New Stage

I have just recently started a new journey in my career as a fitness instructor.
I have been teaching for almost 6 months now and I am just getting my feet wet. Last Friday I completed my NewBody training, NewBody is a program exclusive to Goodlife Fitness. Training was difficult to say the least, I spent 12 hours in the gym and most of the time we were moving. NewBody is my first discipline that I am training for. In the next couple weeks I will be flying to Toronto for a weekend of Attack training and a weekend of combat training. These trainings are so intense that you don't eat all weekend and you live off of power aid or some other supplement drink. I am totally physiced for the Attack training, it is so up my ally. Attack is super high cardio, I wore my heart rate monitor last week to class and worked so hard that I took my body from a aerobic workout to an anaerobic workout. Anaerobic doesn't burn as many calories but builds muscle, it all has to do with your heart rate. At one point my heart rate was at 101 % ( which is possible, it means that for my age and size my peak heart rate is 190 beats per minute, I was above that for a time being).

Going back to NewBody, I don't think anyone realizes what fitness instructors do to get ready for there classes. I am in the process of getting my video ready to become totally certified. I eat, sleep and breath NewBody right now. I team teach as many classes as I possibly can and have spent countless hours in front of the video at home.
A couple nights ago I woke Evan at 2:00 a.m. just to practice, lets just say he wasn't to happy with me at the time.
All I think about is NewBody, which is good at the moment but it worries me for the next couple weeks. My Attack and combat training are only two weeks apart and they are far more intense then the NewBody training.
At this time I am also running a skipping program on Friday evenings and I teach anywhere from 4-8 time per week, starting to feel stretched a little thin.
At the moment I am thinking about dropping the skipping program and just focusing on my disciplines at least until after Christmas.

I don't think this post is going anywhere I just needed to write and get things out of my head. It is also midnight and I am team teaching tomorrow morning so have about an hour of work to do yet tonight.

I love my job and wouldn't ever want to change anything, I need to figure out how to structure my life better. My family has eaten out for the last 3 night because I haven't had time to cook. We pride ourselves on eating healthy so this week has been a huge blow. My house also looks like a bomb went off in it, no time to clean and when Evan gets home in the evening I leave and he takes care of the kids. Evan works extremely hard at his job and I totally understand why all he wants to do is lay down on the couch.
If anyone has any suggestions about how to better stream line my house please let me know, I am open to anything right now.

Pictures as promised

Emmanuel getting ready to leave the house ( above)

Trying to get a hug in ( above)

Standing in line waiting to go in with the teacher ( above)

Having story time on the special squares ( above)

Totally couldn't resist putting this one of Micah, sleeping with her hand down her panties.
She doesn't I took this picture! Love her.

What life is like

Many times I have caught myself wondering if my life is turning out the way I wanted it to. Did I want to have kids young, did/do I want to be a stay at home mom, am I married to the man of my dreams, did I want to live in Calgary, am I happy as a fitness instructor.
I don't have all the answers for the way my life is turning out but I would never take anything back good or bad. As a adult you need to learn to deal with what you have been given and make the best of it. So much that happens in life is out of our control and in God's hands, and I would not want it any other way.
We do have choices in our life though, I feel like I am struggling with many of those choices right now.
I know that I made the right choice to start working as a fitness instructor, I am a happier person and a better mom. I knew before I had kids that I wanted to work after the first year and I took on small jobs here and there. I was never fulfilled still, I felt smothered and resentful towards my family. Now that I am with Goodlife I am gone approximately 16 hours per week, that is not even like working 3 full days and I have never been happier. Because I am happier my family is happier, I am healthier and way more confident.
Starting to work has brought on more choices with my life, do I want to work more, am I over doing it, do I need to give my body a rest, etc.
I am so happy as a fitness instructor but wasn't prepared for everything that goes along with it. Some weeks depending on how much I teach I am taking pain killers just to get through the next class then there are weeks that I don't teach very much at all and I feel like I need to get in to the gym to get a hard workout.
Another issue is body image, I am a great weight and healthy but deep inside I feel like it isn't enough, I can lose a couple more pounds, teach a couple more cardio classes or run a couple more miles. This isn't an issue that I am alone in, it is through out the entire fitness industry.

* please don't judge me, I just need to be honest. I would love to hear your comments, please keep them kind.

update on Emmanuel starting school.
Emmanuel is one his 2 full week of school and is loving it. He has adjusted so well to going to school every morning. This morning when I walked him to the school he took off running to his friends on the play ground and only came back to where I was standing to get his backpack. After he got his backpack he went and lined up and didn't look back.
When I go and pick him up from school he walks out of the doors gives his teacher a high-five throws me his backpack and takes off running with 4 other kindergarten boys. This group is inseparable, so cute.
Hopefully I can post some pictures in a couple days of his first day at kindergarten.
Micah is also loving her mornings at home. We are home Monday, Thursday and Friday morning. The other mornings I am teaching so Micah is in play group. We have spent many hours coloring, playing barbies and painting her nails, she is such a little girl.

HRM

I just found the best heart rate monitor on line today. My mentor at the gym also works for Sport Check as a writer and she lead me in the right direction.
I am starting a class in two weeks, it is a skipping class. I have been told that if you skip for 1 hour you will burn 1000 calories but we wont be skipping for a full hour so I want to be able to say we just burnt xxxx calories in one hour skipping, running and boxing.
This heart rate monitor counts calories, keeps track of your heart rate, counts laps and so much more. these things are totally awesome.

So much more has happened in life including Emmanuel going to Kindergarten and me starting some new classes. I am also heading out for more training in the next couple weeks so I will be busy.
I am going to be starting a moms and babies fitness class in October, this class totally rules. It will be done with the babies in Snuggli's and well as floor work.
I just need to find a snuggli and something that replicates a baby ( don't look at my uterus... nothing is coming out of there anytime soon)!

Will post more soon, off to by me the heart rate monitor.