Momma's come a long way, baby!

Back when I first had Alyssa, I was a big ball of nervous.  It didn't take much and I was anxious about almost everything.  I wondered to myself what I would do if she cried when I was out shopping at a store, or what I would do if she needed to be fed (I nursed) when I was out at say, a restaurant.

Stuff like this ate at me a lot, and because of the fact that I'd never had any experience with babies and didn't really have many people to ask who had babies who were similar in age, I just ended up staying home a lot.  Pretty sad, huh?  Looking back, I really blame that funky thryoid of mine for making me be so anxious all the time.  Thankfully, I found out about the hypothyroidism I had at around seven months postpartum and I was able to get the medicine I needed to feel better. 

With Audrey, things got even better than the first time around and I became more confident in my skills as a mom.  Every day there is a new lesson learned and I'm thankful that kids are so resilient and that I haven't messed up too bad along the way.  At least I don't think I have, anyway. :)

I'm finding now that I have baby #3 that I finally feel the most confident I ever have since I became a mom five years ago.  I've grown in my mommy skills and it is the most freeing feeling ever!

Nowadays when Livvie starts to fuss and needs to be fed and we're out somewhere, I just cover myself up and feed her.  No more worrying about what other people will think or trying to run out to my car.

(This was us about a month ago at my sister Yvonne's birthday dinner.  My Hubby snapped this shot while I was nursing)!

While looking through recent pictures today, I also found this one from Mother's Day of this year.

We were out at lunch with the family and Livvie had to eat, so I just busted out my super cute nursing cover that my friend Stephanie made for me when I first found out I was pregnant, and it was so convenient!  Believe it or not, I'd never owned a nursing cover until I had Livvie!  You can see a tiny bit of this one in the picture above, it's brown with polka dots.  I'm really looking forward to getting a few more because they are so much more convenient than a blanket for nursing in public!

In the same file where I found the picture above, I also found this one...

It was taken on the same day at Mother's Day lunch and I was amazed to see what a difference in my face from then to now...

I was also suprised today at my first regular visit back to my primary care doctor after baby, that I'm down twenty pounds since around this time last year (Not to mention the other twenty in baby weight that I also already lost)!  I'm so excited at the thought that I'm now only 15 pounds away from where I was at when I got married eight years ago!

Well, I know this sounds like a me, me, me kinda post, but today I thought I'd accentuate the positives and put this one here to remind myself of how far I've come. I woke up today feeling kinda down for no particular reason and after thinking about all the good stuff that has happened, I realized I have lots of reasons to smile!  I really have come a long way!