Christmas with Miss Katie

This was the first Christmas in many ways. It was Katie's first ever, the first Shaffer Christmas with a small child in at least 20 years, the first Waldfogle Christmas with a small child in about 35 years, and the first with a grandchild in general. Needless to say, it was a little crazy!

We attended Christmas Eve Mass at St. Joseph, where Katie broke her previous record of never fussing during Mass. Nothing terrible, she just didn't sleep all the way through and spent a good chunk of the service in Mommy's arms.




Christmas morning started at home with breakfast for Katie, and our family gift exchange. Simon took a liking to Katie's new teddy bear, and Katie decided to take her swing with her for the rest of the day.

The first half of the day was spent at the Shaffer's. Uncle Greg is looking forward to Katie getting old enough to take over elf duties but she spent this one in her swing. Lots of presents of clothes and toys, including a whole menagerie of little stuffed animals from the Aunties in Arizona!

The day was already pretty exciting, but Katie managed a couple of short naps.

Then it was over another river and through a different woods to the Waldfogle estate in Bethel. Another embarrassment of riches for the new Princess. She played pass-the-baby a little bit with Aunt Linda, Uncle Steve and Gram, and spent a lot of time wimpering in Mommy's lap when it all got to be a little too much. She really liked the twinkle lights on the Waldfogle's tree and the light-up village set up underneath it and spent a nice chunk of time just lying on the floor looking at it all.

Three Months Old

Tigger's starting to look positively small next to Katie! There's no doctor appointment this month, so we don't have official stats, but by doing subtraction on the bathroom scale, we know that she's right around 13 pounds now, and the way she keeps outgrowing clothes, we know she's getting longer every day!

We recently figured out that she's sensitive to some of the proteins in cow milk, so no more dairy for Amy - these proteins pass through into breast milk and give Katie some seriously unpleasant tummy problems.

She's getting more and more alert every day, and is even starting to smile AT people. She can play a version of "peek a boo" for about 5 minutes at a time and can find her hands - she often folds them together over her chest and almost looks a little menacing as she clutches her fingers together.

She still really hates tummy-time but we keep plugging away for a few minutes each day.

Two Months Old!

Katie growing like crazy! The band-aids on her legs are from her first vaccines - boy can this kid scream when she's not happy!

This picture is the third "Tigger Picture" in what will be a continuing series - our friend Sharon Rose gave us the Tigger as a gift when she heard we were expecting and told us to use it as a size-reference in pictures every month.

Her current stats:
weight: 11 pounds, 6 ounces
length: 23.5 inches

She's starting to focus on people - you can kind of see that in the picture. She definitely recognizes both Mommy and Daddy, and we're getting better at recognizing what she needs by the sound of her cry. She had her first overnight visit with Gram Waldfogle at the end of October and did just fine, even if she did eat everything we'd packed for her, PLUS a bottle of formula (gotta love those growth spurts!)

Claimed by God

Katie's baptism happened at St. Stephen Church at 11:30 Mass. We picked the date because that was when Carolinne and Susan could get plane tickets from Arizona :)

This picture is Katie with the proud parents and even prouder Godparents, Aunt Lee Anne and Uncle Jim------------------->

Here's a picture taken during the ceremony. Grandpa Dave brought his deacon things and was the celebrant for the baptism. Fr. Stan was really excited to have a deacon since we usually don't have those at St. Stephen!




Here's Katie ready for the walk to church in her fuzzy lamb coat that Gram & Grandad Waldfogle gave her.



Katie was baptised with water that Grandpa Dave had collected from the River Jordan long before she was even an inkling of an idea. Here's a video clip of the water and oil rites - she didn't cry at all - hardly woke up!

Happy Halloween!

This is the halloween outfit that Katie's Aunt Carolinne and Aunt Susan sent from Arizona. She almost outgrew it before the big day!

The weather was very mild, so we all sat on the front porch to hand out candy. One of the neighbors put his stereo speakers in the window and blasted WGUC's Beggars Night Broadcast - a whole program of mostly classical, spooky-themed music.

Much fun was had, and there was just enough candy left over to keep Mom and Dad from going to the after-holiday sales for more :)

Visiting with Gram

Katie had her very first overnight visit with Gram, Grandad and Uncle Steven so that Mommy could go see Daddy's play. In the morning, everyone went to church at St. Mary's in Bethel - all of Daddy's family's friends were very happy to finally get to see Katie in person.

One Month Old

Katie went for her 1-month doctor appointment today. She now weighs 9 pounds, 5 ounces and is 22.25 inches long.

She's above-average for height and head size and right on average for weight.

The doctor says she's growing into a "tall, skinny smart kid"