Shapes

As I look at my kids I see two kids, with two very different bodies.

Q, right now, is my bean pole of a child, very tall, very skinny, no butt. Built a bit like me, like my Dad and my Father in Law.

The Bee, right now, is my fireplug of a child. Not so tall, with legs like tree trunks and more than enough butt to go around. I'm hoping that for purely health reasons (I've been dealt a genetic crap shoot of a hand, and am hoping that the good health on my Dad's side will cancel out what I've gotten from my Mom), that she is not built like my aunts on my Mom's side.

I have watched their baby bodies, all rolly and fat, with tiny little hands grow ... they don't have as many fat rolls and dimples, their hands are now kid hands, their little wrinkley, turned in feet are kid feet, with dirt under the nails. They now have skinned knees, bruised shins, dirty faces ... all signs of a fun and busy, adventure filled day.

Then theres my shape. My body has grown two babies. My body has nursed two babies, for a total of twenty five months. With all this mothering, you get "badges". I proudly wear my badges, although they may not be in the places I might have originally wore them, before my kids. My hips are a slight bit bit wider, my feet are a bit bigger and my breasts are not only smaller, they are now aiming down. I'm not too keen on that last part. I have one very tiny stretch mark from my belly button ring staying in too long with Q and I have one crooked c-section scar from Q as well. My hips carry my kids, even today. My arms are surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, in good shape. My heart is fuller than I ever thought possible. I remember asking everyone I knew when I was pregnant with The Bee, how my heart was supposed to love another person as much as I loved Q - I couldn't imagine it. I figured it would burst. Well, sure enough, the heart has an amazing ability to expand and hold it all.

So as I sit here and watch my daughter with her mane of hair stand in the dirt and rub it into her hair, and my son drive his construction equipment around the very same dirt, I am thankful for my not so new shape (it was redefined for the last time almost two years ago when I quit nursing), and all that it has brought me.

And, a link to some other moms willing to share their new shapes as well: The Shape of a Mother.