The exercise of looking into the mirror cheek to cheek with your little one lets you know right then and there that you want to be like them; a human being full of light and love.
I topped out at nearly 200 pounds during my pregnancy. My weight hadn’t climbed that high since my lowest days of high school. Now I never thought I could feel so good when looking so bad. I remember having a verbal conversation in the mirror with myself when I said, “how could I ever have hated this body? This body created that little girl. My God, Look what it just did!” Not that I liked the extra weight, but I would have taken on 400 lbs to get what my life became.
Also, in that first year, I became much more in tune with stretching my body along beside my daughter’s because that is what babies do. They are born yogis. I recognize the need now more than ever to EXERCISE. In whatever ways. My daughter has reintroduced me to a variety of playful activities that I did as a child. Our latest is the Hula Hoop. She’s great and I am terrible and it is all good because it makes her feel like she is helping me. My girlfriends who have little boys laugh when they tell me they are trying everything with their little sons from kickball to karate.