Gabourey Sidibe and Brandon Frankel’s Twins Celebrate Their First Birthday

Brandon Frankel and Gabourey Sidibe’s twins completed their first trip around the sun!

On Wednesday, April 16, the father of two celebrated his and the 41-year-old actress’ twins Cooper and Maya, as they turned one. In a heartfelt post via Instagram, Frankel shared several snaps of him and his little ones from their big day.

Both the twins wore onesies to mark the occasion, with Cooper’s having a blue one and a matching bowtie design and Maya’s having a pink unicorn design with the number written in script at the bottom.

“HAPPY HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY COOPER & MAYA!!!” the proud dad wrote in the captions. “Can’t believe a whole year of loving you has gone by. You make your Mom and me so proud every single day! You’re the most hilarious, sweet, well-behaved babies.”

“It’s been an honor to get to know you both and help you grow into the little miniature people you are- walking, talking, dancing, hugging, kissing, demanding songs, calling every animal ‘CAT!’, eating big people food- just the absolute best,” he continued. “And we can’t wait to watch you continue to learn, grow, and explore the world. We LOVE being your parents- the best is yet to come! HAPPY HAPPY ONE YEAR MY LOVES ❤️😭🎉🎂🎈🎁”

While speaking with PEOPLE for her role in Lifetime’s Give Me Back My Daughter, the Empire actress opened up about how she’s balancing her work life with motherhood. This project marked Sidibe’s return to acting after welcoming her twins with her husband. Sidibe said that while “motherhood is so consuming” this movie helped remind her of the importance of taking time for herself.

“I would say take the time to — it feels stupid to say — hold space for yourself,” she told PEOPLE earlier this month. “Take the time and enjoy this peace, where there’s not a tiny human asking you for things at all times. But, [also] really remember who you are. Really take the time and take the space to do it and re-fall in love with yourself really. Because truly, motherhood is so consuming.”

“All I needed to do every single day was just focus on my lines, focus on my work, hit my marks, and drink water and mind my business,” she continued, adding that while it was hard at first, she found comfort in knowing her twins were safe. “That was really, really, really wonderful to have that space to do.”

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The Precious star also opened up about life as a mom in the spotlight. Sidibe said that she’s very “protective of my kids” and wants to “hide” them from the chaos of Hollywood.

“There’s a very strange thing where I’m a mom and I’m a mama bear, I’m protective of my kids, but because of what I do for a living, I kind of expose them to this bigger world that I hope that they never find out,” she told PEOPLE. “I’m more like Drake, you know? I really would like to hide … the world from my children, and I will for as long as I can.”

“Everyone was like, ‘Oh, do you let them watch you on TV?’ And I’m like, ‘First of all, my babies don’t have screen time,'” she added. “Secondly, I’m just simply going to lie to them as long as I can about what I do for a living. I’m going to tell them I’m a teacher, and also, our household is very normal.”