margaretyagan

I woke up to a yucky, rainy day, made worse by A/C’s departure back to Boston.  I have no idea when I’m going to see her again!  On the positive side, Mom, Aimee, and Bridget were all around and I got to have fun playing with them.  We had planned to go out to brunch, but instead Dad went to Dominick’s (without me!) and brought home some ingredients for a home-made brunch.

After brunch, Aimee & Bridget had to go catch their flight, and I got some quality-time with Mom.  In the evening, we got a surprise visit from Uncle D’s friend Catherine, who hand-delivered a birthday present!  Who knew that a birthday could last for weeks!

Wow, remember my moses basket?

The highlight of my morning was seeing our guests, Bridget & Aimee!  I hadn’t seen them since last summer.  Boy did I have a lot of new tricks to show them!  They were a lot of fun, but seemed completely unaccustomed to the cold.  They wore about a dozen layers when they left!

When I woke up from my nap, Dad and I went over to Nana’s and Grandpa’s for lunch.  But Mom and A/C had  taken the car to go on a shopping trip to stock up Mom’s spring wardrobe, so Dad and I had to take the bus!  It was a pretty easy trip, actually.  We got Nana’s and Grandpa’s and had a great time.  The food was great and I like that their apartment is carpeted, which makes it even easier to explore.

We got back home in time for me to eat a snack and take my nap.  When I got up, Mom and A/C were back and we got to see Bridget and Aimee get all dressed up!

And, here I was a year ago…

I was excited to wake up and see both Mom and Dad home!  Mom took off for work, as usual, but was working from home today so I knew I would get to see him a bunch.  Dad got me dressed and then we went downstairs for breakfast.  I don’t mind amaranth and peaches, but man I’ll be happy when it’s all oatmeal all the time.

I took my morning nap at the usual time and when I got up, Nana & Grandpa Yagan were here to get me out of my crib.  I ate my lunch fairly well (even the salmon & polenta, which I’ve had mixed feelings about).  We had a fun time playing, and Aunt Claire even got in on the fun when she got back from her trip to visit Maddi.

At 2:30 or so, we had to run to my doctor’s office to get my 12-month vaccinations!  As you might remember, I had a cold on my birthday so I didn’t get any of the shots at my regular checkup.  Dad took a break from work to drive — and Nana and Grandpa came along for the ride.  My weight was good — 23 pounds or so.  As it turns out, I only got one immunization (MMR), but I also had to get two blood test that required my finger to bleed for an entire minute: a blood lead test and hemoglobin test for iron deficiency.  Both came back perfect!

Even though Mom wasn’t around, things went pretty smoothly…except that Dad didn’t bring a pacifier, O’s, or anything to soothe me after my shots.  Luckily I’m a tough girl!

Nana and Grandpa dropped me and Dad off at home and then they left.  I hung out with Aunt Claire until Mom got home.  I heard a rumor that we had a couple guests staying at the house this weekend, but I didn’t see them before I went to sleep.

I woke up before Mom left for work, after sleeping in a couple times earlier this week.  After hanging out with Mom, I played with A/C downstairs, looked out the window, played with her phone, and ate O’s.

Before breakfast, I danced with my teapot.  THANK YOU GREAT-GRANDMA DROSTE!  It’s definitely my favorite birthday gift!  I ate well and then played in the living room with A/C until Nana came by around 8:45.  I clapped and smile upon her arrival, which I kind of think she liked.

I had my nap a bit later than usual (10:00) and when I got up, Uncle Danny was back from his trip to Champaign.  After lunch, Nana and I went for a nice long walk (over an hour!).  For my afternoon snack, I had some orzo with vegetables and lots and lots of…strawberries.

Nana put me down for a nap and then uncle Danny was in charge!  I thought I’d test him out a bit, so I started screaming just about 20 minutes into my nap.  Uncle D came in, gave me my pacifier, and got me calmed down.  I went back to sleep.  About an hour and a half later, I woke up with a huge poop!  You should have seen the look on his face — he had no idea what to do!  Fortunately he figured it out…though he declined the opportunity to apply butt paste.

Here I am having fun with Uncle D:

Uncle D and I danced and got dinner ready.  When Mom got home, I greeted her with loud shrieks, which she loved!

I had my first play date a year ago today!

I woke up at 7:00, got dressed, and hung out with Uncle D and A/C.  I ate pretty well and then played with Nana. I had a shorter nap than usual and then Nana and I went for a walk, which got cut short (at 30 minutes) due to high winds!

Here are some fun videos from today:

Check me out one year ago today!

I woke up at 7:00, got dressed, and hung out with Mom until she left — much later than usual — at 7:45.  I ate breakfast with A/C and then we woke up Uncle Danny.  A/C and I went for a walk to — shocker — Starbucks, with a stop in Wicker Park on the way back.  I played in the kitchen until my nap, at 9:25.

When I got up, I was happy to see Nana come get me out of my crib.  She was very excited to see me!  We played and read books together until lunch.  The kebab wasn’t that great, but I drank a lot of milk and ate…and ate…and ate berries!

My afternoon was great, as usual.  It was cool to get to play with A/C and Uncle D when they took breaks from their work.  After dinner, A/C and Uncle D gave me more pickles, which I love as much as I did yesterday!  We danced and then I got my bath at 7:10 and went to bed at 7:30.

Here’s me from a year ago!

Well, after such a busy weekend, you can understand why I slept in until 7:00.  Mom was bummed that she didn’t get to see me before she left for work, but hey, I need my beauty sleep!  I woke up and was greeted by Aunt Sarah!  I was in a great mood and we played together until breakfast.  I played with my balloons and Aunt Sarah’s phone.

I was sad when Aunt Sarah had to leave!  I can’t wait to see her again.  Nana got here right around lunch time and played with my until my nap.  I got up and was surprised to see yet another familiar face: Uncle Danny!

My big accomplishment for the day was that I took 18 steps on my own!  Luckily, both Uncle Danny and A/C witnessed it, so there’s no doubt that I did it!  Unfortunately, Grandpa Yagan had to go to the hospital, so Uncle Danny had to leave to be with him (happily, he’s totally fine!).  I played with AC and discovered how delicious pickles are!

Check out these videos:

After my nap I started dinner with Aunt Claire and finished up with Mom after she got home. I think I even learned how to say “Claire”!

Wow, I looked like an alien a year ago!

Apparently my birthday festivities yesterday were just the beginning of a weekend of fun!  I got up at the usual time but noticed that people seemed a bit more tired than usual.  (Apparently my parents, aunts, and uncle were out partying last night!)  I had a fun morning playing and had an uneventful nap.  When I got up, Mom, Dad, the Drostes, and I all headed out to Francesca’s for Aunt Claire’s brithday brunch!

I’ve walked (well, rolled) by Francesca’s many times, but never gotten to go in side.  Also, we almost always go to Moonshine for brunch!  Maybe now that I’m a toddler, my parents trust me to go to fancier places?

I started throwing some food on the floor and made a huge mess!  Dad tried to clean it up but the nice owner of the restaurant insisted that it was okay!  Dad was in a remarkably open-minded mood and let me try pretty much everything.  I really like pancakes!  They’re just like birthday cake except they can be eaten for breakfast.  What a great idea!  I also really really loved scrambled eggs.  I ate at least half of Dad’s breakfast all by myself (and in addition to my own breakfast).  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to taste the booze that Aunt Claire ordered.  Apparently turning 21 means you have to drink alcohol for breakfast?  Wow.

After brunch, Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa headed home while my aunts took me to Wicker Park and let me play on the swings.  After I got home, I got to hang out in the yard and play with the awesome slide that Aunt Sarah had gotten me for my birthday.  While I was out there playing, Grandpa Droste  installed an extra fence in the yard to make it “Maggie proof.”

After my snack and my nap it was time for yet another birthday celebration!  Nana’s birthday was last week but we hadn’t gotten to formally celebrate it yet.  Mom, Dad, and I drove over to Nana’s and Grandpa’s neighborhood and ate at Bistro Margot.  The food looked really good, but I didn’t get to eat much of the real food.  It was fun to have Uncle Danny around and to see Nana and Grandpa Yagan in such good moods!

Here’s what I was doing a year ago!

Well, as you all know, my birthday was on March 11th, and I thought it was so nice that Mom took the day off and that she and I went to the bakery together and that I even got to eat a cupcake.  Since I’d never had a birthday before, I had no reason to expect anything else.  Well, today was definitely something else!

Here’s a slideshow of my day:

http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

I got up at my normal time and Aunt Claire joined Dad and I on our weekly trip to the grocery store.  We had a great time, as usual.  Everything seemed pretty normal until we went to the floral section and bought a bunch of balloons, including an Elmo balloon that said “Happy Birthday.”  We got home and I was so happy to see that Grandpa Droste had come for the weekend!  The entire Droste side of my family was visiting us — yet another hint that something was up.I played with my aunts and grandparents while Mom and Dad were cooking in the kitchen.  I took my nap a bit later than usual and got up right around 11:30.  I came downstairs and saw that the house was really clean and lots of yummy food had been cooked.  At about 12:00 Mom took me up to my room and changed me into a brand new dress (while Dad conducted an impromptu photo shoot).

When I came downstairs, I started to figure out what was going on – I was having a birthday party!  Luckily, I was well-rested and in a great mood as Mom carried me down the stairs to greet the awaiting paparazzi (aka, my family).   The entire Yagan side of my family had also come over to celebrate.  My whole entire family hasn’t been all together since the week I was born!

After being passed around a bit, we all sat down to dinner.  Mom and Dad had cooked several recipes (lentil burgers, corn & salmon chowder, orzo with vegetables, just to name a few) out of my baby cookbook for me — and all the adults — to eat.  I was so excited that I could eat absolutely everything on the table and everything that everyone else was eating.  I think I’m going to like being a toddler!

After we ate, it was time to open presents.  I got so many things!  New cloths, new shoes, new toys, new books, and even a slide for the front yard!  It was really fun to rip open the gifts and I especially liked the ones with fun colored paper in them.

After we were done opening gifts, there was more eating!  I had a huge birthday cake (a “smash” cake) all for me.  By the time I was done, I had eaten literally 50% of the cake!  It was so good.  Mom was especially thoughtful to get me strawberry filling – I love strawberries!  I consumed about a million times more sugar today than I have in the entire first year of my life.  I had so much cake on me — on my face, in my hair — that picked me right out of my high chair and took me straight into the bathtub!

ABC’s!

I love my new photo album…especially myself:

Gifts can be fun even before they are unwrapped:

Me and my new farm:

Hello, cake!

So, when it came to nap time…yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.  I was so wired on my sugar high that there was no chance of my sleeping.  After a half-hearted effort, they gave up and got me out of my crib.

Mom and Dad had decided to let me have one cabinet in the kitchen that I would be allowed to play in, so I spent some time in the afternoon playing there.  At one point I crawled all the way inside of it and then realized that I didn’t really know how to get out without face-planting into the floor!

When bed-time rolled around, I was pooped.  I think people were scared I might be unable to sleep, but that wasn’t a problem at all.  I had had one of the most fun days of my life with all of my family around and I was more than happy to end the day with a good night’s sleep!

In case you were wondering, we took over 1,000 pictures today!

And, here’s what I was doing one year ago today!