Katy's March 2016 Compilation

Happy Holidays from the Shapiros

 
As the Shapiro family tries to recover from the holidays, I thought it would be a good time to give you an extra long update. This Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving that John and I (and Katy) hosted at our house! We had a pretty good turnout and a *lot* of food. We ended up roasting two turkeys to make sure everyone got to take home leftovers for turkey sandwiches and what not.

The end of the year brought with it a lot of new projects to work on, both in illustration and sewing/crafting. Getting started as a freelance artist has been difficult, but the last couple of months were met with a good bit of success. As we continue to set new traditions and grow our family, I made Christmas place settings.

John finished out his semester and is now getting to spend more time at home during his winter break. He's narrowed down his future specialties to either ENT or Ob/Gyn. He really loves doing both, so I think he'll be happy wherever he ends up. I don't really have a lot of pictures to post of him, but we all know you're really just here for the Katy pictures anyway.

Katy's personality, motor skills, and communication skills have been developing in leaps and bounds over the last few months. It's been exciting to see her go, and exhausting to try to keep up. She is growing into quite the little explorer. We think she has a very inquisitive, spirited, and gracious personality. She also hams it up when she finds herself an audience, and excitedly points out any dog she sees. She can now climb up and down stairs without assistance, climb onto toddler chairs and the couch, walk really fast (very nearly true running!), and also get distracted while doing each of those things.

Our Christmas was busy, but really wonderful. The long awaited meeting of the cousins took place on Christmas Eve when Katy and Claire faced off in an epic battle for cutest toddler (it was a draw). Then Christmas Day, they worked their way slowly through a mountain of presents. If I tried to list all the awesome presents Katy got from her amazing family, this post would never be finished. Suffice it to say that every day since has been a roller coaster of excited overstimulation and long recovery naps. Katy likes the toys too.

New Years celebration is going to be spent at home at a much slower pace (phew). We have a tradition of making hot wings for New Years, so we'll be continuing that. The rest of the time, we'll just be relaxing and enjoying time as a family.

As we take stock of the year, we want to thank our families and friends for all the love and support over the year! We love you all, and hope 2016 is just as much fun!

Happy October

I've been very bad at updating. I apologize. Katy's been growing in leaps and bounds and it's hard to keep up with her!

She started walking a little bit before her first birthday. She's walking all over the kitchen and living room and getting into all sorts of trouble. She loves to carry her toys around and pull things out of the cupboards. Grandma Patty and Grandpa Bob gave her a pushcar for her birthday. She absolutely loves it and loves to take it outside and walk up and down our driveway.

Katy is also crazy about Daddy's keyboard. She'll walk over to it and try to play it when it's off. Daddy and mommy try to turn it on whenever we can. Sometimes we sit with Katy in our lap and play the piano with her. Usually she tries to climb on top of it.

A few weeks ago, we went to the fair the next county over. Katy got to see all sorts of animals: cows and goats and chickens.

Katy loves books. Or, more specifically, she loves pulling books off of shelves, carrying them around and flipping through the pages. She still doesn't sit still for the entire story, but she's working on it.

Katy's first birthday was in September. She had a blast! We had a small party that weekend, with friends and family over for cake and burgers. Katy had a lot of fun.

We also took a lot of video these last few months. I've compiled them together for a nice little fall compilation. Enjoy!

Love from Rome,
John, Liz and Katy

Rome is home.

First off, I apologize for the huge gap in posts. We recently moved across the state! We're now living in a quiet, beautiful little town in a house with a big back yard that's perfect for gardening, exploring and playing with puppies. Katy is very happy in her new home. She's grown so much, and can pull herself into a standing position now. She's also starting to crawl. She hasn't quite gotten the coordination yet, but she tries! She also has two new teeth, and is eating lots of new foods!

In mid-june, my cousin got married, so we all flew up to the northeast to visit with family. We got to stay with Great-Grandpa John and Great-Grandma Jan, and meet all of her Great-aunties and cousins! Katy did so well on the flight up and back. She slept the whole way, and really enjoyed the trip.

She's grown up so much in the last nine months! It's hard to believe her daddy and I created an amazing, intelligent tiny person.

Love from Rome,
John, Liz and Katy, and Xander, Zoe and Duke

Katy's Spring Compliation

Katy doing a variety of different things, but mostly eating.

Music: Mr. Rabbit by Elizabeth Mitchell

Springtime Fun

Hello all! It's been a bit since we last updated. Since our last update, Katy has started sitting on her own pretty much all the time, she can stand holding onto an object, and she's gotten her first tooth! Mom and dad are excited to introduce her to new foods and tastes. Since it's nice and warm out in Augusta now, we can sit outside. Mom tries to get her outside as often as possible before the bugs come out. We go for walks, sit in the yard, and play with the puppies. Katy seems to really like being outside. She definitely loves her puppies.

Katy has started on more and more solid foods. In addition to baby foods, we've been giving her things like mashed potatoes and rice she can mush in her hands and feed herself. She maybe gets 20% of the food in her mouth. The rest gets shared with the dogs or her lap.

Katy has started becoming more mobile. When she's on her tummy, she can rotate around to grab a toy. Still no crawling, but we can't be too far from mobility!

In other news, John and I have found a home in Rome, GA and are all set to move next month. I've been frantically packing up. It seems like we just moved into our little house in Augusta, and it's a bit sad. We definitely made this place a home.

Love From Augusta,
John, Liz, and Katy,
Duke, Xander, and Zoe