL women look like. Because sometimes it's perfection, and sometimes it's not so much. But no matter what, it can be beautiful.

So, part of this post is to ask you women out there who have not sent me pictures to consider doing so. You can show your face, or not. If you're willing, comment here and I'll get in touch with you.

The second part of this post is to point out my own hypocrisy: I have not taken my OWN swimsuit picture for this project. And why not? Because I am ashamed of my body post-baby. I had more than enough curves before having Luca. Now I have more than one person could EVER need. And yet...I want other women to share their pictures with me and all 12 of my readers (ha!). So I started thinking how we mothers do amazing things. Our bodies create and nourish life, support it into this world, and feed it the 'perfect' food. And yet, we mothers tend to be more ashamed and let down by their bodies than most any other group. I wish I could change this. Maybe I need to start with myself. With realizing my body is not what I wish it was, but it's amazing still, not because of how it looks, but because of how it LIVES.