James, at 12 months:

• took his first steps on the day before his birthday! He walked toward Jim while I was in the other room. All I heard was Jim gasping, each with increasing excitement, as James took 3 teetering steps. "oh. OH! OH!! Sweetie, he just walked!!" After that we spent about 20 minutes cheering him on to a few more steps. Since then, he has stuck to crawling. It's a lot more efficient for his very serious business of playing.
• is beginning to name objects. Ball = a low "doh"; hot = "hhhh-oT"; block = "bock"
• is very fluent in "da-da" language. Also, "Ooo ah, ooo ah" all the time ... still no consistent "mama" (he only said it for about a week). Oh, that will be a sweet day!
• points at everything with his little chubby finger. It's the cutest thing in the whole world.
• loves to flip things over and carefully inspect.
• gives very passionate, open-mouthed kisses :)
• had his first birthday party! He loved his chocolate cupcake with abandon and basked in all the love and attention from his family.
• will forever remain my sweet baby James...

Here are some short videos from his little party:

James, at 11 months:

• is becoming SO affectionate. I just die every time he squeezes my neck with his 8-inch fluffy arms. Then I die again when he plants a big 'ol wet one right on my chin, cheek, forehead, or wherever he happens to land.
• says ma-ma! It started as a sort of sucking-on-his-bottom-lip-followed-by-an-AH! sound but now it's definitely, without a doubt, genuine, pure, Mama. I'm his Mama.
• holds the record for standing by himself for 22 seconds.
• still plays with his favorite drum sticks.
• knows what 'no' means. He used to giggle at me, I guess because our voices would get so low and different, but now he's actually crawled to me and cried/pouted when he's gotten an big 'no-no'. It's pretty incredible that it actually works! For now...
• is showing us that he's pretty sensitive (like me I think). He gets very quiet and contemplative in big crowds and isn't too fond of dogs (especially if it's energetic. This is okay, though; Jim and I are not really animal people).
• although he's not crazy about big crowds, he loves the attention of a small group of people. He has this incredibly cheesy smile where he tilts his chin up, squints his eyes, and grins with his 5.5 pearly whites. It's awesome.
• eats just about everything we eat as long as it can be cut into bits. He's still a great eater.
• loves to offer you whatever he's eating or drinking - slobber and all.
• is my treasure.

Walking with his 'Nonna' at the beach on Memorial Day

And then there was one.

I know every baby is different, but when did your little one drop their morning nap? And how could you tell? My trusty Healthy Sleep Habits book says it's around 10-12 months (right on target, it seems).

James used to consistently take two 1.5 hour naps. Now his morning naps are gradually getting down to just a .5 hr - 1 hr. His afternoon naps are still 1.5 hours and sometimes longer...

He's definitely still getting sleepy in the mornings, but I'm just curious how it looked for you guys.

This is a big deal.

I know this is sad, but on James' 11-month-birthday while we were at our friend's lake house, Jim was finally able to give him a bottle. It's been a long battle, but I think it's safe to say that we're officially the victors. Or James finally surrendered... either way, I'll take it.

He seems happy about the new change :)

A perfect morning by the lake. And below, for some fun comparison, is when he was about 2 months old.

Thank you, Cat (and the Ellenburg family) for the sweet, beautiful memories! We love you.

Oy veh! Part 2

Even after my disclaimer in the previous post, warding off the P90Xers who were just itching to make fun of my feeble exercise routine, I still suffered attack. I know! Those meanies! I could hear the howls of laughter echoing down Interstate 385. You know who you are. And, yes ... I love you too.

But laugh no more, oh ye of little faith in my arms and legs of noodle --- I'm doin' YOGA!

(This was actually recommended by said P90Xers. So, really, I have to give them credit.)

Although now, on Yoga day 2, every poor, pitiful muscle in my body is quivering and yelling at me, "What in the WORLD are you thinking, lady???!!"

"Well, jelly muscles, I'm thinking that you've had your fun. All you do is sit there and it's high time you did some work around here. You're barely scraping by, these days!"

So we started with a 60 minute video on Netflix called Yoga for Health: Gastrointestinal Issues. I mean, c'mon. That's got my name all over it. There wasn't a level specified, but I'm pretty sure it's for beginners.

I love it. I didn't think it was possible, because it's so slow and calm and relaxed, but I've been in a complete sweat at the end of it. The Bow. SERIOUSLY??

And, hey - Sweat! That's new!

My back is still feeling great and my hamstrings are finally starting to loosen up. Maybe. A little.

So yay for Yoga!

(By the way, I don't need to clarify that I ignore all the om and bhavana stuff, do I? Good. Did you know that 'real' yogis were the like the boogeyman in Indian culture? Psshht... I just like the exercise.)

Oy veh, my back!

It's no secret that I am not an athlete.

Jim loves to tease me about this, too. I grew up with an artist dad and a secretary mama. Every single remotely athletic gene was piled on to my oldest brother, Matt. He loves (and excels at) all kinds of outdoor sports. Biking, rock climbing, kayaking, you name it. Even extreme unicycling. So cool, right??

Needless to say, I didn't get any of those genes. I love playing a casual game of volleyball or frisbee. I enjoy hiking and that kind of thing, but physical intelligence eludes me. And don't get me started on the trend of running marathons and all that... eesh! Running for fun makes about as much sense to me as screamo music. (I know, I know, there are lots of people who really enjoy this and that's great!) Jim will toss me my keys, I miss horribly and, "Craft family athletics!" he snickers.

Anyway! All that to say, I've done a very sub-par job of caring for my back lately. I lift James incorrectly. I don't exercise. We do walk around the neighborhood every day, but that's about it. I am absolutely ravaging my lower back. And I'm only 25! This week was the end of it.

On Monday, I started a gentle back strengthening and posture-improving work out. I basically searched on the internet and stuck a bunch of exercises together. The first 3 days I was pretty sore, of course, but today I can honestly say that my back feels AMAZING. I've been consciously lifting with my legs and James and I have been taking longer and more brisk walks.

Watch. I'll be all excited about a 5K that I'm running this time next year... riiiiight.

Here's what I've been doing: (Ok, don't make fun. Especially you P90Xers. I know these are old people exercises.)

Hamstring stretches

I call these "butt stretches"

Pelvic tilts

Alternate bird dog stretch (I stretch out the opposite arm, though, too)

• my version of a Sun Salutation (whattup, Sun??)
• pushups
• these posture exercise (this seems to be really effective)

It takes me about 20 minutes and afterward I feel like I've taken some kind of upper. Seriously, it feels great. Maybe that's why all these people run 800 miles for the fun of it...

James, at 10 months:

• is a crawling MACHINE. I love hearing the "slap, slap, slap!" of his hands on our hardwood.
• climbs up my legs, if I'm standing, or up me, if I'm sitting, so I'll pick him up.
• loves when we crawl-chase him. He squeeeeeeals and giggles and crawls away as fast as he can when we say, "IIIII'm a-gonna getchu!" He gets all silly and out of breath and it makes me fall in love with him all over again.
• is getting really good at pulling up, but not quite sure yet about cruising along the edges of furniture.
• is starting to squat down slowly instead of just plopping onto his hynie. Or, thankfully, instead of falling onto his head.
• loves cheese. But after a few - ahem - difficult diapers, we had to drastically cut back on the cheddar intake.
• has other food favorites: yogurt, ANY fruit, graham crackers, rice cakes (which are hilarious to watch him eat - looks like he's eating a hub cap), veggie sticks (highly recommend), and carrots.
• has some favorite toys: drums sticks (to his dad's delight), the kitchen broom, and his tricycle that he probably won't be able to ride for a few years. He just pushes it around the dining room for now.
• is saying every consonant-a sound possible EXCEPT ma-ma. It doesn't bother me. No really... I promise. Only when I look at him and say, "James. Ma-ma-ma." And he looks at me, smiles and says, "Da-da-da-da-da-da!" Ha. Yes, very funny.
• gets a kick out of seeing himself in the mirror.
• gets really upset when Jim leaves for work in the morning. He crawls as fast as he can to Jim's office, comes back out, looks at me, and cries. So pitiful.
• will be a year old in less than 2 months.

Whaaaaat???