Bellies and Babies Pt. 3

Maria Kang, a mother of three young boys is “apologizing” after causing an uproar on Facebook, and other social media platforms by posting a picture showing off her flat abs and asking other moms, "What's your excuse?"

Many people took offense to her picture and some even retaliated with their own. 

Though I hate Fox News, I saw that they gave her an opportunity to respond to the backlash and Maria says she was just trying to inspire people.

When asked if she was suggesting to other moms that in order to be happy, healthy and beautiful they need to look like her, Maria is quoted saying “No, that's absolutely not what I'm saying. I'm saying, what is your excuse for not working out? People can take it how they want to. My intention and where I stand my ground is, you know, if I can do it, so can you. Here I am with three kids, 3, 2 and 8 months. I'm able to make fitness a priority, maybe not my first priority. Maybe it's my fifth, but it gets done…”

I hear what she’s trying to say but I feel she could have gone about it another way. When I look at her photo I hear I have kids too, three of them, but I still found time to work my ass off, literally. This, to me, is not inspirational. You know what would have been inspirational…Let us see the pictures of what you looked like right after you popped those kids out, when your stomach was flabby and you maybe tried to hide it by putting on a body shaper. Let us hear how you felt about your body after you had your first kid; if you loved what you saw in the mirror and embraced your stretch marks or avoided seeing yourself naked because you didn't want to face your new mom body. Show us and tell us what it was like to be pregnant 3 times back to back. Let us hear about your struggles to find time to work out and eat well while working a full-time or part-time job, caring for three kids under 4, keeping a relatively clean home and maintaining your sanity. 

It’s not about feeling inferior, as she put it, it’s about feeling judged. No one is privy to all of the individual struggles that we each deal with on a day to day basis, so to sit back and ask moms “what’s your excuse?” comes off as judgmental and smug NOT inspirational; moms don’t need this crap they need support

Sorry Maria

Check out the interview  auto and transcript- Fit Mom of 3 asks “What’s Your Excuse?” 


Thanks for stopping by
Niki

 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Connected Posts:
Bellies and Babies Pt. 1
Bellies and Babies Pt. 2

My Mom Bag - Modernizing the age old diaper bag

If you’re already a trendy mom or dad this post will seem like old news to you but if you’re like me and you sometimes struggle when it comes to looking “trendy” or “hip” (geez I can’t even believe I just typed that, I’m old) anyway, if you're like me then this post will be right up your alley.

I’m not big on purses, mostly because I’m afraid it won’t “go” with what I’m wearing or even worse, that I’m going to leave it somewhere. Usually when I’m out with the kids I stick my wallet and keys in our diaper bag and keep it moving but last month when I saw my husband's cousin not only “wearing” his son but also sporting his backpack stuffed with diapers, wipes and other kid stuff I thought to myself, why don't I do that?  Not the backpack per se, I'm not a backpack person, but a bag that I like and that could work double duty.

So one day while roaming the aisles at my favorite store I came across this beautiful red bag and when I opened it up I HAD to buy it, these are my favorite colors.

Zebra!!!! :)

It’s now my “mom bag”, basically a large purse that I also use as a diaper bag for quick trips when I don't need a bunch of kid stuff.

I'm able to get a good amount of stuff in this bag:

3 diapers, wipes, travel size diaper cream, teething tabs, a burp cloth, a change of pants, a magazine and all my personal stuff. Stop wondering why I have so many keys :)

This particular bag has lots of pockets to store my things separate from theirs and that comes in handy when you're trying to keep it all together. 

Little eternal zipper area for makeup, gum, etc.

Mommy's side of the bag

Kid's side of the bag

There's also a zippered area in the middle where I stash a gallon sized zip-lock bag for any dirty or wet clothes, a must.

Like I said earlier, my cousin pulled this same concept off using his book bag, so there's really no need to buy some fancy designer diaper bag system that you don't really like, you can make your own. My next bag will be a basic black so I can avoid the whole "does this match" drama, I have enough to deal with :)

Thanks for stopping by

Niki

Bellies & Babies pt. 2

Let me start by saying thank you. I was blown away by the number of people who viewed and shared my post yesterday, Bellies & Babies, looking at body image post pregnancy.

 “I recently had a similar conversation with a close friend of mine and I found myself saying ‘I’d show you mine but I don’t want to scare you.’ Looking back on it I wish I would have said ‘I’ll show you mine when/if you’re ready to see what a real mom’s post pregnancy body looks like.”

Within 10 minutes of hitting publish on that post I had 60 page views and when I looked at it the following morning it was up to 147, today it's at 206 and everyday at least one person finds their way to that post. It reinforced my original thought that people do really want to have open and honest conversations about what pregnancy does to your body and your self-esteem, someone just has to be willing to start the conversation. After the post was shared on Pinterest a video link was sent to me by one of my followers and I wanted to share it with you all.

This video is a brief interview with Jade Beall, poet, dance instructor and photographer, who put together a great collection of stories and photos of real moms in an effort to redefine what it means to be beautiful.

Once you view Jade's video please check out the Beautiful Body Project website

Thanks,
Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Connect Posts:
Bellies and Babies Pt. 1
Bellies and Babies Pt. 3

A Bit About Me

Thanks for finding your way to my blog my name is Niki, one K not two :)

If you were to ask me how I identify myself I’d tell you that I’m a 30 something year old wife and mom to 2 boys. If you’re into classifying people by their personality traits, I’m an “S” on the DISC survey- “People with high "S" styles scores want a steady pace, security, and do not like sudden change. High "S" individuals are calm, relaxed, patient, possessive, predictable, deliberate, stable, consistent, and tend to be unemotional and poker faced. Low "S" intensity scores are those who like change and variety. People with low "S" scores are described as restless, demonstrative, impatient, eager, or even impulsive.” On top of that I’m also a Gemini so you never really know what you’re going to get. 

In my professional life I’m a trainer, community outreach worker and student adviser. I work with teens, college aged youth and professionals on health related topics and life skills development . I started this blog a few years ago and just recently decided to dust it off, update it and continue posting. I’ll apologize now for any grammar issues that come up for folks, I type the way I speak so you get what you get :)

Some of what I write about:

1. Parenting- Attachment parenting, babywearing, co-sleeping, going from 1 to 2 *caveat, I’m no expert.
2. Living with rheumatoid arthritis- I was diagnosed at 26 and have been coping ever since.
3. Party planning for kids- This would be one of my dream jobs if there weren’t so may DIY mammas out there
4. Crafts- I’m crafty in spurts, when I get an idea I have to run with it and then I may not tackle another project for some time. I have an extensive Pinterest page where I re-post most of my crafts under “I pinned and I conquered”.
5. Talking to your kids about sexual health from day 1: age appropriate topics and language.

Enjoy!

Thanks,
Niki