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.

Some cities have bus stops. In Iowa, there’s tractor stops.

Actually, my mom sent me this photo today of my dad returning home late from church meetings after a torrential rainstorm wherein their driveway became flooded.

They live in a flood plain, so high water isn’t unusual in the spring. Thank goodness for tractors, right? They’ve also used a canoe to get from the highway to their house in a pinch.

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.

Wesley and I are still in Iowa. Wes has been playing a lot, and smiling a lot.

Wes has been playing lots with his cousin Savannah. She’s 18 months old, ten months older than he is.

They get along very nicely.

Today he got to try out the swing with his grandpa Holt.

On Friday I went with my sister to our old high school where we thoroughly embarrassed our seventeen-year-old brother by conspicuously carrying our kids through the halls and pausing to exclaim at all the photos of the former academic and sports award winners that we used to know. He walked twenty feet in front of us, trying to pretend he didn’t know why these two girls with babes in arms were following him around and occasionally calling out, “Hey Matt, when’d they change this?” But we very sneakily stashed our camera in the diaper bag and pulled it out when no one was looking.

On Sunday my little bro graduated from high school.

Here’s Wes, watching the ceremony intently on my dad’s lap.

This week I saw an ad for an ice cream cake from Cold Stone that looked yummy, but I knew it’d be expensive. So I decided to make my own version at home for about half the price.

This is what I saw:

And this is the cake I ended up with:

It’s two layers of yellow cake with Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream, topped with fluffy white frosting and chocolate ganache.

I also made a second ice cream cake when I discovered I had enough leftover chocolate cake batter in the fridge to make a single layer. I split the single layer in two and used Dreyers lite cheesecake and brownie ice cream and topped it all with chocolate ganache.

This cake was a bigger hit than the original cookie dough cake, which was a nice surprise, considering this cake was spontaneous. I think it worked better because 1) the flavors of chocolate and cheesecake taste great together, and 2) the cake and ice cream layers were thinner, the better to eat both cake and ice cream in one bite.

So here’s my recipe for it if anyone else is feeling adventurous.

(FYI, Cold Stone’s cakes are in the $30 range, I think, but this cake cost me in the neighborhood of $7. The ice cream is the most expensive part of it, and I could have saved a couple dollars if I had waited for the ice cream to go on sale or used a cheaper brand.)

Chocolate Cheesecake Ice Cream Cake

Cake:
1 devils food cake mix
1 4-serving size chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
chocolate chips to taste

Ice cream:
1 half-gallon Dreyer’s lite cheesecake and brownie ice cream

Ganache topping:
2/3 cup whipping cream
6 oz. chocolate chips
1-2 Tbsp. butter

Cake layers:

Make devil’s food cake mix according to directions in two 8-inch cake pans, except include the chocolate chips and pudding mix.

Once cake layers are cooled, split each in half using dental floss (makes it easy). I used just one of the layers, but you can use both and split each in half to get four thin layers of cake.

Freeze cake layers until ready to top with ice cream.

Ice cream layers:

Soften ice cream and spread evenly on top of one cake layer. Top ice cream layer with second cake layer and top again with ice cream. If using four half-layers, repeat.

Freeze until firm.

Ganache topping:

Heat whipping cream in large microwavable bowl until hot but not boiling. Stir in chocolate chips and butter and stir until melted and smooth. Ganache will start thin, but will thicken as it cools. If you want, put it in the fridge to thicken it faster. When spreadable consistency (not runny, but not hard) pour or spread over ice cream cake.

Freeze cake until ready to serve. Pull out and let thaw 5-10 minutes before eating.

Enjoy!