What a month. The Morrissey/DeMeyer family picked up stakes and moved from Chicago to Los Angeles. Elliot met lots of new people, hosted Grandma for a few days, and turned ONE! NBD.

Fresh from Chicago and resting up with a new LA friend to Elliot, an old Michigan friend to Mom and Dad. Auntie Alex for the win!

Grandma came in to help Mom and Elliot get settled in before Dad arrived.

Everyone is pretty pleased with the arrangement.

Grabbing some lunch between errands in LA. Elliot believes that everything is a toy, which comes in handy on the go.

Elliot pulled himself up for the first time and immediately tried to eat his crib. Babies be hungry!

After a week or two of settling in, Elliot and Mom flew out to Colorado Springs to hang out with the family Price. More fun times at airports!

Meeting a wallaby at the Chayenne Mountain Zoo. Pretty sure Elliot thinks it’s a cat.

Napping at the Denver airport before heading home (seven hours late. Mom has Feelings about that.) to LA.

Visit from Auntie Rosie and Uncle Brad! And some quality time with ball pit balls.

Play time is intense. Breaks are necessary.

There are many play times on a blanket in the front yard these days. Today’s special feature was playing with Mom’s shoes. For too long.

Also snuggles with Pua. Elliot is a big fan of kissing Pua right on his piggy face.

Birthday snuggles with Dad!

Cake time – we hoped for a Hulk smash, instead got suspicious investigation.

Elliot had a whirlwind month, packing and arranging a cross country move. But he still found time to explore new things, like a bacon teething toy, delicious puffs, and perfecting his selfie game.

He also had his first first birthday celebration (not a typo!), getting in some party time with family before moving to LA.

Happy birthday, Elliot!

Birthday hangouts with Dad.

Saturday morning selfies with Mom.

Trying on accessories to make sure they still fit before packing. (Spoiler: this didn’t make the cut. Elliot swears it fit when he bought it.)

Mmmmmmmmm bacon.

Elliot lived large this month, visiting Granny CeCe and Puppa DD in North Carolina while his parents absconded to Savannah for five days. They returned to find that Elliot had not done his only job – convincing his grandparents that they really did not want to kidnap him and raise him as their own.

Against all odds, Elliot was released and flew back home to Chicago with Mom and Dad.

Elliot also attended a family wedding in Indiana, accompanied by Mom and Auntie Bridget. He was a big hit and danced with the mother of the bride – as well as being passed around and snuggled by plenty of other cousins.

QT with Granny CeCe.

Hello, Atlantic ocean!

Being nonchalant about the whole thing with Puppa DD.

The long flight home.

Dancing with cousin Shirley at Stacey and Michael’s wedding.

Whoopsy, been a big month and we missed this one.

Elliot is nine months old and is really starting to show his personality. He love music, dancing, babbling, eating, and grabbing fistfuls of fur still attached to unsuspecting cats (who really should know better by now). This month we relaxed after a busy holiday season. Elliot sort of crawls, but only backwards, and it confuses him to no end.

He sits up very well and is starting to scoot. Actually, his scooting looks a lot like his dancing…and boy, does that kid dance.

Elliot is becoming something of an automobile enthusiast. Here he is, slowly moving backwards and away from his toys.

His sitting skills are really improving though.

Elliot will one day be some kind of music toy virtuoso – he is already a better dancer than both of his parents so we know he has rhythm.

Elliot enlists a daycare friend to go through some important government documents. Crinkly, noisy documents.

And finally, on his ninth birthday, Elliot took to the sky for his first flight. He got his wings and many compliments from adults who do not understand that parents cannot make babies into “good flyers” and we are just lucky jerks.

New year, new Elliot. This month Elliot experienced his first Christmas and his first New Year. Elliot wore glasses for the first time, just to try out the look. He went with his mom to bring cocoa to volunteers downtown, and he wore no less than three Christmas-themed outfits. It was quite the month.

Elliot ponders worldly matters in Uncle Carp’s glasses.

Elliot charms volunteers as they brave the cold to help out those who don’t have everything they need this year.

Elliot flirts with the idea of starting a career as an elf.

He rolls over, he mostly sits up, he babbles…ladies and gentleman, Elliot is Growing Up. Our happy baby is getting ever closer to being a happy toddler.

We had a visit from Granny, Grandfather, and Uncle Sean for Thanksgiving. Everyone ate too much and had a good time.

There were also naps.

This doesn’t feel right. Surely he hasn’t been around this long/surely he’s been around much longer. Either way, it’s ridiculous that Elliot is six months old. This month was full of visits. Auntie Kate and Uncle Marty came in for a two week sojourn in the states. The highlight, clearly, was meeting Elliot. Uncle Ricky came in and didn’t break anything.

As always, Other Baby is a constant visitor and he and Elliot have deep conversations.

Uncle Carp and Uncle Ricky! And Elliot throwing shade.

HALLOWEEN! A hiker, a unicorn, and a bumblebee make a happy family.

Not a costume but the most righteous coat Auntie Bridget could find.

Magical bath baby. With a party hat.

FOOD!

While he found peas to be suspicious, Elliot loves bananas.

See how good Elliot is at friendship!

Occasionally, Elliot is a bottle savant.

Elliot is having the best time at his daycare. Here are some of the photos they send us:

Elliot’s favorite look – the earnest stare.

This is one of the more “engaged” looks from Elliot.

Elliot has really been enjoying musical instruments. Meaning, he can grab stuff now!

And, of course, he loves hanging out with the baby in the mirror. We call him Other Baby.

Elliot and Other Baby have a secret:

Lots of socializing with other babies –

I’ll keep adding to this page as I get more gems.

This is our current method of measuring Elliot’s growth. Above, at one month…

At two months…

At three months…

UPDATE: Sources close to Elliot say he no longer likes to lay on Ben’s chest, so we’ll have to find a new method of measuring his growth.