Happy First Birthday Makenzie!

 So I am a little late in finally posting this, but Makenzie is now a one year old. It is so hard to believe how quickly this past year has gone by and it just amazes me each day how much Kenzie has grown and learned over the past year. She has been the perfect addition to our family and we are so grateful that she is a part of it. She brings us all so much joy every day. Our family is now complete with her in it.

 On Kenzie's birthday morning the three of us went in to get her out of bed. As we entered her room we began singing "Happy Birthday" to her. She didn't know what to make of it. As you can see by the photos below she wasn't too happy about it.

As David said, "Not all women are happy about getting a year older."

 Makenzie was in a very grumpy mood on her birthday morning. I would like to say it improved by the time we got home from school, but it did not. I put her birthday shirt on her and was hoping to get a couple of cute shots taken so I could finalize her first year video I was putting together. Instead this is what I got out of her:

Kenzie was not having it. She also was not wanting to nap that day (shocker I know), but with her usual 20 minute cat nap in the afternoon she was good to go and around 4 with Grandma and Grandpa's arrival for her party her mood quickly improved. 

 We celebrated Kenzie's first birthday with just a very small family party including Grandma and Grandpa, Nanny and Pa (via Skype), and the Johnson family. Makenzie had a great time visiting with everyone, especially her 'cousins' Lucas and Macie who we never see often enough.


After some dinner and a little playtime the bigger kids decided it was definitely cake time. As we suspected Makenzie did want a thing to do with her cake. She is much like me and refuses to try anything new, but once you finally force her to she usually discovers that she likes it. This was true with her birthday cake.

 After Kenzie enjoyed a little cake Donna wanted to get a family photo, so David and I bent down next to her. Kenzie decided that Mommy should really try some cake too.

 She got it all over me. A few moments later she offered some to her Daddy too.

 After cake it was of course time for presents. Since Makenzie really didn't have a clue what was going on Morgan offered to be a great big sister and open all the presents for her.

Testing out all her new toys with her BFF Macie.

 One year old stats:
Height:
Weight: 17 lbs 9 oz
Head Circumference:
teeth: 6 (4 on the top and 2 on the bottom). She has a bunch that will be cutting through soon. 
Clothes: 9-12 months
Shoes:2-3
Diaper size: 3

Eating: Makenzie now eats pretty much anything we can get her to try. She is on all table foods and as of two days ago is now totally on whole milk. She has definitely started paying attention to what we all are eating and drinking and always wants what we have. This makes it tricky to sneak in sweets that we don't want her having. Kenzie especially likes to drink out of Morgan's drink instead of her own. We have now resorted to using Morgan's cups for Kenzie too most of the time.

Sleeping: Ughh....naps continue to be a struggle. I was really hoping that she was maybe just ready to transition to one long nap a day, but that doesn't seem to be the case. She is still wanting to take just two quick 20-30 minute naps a day. I still think a lot of her bad sleep habits during the day have to do with how often we are on the go. Just this week we had three days of appointments plus the usual errands that have to be done like grocery shopping. Thankfully at night she is still doing well. Most nights she is in bed between 6:30 and 7:00. She will then sleep until 3:00 or 4:00 and wake to eat. This is something we are hoping to break her of real soon. We first wanted to tackle breaking her of nursing before cutting out that feeding. Plus since she eats dinner around 4:45 she does go about 12 hours so I figure she may really be hungry. Most mornings Kenzie is up by 6:00 am.


Likes:
*to be outside. Makenzie will say what sounds like 'outside' and then run to the back door. She knows though that she has to have shoes on so she will help find them and come sit in my lap to get them on.
*to hide in the curtains. She loves first thing in the morning to run to the back door and look outside from behind the curtains. She then runs the length of them and pops out on one side. She also likes to hide in Morgan's closet since there are curtains instead of doors. Kenzie will go in there and just sit. You can hear her giggle as she anticipates you coming to find her.
*to read books. Her favorites right now include: Goodnight Moon, Where is Baby's Belly Button, Baby Dolphins, and Peek a Who?. Makenzie carries these books all around the house.  If I am sitting on the floor with the girls she will pick one up, carry it right over, and climb into my lap to read. Those are some of my favorite moments of the day.
*Morgan's wheelchair. Makenzie is obsessed with all Morgan's equipment. Especially both her wheelchairs. Kenzie has started trying to climb into Morgan's manual wheelchair. She can get up on to the foot plate, but can't quite get her tushie in the seat. Instead she often resorts to just sitting on the foot plate. She has also discovered the buttons on Morgan's power chair. She has figured out how to turn it on and press all the buttons. We no longer bring that in the house unless it needs to be charged. I keep telling David that one morning once she figures out how to escape the crib we will wake up to her zooming through the house in the power chair.
*To be naked. Kenzie is not a huge fan of bath time, but she loves getting ready for the bath because she gets to be naked. She will take off running through the whole house and will smack her belly. It is too funny.
*her daddy! Kenzie loves her daddy. She is still a mommy's girl most of the time but those first moments when David walks through the door are so precious. She shrieks with joy and throws her hands the air and yells "Dada!" She then takes off running towards him with this sweet little sneaky smile. Right before she gets to him, just as he is about to swoop her up, she turns and runs giggling because she knows he will chase her and scoop her up. She loves to chase daddy and have him chase her around our kitchen island. It is really funny to watch.
*Meat. Kenzie eats so much like me it is scary. One of her favorite things to eat is meat, especially beef/steak.

Dislikes:
*taking naps
*trying new foods, though once she tries them she often likes them.

*not getting her way. At one this little one is already a drama queen. That is one of her newest nicknames. If she is not getting her way she will plop herself down on the ground and then throw her head forward to the ground (see birthday pic 1 above for more details.)

 Some highlights from Makenzie's 12 month:

1. Makenzie and Morgan got to go to the Pima County Fair with their grandparents. Kenzie enjoyed the petting zoo. 

 2. Had a music concert with her big sis. They love to play music together whether its the keyboards or maracas or signing in their microphones. It is really cute to watch.

 3. Miss independent, she continues to want to brush her own teeth and continues to fight us tooth and nail about letting us have a turn.

4. Kenzie put herself in 'time-out'. She climbed in but then couldn't figure out how to get back out. Too funny. 

 5. Kenzie learned how to play hide-n-seek behind the curtains.

 6. Makenzie loves her big sis. Though they have their moments they truly do love each other. When Morgan was trying to work on some tummy time to strengthen her back Kenz went over to give her some love and encouragement.

 7. Makenzie fed the giraffes at the zoo for the first time. A visit to the zoo was what Morgan had chosen for her reward of earning 4 100's on her spelling tests.

9. Makenzie helped her big sis celebrate her 6th birthday. 

 

 10. Makenzie celebrated her first mother's day with us. She got to enjoy some time with her Pa too while exploring Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.

 11. Makenzie had her first coloring experience. Well, she didn't actually color. Morgan and I were coloring and before we knew it Kenz had stolen a crayon and tried it. All her front teeth were blue. Good thing they were non-toxic :)