An interesting thing is happening to the women/mothers around me. These beautiful women have raised their babies. They’ve cuddled them, nursed them, gone without showers, caught vomit in their hands and made it through long winter days trapped indoors. Now these babies are heading off to elementary school. Suddenly, they get to experience what its like to stand in line without a baby on your hip and a toddler licking the counter.

You can’t just go back to the person you were before babies because you’re not that person anymore. Its really hard to be that pre-kids lady when you’ve walked around with poop on your shirt for a day…or spit up….or peas… Most of those around me left their jobs to stay at home and now wonder who will want to hire someone that only wants to work school hours and will need to have snow days off. Its hard to know what your next step will be.

Not only are my kids getting older and actually becoming kids, I’m in the new age check box. You know when you have to fill out surveys and they ask you your age group…well I’ve moved onto the next age group. Those that know me well, know that number always kind of of gets to me. I know that I’ve got a great life. I am so incredibly thankful and grateful….but, lets face it, I don’t look like I did when I was 20.

Yeah, yeah. I know we can all think that we’re so much wiser then we were when we were 20. You have this confidence you didn’t back then. I guess I do…or I’m just more aware of my crazy…but, being wiser really doesn’t help my crows feet or the fact that I gain weight by breathing in a truffle. Looking back, I really did have it made and I totally didn’t appreciate it. I rarely broke out. I’d get like a zit a year. I ate so much pizza, desserts, cookies and carbs it should’ve been illegal.

As I come into this new season of my life where I wonder what to do with the adult me, where my kids are getting older and where everything about my exterior self is following gravity, I decided that it was time to start thinking about myself and doing things to make me feel better about me.

The first thing I did was start spending money on a trainer and on tennis lessons. I only meet with the trainer once a week and my tennis lesson is once a week. I do both in a group so its a bit cheaper. Its taken me a while to not feel guilty about the money I’m spending but, it makes me feel good about myself so its worth it.

The second thing I did was start spending money on beauty products. I have always been uber cheap when it comes to beauty products, but the age spots, break outs and crows feet arrived and they weren’t going anywhere. My friend, Beth, sucked me into Arbonne and now I’m a loyal customer. I especially love the RE9 eye cream and renewal serum. I also really like the FC5 Cleanser. You can email Beth if you want to know more cbkrenzel at me.com

My point is when things start getting physically easier with the kids, don’t forget to do some things to take care of yourself as a woman. I think so many moms push themselves aside as these try to keep these babies alive. Don’t forget to spoil yourself a bit for your confidence and so that you can look good when it starts to get hard mentally and emotionally because that sneaks up on you fast….

One morning, I let my daughter have the camera as we got ready for the day. She didn't do too bad! Then she wanted me to take a picture of her.

a new season