The Many Badges of Motherhood

There are many badges and physical rewards that come along with motherhood. I would like to take a moment of your time and mention a few that I have personally received (they are in no particular order...and these are just a few of them).

1) The Gold Medal of Snot. This one can be received in a broad manner of ways. My personal favorite is when a child braces you in a hug and leaves the snot mark over your shoulder, unbeknownst to you. Hence, you spend the day with a dry snot mark on your back and other parents laugh knowing that you too are a parent.

2) The Bronze Medal of Poop. Usually the strong odor can help you recognize where this gift of honor has been placed. Most often times it is given while changing a diaper or cleaning up accidents after another fatal attempt at potty training.

3) The Red Heart of Rasberry Jam. This one sneaks up on you without you knowing and is usually given shortly after lifting a child out of their highchair following a delicious lunch. Once again, you most often times don't realize you have this medal until someone points it out and shows you a spot on your body you didn't think could easily get food on (see choir director arms below).

4) The Emerald Stone of Grass Stains. This one is received with open arms while sacrificing yourself to catch a falling child or rolling with the kids in the grass.

The above badges and awards I proudly wear with honor every day (okay, so not the grass stain...it's winter, give me a few months). I am certain that each of you have badges that you display (even you Auntie's). Which badge have you received that wasn't mentioned above?

Now to the not so honorable or proudly worn badges.

1) The Saddlebags. You know where these are. You can't hide from them and you can no longer fit into those small pants that you wore prior to the beautiful addition(s) in your life (no, I don't mean your husband...although sometimes they help your hips and thighs grow too).

2) The Spare Tire. Men are not the only ones that suffer. But with women...the skin sags. How do you get rid of extra skin?

3) The Choir Director Arms. Mine are waving like a flag in July. They are proud to be a part of my arm, but I can't stand 'em. I thought lifting three kids in and out of a day would diminish those.

4) The Saggy Top. Miracle Bra? I need something more powerful than that. With each child, I've gone down a cup.

I do realize that these badges cannot be blamed solely on my little babes. I take a huge part in creating these new discoveries. In January I began going to the gym regularly to try to do my part to correct the bad habits I got accustomed to while pregnant with Carly (not exercising and eating what I wanted when I wanted). It has been 6 weeks and I have gained 4 pounds!

So, this morning, on the drive home from the gym, my mother-in-law and I began talking about ways to motivate ourselves and what we need to lose weight (she doesn't need to lose weight, but I'll take the company). Here is what we came up with:

My Motivation: If, by April 1st, I can lose 10 pounds I can attend this Digital Scrapbooking Retreat I have been dying to go to.

My Motivators: Todd & Tonya. We have all agreed to do this together. We will check in with each other every day to see how we've done keeping to our diet and exercise plan.

My Motidoit (mode to do it): Cutting back on the food I take in, increasing the time I work-out (obviously, working out alone isn't cutting it for me).

Do you have any tips on dropping weight? And once I drop the weight, how do I maintain it? Share you tips with me! I want to get rid of some of those badges of motherhood that I don't wear too well.