The Most Popular Baby on the Block

There probably is no need to state the obvious, but I will do so anyway.  We've been busy.  The busiest we've ever been.  

In the past 6 weeks, we were away from home for 3 weekends, Chris prepared and passed his General Exam, I worked 70-80 hours/week, Elliott started daycare, and I completed 3 residency interviews.  I'm happy to report we all survived and are now resting comfortably at Grandma Kate's in Iowa.  It is sooooooo nice to be on vacation.  I wanted to publish a post I made a while back, and then will hopefully get some new pictures on here for the holidays.

As most new parents quickly discover, having a baby is the key to becoming popular.  Are you lonely?  Do you wish people would visit you?  Would you like to get more use out of your air mattress?  If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then you should have a baby.  They're pretty adorable, and not that much work, really.  In fact, I'll let you borrow mine for a couple of nights. :)

Anyhow, the point I'll eventually get to is that we have had no shortage of visitors since Elliott was born, and we are very grateful for them.  I love to watch my family and friends shower Elliott with praise and kisses.  Oh, and presents are nice too. :)

Here Chris is wearing a hat from my Mom (Grandma Carren), and Elliott is wearing a hat from Chris's Mom (Grandma Kate).  Doesn't he look happy.

 

Elliott got a little more excited about the train Grandma Kate brought him on her visit (with Great Aunt Nancy) in October.  He seems to love trains these days. Perhaps it's that they are easy to grab on to and push around.  They even inspire him to scoot across the floor at lightning speed!  Well, maybe just tortoise speed.... 

Elliott definitely thrives on more than presents during these visits.  He has gotten extremely social - laughing and chatting at everyone.  He will even stare at people and holler until they give him a smile. So, please keep visiting!  

Here is Elliott soaking up some attention from doting relatives:

Thanks everyone for giving Elliott so much love and affection!  We kind of like him too.   

Here are a couple recent (well, 6 weeks ago) shots to hold you over until the next posts.  If you find yourself thinking, "he looks kind of big for a 7 month old", you would be correct.  He's obviously thriving on all your love and attention.  At 22 pounds and 28 inches, he is 7 months, going on 12.

 

Our little pumpkin

This is going to be a photo-rich post, as we've got a lot to cover.  I think October might be my favorite month.  It is colorful, festive, and full of delicious pumpkiny treats. Yum!  Chris and I have always loved the fall, but I think we love it just a little bit more now that we get to share it with Elliott.  Ahhhhhh.....So sweet.

Grandma Kate/Manternach visited with Aunt Nancy in early October, and we all headed to a local pumpkin patch.  

Chris picking out Elliott's very heavy pumpkin and pushing all of our pumpkins in the wheel barrow. You know, because they were heavy.

 

Here is an awesome pumpkin pirate display at the patch:

Aunt Sunny drove over for the day and was lucky enough to meet us there to check out our little pumpkin.  Hi Aunt Sunny!

The family at the patch:

 

Seriously, is that not the cutest little pumpkin you've ever seen?

 

Around mid-October we went to a wedding near the Ballard Locks.  It was a gorgeous venue, and a beautiful ceremony.  Thanks Sara and Josh for a great celebration, and the opportunity to take lots of silly photos of each other.

 

 

 

During October we hosted a Fall Celebration (our second annual).  We made chili, cornbread, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin bagels.  Friends came and decorated sugar cookies, carved pumpkins, and dipped caramel apples.  Sadly, I did not get photos of the amazing spread. But, I did get some pictures of Elliott and his friend Fiona in their adorable pumpkin bibs, even though they wouldn't give us a smile.  It went something like this.
Summer: "C'mon Elliott and Fiona, give us a smile. Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo!" 
Elliott: "Um, what are you doing lady?  We're just here for the food."

Okay Mom, I'll crack a little smile.  But only because that girl is cute.

We carved the pumpkins we picked at the patch, but unfortunately we didn't get photos before they rotted (in about 12 hours!).  I stole this one from the internet, and this is what Elliott's pumpkin looked like:

On Halloween, Elliott insisted we all get dressed up and go Trick-or-Treating.  Grandma Carren crocheted a pretty awesome costume while Chris and I never got around to finishing ours. Maybe next year...

Just in case you couldn't figure out what we Elliott is supposed to be:

Elliott's friend (and the little girl I babysit), Addie the duck.

Halloween Costume #2:

Random man walking in Ballard.  Elliott thought he was the coolest!

Elliott's first trick-or-treating stash.

When we got home Chris and I started sampling the candy.  You know, to make sure it wasn't poisonous.  Then, we noticed a pack of preteens coming to our door.  Holy crap!  We'd completely forgotten that we could get trick-or-treaters ourselves.  I hadn't bought any candy, so the obvious choice was to give away Elliott's candy to the kids.  So, what did we do?  Close the blinds and turn off the lights of course. We had to protect our baby's first candy stash...

Return of the photo montage.  Elliott, Chris, and Autumn in Seattle:

 

 

The Room

Nope, this post is not about the worst movie ever made (which is actually a pretty hilarious film), and if you ever watch it, I'd recommend doing it in a place like this.

This post is about Elliott's bedroom!  Sure, some might say that at 5 months, it's a bit late in the line-up for the nursery debut. But hey, I've only just finished decorating it.  Also, he hasn't been sleeping in here all that long.  And, most importantly, it hasn't been clean long enough to photograph until today.

First, here are photos of Chris and Larry (step-Dad) painting the bedroom back in April.  We looked long and hard for the perfect color.  Ok, I'm lying.  We bought the $5 "oops" paint from Home Depot, which just happened to be a very eye-pleasing and mouth-watering "lemon chiffon yellow."

 Doesn't he look so happy to be painting?  He was faking it.

 

I love the finished product!  As you walk in the room:

 

 Close up of curtains made by Grandma Carren:

 

Wall with the crib (custom made by my awesome brother Jake) and the dresser that Larry found for free somewhere and we painted. It's probably not germ-infested.

 

Close-up of the crib:

Here is Elliott keeping the rocking chair ($25 steal at Goodwill) warm while I photograph.

Above the closet are stars Grandma Carren made from the leftover curtain fabric:

Check out the one-of-a-kind painting by Orion, Elliott's 9-year-old cousin.  I'm not sure who is getting the pink bundle in the distance, but it is not us.

Elliott telling me how much he likes the afghan that great-grandma Manternach made him:

 He's also loving the guitar quilt Aunt Sunny made him:

 And he loves to chew on the blankets that Aunt Cassi (left) and Cousin Kortni made him:

  

I'm working on a post that is even more ancient than the nursery, which will have photos of the baby showers and lots of other wonderful gifts we are loving.  In the meantime, here is this week's photo montage entitled, "Express yourself"

 

If the photos of Elliott in the sweater vest are not enough to reassure you that he is a nerd-in-training, here is some more evidence:
Elliott playing board games with his Dad and his nerdy friends:

 

Expressing his frustrations regarding the erroneous health claims made on the cereal box:

And, just in case that wasn't enough.  Here he is in a full-body holiday sweater. Ha ha ha!