My New Beauty Routine

(I'm currently working on my post from our Disneyland trip.  There are a lot of pictures and videos to sort through, so I'll put them up soon!)

There are tons of articles circulating right now on Facebook about how much a mother's perspective of herself affects her daughter.  I've read most of them, and I agree with all of them.  The way a little girl views her mother is so important.  She models herself after her mother.  The way she acts, talks, dresses.  I've seen this in my own life with Audrey around.  I recognize that it is equally as important for little boys to have a positive female presence in their lives, but because I only have experience with a daughter that's where I'm speaking from.

It is really hard for me (any woman, really) to not point out to their husbands or just mutter to themselves their flaws.  I was getting really bad at it and wanted to break the bad habit before Audrey was really affected by it.  I decided to channel my inner-Audrey.  Audrey thinks she is the most beautiful princess to walk the earth.  She tells us daily.  She walks with such confidence and nothing stands in her way.  The other day I didn't see Audrey around so I went to investigate.  I found her in my room in front of the full-body mirror looking at herself.  "I have lovely yellow hair!" she said.  "I am so big and strong!" she exclaimed, reaching her arms to the sky.  It made me stop and think about how much she loves herself.  I wanted her to know that it was good to love herself as much as she does.  I also wanted her to see that I loved myself as well.  So I walked over, sat with her and said, "look, mom's hair is so beautiful!"  She agreed.  As awkward as it was for me, I kept going.  "I have nice green eyes!"  Audrey then pointed out her beautiful blue eyes.  We kept going like this talking about everything we loved about ourselves.  Audrey loved it, and you know what?  It works.  I felt so good about myself for the rest of the day, and Audrey and I kept telling each other what we liked all day long.  We've done it every morning since, and it is by far the most successful beauty routine I've used.  I feel and look great after we do it.

I certainly don't think I'm the most beautiful in all the land, but I'm slowly learning to love myself despite my imperfections.  It's amazing the things toddlers can teach us.