Hey! That's me!This is me last Saturday morning. I woke up, fed my children, jogged on the treadmill, showered, and even changed a diaper or two in the meantime.
And see -- look at my happy face.
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Mama-Moiselle has changed!
Welcome to the new Mama-Moiselle!
Mama-Moiselle began as my whiny mother’s blog, but that's not really where my heart was, as much fun as whining is. I already had a family blog where I said all I really wanted to say.
So, after laying low for a while, I came up with the wonderfully fun plan to turn Mama-Moiselle into a feel-good / fashion blog for mommies! I’m so excited!
As a mother, I believe you start with yourself. Now wait a minute – don’t start resorting to “that’s a selfish thing to say,” because it isn’t, and I’ll tell you why.
Why: because if you don’t feel good, how on God’s green earth do you even think for one second you can make someone else feel good? Your children? Your husband? They feel your pain. We’ve all heard that people who don't even love themselves cannot possibly love other human beings, right? Well, don’t you think that might also mean a person who feels like crap couldn’t possibly share joy with the world around them? I think it does.
A lot of mothers – heck, a lot of people – get caught up in the terrible idea that if you’re a good mother, you don’t have time for piddly stuff like looking presentable. To a lot of the world, good mothers only wear joggings and ponytails and not one ounce of makeup (although I will be honest -- some people look very nice without makeup, unlike me). Oh -- good mothers also don't spend time on exercise because that takes away from everyone else. Well, baloney, I say. Spend a little time on yourself each morning and spend the next 23 hours with your children. Exercise three times a week for 30 minutes each time so you have the energy to chase your young-uns around.
I am a mother who wakes up in the morning and invests time into her appearance: I shower, I wash my face, I put on a light layer of makeup (SPF 17, with Hyaluronic, Pro-Retinol A, and Pro-Xylane for wrinkle defense), and I blow my hair dry, making sure to shape my layers – nothing fancy, but definitely polished.
For weddings and parties and social events, I step it up – I glam up my makeup, put on a little more, and spend a little more time volumizing my hair.
I always, always, always curl my eyelashes.
When I’m dressed down, I still put the effort into finding comfortable-yet-acceptable attire. I want to look somewhat hip, yet someone who can be puked on, who can crawl around the floor, pretending to be a tiger.
What this means for me is that, even though I’m tired or I’m sick or I feel fat (which there was a lot of after I had my second baby), at least I look presentable. At least I look like I care, and it boosts my spirits to focus on, perhaps, my rosy cheeks or the fact that I have a nice haircut. (That's not to say the joy of our children shouldn't be enough; our focus right now is on you and how good you feel so that you can feel good about everything else. You'll see what I mean as time goes on, if you think I'm sounding a little selfish right now.)
I’m going to share monthly tips to make your “motherly” feel a whole lot better.
You are young once, so take care of yourself. Don’t take care of only yourself, but take care of yourself.
I’m so excited!
-Sally
