Little Cupcake......

......and her shirtless brother!

One year old

Sharing the events of Maggie's big day!

Sleeping away.... yep, she is in our bed! (She had kind of a rough night and must have known that I would be soft enough to bring her to our bed!)

Good morning and Happy Birthday, Maggie! Love the bed head!

She's clapping while I sing her the happy birthday song!

The weather was amazing and we spent the morning at the Lincoln Park Zoo with Kate, Connor, and Sawyer. Here is Maggie in front of the fish!

Sitting on the little bronze hippo

Here's Maggie sacked out in her car seat after the zoo (note- her first day facing forward)

Amy, Brett, and Claire arrived in the early afternoon. Amy went to get Maggie up from her nap and Maggie just wanted to sit and snuggle with Amy!

Aw- so sweet!

After naps we headed to Walsh Park to enjoy the beautiful weather. Maggie LOVES the park!

Cheese!

Ready, Set, Slide!



Brett and Claire enjoy a little time together on the swing.



Aaron & Maggie spider swinging!




After the park, we headed to Phoebe's Cupcakes to get some birthday treats. Mmm.... they were delicious and Maggie made short work of her birthday cupcake. This is all that was left by the time we handed out everyone else's cakes and got out the camera!

We had a great day celebrating Maggie's first birthday! What an amazing little girl she is becoming!

Happy First Birthday, Maggie!

Maggie is such a blessing to our family! At a year old, she is a smart, determined, and active little one. Here's what our Maggie Lynn is up to these days.

Maggie likes:
-watching big brother, Aaron, and trying to do everything that he does
-walking quickly and confidently
-climbing on everything- the fireplace hearth, small chairs at the kid sized table, and anything else she can get up on. (I caught her almost climbing on the couch today!)
-pulling everything out of the drawers
-playing downstairs with her toys
-"reading" books (she will usually bring you a book, look at it for a few seconds and then take it and walk away!)
-taking baths (she loves to splash and try to drink the water and eat the soap bubbles off of her hands and arms, if you don't get them rinsed off fast enough)
-splashing in the toilet (the bathroom doors always have to be shut!)
-climbing up and down the stairs (she usually goes down forward and sitting on her behind)
-opening the garbage can and pulling things out
-"talking" on the phone (she puts the phone to her ear and starts chattering, often saying hi or dada)
-dancing to music (bobbing her head and bouncing her body up and down)
-"washing" her hands in the sink (playing in the water and popping the bubbles)
-being held by Mommy
-eating food that looks exactly the same as what everyone else is eating (if it doesn't, she will let you know that she's not happy about it!)
-walking around while she has a bottle or drinks from a sippy cup
-playing peek a boo and singing songs (Pat a cake, Wheels on the bus, and Taking home my baby bumblebee are some of her favorites)

Maggie does not like:
-having her hands and face washed after meals
-when we block the stairs so she can't go up and down
-being told no (she is already starting to throw her body on the floor and have some little tantrums)
-getting her diaper changed or her clothes put on
-when Aaron takes toys away from her

Maggie is very loud and quite the screamer at times! She screams at the top of her lungs (ear piercing, high pitched squeals) for a variety of reasons. Usually these screams are to communicate that she wants something or that she's mad or frustrated that she can't have/do something. Hopefully this will be a short-lived habit!

Maggie gets up at anywhere between 6 and 7 in the morning, takes a morning nap from about 9-10, takes an afternoon nap from about 1-2:30, and goes to bed at night around 7. She has been doing a better job of sleeping through the night recently, so we hope that continues!

Maggie is a great eater. Some of her favorite foods are fruit, pasta, yogurt (especially Greek yogurt), crackers, cheese, and oatmeal. She eats pretty much anything; there are not many things that she has ever turned down! She drinks water and juice from a sippy cup and usually has a bottle in the morning and one at night.

Maggie is saying a few words now and communicating with us in a lot of ways. She says mama, dada, hi, night night, and uh oh. She signs more and all done and waves hello and goodbye. Maggie has a lot of things that she wants to communicate, so when she can't think of any other way to do it, she will scream! Maggie is understanding pretty much everything! She can go get things that we ask for, point to a couple of body parts, and point to some pictures when you ask her to.

Maggie has 8 teeth- 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. They are getting pretty big and you definitely want to be careful if you have your fingers near her mouth! She's not a thumb or pacifier sucker and doesn't drool, but she likes to bite on things and is likely getting some more teeth right now.

Maggie has a few nicknames already- Mags, Maggalynn, Little Lady, Gorgeous, Lovie, and Sis.

We are so thankful to have been blessed with our 'baby' girl. Happy first birthday, Little Lady!

What the Coenen's keep in the cabinets!

We don't keep the pots and pans in the cabinet.... that's where we keep the kids!

People puppets by Aaron & Connor

We often try to do some sort of game or craft activity in the morning while Maggie and Sawyer are sleeping. Here was a project from last week. People puppets! I bought a really cute set from Lakeshore that had all of the necessary supplies. Here is what we created!

Showing off their projects! Aaron is holding Connor's puppet and Connor is holding Aaron's. Aaron made a girl puppet and named her Mom. Connor made a boy and named him Connor.

These were the attempts at trying to get a photo of them holding up their puppets. Either they held them in front of their faces or they turned the puppets towards themselves! Those were the only two options!

And the award for 2 cutest kids goes to.....

Aaron & Maggie Coenen! (And the crowd goes wild!)

Aaron & Maggie's clubhouse.....

No adults (or clothes) allowed!

Spaghetti mess!