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.
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!
