Welcoming our baby girl!

We are proud to introduce our daughter- Margaret Lynn Coenen!

Maggie was born on March 17th at 8:52 am. She weighed in at 9 lbs 6 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

Brother Aaron is having fun with his Aunt Amy and cousins Brett and Claire while we are staying at the hospital. He had been telling us that we were going to have a baby girl and he was right! Aaron was excited to meet his little sister and we're hoping that he thinks we should keep her around!

We're all doing well and so excited about our beautiful baby girl!

Pregnant Ann photos and a few final shots.....

I have had a few complaints from friends that I've not even shared any pictures of myself during this pregnancy. There is a reason for that- these photos are the first pregnancy pictures that I've taken!!! There may have been a few photos from the holidays, but none specifically taken so that you could see my baby bump! I'm pretty ashamed of myself, as I took pictures of my growing bump at least every few weeks when I was pregnant with Aaron! Oops.



Tim and I took Aaron to his first basketball game a few weeks ago- Northwestern vs. Minnesota. It was a great game- NU won in overtime and Aaron had a lot of fun! Here's a picture of the two of them.

We bought an infant car seat for the baby a month or so ago and stashed it in the closet. Finally got it out to install in the car and Aaron had a great time playing around in it!



We really had a good laugh when we put the 'elephant ears' on to show Aaron how we'd use them with the baby!

Looking forward to sharing news of the baby in just a couple of days! :)

Last weekend as a family of 3!

It's amazing to me to think that by Wednesday next week, this will be happening to us again!


Aaron, Tim and I are going to have some fun together this weekend and celebrate our last weekend as a family of 3!

Sharing a few photos of our first weeks with Aaron as a baby. Wow- he was amazing even then! Looking at these photos makes me even more excited to meet our new little one! Watch this space for news.....







I

cheese!

Aaron is currently going through the phase where he makes the most goofy face when you ask him to say "cheese" and smile for the camera. Here are some examples!!







Somehow, he still manages to be the cutest little boy I've ever seen! :) That's my guy!

Everyday fun!

Sharing some pictures of Aaron and Connor having fun together! They really enjoy playing together, most of the time, and it's just hilarious to watch the things that they come up with. They usually share well for their ages (Aaron is 21 months and Connor is 28 months). Aaron likes to 'demand' that Connor share things with him (goes up to Connor and tells him "NahNah (Connor) share please") and Connor likes to let me know everytime he obliges, so he can get some praise! They are really funny!

Just a little over 3 weeks (if not sooner) until Baby Coenen is born! I have been lucky to have felt really good through almost all of this pregnancy, so it probably shouldn't be a surprise that I'm feeling a lot less good in the past week! I'm not sleeping quite as well (have a hard time getting back to sleep after I wake up in the night), am having a harder time breathing, and feel like it's just getting really hard to have this big baby hanging off the front of my body while I chase Aaron around and struggle to move and bend!!! Part of me would love to go into labor before my scheduled c-section (March 17th), but part of me knows that it's easier to take care of baby while he/she is on the inside than it will be on the outside! Either way, it's not my choice, so we'll just look forward to meeting the baby and I will do my best to 'enjoy' these last weeks!


Aaron and Connor like to sit in the baby doll stroller and push each other around. (I believe that we have Nan to thank for this, as I don't think that Aaron ever thought to sit in this seat until Nan and Papa's last visit!)


Hugging on each other- so cute! Before nap time, Aaron will go up to Connor and tell him "NahNah (Connor) hug and kiss." It's really adorable. In these photos, I think that Connor was the one giving out the hugs!



Eating some pretzels and being adorable!

Aaron has gotten more interested in doing 'artsy' things recently. We enjoy 'writing' with pens on paper, drawing with markers, and painting with watercolors. He loves playing with play dough and his favorite activity is putting stickers on paper!! Here are some shots of our little painter.

Aaron.... where are you?!

One of Aaron's favorite things to do while I am preparing dinner is to dig all of the pots and pans out of the cupboard, get in, and close the doors. He sits in there and giggles and giggles (and sometimes will say "Mommy are you?" until I say, "Aaron, where are you?" The cupboard doors have childproof latches, so he can't get out until I open the doors for him! So cute. :)

Shoveling helpers....

We got a ton of snow here in Chicago, which meant that someone needed to get out there and get things cleaned up. Aaron and Connor always want to plow through the snow and we have to hide the shovels and brooms in the garage unless we want Aaron playing with them every time he sees them, so I figured they were just the guys to help me out! At 35 weeks pregnant, getting 2 toddlers dressed and ready to head out the door was just about enough for me, but nonetheless, we headed out in the snow! The boys had a great time and I was able to get some darling photos AND get the sidewalks, stairs, and deck shoveled!


Aaron and Connor were practicing their 'snow angel' technique on the kitchen floor!




Connor brought over his big sand shovel and it worked great in the snow!






Aaron needs to use a REAL shovel and isn't interested in things that aren't full sized!