Hannah took these photos of me last fall after the girls asked me to try on my wedding dress. It still fits as it did the day we got married. I actually think I look better in these photos because I had foolishly cut my hair short for our wedding. (Don't ask.) Over the past 16 years I have gained and lost 320 pounds. No easy feat. Well, the gaining part is, but the losing part is hard, hard work. I gain around 40 pounds with every pregnancy and most of this happens in the first two trimesters which means that the weight ain't baby! Truthfully, the weight gain is one of the hardest parts of pregnancy for me and I have to remind myself of the line from the Liturgy of the Eucharist: "This is my body broken for you." (I love the way both girls are looking at me with a sort of wonder.)
Only nine months later this is the new body once again stretched, strained and a heck of a lot heavier.
This, however, is the person for whom that body was broken: an immortal soul. And he's pretty cute and cuddly, too.
