Happy Birthday, Baby Maggie!

It's hard to believe, but on December 30, our precious baby Maggie turned one year old! It has really been the fastest year of my life! She's such a blessing, and has really completed our little family. Gracyn and Emma are such great big sisters, and Maggie just adores them!

She had a great time on her first birthday. The girls and I made her chocolate cupcakes (Dow insisted that they be chocolate!) and as you can tell from the picture, she enjoyed every bite!

To honor her first birthday, I'm going to list the things that Maggie does...milestones, and other little "Maggie" things that best describe her at this age.

• Maggie loves her sisters, and loves to play in the upstairs playroom with them. She's still a little afraid of the stairs, and will stand at the bottom of them and yell, "GIRLS!" When she'd like them to come get her. She sometimes does it in the day when they aren't there, too. So cute!
• She's mastered the art of waving, and will get very frustrated and wave "bigger" if you don't wave back. She waves at people passing us in cars, people we pass at the grocery store, golfers on the golf course as we're taking our walks, and anyone who passes by her high chair!
• She's also mastered the art of squealing in a very loud, high pitched voice. Cute at first...not so cute the thirty-fifth time in a row!
• She's expanding her vocabulary, and can say: Mama, Daddy, Girls, Gracyn (Gay-Sin), Emma (E-MA!), Cup (Gup), Yay!, Get Down, Come Up, Let's Go!, Bye-Bye, and lots more. She will also give you a very serious "talking to" in gibberish if you're not doing exactly what she'd like you to do. I get one every single Sunday when I pick her up from the nursery at church (not her favorite place!)
• She still hates to get her diaper changed, but loves her bath!
• Her eyes were a blue/green/hazel when she was born, but have recently darkened to brown. They aren't as dark as mine and Emma's but I'd still call them brown.
• She is very curious, and has the best time taking anything and every thing out of drawers, boxes, cabinets, etc...she especially loves anything that she can bang together to make a loud noise!
• She's very musical, and has great rhythm. She dances all the time (to any music!) and will be breaking it down to a song that I won't even realize is playing (like background music in a store).
• She loves to be outside, and gets excited when I put her in the jogging stroller, or in her baby swing on our playground.
• She's been walking since she was ten months old, and is very fast. She's perfected her little run, and loves to play chase. Her cue to chase her is to turn around, look at you, throw her hands up over her head, and yell "Ahhhhhhhhh!". You'd better start running after her, saying "I'm gonna get the baby!" or you'll get a "talking to" like I mentioned earlier.
• She loves the dogs, and her bowls are her favorite toys. She'd prefer to "swim" in the water dish, and eat the dog food...If I'd let her. Poor Maggie never gets to do either.
• When she gets in trouble, she sits down on the floor, puts her hands between her legs, slumps her shoulders, and looks down like a little lost puppy. She'll even look up a few times to make sure that you're watching her! Adorable (and effective!) at first...now, we just know that's her "I'm sorry Mommy, but look how cute I am!" pose.
• She's very tiny (19 pounds, and in the tenth percentile for her height and weight) but she's very busy and eats like a horse! Most of the time at dinner, she will put Gracyn and Emma to shame. If you're not feeding her fast enough, or her tray gets empty, she will beat on it and look at you like "More! NOW!"
• She's learned to blow kisses, and if you say "Give me a kiss" will lean over and "allow" you to give her one. I thought that she was going to kiss me the other day...she leaned over, but instead bit my chin! She also loves to "honk" your nose, and laughs every time. Every one of us makes a different "honk" when she does it, so this will keep her entertained for a while.
• She loves songs and nursery rhymes, and Patty-Cake is her favorite right now. She really loves to "throw in in the pan!" She also likes when Daddy is watching football to run in, throw her arms over her head, and yell, "TOUCHDOWN!"

Maggie is just a plain mess, and runs me ragged every day! But she's a doll, and a joy! This has been the busiest, most fun, craziest year of my life, and I've enjoyed every second of it! Now...on to toddlerhood. Oh, Lord! Give me patience!

Happy birthday, Baby Maggie!!!