So here are some scintillating happenings in our household of late.

1. Wesley is getting his second tooth. And he turned 21 months old today.

2. John was laid off last month. He’s writing a novel.

3. I’m trying to save money but don’t feel successful yet.

4. I teach Zumba four days a week and can’t live without it. I love teaching but sometimes I like to drop in to other Zumba classes to relax a little in the back, unnoticed.

5. When I teach Zumba I’m a walking billboard for Zumba. I saw one of my students today outside of class and she was like, “Wow, it’s funny to see you in normal clothes.” I.e., she was shocked to see me A) not dripping wet with sweat, B) not sporting a sexy headband to absorb the sweat, and C) not wearing clothes trumpeting the Zumba logo all over.

6. I signed up for the Freedom Run on July 4th. This week my goal was to run three times a week (instead of just once like I have been) to get ready. There’s one day left in the week and I still have to run two more times. Hmmmm.

7. Walk into our house and you’ll notice the trash cans are on counters and bathroom doors are closed. This is because Wesley cannot, canNOT resist the temptation to take the lids off trashcans and root through their contents. Ditto with bathrooms and toilets. Yesterday I got home from getting groceries, set Wesley up in the kitchen with some toys, went back out to the car to bring in more groceries, and came in to find Wesley had disappeared. I wondered where he was–and then I heard the water pipes from upstairs. In the minute it had taken me to go outside and come in again he had abandoned his toys, gone upstairs and beelined for the master bathroom (door was open), popped open the seat cover, and flushed away. I’ve also seen him using the bowl-like protective cover for the toilet brush like a drinking cup.

8. I have five hanging baskets (mostly petunias) outside the front door. One of them has already apparently died, but I keep feeding it water in hopes it will miraculously spring back to life again. Seeing flowers die depresses me greatly.

9. I’m reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and John is anticipating the release of Brandon Sanderson’s new novel. Wesley likes books, too, mostly to turn the pages and to stack them on top of each other.

I just had to share that I got my test results for the AFAA exam–and I passed with flying colors. Remember how I was the first person done and wasn’t sure if maybe all the questions that I had thought were easy were actually trick questions that everyone else but me recognized as tricky and were spending extra time on to make sure they got it right?

It turns out I really did know my stuff. I scored 97/100 on the written exam. Not too shabby. Two months of studying didn’t go to waste after all.

Just came back from teaching another Zumba class. I can’t help but love it. The class I teach on Wednesday nights is an eight-week course and will end in two more weeks. I’ll miss it, but I’m exploring options for starting other classes elsewhere. I also teach at Anytime Fitness twice a week. Next week they’re changing my schedule from Tuesday/Thursday at 9:30 a.m. to Friday at 6 a.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m.

I love love love teaching aerobics. It makes me stronger, fitter, happier, and introduces me to lots of people I wouldn’t meet otherwise. I think the best part of leading aerobics is seeing how you’re helping others be happier, too. Some people have told me they don’t know how I can have the guts to stand in front of a mirror and move and dance while a crowd behind me watches every move and follows along. But when I’m standing in front of people showing them how to move their bodies to the music, absolutely everything else is washed from my mind. Even tonight when I got to class early and was setting up I looked in the mirrors lining the entire wall in front and thought, “Oh. My. Gosh. I really could have chosen my outfit better.” It wasn’t especially flattering. But once the music started and I was teaching, it didn’t matter anymore. It was just Zumba. I feel so lucky to be doing something I love so much.

In other news, this little guy is quickly getting to be a pro at turning himself around and coming down the stairs. Here’s another video of him doing it, but you can see he initiates and does it all on his own. He’s getting super confident.

Video of Wes coming down the stairs all by himself.

He’s walking nearly all the time; I hardly ever see him crawl. He loves those feet and legs of his! He’s still a little guy, though. He’s seventeen months. but can still wear pants size 0-3 months (although he does also wear pants size 3-6 and 6-9 months, if they’re very elastic-y). His shirts and onesies are size 3-6 or 6-9 months. And his jammies are 6-9 months.

And, yes, we’re still waiting for his first tooth.

Since December I’ve been studying and preparing to take the AFAA (Aerobics and Fitness Association of America) certification exam for primary group exercise. I’m already certified to teach group exercise by Fitour, but AFAA is more highly accredited. And the AFAA exam process is harder.

Yesterday was the Big Day. I woke up on Friday morning at 5, wondering if I should go ahead with the exam. I’d already paid for the test, I had spent two months of my life preparing for the test, and it costs a bit of money to change the date of the test. But on Thursday night as I was studying I had a miscarriage. I had been expecting it; I was twelve weeks pregnant but at a routine ultrasound at ten weeks had learned it was no good. So I’ve been waiting for the miscarriage and worrying it would interfere with a multitude of commitments I considered too important to miss, including my AFAA test. Was I done miscarrying? Was my body able to endure a day of aerobic activity and three exams?

I opted to go and drove two hours in the rain and, later, snow to get to the testing site. The workshop presenter was fabulous with an equally fabulous British accent. We spent hours reviewing anatomy, kinesiology, proper form and alignment, and preparing ourselves for the practical exams. There are two practical exams: One tests your knowledge of strengthening exercises (“Demonstrate at least two strengthening exercises for the pectoralis major…”) and stretches corresponding to each of the ten muscle groups. That test is done in a group setting, so you’re all demonstrating together. I think I passed this part, although I know I made at least one mistake.

The other practical test is an individual presentation where you stand in front of the class and demonstrate a movement (cardio, strength, or flexibility) and teach the class three variations of intensity. You’re encouraged to speak a lot during your presentation about proper form and alignment. This was my favorite part of the whole day; I had fun teaching my cardio portion to the class. I got a lot of whoops and hollers, which to an aerobics instructor is a good thing. I’m sure I passed this exam, even though I accidentally made a reference to table dancing. During the most intense part of the exercise we were jogging and jumping, and I told the class to land softly on the balls of their feet and, to help them do this, to pretend they’re moving on a glass surface. Except I couldn’t think of the word “surface” on the fly and instead said “on a glass table” and added, “Like you’re table dancing.” Just after it came out of my mouth I realized maybe an AFAA examination wasn’t the place to be talking about table dancing, so I quickly added, “The good kind of table dancing!” Thankfully, the table dancing comment got me a lot of those happy-sounding whoops and hollers, the loudest of which came from the examiner herself.

Finally (and by this time the day was starting to feel long) it was time for the 100-question written exam, which we had an hour to finish. The last thing I expected was to be the first one done, but that’s what happened. When I answered the last question I looked around and everyone was still hard at it. I didn’t think I had gone particularly quickly through the test. I mean, either you know it or you don’t. There were a few questions I had circled to come back to at the end that I wasn’t sure about, and I took a few extra minutes reconsidering my answers, but even with that I finished first. That could either be a good sign or a bad one. I have to answer at least 80 of the 100 questions correctly to pass, which I think I did, but I’ll find out for sure in 4-6 weeks when the results are in.

To celebrate the end of my studying days (which made me feel like I was back in college) and the end of my pregnancy, today I am cleaning the house, doing laundry, listening to Harry Potter on tape, and playing with Wesley. It’s a good day to move on.

Good news! Though I wish it could be that Wesley finally has teeth, it’s almost as good. I got a job teaching Zumba and aerobics at a local gym. The best part is that I will get paid to do something I love and would be doing anyway. My classes start next week. And this week I’m subbing a couple of classes at BYU, which is pretty much the best place in the world to teach. You can’t beat the energy of a gymnasium full of 20-year-old girls.

Also, it looks like John and I will be taking a vacation this spring to Mexico, which will be a nice break. Wesley will get to bond with the grandparents while we’re away. I bet he’s planning to wait for us to leave and THEN break in some teeth while we’re gone. He’ll probably start walking, too, out of spite for leaving him home. But if that’s what it takes…

I taught two Zumba classes yesterday and another one today. You know the class is working when after one class you’re sore, after two you’re really sore, and after three, well…I’m glad I have a few days off now.

Last night I taught Zumba to my ward’s Young Women group. They can really groove, those girls. Some of them wore funky socks and one had a boa around her neck. Some photos:

rent a car bulgaria

Also, here is Wes on Halloween at our Ward Trunk-or-Treat. Wes actually slept through most of it. He was asleep in his car seat, so we plonked the car seat by the trunk of our car where we were handing out treats. He never stirred, so finally we woke him and I dragged him over to the donut table for a glazed original and some apple juice. He liked the empty plastic cup a lot.

The other day I left him playing on the floor of his room while I went into our bedroom for a few minutes. I figured he was safe enough there. When I came back, this is what I found:

I guess you never can tell what a baby is going to discover when your back is turned.