Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

AKA - Worse?  How Can it Get Any Worse?

I have an attitude problem.  For those of you who know me, this is not going to come as a huge surprise.  For those of you who do not, stop laughing.  I'm trying to make a point here.  Recently I've decided that my attitude needs adjusting.  My children are probably tired of my crabby outlook on life, I'm sure my husband is and, to be honest, I get on my own nerves.  To that end, I have decided to start trying to find the silver lining in a few clouds.

One of the small steps on my path to a brighter outlook is the reward chart hanging in our kitchen.  This may seem like a small thing, but it's doing wonders for my children and I.  They get a sticker for helping out around the house, doing something nice, etc.  Once a row fills up, they get a small reward.  Once the chart fills up, they get a big reward.  The big payoff for me has been the change in outlook on our days.  It seemed for the longest time all I could see was everything that had gone wrong that day.  Handing out the stickers has helped me start looking at all the sweet, darling and funny things they did during the day.  Score one for Mommy.

Thanks to my sister-in-law, and her inspiring blog at Nice Gets Fit, I have been attempting to take off a few leftover baby pounds.  Now, in all fairness, I am not sure it can still be considered baby weight after the baby's first birthday.  For the present, I am holding tightly to that pretense.  Whether reality or pretense, I decided to actually start using our gym membership and be a little more conscientious about what I'm shoving in my mouth.  Now, before someone points out the obvious, I fully realize that weight loss goals are not met in three weeks.  This has definitely been the case for me.  After three weeks of effort, I am tired, I am hungry and (drum roll, please) I have gained five pounds.  Five pounds?!  How does that happen.  But this too has a silver lining, right?

Well, here is my silver lining.  The other night I was watching my baby daughter in the bathtub.  The girl's head is too big for her body.  She's got cankles and honest-to-goodness Fred Flintstone feet.  Her thighs have got fat rolls.  How can babies make fat rolls look so cute?  And the girl has a belly that is round as round can be.  And she doesn't care.  She's absolutely darling, mind you, but either way, she doesn't care.  She is playing in the tub, spilling water all over the floor and having a grand time.  No matter what she looks like, she's thinking about having fun and she's certainly not concerned about that buddha belly when she goes to eat her next meal.  All I  kept thinking is "that is how life should be lived."  Not worrying about whether I fit my pants or what that number on the scale says.  Just enjoying every last morsel of life.

Here's a bonus thought for the day ... even if I never get past those extra pounds, I have this amazing little person in my life.  And she's worth every single one of those pounds, isn't she?