I am a proud mama!

My son is the current star student for his class at daycare. It really makes me smile to walk by his poster twice in the morning and twice in the evening each day. Dominic is the best!

Operation Yellow Bikini Week 6...@#$%&*!

I'm pretty angry and frustrated right now, so much so that I really feel like punching my stupid scale!

Last week, I weighed in at 177.2 pounds. But, when I got on the scale earlier today, my weight had only dropped down to 176.4 pounds.

Not even one flippin' pound this week? Are you kidding me?

I don't know what in the world I could be doing wrong. I've been on the treadmill every night this week except for one, and I hit my Weight Watchers points number on the nose too.

I should be no more than 169 pounds at this point, but I've hit a wall. I'm so discouraged. I really don't know how in the world I can reach my yellow bikini goal by July 4.

As much as I hate to even say this, I think the best thing for me to do at this point is to stop and take a breather of sorts. I don't think I'll be officially weighing in for the next few weeks, and I might even push my July 4 deadline back a bit too.

Please don't judge me too harshly. I promise I'm not a quitter. This dream isn't dead, just a little delayed...

I was young and cute and in pageants once...

Someone took this photo in 2002 or 2003, while I was competing in Miss Decatur. I still have it because I really like how I looked in it.

I'm posting it now because it's Miss USA day, and I'm excited!!!!!

But, that's not the only thing I'm thinking. I'm eight years older than most contestants. That's depressing, considering I still vividly remember watching pageants as a child.

You know what??? I won't focus on that. I'm going to think about how good I'll look July 4. Maybe then, I'll be up for competing again!

Operation Yellow Bikini Week 5

Today was very frustrating because I wasn't chosen for a big work opportunity. I deserved that break, so I'm pretty angry. The only way to (temporarily) forget was to focus on today's weigh-in.

At this time last week, I weighed 178.8 pounds, and now, I'm at 177.2 pounds. While that amounts to a loss of 1.6 pounds, I can't be happy about it. It needed to be more, in order to be the kind of "pick-me-up" I really needed today.

I know that it's not safe to lose a lot of weight quickly, but I feel I should be doing better than I have been. I only had one bad food day this past week (a Mother's Day buffet), and I've been on the treadmill every night. On top of the exercising, I've started the Weight Watchers points diet.

There's no way I'm breaking my promise. I will be wearing that yellow bikini on July 4, and you all will see a picture of it here. Say a little prayer and wish me luck, so that I don't embarrass myself that day!

The Greatest Gift

This photo, taken at 6:12 a.m. on Friday, July 11, 2008, was the first photo of my son after he was born. I look back at it often to remember that incredible day.

But, life has only gotten more incredible since then. Watching this little boy view the world through new eyes is the most amazing experience of my life.

I don't know what I did in order for God to bless me with Dominic. But, I'm so thrilled He deemed me worthy of being "mama."

Mother's Day is tomorrow, and it's a time to reflect upon all the wonderful times I've had so far. People say that you give up a lot to become a parent, but I don't care. Life is much richer now.

This perfect little boy turns 22 months old Tuesday. I'm so grateful for every second he is around. Before too long, he'll be all grown up and out on his own.

So, tomorrow on Mother's Day (and every day after), I'll celebrate God's greatest gift to me with hugs, kisses and anything else he needs.

Thank you Dominic for making me a mama, and thank you to my mom for being the best example of how a mother needs to live and love.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms of the world!

Operation Yellow Bikini Week 4

Ask many women in the world when they felt the most beautiful, and many of them are likely to say their wedding day. I'm no exception to that.

The photo you all see here was of me on October 14, 2006 (my wedding day). I'm not going to lie. I did feel truly beautiful that day. It was nice, for that one special day, to look as good as I felt on the inside.

Lately, I haven't felt all that beautiful. But, that's not really a secret. It can be hard to look or feel beautiful when you're carrying around too much extra weight, and you have the added stress of another job layoff and a frustrating job hunt.

Well, I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and it's giving me reason to smile (or at least think about starting to smile). Last week, when I weighed in, I was at 184 pounds (which meant a gain of 2.2 pounds over the previous week).

But, today is a new day, and my weight is now 178.8 pounds! That's right! I lost 5.2 pounds since last week!

I think this is mostly because I wrote down all my calories consumed each day, and I went for distance and time on the treadmill this week. My speed only hovered around 3.0 mph, but I was on a 2 percent incline and walked more than 6 miles and burned almost 600 calories. It really gave me a great boost of energy and confidence in myself.

I'm starting to believe that there is a beautiful woman inside me somewhere.