There are 4 types of women....

Well, I guess I should say there are four types of people.....
1. The person who was born skinny and stays skinny
2. The person who has been overweight their whole life
3. The person who has been overweight and has lost it
4. The person who was skinny and now is the one that people look at and say "That's her/him?!"

Hello. My name is April, and I am person #4.

This blog may never make any sense and may never have anyone ever read it, but it will be my journey to try and find that girl I used to be. Here's my story - a short version of course ----

Growing up I was never completely the "skinny" girl. Even in high school I was small, but not rail thin. I was a cheerleader, so I was in pretty good shape. A friend once told me that I had a "college body in high school" and I never understood that, until I went to college. I LOVED college. I would go back to freshman year in a heartbeat. I met some wonderful people whom I am still in contact with today. It is where I learned life's hard lessons about love, friendship, honesty, and finding myself.

While in college I joined a sorority (yow yip!!) and cheered for Shorter University's first ever football season. So, of course working out were apart of my everyday life. So, still I was in shape, and looking good! ;)

January of 2007 I became engaged to my college sweetheart and we were married in June of 2007 - after 4 years of dating, needless to say I had the whole wedding planned in my head, but just had to wait to get the BLING!

In Feb. of 2008 my precious son was born, he was early do to preeclampsia (sp?). He was born blue and with his lungs full of fluid. Needless to say my life was completely turned upside down for several hours until I got to hold that tiny precious baby in my arms! Then, all was right with the world.

But, something happened when I came home. That 'baby' weight I had gained didn't just fall off - uh hello, it's called BABY weight, when baby is out, weight should go - WRONG! That "baby" weight I had gained while on bed rest was still there (and apparently there is nothing to do while on bed rest than eat, right?!). And here I am almost 4 years later still carrying around that "baby" in my stomach.

I think it is much harder being a "number 4" person. #1s are who they are, no pressure to get skinny b/c you are already there.  #2s are used to being that overweight person, so generally people know what to expect when they see them. #3s are going to make everyone stare in "ohhs" and "ahhs" about how they have transformed themselves. Then, there are the #4s - the ones people (including myself b/c I did this) say "oh that's her?!"

I have never had issues with self esteem - and I don't define myself by my looks or my body - b/c I still know I am the same person on the inside. I try to be a good mom and wife, a good daughter, caring friend, etc. But, I gotta work on this outside me - cause it 'aint purdy'.

I know I am not alone in this. I know there are TONS of other moms who have gone from "Skinny to Mommy" who want to get back to "Skinny Mommy". So, I am going to use this blog to hopefully inspire other women out there to get back us, kinda like a Mommy 2.0 - better than we were before! I will post good recipes, things I have tried, as well as crafty things I like to do to stay happy! I will also post those 'not so good days' that we try to pretend we don't have where I just had like 3 cokes that day, some doughnuts, some chips, etc. (Don't act like you don't have those days) I want to be transparent here and I want others to feel that they can be too.

Let's support each other. Let's love each other. Let's listen to each other.