Of smiling

I have never liked smiling for pictures. And by smiling, I mean… showing teeth. I always felt self-conscious about it because I thought it made my face look chubby. In fact, I’ve never really liked to be photographed by anyone except for myself and one or two trusted — professional — photographers. Even now, I tend to give a close-lipped smile, or just generally try to look pleasant, for others taking photographs or myself when I’m doing blog photos.

But I want to change that. Because I love seeing other bloggers smiling. Who doesn’t want to see someone happy? In particular, I’ve been really inspired by Alex of Into The Woods and her radiance in every post! She is gorgeous, and nearly always smiling, and I love that.

And I think it’s funny that smiling is my insecurity; I’ll make faces of all sorts to share, but smiling? Well, it’s something I’ll have to get over! Because in real life, I’ve been known to pretty much laugh or smile at anything and anyone. I want that to be evident in my pictures. I feel like being goofy and smiling or laughing is much more my personality than the usual composed posing I usually put forth. And I want to be real!

I also want you guys to leave this blog happier than when you arrived. Unless you’re just already euphoric. 😉

That was sort of a random little tangent! I think I noticed how much more I smiled in these pictures than I normally do; probably because this skirt makes me endlessly happy! It is seriously amazing, and with a very swingy vintage slip beneath it, it’s just… total joy. The slip I’m wearing is adjustable, and it is seriously the fullest-skirted slip I’ve EVER seen. It’s almost like a petticoat, except it’s not fluffy.

I think I need a petticoat.

So today, Asa weighed in at 12.9lbs. For those of you that haven’t had babies, that’s four pounds since birth, and pretty dang chubby for a newborn! He’s five weeks old; the midwife said most babies gain three pounds by six weeks, and at this rate I’m guessing he’ll have gained five pounds by six weeks (which is on Tuesday.) He has so many rolls already! I love it.

Everyone always asks me what I’m feeding him; seriously, I don’t know! I must just produce really good milk. Possibly because I eat a lot of healthy fats, so the milk I produce could be high in fat… or… who knows. It’s good, though.  

I cannot wait for my legs to return to normal; if you missed it, I mentioned that the scarring is from PUPPS, which causes your skin to be incredibly itchy in the last few weeks of pregnancy and sometimes on to a few weeks after you’ve had the baby. There’s nothing you can really do about it except find anti-itch lotion that helps, and wait it out; it’s just hormones, basically.

PUPPS was the only thing that made me feel like I wanted to be done with pregnancy. If I hadn’t had the itches day and night for the last three weeks of pregnancy, it would have been a dream! If you suffer from PUPPS, I would recommend Aveeno’s anti-itch lotion; it’s got oatmeal and calamine in it, and it is the ONLY lotion that helped me. Seriously. I tried Sarne, Benadryl cream, coconut oil, Eucerin, Renew, Cortizone cream… nothing but Aveeno helped!

Vintage skirt c/o Cut and Chic Vintage | Kohl’s shirt | Thrifted heels and belt | Modcloth headband

Well, we’re off to a birthday party for my niece and nephew! I hope you have all had a fabulous Friday, and happy weekend!

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