I am officially 26 weeks pregnant … and officially feeling like I am 26 weeks pregnant. Unfortunately for me, I am vertically challenged. I sometimes tell people I am 5’4”, but in reality, I am likely 5’2” … which means there is not a whole lot of room for Baby Boy. My lungs and stomach are starting to feel a bit squashed and crowded this week. However, I am determined to make the best of this pregnancy, and I really cannot complain.

Here is a breakdown of my workouts this week:

• Day 1: 3 hours of cardio machines, plyos, and pilates with clients
• Day 2: 1 hour of plyos with clients
• Day 3: 1 hour of plyos with clients
• Day 4: 4 hours of filming my Fit Pregnancy Total Body workout, but only 45 minutes total of hard-workouts
• Day 5: 2 hours of cardio machines and pilates with clients
• Day 6: 30 minute fit walk with staff, 1 hour of plyos with a client, 20 minutes of cardio machines
• Day 7: 1 hour of plyos with a client

This past week I made a very important decision regarding the future of my career and family life. I decided to resign from my full-time web marketing job after 5 years of service for the same company. In one sense, the decision was a long time coming, but in another sense, several events led up to my decision — throwing the door wide open for me to become 100% self-employed and enjoy a bit more margin in my life.

Deciding to take the leap and quit my full-time job was very difficult. I enjoy what I do for my company, I absolutely love my boss, and I feel very comfortable and secure bringing home a consistent pay check every 2 weeks in addition to my part time jobs. However, my current schedule of full-time web marketing, part-time training, and part-time web consulting, was starting to really wear me down. And when mommy ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. I was starting to feel like my family life and social life were taking a hit because I was so drained from my career. I truly believe that it is possible to be a working mom and enjoy a successful career and family life. However, 70 hours of working per week is not the answer (for me). It’s all about balance, and I can only maintain a crazy schedule for so long before I burn out, and before my family life starts to suffer.

I want to prioritize Emma and Baby Boy, so I decided to step down from the best job I’ve ever had, one I truly enjoy, and a situation of flexibility I will likely never be offered again in a full-time job scenario. Talk about tough. For those who do not like their job, or boss, salary, or company, it’s hard to understand. But if you’ve ever walked away from a fabulous career position, you know exactly how I am feeling.

So … enough about what I will lose by stepping down. Onto what I will gain from resigning. I am thrilled to have more focused time to spend with Miss Emma come April 30. She is soooo much fun right now, and I absolutely love spending quality time with her. I am also stoked about having more time for my gym clients and fitness business. There are so many things that I want to add to my site or services that I hope to offer in the near future, so it will be great to have more time to spend here. Not to mention the fact that I filmed an exercise DVD this weekend and can’t wait to promote it. I also hope to do a bit of volunteer work. I have already started working on my church’s website (pro bono) and I am enjoying that ministry and look forward to spending more time on similar projects.

Earlier I mentioned some events that led up to my decision. First, my husband was told that he would be on furlough for 22 business days as a result of the sequester. Because of this development, I started analyzing our budget in detail. As a result, I realized that we really are doing great financially and could afford to live off of his salary comfortably (even with his 20% pay cut). But, the part that is a huge blessing … he was told that he will be getting a significant raise this year (almost half of my salary) … WOW, talk about awesome timing! We were also planning to move to a bigger house this year, but after considering timeline, decided to stay where we are and try to be content for as long as possible until I can generate even more significant income with my training business and web clients.

So, thank you for rejoicing with me and my new career/family situation. I really believe it will be the best situation for us at this time. I do not have a single regret from the past few years of being a full-time working mom, but I look forward to this next chapter in our lives.