Belly Up!

Finally, Blogger decides to cooperate and allow me to post some photos!

Behold the wool blend I picked up over the weekend! I'm already halfway through it, making some frivolous leg-warmers. This color made me so happy, I had to have it, even though its 45% acrylic. Yet another purchase we can blame on the hormones. There's no cute name for the dye lot, so I call this color 'happy pumpkin' and am certain the leg-warmers will keep me toasty this fall....

Luckily, my LYS had a few skeins of the Miracle left, so I don't have to cheat on the sleeves of my dreaded sweater. But that's another tale for another day.

Since time is just a-flyin' and the belly is starting to show, I thought it might be funny to track the progress and measure it month-by-month. Keep in mind, this is not any attempt to boast, but more my coping mechanism for dealing with the MASSIVE change to the one part of my body that has always been under my control-my stomach. I'll admit that my upper arms, legs and thighs have been a different story. They seem to do what they want, despite my darndest efforts at strict dietary discipline and a nearly abusive weekly sculpting class at the gym. But my stomach has always complied, and its with the greatest effort that I have been able to resign myself to the fact that it will be the most prominent part of my body for a very long time! ACK! Double ACK! But with a good sense of humor, I find I don't really care anymore-its nothing I can control, and who knows if it will ever be the same. And who really cares?! I'm 32 dammit, and I should have more important things on my mind and my self-image should be reflective more of my personality and interests, rather than how skinny I can be.

How did it get this bad? How did I get to be so shallow? Was it from reading too many magazines? Watching too much MTV? Too many episodes of Top Model?

Not at all. It's simply that these things had never been put in perspective before. In truth, I was vain. Self-centered, my body consciousness weighed in far above the things that truly matter. Well, it feels fantastic to let that flawed thinking go. To just give in to such an important event. It's about time, my father would say. So here's to shaking the tree- changing up things, taking an unexpected route, and the many adventures that life brings. I just can't wait to see what happens next!

Oh, and the belly wasn't really big enough to brag about yet. Just 32 inches, but I know I'll be poppin' any day now. So we'll consider that the starting point.