I love my freckles.
My long fingers.
My hazel eyes.
My low-maintenance hair.
My strong legs.
My arms which hug so well.
The freckles on my arms.
I love adorning my arms in bangles and my fingers in brightly colored rings.
My nose piercing which makes me feel just that much fancier each day.
Colors. I love bright colors.
Skirts.
Tattoos.
Jeans.
Flip flops.
I love the way my mind thinks slowly and deeply about everything.
My passion.
My loyalty.
My humor.
How about you? What do you love about you? Tell me and share your own photos in the Flickr group!
30 years old
Growing up I was overweight but had very muscular legs. I remember weighing 180lbs at 5ft 4in in 9th grade. I was ok with my body but sometimes wished i weighed less. I made myself a promise that i would not have sex until i felt good about my body. I didnt want to need a man to feel good about my body. In 200 I had got down to 160lbs and had lost the baby fat. I had stretch marks and my little belly pouch but I looked good, and I was content. Shortly after going on birth control then losing my job in 2003 i started to gain weight. i was 200lbs. by the time i got pregnant in 2007 (26years old) i weighted 220lbs. I gained exactly 20lbs by the time i had him in november of 2007 via c section. By the time i went to my 2 week checkup i was down to 212lbs and was so happy. After that I went back to work and was getting stressed out, and started drinking and started gaining weight again. when i stopped drinking and started watching what i eat and excercising, i still couldnt lose any weight. In nov of 2009 I found out i was pregnant again. I was excited but wasnt thrilled about starting my pregnancy at 250lbs. I miscarried at about 6 weeks pregnant. Then in feb of 2010 i found out i was pregnant again. Again i miscarried at 5 weeks. Finally i was able to go see a doctor in june of 2010. When i got there i told the doctor i was a week late for my period. i had only had one period since my second miscarriage and my period before that was always 28 days at 10am. it was that exact. the doctor told me i hadnt started because i had gain so much weight. I wasnt happy with that remark because i had been stuck at 250lbs since 2008. They ended up doing a blood test that wednesday to see what might have been causing my miscarriages. on that friday i got a call, it was my thyroid that was slow and making me sleeping, and not able to lose weight. They called in a prescription for me and i went to get it. I decided i would start it that next day however, saturday i decided to take a test just to see and it was positive. i called up the hospital to make sure it was ok to take the medicine and they said yes. If had i hadnt started it, i probably wouldve miscarried again. When i started that pregnancy i was 252lbs. when i had my little boy in feb of 2011 i weight only 258lbs. i was very pleased that i didnt gain to much. when i went back to my 2 week appointment i weighted 231lbs. i was very very excited. I have since got down to 224lbs and am trying to lose a little more weight not because i dont like how i look but because i got clothes that are size 16 and im size 18 and cant afford to buy new clothes. However if i dont go down i am very happy with my body. i got stretch marks all over my belly. with my second pregnancy i got stretch marks on my little pouch for getting smaller and the upper part of my stomach i got stretch marks for getting bigger.
first picture is me about 34 weeks pregnant with my first son
second is me in 2008
third is of me 9 weeks pregnant with second son
fourth is me 6 months pregnant
fifth is of my two miracles
sixth is me posing in front of my camera with my oldest mocking me
Ariel Hansen left me a link on Facebook today about this article she wrote about TIAW and SOAM. It’s a great article in its entirety, and I especially wanted to share my favorite part.
Nearly 20 years ago, Marcia Beaver of Burley had a double mastectomy, with reconstructive surgery, to fight off breast cancer.
“I talked at a lot of places (support groups) right after it happened, and I just felt like women needed to see what reconstruction could look like,” Beaver said. Though her friends joked that she was being an exhibitionist, she would show the women her scars — which today are quite subtle — so they could see that the old radical mastectomies, which took the flesh down to the bone, were a thing of the past.
At the same time, she went through menopause, and all those changes made her rethink her identity, especially as a woman.
“It is a real struggle for women that go through that, keeping ahold of your femininity,” Beaver said. But fighting the disease, she realized that her image of herself was less important than surviving. “It’s kind of a badge of honor. I lived through that with God’s help. … It’s being proud of who you are, that life is worth fighting for.”
Years ago I was struck by the beauty of The Century Project – I’m sure it was one of the many things that lead to the inspiration for SOAM. I will never shake the image of the woman after her mastectomy, a tattoo honoring the scar, she declaring herself a warrior woman. (Many women on SOAM refer to their marks of pregnancy as battle scars, but I daresay that cancer is far more of a battle than most pregnancies.)
Marcia Beaver, THANK YOU for being willing to show yourself both literally and figuratively to other women, and help blaze the trail for them to follow.
Ariel, thanks for a fantastic article!
