First, and most important — like many of you, I am heartbroken by the tragedy at the Boston Marathon earlier this week. There are a lot of emotions and responses that come as a result of a hate crime like that, but I am so honored to be part of several fitness networks that have committed to helping the victims in this time of tragedy. I am giving a portion of the consult fee from my nutrition and fitness consultations and the proceeds from my DVD sales to a charity set up by the emergency responders in Boston. My assistant has checked this charity out, and ALL of the money is going to the victims. Read more about this fund set up by the Boston first responders.

Request a fitness and/or nutrition consultation or purchase my Fit Pregnancy Total Body Workout now.

Second, shout-out to my assistant, Tasha, for finding this charity and for working super hard to send out all of my DVDs last week. She mailed all of the pre-orders out before I even got home from vacation, AND she left me a bouquet of flowers and Bolthouse smoothie as a congrats on selling out. She is the sweetest!

My assistant left me a bouquet of flowers as a congrats on selling out of the Fit Pregnancy DVD. She is the sweetest!

I am in the final countdown! And as much as I absolutely hate to admit it … in the “final slow-down” as well. Here is what I am counting down:

• 9 more business days until I am officially 100% self-employed. Mental note for next time that I quit my full-time job … give in a 2 week notice versus a 6 week notice. This final 9 days is going to be incredibly grueling. I have about 3 months of work to do in 9 days. I am simply going to do what I can physically accomplish and then pass the baton. And this craziness at work is making me even more eager to be self-employed and have more time at home with Miss Emma!
• 17 more days until the Cincinnati half-marathon. I have a sore ankle that has been bothering me for about a week. I am praying that it feels back to 100% soon so I can start running again.
• 6-10 more weeks until Baby Boy comes. I delivered 21 days “early” with Miss Emma, and my doctor has asked me to make it to at last 36 weeks. I am seriously ready to meet this baby, and am already getting very impatient, but I know it’s extremely important to keep cooking him for several more weeks.
• 4 more weeks until my big fitness and nutrition exams for continuing education. I am renewing some certs and have been studying for a nutrition exam as well. YIKES! Prayers appreciated.

I am also in the final slow-down. I do NOT like to admit to having to slow down, but at 30 weeks pregnant, it’s very clear that my energy level is now what it used to be! I have been going to bed earlier, and even after several hours of sleep, feeling exhausted throughout the day. Part of my issue is that Baby Boy is SUPER active at night, and it makes it hard to sleep. The other night I was up for 2 hours while he was doing cartwheels inside my uterus. HA. Needless to say, I needed a nap at lunch-time to get through my 13 hour work day.

In addition to getting more sleep at night and taking the occasional nap, I have also had to slow down my workouts. I mentioned earlier that my ankle is sore … I am also finding that it is harder to keep up with my plyo workouts. I actually did my Fit Pregnancy DVD on my lunch break today, and I had to use all of the modified moves. When I filmed the workout, I was definitely capable of working out through the entire DVD without the modifications, and I could have likely even done it twice or three times in a row. Today I was struggling after just one round. Ha … talk about kicking my own butt — kinda humbling.

Did you have to slow down quite a bit at the end of your pregnancy? How did you improve your energy level (especially if/when you had a toddler to chase around)?