Make me over please

A friend told me that one of our family magazines around here was having a Mommy Makeover contest and so, I thought I'd enter it just for fun. The contest ended in January and I have not heard from them, so I'm figuring I didn't win...oh well...I thought I might as well post my entry below...along with my pictures I sent in. Now keep in mind that the first picture was just for fun, but the second one was seriously the most recent picture of me...in my Christmas pjs...ughhh! Anyway, enjoy!


My name is Abbie and I would so love to have a makeover. I just turned 30 in November. I have four children 5 and under. I have one girl and three rambunctious boys. Zoe is 5, Ace is 3, Liam is 2 and Josiah is 6 months. Aside from caring for my sweet babies, I am also the coordinator for the Mothers of Preschoolers group. I also started homeschooling my daughter this year and run a stationary/card business from my home. In my spare time (hehehe), I try to keep our out of town family up to date via our blog. I also try to scrapbook every precious memory I can capture on film. And when they are really quiet (okay so when they're asleep, and yes, four asleep at once does happen), I try to stay awake to spend time with my husband or read. Not easy to do at midnight!

In June I brought a 9 pound 6 ounce baby into this world (without an epidural...eleven hours in labor...I've earned the right to brag). Unfortunately, he didn't carry the 40 plus pounds I had put on during the pregnancy(editor's note...I was being kind saying it was just 40 pounds...but I did add the plus so I wasn't lying). As a result, my "baby belly" is slowly dwindling with my scrambled trips to the gym. You know, when the kids are well and we rush to the gym between ballet, school, church, and MOPS. Or when my sweet husband comes home and sees that a shower has alluded me and my contacts aren't in...the kids have created drawings on the walls and my sweet toddler has flooded the kitchen again in an attempt to figure out how the faucet works...that's when he says, "I've got the kids, go to the gym or do something!" Ahhh those are the sweet times! Okay, back to reality (my hubby really does offer lots).

I'm at that "in-between" time with my clothes...my maternity clothes are too big, my regular clothes are too small and I'm too cheap to buy lots of clothes in a size I hope to be out of in a few months. I have the wash and wear hair do that is getting too long but between doctors appointments and other activities, when am I supposed to take two hours out of my schedule to sit at the salon?? Oh, and did I mention that I lost a lot of my hair from pregnancy and now the new hair coming back is gray!! So, I guess it would be four hours at the salon to find a color to match my beautiful all dark brown hair!!! Sure gray is a sign of wisdom, but I think it's more a sign of losing your mind when you're as young as I am!

So, to recap, managing a home of six people (two of whom are still in diapers and four under 6), homeschooling, working in a ministry, chauffeuring, being the family historian, and trying to earn a little money on the side, with a few extra trips to the gym...my plate is full and I have very little time to keep up my appearances. I love to look nice for my husband and my family and work with the time I have and the very little budgeted money I have and we end up with the below pictures. Okay, so the first one is really just a silly side but the second is the best I can do on a good day or maybe it's the other way around.