an autumn high FIVE!

elliot is FIVE months old! which means that maybe by christmas time he will be able to sample some turkey and cranberries!

i am so glad that we had a spring baby. i couldn't imagine having a newborn in a canadian winter. i guess they don't mind being all bundled up when they are that small, but how do you transport them? those car seatbelts are pretty specific about where you put the limbs. i would prefer just to have him wrapped up in a blanket, but the car seat won't allow it. hello snowsuit time! (which is turning out to be a very difficult time.why are they so hard to come by? i mean, i found a few of them for 50+ dollars!! i didn't even spend that much on MY winter jacket. sheesh.  i found him a decent upper body jacket, but of course i am paranoid and feel like he should be encapsulated from head to toe in warm snowsuit)

well here is a bit of an update on us:

elliot
-still has a flat head. we went to the head shape clinic in sepetember and they basically told us never to lay him down other than bedtime and to keep him in the upright sitting position always, or to give him tummy time (which he hates) so this little wiener is still not even close to rolling over
-he is getting good at sitting up! he still can't do it on his own, but because most of his time is spend on mom's lap, int he bumbo, and his jolly jumper he is really great at being in the upright position.
-his eyes are turning the same shade of blue as kevin's, deep deep blue and occasionally they look grey, but other times especially when wearing the color they look piercingly blue.
-he loves raspberries on his neck
-he loves being tickled on his sides
-he LOVES when you tickle his feet.
-he is quite giggly at moments, a huge crybaby at others, and then sometimes he is just blank faced and completely zones out. all of those faces are extremely adorable. even the crybaby face.
-he tried real food for this first time a few days ago. it was sweet potato and he loved it. too bad he had the smelliest diaper ever the next day. we've decided to wait until he is 6 months to do solid food. maybe longer than that. maybe never actually.
-his favorite toys are all of the ones he can easily put in his mouth. he used to love his elephant and cow stuffed animals, but their body parts don't fit into his mouth so they have been shunned. right now he loves chewing on a nerf gun dart, and a fish that suction cups to the bottom of the bathtub for traction.
-oh yes, and he absolutely finds Sofie fascinating. every time she walks in the room his eyes are glued to her. if ever she lets him get close enough to pet, he shrieks in delight. even though Sofie is a big pain in the rear and has nearly destroyed our sofa, i am glad that she is helping elliot learn that animals are not scary.

 kevin
- still plugging along as elders quorum president. my dad likes to call him the "ward moving president" which is mostly true. a big part of his job is helping people move. i think sometimes he wishes he had a truck so he didn't have to track one down all the time, but then i think he also never wants to have a truck so people don't call him to borrow it.

myself
- i finished the Kaliedo festival which was a success.
- i completed all my christmas baking, and i am about half done my christmas shopping
- this year i am in charge of the ward christmas party which i was excited about until i found out that the part is going to take place on December 20th. i assume many people will be gone for Christmas already, but how do you know? i am having a hard time deciding how many people i should plan for. do i throw the party for the whole ward, and hope everyone shows up? i don't want to have a million kilos of turkey leftover because only 4 families made it. any suggestions would be helpful!

anyways, we are having a good fall thus far! we are heading to saskatchewan for 5 days for thanksgiving and i am sure there will be a blog post and pictures to follow.

here are some pictures of our latest endeavor to clean up our front yard.

ok, they are all pictures of elliot in the leaves. i didn't get one photo of us actually raking the yard.

showing elliot the leaves

 what a cute little fuzzy head boy. see what i mean about the blue eyes?

 everything in the mouth

cheeseball.

sampling one last time