On Friday night, I went shopping (as per my plans in My Weekend of Fall Family Fun). I was mostly looking for short-sleeve tops to layer with as the weather fluctuates, but I was unsuccessful.

(Slightly off-topic here, but it seems like all basic T-shirts are now made out of very thin cotton, even in the designer stores. Does anyone else notice that they’re see-through? Is this a giant plot by the straight male population to keep all women looking half-naked? Or am I missing the point of a shirt?)

As I hunted for flattering clothes, I thought about the classic fashion guideline: “highlight your best assets, and disguise your problem areas.” Although I’m back to pre-pregnancy weight, my weight has redistributed, so I’m a little fuller in the stomach area than I used to be. Which makes my stomach my current “problem area.”

Wait.

My stomach is now, according to fashion guidelines, a “problem area?”

Hold on a minute. How is it a problem that my belly once contained the growing body of my son, and still retains some of that shape? It should be called a “life-giving area,” or a “new mommy” area, not a “problem area!” A problem is the last thing it is. It should be a celebration!

Mommies, celebrate your post-pregnancy bellies! They are beautiful!

Unfortunately, this realization probably isn’t going to change how I shop. I’ll probably still look for shirts that are cut loosely over my stomach (if I can find any that aren’t thinner than tissue paper). But I now refuse to think of my post-pregnancy roundness as a problem. Instead, it’s going to make me smile, as I remember what purpose it once served, and the beautiful life it contained.

(Of course, that “beautiful life” is probably going to wipe his drool, snot and spit-up all over my new shirts anyway.)