My swim suit photo shoot. Because I WILL get in the pool with my kids this summer! #LoveYourMommyBody #GetInThePoolMom

Posted on May 7, 2012 by elizabeth

It’s that time. Swimsuit season.

And every summer my kids beg. Plead. Cajole.

“Mommy! Pleeeeeease! Please come swim with us!”

Every summer I have a “Good Reason” why I can’t.
Or won’t.
Or will not.

Usually it comes down to this: I don’t want to put on a swimsuit.

Because I’ve seen the magazine pictures and I don’t look anything like that.
And I’ve been schooled in all the modesty swimming rules.
And you know what?
All of that kept me out of the water, away from having fun.

I’ve been robbed!

So, I’ve decided to love the way I look!

This summer?
Things gonna be different.

#1. I’m going to love my Mommy Body. Oh, look! This is me singing “I loooove my Mommy body!!!!”

#2. I’m going to put on the swimsuit. I WILL take these pictures and I won’t retouch them, airbrush them or CLIP MYSELF OUT of our family summer photos. Instead, I will celebrate the real me!

#3. No tan. No makeup. Just me unashamed. Unapologetic. Having fun and loving life! Because my kids deserve that!

#4. My kids don’t care what I look like, they just want me to GET.IN.THE.POOL. Well, OK then!

#5. It’s time, Mommy. Put on the suit. Get in the pool.

LOVE YOUR MOMMY BODY.
#LoveYourMommyBody
#GetInThePoolMom

OK, Mommies. If I can get in my swimsuit with no makeup, no tan and yeah, NO DIETING before this spontaneous photo shoot (and then post the pics on my blog!)–YOU can at least get in the pool with your kids this summer!

Who’s with me?? Go blog it! Tweet it! Let’s #LoveYourMommyBody!

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  • Tanya

    Way to go girl!

  • KristiB

    Love it!  Looks like a fun photo shoot & a beautiful pool.  You have a great mommy body so don’t be afraid to show it off.  I put on a bathing suit for the first time in over 5 years this past weekend to enjoy the blow-up pool w/the hubby & kiddo.  Planning on doing that a lot this summer.

  • singingnewyorker

    You look GREAT!

  • Kristin

    beautiful. :)

  • Handsfull

    You look beautiful!  Well done on taking another step towards the freedom of being (and ENJOYING) who you really are!

    • Anonymous

      Yes! You’re right, it really IS a step toward enjoying and CELEBRATING who I really am! I hope this inspires other women to do the same!!!

  • Mary Hart

    Gosh! If I looked as good as you I’d have no hesitation!!! :) )) Have a wonderful summer :) ))))

  • Anonymous

    Thank you for being so brave for all of us!  I was just watching one of those silly razor commercials, and I found myself thinking “Oh, that’s for thin women!”  At some point I decided that I shouldn’t be enjoying life because of how I looked!  But no more…thank you Elizabeth for leading the way for Mommy bodies everywhere.

  • Anonymous

    You look AWESOME! I love the suits! Rock the swimsuits. Rock the pool. 
    I used to love swimsuits. Then I had a lung transplant and gained a lot of poundage. but now it’s (slowly) coming off–the poundage, that is–and dagnabbit, I’m gonna embrace the pool. 

  • http://heretichusband.blogspot.com/ Heretic Husband

    Regrettably, as a married man, there’s nothing I can say here that won’t sound creepy.

    • marie

      True–gave me a chuckle, though!

    • Lucie

      Darn – I always enjoy what you have to say.  :-)

  • Mjensenthackery

    Thanks for the encouragement! You look lovely and ready for some real summer living! I needed a push to get a swimsuit because my 3 year old can’t wait to go swimming with me!

  • Susan

    I look like a sack of potatoes in my swim suit but I still swim with the kids. My big wish is to have the stamina to keep up with them! Needing a big-time lifestyle overhaul here. And it would be nice to not look like a sack of potatoes in my swim suit.

    But you look great! Hope you enjoy having fun with the kids!

    • Anonymous

      I’m SO happy you still swim with the kids! That’s so important!!! My unsolicited advice? Don’t try to do a BIG TIME lifestyle overhaul. Do little ones. Tiny ones. Baby steps. How about going for a 2 minute jog tomorrow? :)

  • http://modernmrsdarcy.com/ Anne

    I.love.this. Love it!

  • Allison Grace

    Man, I hate that you’re right.  Walking away from my computer now and thinking about this . . .
    (thank you)

  • Allison Grace

    Man, I hate that you’re right!  Walking away from my computer now and thinking . . .
    (thank you)

  • TheresaEH

    All your kids will remember is that they had so much FUN playing with mum in the pool……BTW u look very cute!

  • http://twitter.com/byzcathwife priest’s wife

    I love the polka dots- what brand is it?

  • http://bluebonnetreads.wordpress.com Hannah C.

    You know what, you look great. Human instead of model..but great. ;) I like your taste in swimsuits as well! GO MAMA for stepping out like this. :)

    I don’t go swimming because I don’t like putting my head underwater, I’ve forgotten how to swim, and I don’t have access to a pool. Also, I’m pretty sure I don’t own a swimsuit. And I dislike trying to shave my thighs because it’s a pain in the butt, but I feel super self conscious if I put on a swimsuit and have any hair visible…

  • http://www.pressingsave.com/ Carolyn

    I love this! Soooo good for you! (and for all of us bathing beauty mommies :) After having a girl, twin boys (who went full term and were each HUGE) and now a 4th pregnancy, things ain’t so pretty in the mirror … I do swim with the kids out of necessity (floating is about all I can do now at a very large 28 wks) but I will take new pride in it. So glad I found your site! terrific. I will be back!

  • Miles O’Neal

    Speaking as a guy, I can’t figure what you were worried about. Then again, I never quite understood who gets to make the rules, or why they would decide that the anorexic look with a hyper-inflated bosom was a good look (although if it’s really inflated, it would serve as a life vest).
    Great job, Be you and enjoy you. God doesn’t make mistakes, and he made you. So celebrate with family and friends! Your youness. Theirs. Go for it!
    (The same goes for “Sack of Potatoes” down in the comments, and everyone else.)

  • http://profiles.google.com/txmom2jami Laura Jinkins

    Okay – you are adorable!  So glad you were able to break free of those ridiculous lies (not skinny enough, tan enough, etc.) and plan on enjoying LIFE with your kiddos!  :)

  • http://barefootmel.com/ Mel

    LOVE this! And you are adorable. Seriously. You inspire me to go buy a new suit and rock it! 

  • http://carriethinkstoomuch.blogspot.com/ Carrie

    Awesome! I needed this boost this morning.

  • http://www.facebook.com/julie.h.lindberg Julie Howard Lindberg

    Look at you!  You’re adorable!  

  • Brooke

    You look great! Have a wonderful summer.

  • Lucie

    Elizabeth, you are such a stitch!  And I will say yet again that you look pretty darned good for having had five kids – I haven’t had one and you look better than me!  Have lots of fun in the water in your cute suit with your adorable kids!

  • Heather

    This is SO awesome! Love it love it. Thank you, Esther! What a great message. 

  • Rebecca

    You go girl!!! I have done the same thing year after year. And you know what,  You have given the strength to say SOOOOO WHAT if I’m a little chunky at 42, I may not look as good as I did at 20 but who the hell does… Women that have access to a 24 hr trainer and work out for 4-5 hrs a day that’s who and do i really want to compare myself to them. NOOOOOO thank you!  i praise your honesty and THANK YOU!  

  • http://www.joellives.com sarajoy

    I love you for this in a hundred and twenty ways. Also, you look great, which is probalby what people would say to me. We are so silly, I’m totally hitting the beach with my kids, NO SHAME. :)

  • http://taraseguinwrites.wordpress.com/ Tara Seguin

    Gorgeeeeous!!  <3  Love the suits too!

  • GeorgiaGirl

    Love this!  You look great and your kids will LOVE you!  All they will remember is how much fun they had with Mom.

  • http://twitter.com/parresia Julie Wilson

    I love, love, love this… although considering it’s in the 50s and raining here, I will not be doing a swimsuit photo shoot just now!  I have definitely gone to the skirt type suits since having kids… :)
    love both of yours… and that hat?! So fun!!

  • Nurse Bee

    I would if I had a pool (and a swimsuit that fit!)   But not really interested in being huge and pregnant, in a bathing suit at the public pool.  Maybe next year…

  • Alex

    Yes, I will love my (very pregnant) mommy body this summer! And I will go to the beach with my family!

  • http://www.nebraskagraceful.blogspot.com Michelle DeRusha

    I’m with you – love this, love you!

  • Nicki

    Yes, I’m inspired; thank you! My kids LOVE it when I go swimming with them, which I rarely do. But I’ve decided that this summer, things are gonna change around here!

  • Nancy

    HOORAY!!!  I thought this was going to be a post-diet celebration about how you’re now a size zero, so you can get in the pool!  And then I would’ve had one more reason to feel crappy about my varicose veins and extra 10 pounds.  :)   Instead, I get to whoop it up for you and all of us who choose to be okay with the wonderful, life-creating bodies we have, “flaws” and all!  Happy summer!

  • Jack Isaacks

    Frederica Mathewes-Green, the wife of an Orthodox priest said something like this once:

    “Take the average of all the women you know of your age and child-bearing history. Maybe this is what God WANTS you to look like.”

    You look fine to me, Elizabeth!

  • Yolanda

    Love this! Thanks for being brave for all of us. I was looking for photos to post on my own blog for my mother’s day post and I couldn’t find hardly any pictures of my daughter and I. I have always edited myself out or deleted the “fat” pics. Now I regret it. So this summer, I am going to follow you advise.  Have fun at the beach and pool and takes tons of pictures with my daughter and hubby:)

  • http://thehomespunlife.com Sisterlisa

    You are so funny. I love the suits.