That's right! Santa did not miss our house. When we moved in, we questioned how we would fill all the new space. Christmas fully answered that question! Though Ryan was not 100% clear on how to open presents, by round 3 he had it figured out. The pictures tell the story. Hope each of you had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to 2010 like we are!

Love,
Court, Max & Ryan

Ryan has 4 teeth on top now and two on the bottom, as the drool on his chin might indicate.

Ryan was shocked when his new Elmo phone really worked....his other three post-mom / dad cell phones are not so interactive without the batteries in them.

Our Christmas angel.

I think this is our first picture of just the two of us since Ryan was born.

About 2 hours of Christmas day were spent pushing, pulling, and dragging Ryan's new pimped out red wagon from Uncle Eric and Aunt Kirstyn. It even has seat belts, cup holders and in seat storage.



Christmas day we hosted my family and Max's mom, Nora, for our first "Kerry Family Christmas." Not as chaotic as Chevy Chase's and no exploding turkeys. Everything went just great and was edible.

Ryan in his Christmas duds.

Ryan also loved his new fire truck from Grandpa and Grandma Patti. It went great with the fireman book Max got him.

He finally figured out how to open a package...Here he revealed a new trike from Papa and Grandma Cheryle.

Grandma Cheryle could not resist the slippers. Hilarious.

It is official. Ryan is my child. Here he is DEVOURING Grandma Nora's homemade chicken parmigiana.

1.25

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...crap....it is almost Christmas." - Courtney & Max Kerry

This is the sentiment that is ruling our week this week. Somehow we thought that when Ryan's birthday was over, we'd have all the time in the world to prepare for Christmas. I suppose that's because last year's span between festivities did feel like time feel like time standing still. (Leave hospital with new baby, no sleep, new hospital stay, numerous doctor's visits, Xmas). Anyhow, after today we'll have it under control...we hope.

Ryan is fully a toddler now. It's as if he knew after his birthday he would be "grown up." He has a sudden disposition to not sleep in the middle of the night. He has not crawled once since his party. His curiosity has expanded to understanding things that can go "inside, under, and around." Plus his vocabulary and willingness to repeat after us is surprising, even startling. Today he mocked back to Max "what does the teacher see?" when reading brown bear. No joke. He's eating lots of big boy foods and actually sat in a restaurant last night for an entire meal in a booster chair. And he's testing the boundaries of "non" constantly. (That goes on for about another 17 years, right?) All in all, Christmas with him this year is fun.

So on to the birthday pics for all our non-attenders. Lots of out of towners and friends that had other holiday commitments. We hope each of you can carve out sometime in the hustle and bustle to savor to moments with family and friends, remember the wonder of snow (since all us in Michigan spend half our time dreading it), and reflect on the actual reason we celebrate Christmas at all!

Love to each of you,
Courtney, Max, + Ryan





Last night we took a horse and carriage ride around Rockford with Ryan.

Bundled up and ready for a ride. We shared the carriage with a Paws for a Cause dog and trainer. Ryan paid more attention to the dog that the horses!

Though Ryan and Cali bumped into each other around the house before, Ryan and Cali now seek each other out.


Our new tradition is to decorate the "Birthday Tree" up until Ryan's birthday and then convert it to the Christmas tree the next day.

Ryan wathcing the neighborhood lighting spectacle!

Ryan's party pal, Mary and him play with his new glitter ball.
Ryan during his birthday meal Friday night. He loves Pizza!

And he loves his new Pooh! Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Kerry. He immediately started cuddling it.

Yes, there was actually a box as big as he is! Ryan got a new sled from my Parents and we cannot wait to use it.

I baked my first from-scratch cake for the occasion. Banana, Ryan's favorite flavor.

Clearly he liked it. He dug right in, spatula and all.

1 Year Old

A year ago today...

God hung a new sun in our sky to gravitate around
The meaning of song lyrics changed
Responsibility became a blessing, not something to run from
A giggle and a smile became our new currency
And life never seemed as full.

Thank you to each of you for loving our son, mentoring us as new parents and supporting our little family with your love and friendships.

We are so blessed.

In love: Court, Max & Ryan

11.75

Hey Team Kerry
It's almost 1 year and we're trying to figure out how the time has flown by. And speaking of things flying...last night so did most of Ryan's dinner...right from his poor little tummy. Ryan has proven his lineage from the Stevens - Butt line and did not inherit the Kerry cast-iron stomach. (Note: For those of you unaware, my mother's maiden name is Butt.) Max got the flu too, but thankfully did not get sick. It's passing through our friends like wildfire, so we're pretty sure it's not my cooking. Just praying it does not hit me since next week I have a film shoot for a client that I cannot miss!

So take a gander at the photos below to catch you up on our latest adventures. Looking forward to next weekend's post to report on Ryan's party and milestone of 1 year of life! (For those of you with high tech spam filters that might not have gotten the email invite: Our house, Saturday the 12th, 3:00 - 6:00. No presents. But if you can't resist, please avoid toys with batteries...and glass...and lead paint :)

Love from,
Court, Max + Ryan


About 30 minutes before Pukefest '09, we cut down our Christmas tree, unaware of what was to come...though Ryan's face might tell another story.

This morning, after the storm. Not sure where we got the 70's leisure suit, but Ryan rocked it. It's so great now. You can say to Ryan: Find your binkie and he searches it out. Plus he follows us when we ask him and is walking unaided for the most part. Top four teeth are pretty much in as well.


We saw our first snow in Michigan this week. And it was HUGE. 12 inches over night. Ryan thought it was pretty cool.


Here's our avid reader studying his animal book. He calls most things "doggie."


Most evenings are spent looking at the neighbor's Christmas display as Ryan exclaims "Santa."
Although he just said "two" earlier tonight. And is currently making a popping noise with his finger in his mouth and giggling as he tries to imitate Max.

Ryan loves his personal bathroom and big boy tub....

and he loves bubbles.


Here's the clan on Thanksgiving. Our friends, the Schroeder's, joined us again this year along with their Grandchildren Lauren and Jared. We had a great time. (Max was there, he was the photographer.)

Sporty and ready for Thanksgiving at Grandma's.

Ryan sporting his Thanksgiving PJ's and ready to feast. He loved Thanksgiving and ate everything on his plate.

11.25

Anyone out there a fan of the movie "Funny Farm"? Max and I am. And now that we live in picturesque Rockford, we sort of feel like we're living in the tale end of that movie. See the photos below to see what we mean.

We've realized just how "citified" we had become when last Sunday the doorbell rang unexpectedly at 8pm and we were both panicked. Instead of some kid selling candy, a crazy next door neighbor or worse, we found a perfect family of four delivering homebaked cookies and Godiva chocolate. Even funnier was the fact that I was sick, had yet to comb my hair that day, and was covered in spit up...and the perfectly coiffed neighbor already knew everything about us!

Though I am teasing about this new found community, there's so much to celebrate. We're about an eighth of a mile to downtown. Everyone waves to one another when you drive by. The downtown plays music in the streets. And the entire town is lit up for Christmas already. You cannot be unhappy driving through this town. We're settling in and are slowly unpacking the odds and ends. We still wake up and feel like we're living in a dream house.

Ryan and I are both getting over colds. Max had it for an hour and somehow used his super teacher powers to overcome it. Meanwhile, Ryan's getting more and more adept at walking and his new record is a 20 foot sprint. He's loving his new childcare arrangement with is buddy Henry. He's also crazy teething! We're getting geared up for his 1st birthday party and cannot believe it's already been a year. So much to celebrate. So many blessings.

We hope each of you have a great Thanksgiving. Eat well and be merry.
Court, Max + Ryan


Ryan first Army crawled, then walked and now finally is crawling. When my sister saw it for the first time, she accidentally said "Oh, he's crawling like a normal baby."

Contemplating that next step.

Ryan's very excited to feed himself these days. Only he misses. A lot.

"Que the deer." - Funny Farm. Only this is our BACKYARD.

Ryan and I enjoying cider after the tree lighting at the dam.

And again, with the Funny Farm references. Yes, there were real carolers in the streets and we do not think they were getting paid like in the movie. At least not by people trying to escape Rockford.

Ryan enjoyed the lights and the sites.

Downtown overlooking the dam. Earlier in the week when we were there, the entire dam was too good to be true. Kids on bikes with golder retrievers trotting behind. Multi-racial families getting their photos taken. Even an armless fisherman. No joke. It was like a marketing piece for the perfect town.

The face of shock and awe!

11 Month and a Few Firsts

So I was reminded tonight of how quickly time passes when you don't mean for it to happen. Tonight at our annual CASA house party fundraiser I was re-introduced to someone who forgot our meeting as "The huge prego lady last year." That felt good in a backhanded sort of way. A year ago I had ankles so swollen I could barely wear the boots I wore tonight! Now I have a little man who is currently conked out up in his new room after his first day of being watched by our friends Carrie and Dan (parents of blog-worthy Henry from earlier posts).

So lots has happened in our little family in the last two weeks. We:
- celebrated Max's 32nd birthday
- moved out of 109 Mayfield
- moved in and out of 220 Mayfield
- celebrated Ryan's first Halloween
- moved in to 166 Ashridge in Rockford
- survived the Swine (just Court got it)

In light of all these transitions, Ryan is doing remarkably well. It's been a week tonight in the new house and he's sleeping through the night and tooling through our new place like it's all he's ever known. In fact, this little 11 month year old has now started what will be an all too-familiar phenomenon for the next 18 years: he leaves a path of destruction everywhere he goes. Toys, socks, pillows are left in his wake as explores every nook and cranny of our new home.

Here's his latest stats:
- Though his bottom two teeth came in "normally" that's not the case with the top. Ryan will be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" since his I-teeth are what are coming in first on top. He also likes to hang upside down...hoping this is not a sign of a future nickname: Batboy.

- Ry is able to walk about 5 feet without holding on to anything. In the last day he's also able to carry things with him as he moves and doesn't lurch forward towards the end of his walk. Most days are spent with him cruising the perimeter of rooms holding on to the wall and furniture. He loves that at the new house he can see out of all the windows!

- He's very vocal these days and babbles to himself a ton. His most common words are: dada, doggie, and cali. He even tried to mimic me singing a scale today.

- His favorite possession is my old red cell phone. He actually has 3 cell phones thanks to the move, but the red flip is his fav. Then again, anything remotely shaped like a phone goes to his ear and he pretends to talk to all his people that live out of state.

- We catch him dancing all the time. Be it to our iPod which is always playing or the tune on his play station, he has this little ghetto bounce that just cracks us up.

The pictures below can catch you up on the rest. What's not shown is a lot of unpacking and flu recovery (Feeling lots better. Now I just have the upper respiratory cough.) We'd also like to ask for prayers for my grandfather (my dad's dad). He was moved into hospice this past week and is resting comfortably in a beautiful room overlooking the woods. We hope that my grandmother and him can celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary this week.

We hope each of you is doing well and are able to enjoy this extended fall that we're being blessed with. Love to each of you,
Court, Max + Ryan

Our New Contact Info:
616.866.2266
166 Ashridge Dr • Rockford, MI 49341
(wow we have a lot of 6's!)




Showing off his muscles. He's been lifting a lot and it shows. He's also been dialing the ladies.

Max and Ryan celebrating his birthday 3 days before our move to temp housing. Ryan got Max "Where the Wild Things Are" so they could read the adventure of Max the boy together.


Last bath at the old house. He's now graduated to a big tub in his own bathroom!

Ryan was a monkey for Halloween, or rather, a Monkey on the Phone! We spent the evening at two parties. Trick or treating at Deb and Nathan's with Craig, Staci and crew. And then touring a haunted garage at Halloween-a-Han (at the Holahans).

Ryan and Conner loved trick-or-treating together.

Halloween morning playing peek-a-boo. We moved out of Mayfield at noon and we're partying by 5!

The day of the big move. We had help from my family, our former Mayfield neighbors—the Vandergrounds—and 5 of Max's players.

Laughing with daddy after walking to the ottoman.

Ryan loves his sunny new spot in the kitchen. He is now eating just about everything we are and loves yogurt. He can't get enough of the Yo-Baby!

As you can tell by this shot, Ryan was less than happy to say goodbye to his Jenny. Our sitter made the move to Florida this week and we are so sad about it. Here they are exchanging presents. Ryan was pretty bummed.

Jenny's present, Curious George, quickly became a prized possession. It started Ryan's newest thing: cuddling. He rubs his head against his stuffed animals or against our faces and it just melts your heart. The next night I got the flu. When I had to nurse Ryan wearing a mask, he'd just laugh and laugh (we thought he'd be afraid), but we realized later, it looked a lot like the cone of the monkey's face!


Exploring the new kitchen on tip toes.