Before I had Wes I went to a great aerobics class four or five days a week. It was a super fun way to keep fit. After Wes came I had to say goodbye to the aerobics class because I couldn’t get through a class with Wes with me, and I had to take him with me.

I decided I’d better find something else to do, so in March I took up running and decided I’d run a 5K this summer.

I took my friend Miss A‘s advice and followed the Couch-to-5K Running Plan. It was great for someone like me who had never run before. It starts you off slow, alternating running 60 seconds with walking 90 seconds for a total of 20 minutes, and as the weeks pass you run for longer intervals. I could totally run for 60 seconds at at time, so I felt encouraged. After about a month I could run for eight minutes at a time, and then ten. About halfway through the program you’re supposed to be able to run for 20 minutes without walking, but I could never do that. I kept running anyway and signed up for the July 4th Freedom Run.

Before Wes, aerobics was “me time.” Now I have to go running with Wes in the jogging stroller, but I was happy to discover that running, even with a companion like him, can still be “me time.” It’s something I do completely for myself and no one else.

I still miss aerobics. Running is not as fun, not even close. But they’re both forms of exercise, and both make me feel good. Aerobics is just a lot more fun during the process. I hope that when Wes is older or when John’s work schedule changes I can return to my favorite aerobics classes.

Anyway, back to running…I worked out 5K routes using Google Earth and tried them out. I found I could go 3.1 miles with only a little walking. Pushing a stroller, it took me about 33-34 minutes (I always had a hard time discerning my exact time because of my analog watch–I’d be squinting at the minute hand, trying to tell which little mark it was on, and usually ended up guessing). I’d always wanted to be able to run the whole 5K without walking, but I decided that even just finishing my first race would be great and that I’d shoot for under 35 minutes because that seemed doable.

Fast forward to race day (today). I got up at 5:30 and John, the baby, and I were out the door by 6:15. Over three thousand people showed up for the Freedom Festival’s 1-mile run, 5K, and 10K. I waited in a mass of tank tops and T-shirts on 800 North until the gun went off at 7 a.m.

John took Wes with him as a spectator, so I got to run sans stroller. It was actually a little fun to run down University and Center Street, which were lined with families waiting for the parade to start later in the morning. I skipped the first water stop at mile 1 because I felt fine. Halfway into mile 2, I wished I had some water, so I think I started to drag a little. But I kept running. Amazingly. I glanced at my new pink digital watch (Timex Ironman Triathlon; I think I might marry it, I love it so much) after mile 1 and 2 and saw I was running about a 9-minute mile. Way better than the 11-minute mile I averaged with Wes in the stroller.

The water stop at the start of the third mile was like manna from heaven and boosted me right up for the final, slightly up-hill stretch. I was still running! I found a niche where people around me were going about the same pace and stayed with them. John and Wes cheered me on from the sidewalk about halfway through the last mile. Near the end I had to slow twice to draw a deep breath, but I had my eye on a girl in a green tank top who was a length or two ahead of me, and after I got my breath I pulled back into place behind her.

It’s funny where your mind goes while you run. I brought no music with me, so I was relying on my thoughts to get me through. During the third mile, when I realized I was still running and actually doing OK, I thought back to the fifth grade when I came in dead-last in the 1-mile run. I heard kids whispering behind my back, wanting to know my time (over 15 minutes). I was the chubby girl who couldn’t keep up with the rest of her gym class. It was humiliating.

Today I finished the race at 29:34. I kept a 5:55 pace per kilometer, which I think is about 9:30 per mile. I placed 39th in my age division for women, 180th overall for women, and 564th overall (out of 3400 runners).

Next weekend is a fund raising 5K in Orem to help bring the Best Buddies program to Utah County. Best Buddies work with kids with intellectual disabilities (like Down syndrome) and help give them important one-on-one friendships. I’m considering running it because I’ll want Wes to have a Best Buddy to hang out with when he’s in school, and this would support that.

Last weekend we went to St. George, Utah, for a family gathering. It was my first time visiting (not just driving through). We were privileged to stay three nights for FREE at a posh home in a gated neighborhood, courtesy of the owners, who use this place as their second home.

Friday we hit the outlet malls and, with our coupon book, got some decent deals on stuff, including some jeans from the Levi’s outlet and a great dress from Downeast Outfitters for only $12.

That night we met up with some of John’s family for dinner at Chili’s where I had the Guiltless Chicken Sandwich (super good without a ton of calories) and for dessert the white chocolate molten lava cake (super-DUPER good and don’t even ask about the calories; it was worth every one).

On Saturday morning I took Wes to the neighborhood pool. The pool area was landscaped gorgeously with plenty of greenery and, best of all, at nine in the morning no one else was there. The water was a nice warm temperature. I borrowed a baby boat from a friend to see if it would help Wes feel more comfortable in the water. The problem was that he’s still small for it. When he sat in the boat, using good posture, the water came up nearly to his chin. When he slouched even a little it was over his mouth. I had to support him from underneath so he wouldn’t be sucking water.

I don’t think Wes was particularly impressed with swimming. He whined a bit until he found these little blue knobby things on the side of his baby boat. I’m not sure what their actual purpose is, but they served perfectly as a distraction for Wes while I floated him around the pool. He had so much fun playing that he forgot he was in the water.

Saturday afternoon we went to see Wall-E. Normally we wouldn’t take Wes with us to a movie, but John’s mom was there and she was more than willing to take him out if needed. She sat on the aisle with him on her lap. I shouldn’t have worried, though. It was funny to watch him because he just stared at the big screen, utterly transfixed. About half-hour into the film we glanced over and he had fallen sound asleep. If he had made a fuss, though, this would have been the movie to do it at, because there were tons of kids and plenty of babies in the audience. The other families probably would have been more understanding and forgiving than at a non-Disney/Pixar film.

Saturday night we went to a luau celebrating John’s great-aunt’s 90th birthday. In order to dress appropriately I had gone earlier in the week to Savers (a thrift store) and found Wes a luau onesie for $2.99. I should have gotten a better photo of him in it, because it was darn cute on him. As always, Wes was the life of the party, besides Aunt Grace. Here we are with Grace, plus John’s mom and step-dad.

Sunday morning Wes got a bath. We had to make do with what we had, so he got his first-ever bath in the kitchen sink. He fit pretty neatly.

In other news, Wes is getting the hang of pulling his knees under him. Here he is rocking back and forth on all fours.

Lastly, this week was also our sixth anniversary. I’ve read enough blogs to know that traditionally you’re supposed to post a wedding picture or something to show how happy and good-looking you were on your wedding day. And maybe to show off your dress. I don’t have any photos handy, so you’ll have to take my word that my dress was gorgeous, so much so that two other brides came up and complimented me on it while our photos were being taken. We were very happy-go-lucky and passably good-looking. Although now that John doesn’t wear braces and I wear contacts I think we’ve actually managed to improve with time. Kind of like our relationship. Six years stronger.

Tonight Wes was playing on his changing table while I changed the sheet on his bed. His favorite thing to do there is flip over from his back to his tummy and look around. I kept glancing over while I was working on the bed (the table has safety rails, but they’re kind of short and Wes frequently hooks his legs and arms over the top of them, just to test my nerves, I’m sure).

All was dandy until I looked over and saw that his lips were covered in white goop, and it wasn’t spit-up. He had grabbed a trial-size package of Desitin that had been torn open and he was smearing it all over his mouth. Apparently it tasted good? That would surprise me, considering how badly that stuff reeks. Then again, formula reeks, too, and he downs four ounces of that every three hours.

I quickly cleaned him up and checked the Desitin package and, of course, there’s a poison warning on it. But I’m fairly certain he didn’t actually ingest any (or much) of it. That trial-size poison trap is safely in the diaper bin now.

Lately we’ve been helping Wes tuck his knees underneath him when he’s on his tummy and up on his forearms to get him closer to crawling. I didn’t think he was getting much out of it until I checked on him while he was sleeping last night and saw that he was on his tummy with his knees tucked under him and his rear in the air. I call that progress.

Also, while John and I were helping him with his knee-tucking this morning we watched as he held his knees under him and rocked a little on all fours before collapsing. Every time he fell down he’d move backward, and after a few times of that he had actually scooted himself backwards clear off his blanket. So he’s starting to move…even if he doesn’t know it yet.

We’re in St. George this weekend to see family, and tonight my mom-in-law was feeding Wes ice cream. I know I’ve posted a similar video on this site already, but I think it’s so darn cute to watch Wes get all excited about what he’s eating.

I also caught Wes on film recently eating something else–a toy. It’s not unusual for him to have something in his munchers, but normally when he lets go of the toy it falls out of his mouth. Not this toy.

Last week I took Wes to Walgreens to get his photo taken for a passport. John and I are updating ours, and we figured we might as well get him one, too, in case we decide to go someplace.

I got my photo taken first, which was no big deal. Then came Wesley’s turn. I had to hold him up in front of a white screen while the guy tried to take his picture. “Try” is the operative word here. For passport photos you need to be looking at the camera, without smiling, at a specific angle. But when Wes saw the guy holding the camera he started smiling at him like crazy. (I thought this was very generous of Wes, considering that the camera guy was ultra-serious, not kid-friendly, and really not worth smiling at.) Then Wes got distracted by a nice girl standing nearby and wouldn’t look back at the camera. Then he wanted to know what the white screen behind him was and twisted around in my arms to check it out. When he finally cued in on the camera guy again he thought the camera was a great toy and tried reaching out to grab it.

Finally, after about eight tries, the guy got a shot. “It’ll do,” he said.

This is Wesley’s passport photo for the next ten years. Like a deer caught in the headlights.

Wes turned nine months old last Thursday. It’s hard to believe we have a kid who’s three-quarters of the way to a year old.

The doctor says Wes is looking good. But it’s routine for kids with Down syndrome to be checked by an ear-nose-throat doctor before they’re a year old, so we’ll be heading to Primary Children’s Hospital soon for that. Kids with DS commonly have problems with their ears and nasal tracts because they’re narrower than in other kids. I’ve met a lot of moms whose kids have tubes placed in their ears when they’re quite young. But I’m not too worried about Wesley’s ears; he obviously hears just fine and hasn’t had an ear infection. Our doctor tried to take a look at Wesley’s ears but there was so much wax it was hard to get a good view. He even scraped some out and still had a hard time. How can one kid have so much ear wax?

At four months, he was:

9 lbs 7.5 oz (7th percentile on DS chart)
22 inches long (13th percentile)
14.6 inch head circumference (20th percentile)

At six months he was:

11 lbs 13 oz (11th percentile on DS chart)
24 inches long (16th percentile)
15.4 inch head circumference (26th percentile)

And this month he’s:

14 lbs 4 oz (23rd percentile on DS chart)
26 inches long (25th percentile)
about 16 inches head circumference (26th percentile)

The nurse has to print out his measurements on the special chart for boys with Down syndrome, because the curve is different for regular kids. She was having trouble getting the DS chart up at first, so she printed his stats on the regular chart. Compared with normal kids, Wes is in the 1 percentile for weight!

He’s obviously growing and doing well. He’s doesn’t seem much interested in learning to scoot or crawl, but he’ll lift his legs and feet and walk if we hold him under the arms and help him a little.

Here are two pictures to show how far he’s come in nine months.

Wes is ten days old in this photo. I’m dressing him after a bath in the hospital. He’s wearing preemie diapers and clothes–both of which are far too big for him still.

Wes is almost nine months here. He’s sitting up, eating solids, wearing 3-month-size clothing and size 1-2 diapers. And smiling as usual.