I decided that I am going to run in the 5k that’s this Saturday in Orem to help raise funds for the Best Buddies program in Utah County. I feel like it’s one small thing I can do to contribute to Wesley’s future. I’ll probably run this one with Wes in the stroller, though, so he can be part of it.

Call me a softie, but I couldn’t resist making this shirt for me to wear especially for the race on Saturday.

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.

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.

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.

Wes has been blowing raspberries like crazy. He tends to do it more when he’s getting tired/bored instead of crying. Yesterday on our way home from camping he was getting ready for a bottle, but we were still a few minutes from town, so he had to wait. He was whining a little, but blowing raspberries more. John said, “Well, at least he’s got his boat to keep him happy.” Because that’s exactly how he sounds–like he’s driving a speedboat. He’d be really cute in a captain’s hat behind the wheel of a toy boat.

He’s also strong enough now that we can stand him up in his crib and help him grab hold of the side and then let go so he’s standing up essentially alone. He’s getting stronger all the time.

We took him on his first camping trip over the weekend to Camp Ensign northeast of Heber City. He hardly even knew he was in the middle of nature because he got to play and do everything like normal. Just in the middle of mountains and pine trees instead of in our living room.

We had hobo dinners and s’mores Friday night like normal campers, but we went to sleep in style. We brought our portable DVD player for the car ride, but it turns out that there was an electrical outlet near our tent site, and my brother managed to round up a 25-foot extension cord, sooo…we fell asleep watching Jimmy Stewart in Harvey.

We let Wes sleep in the car seat in our tent with several layers of clothing, hats, socks, and blankets. He apparently was so comfy that he slept soundly till 8 a.m. Saturday morning in spite of near-freezing temperatures overnight. I nearly iced over because it turns out I’m an idiot and don’t know how to properly bundle myself up in a mummy sleeping bag.

The next day we visited Smith and Morehouse Reservoir up the road where we enjoyed the hot weather and I got a Birkenstock tan on my feet.

Wes has his nine-month checkup tomorrow. Can’t believe he’s nearly a year. Time flies.

It’s great that Wes is at an age now that I can plop him on the floor so he’s sitting up, drizzle toys all around him, and let him have at it. If he’s not hungry and he’s not tired, this keeps him entertained for quite a while.

Today I was sitting by him while he played, just watching him. He’s so happy. He chews on his toys a bit, then looks up at me and I smile at him and he smiles back, then goes back to chewing his toys. What a simple, perfect existence he has. His baby blessing in December said that he’s on Earth to gain a body for as long as the Lord sees fit. People with Down syndrome have a shorter life expectancy (about 55 years), which means, assuming that he’s healthy overall and so are we, we might outlive him. But it makes me happy to see him with a healthy body, playing with toys, exploring the world, finding joy all around him.

On Friday his therapist came and did a six-month evaluation for those record-keeping folk in the government who fund the program and want to make sure our kids are making progress. Well, Wes sure has come a long way in six months since he started working with a therapist. Most of it, really, is all Wes. I feel like the therapist and I help him minimally, that most of it is Wes making strides all on his own, at his own pace. But I still love that the therapist comes and shares my joy in Wesley’s progress and gives me tips of how I can help him along.

Wes is doing well overall. A few things to work on include helping him learn his own name and also recognize that I’m Mom and John is Dad. I hold him close to my face and say, “Where’s Mom?” And then I put his hands on my face and he smiles as I say, “There’s Mom!” Sometimes he puts his hands on my face on his own accord, but I think it might still be a bit accidental. In any case, he thinks it’s a fun game and he smiles big when we play it.

We’re also supposed to help him learn to put his arms out when we reach out to pick him up. I’m not quite sure how to teach him this trick. I ask him, “Do you want up?”, because I’ve been using the word “up” for a while and hope he’s figuring out what it means, and hold my hands out to him, but all I get in return so far is a blank stare. So we’ll keep working on that.

This past week John and I bought him a booster seat since we don’t have a high chair.

This was in part to help motivate me to persist in feeding him baby food. He’s still such a little guy that he doesn’t eat a whole lot–just six four-ounce bottles throughout the day–and he doesn’t need a lot of baby food. A single jar can last a few days. Besides, he’s still a spitter-upper, and Wes + baby food = colorful spit up. And that gets tiresome after a while. But I’ve been trying to be more diligent about giving him solids at least a couple times a day to get him used to it. I’m not sure when he’s going to start eating more than he does, but he is managing to gradually gain weight and grow bigger (he’s about 14 pounds now).

Wes has a new favorite chew toy:

Bookmarks are his new love. I take off the tassel so it’s safer to chew on. Still no sign of teeth.