Swimsuit shopping has never been a big priority on my list of things to do while preparing for the summer. Although I enjoy swimming and thankfully had many years of great swimming lessons so I’m very comfortable in the water, I rarely make it to the pool more than a handful of times each summer. EBoy had a major aversion to water for the first few years of his life and finally got over it just in time for ETot to decide that he has no interest whatsoever in getting into a pool of any sort.

I’ve stuck to my same basic black swimsuit (similar to the one above) which has been kind to me through the years. I believe I originally purchased it prior to our honeymoon 7 years ago. While the suit wouldn’t qualify as a “mom suit” its definitely much more conservative than my previous suits in my teenage days. I had no swimsuits during my college years but my previous favorite type of suits during my teen years were one pieces with cutout sides. I went through so many of my teen years refusing to take any pictures because of my own dislike of how I looked in pictures, but considering the lifeguard traffic I used to stop in my swimsuits I wish I could look back now to get a real view of just how I looked.

Bikinis have never been a real desirable option- even when I did have a bikini sized body. Not so much because they wouldn’t fit but because I simply never viewed myself as being small enough to be able to pull one off comfortably. I did have a comfortable tankini for a brief time, but after babies and stretch marks I haven’t felt right bearing so much of myself to the world.

The biggest thing I realize when thinking about healthy options for life is my own health is not only about what I place into my body but also how I view my own image. Healthy self esteem is what keeps me motivated in the gym and hopefully will help me to finally reach the point where I will return to bathing suit (who knows maybe even bikini) shopping.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by BOCA.