Down the Hatch

Aed eats a lot. A lot a lot.

I think part of this is because he eats a lot of fruits and veggies at this point, and they aren’t particularly filling. But, it’s also because he just eats a lot. I suppose it’s what you should expect from a baby that is not only moving every waking moment, but also has inherited his father’s trait of being a human furnace.

Anyway.

A typical day of intake for Aed goes something like this:

Breakfast: One pear, one plum, mixed together with some baby cereal.

Before lunch snack: Various finger foods – carrot, corn, or tomato puffs, or rice cakes – he can put away like 10 of these in one sitting no problem. Oh, and the puffs are not the little American star puffs, they are good-sized finger foods.

Lunch: Typically he gets a lunch of thawed veggie cubes, but for ease we’ll make this the occasional fruity lunch that he gets. Half of an avocado, Half of a mango, and a whole banana, mixed together. He also loves a sippy cup full of water. Today he got an extra huge strawberry to top off his lunch which met an unfortunate end..


Aed is very enthusiastically tactile. He likes to get things in his hands and squeeze the living daylights out of them :)

Before dinner snack: More finger foods.. He especially likes the ‘rusks’, which are like big biscuits (cookie-shaped). They’re probably 3 inches in diameter and about ½ an inch thick. He will eat two as a snack if I let him, but I usually only give him half of one. :)

Dinner: He usually eats about 13-15 thawed cubes of food, a mix of meat and veggies. I also usually throw in some kind of starchy something, like a few spoonfuls of quinoa or brown rice. He also downs plenty more water. And, he has been known to finish off the first bowl and go back for another 7 or so cubes of food if the first round didn’t satisfy. His current record is 34 cubes of food in one sitting. It was an amazing evening.

To say he has plumped up our grocery bill is putting it lightly :) But we are saving all kinds of moolah by making his food from scratch instead of buying jars of baby food.. especially at his rate of consumption!

Do you know what is better than fruit for breakfast?

A cinnamon roll!



Oh did he ever love that thing. And I wholeheartedly loved watching him enjoy it. He loved every morsel that made it to his mouth, and was even trying to get the littlest crumbs off his tray when he was finished! I think my offspring may have inherited the Goshert Sweet Tooth. Only time will tell :)

Until we know for sure, I'm going to have to use all my might to keep from surrendering just one more cinnamon roll to that cute little face. Just so I can feel my heart melt while I watch him enjoy it.

A Weekend In Review: Written by one who knows nothing for lovers of golf everywhere, My apologies, Part 2

The next day was Friday, our anniversary. I wrote a nice little recap of some of the history of Ian and Corrie, but didn’t mention anything that actually happened on our anniversary. It was all very exciting.

First, I took a leisurely shower while Ian watched Aed and got himself ready to eat lunch. I am meandering down the stairs when I here a strained voice say, ‘Corrie? Can you come down here?’ I think to myself, oh, Aed must be doing something cute, only to find when I walk down the stairs that my husband’s thumb is bleeding profusely and he is asking me to call the hospital.

Well.

Not what I was expecting! Turns out he sliced right through his thumb while he was trying to slice cheese for his sandwich. He nearly sliced off a big chunk of the tip (through the nail, even! Every time I think about it I get the willies), but fortunately it managed to hold on. He got all put back together and we headed home. I ran upstairs to go to the bathroom and when I came out I heard, ‘Corrie? Can you come in here please?’ from Aed’s room.

Great.

Turns out our little pooper scooper had a mammoth blowout diaper that he trailed across the kitchen and into the living room before Ian caught up with him and got him upstairs. Since my husband had been recently disfigured, I took over and cleaned up the mess.

Happy Anniversary!

Fortunately, that about ended the excitement for the day. We got to go out for a wonderful dinner while one of our nomads (thanks Jon!) stayed home with our sleeping babe. After we had stuffed ourselves silly with food that we didn’t cook on dishes that we weren’t going to have to wash, we decided to head down to the golf course again because, well, why not?

Initially, we were on the outskirts with all these people


Then, someone Ian knew walked by and said, ‘Why are you guys out there, it’s free to be in here!’

After a confusing discussion with an Asian security guard that was not entirely familiar with the English language, I found that, even if it wasn’t allowed (which was still unclear after this conversation), this particular guard did not care if we went in without passes. So we entered the gates with thanksgiving in our hearts and got just a little closer!


We could not find Tiger’s name on the scoreboard, so we asked around to find out if he had finished yet while we watched this guy put


We were in luck! There had been a wind delay and he was still golfing. So, with no hungry baby in tow, we decided to wait until he got there so we could get some pictures, by golly!

One of our friends who has been gone most of the summer was in charge of the gate to the grandstand that sits just above the 18th green. We went over to chat with him and as we were talking he said, ‘hey, why don’t you guys just go on up and take a seat?’

So we did.

And we also took pictures. In a very obvious fashion. Of the amazing sky


And the next golfer that came through


All the while wondering if we were actually allowed to be taking pictures. I didn’t notice anyone else with cameras out, but there were no signs saying we couldn’t take pictures, and no one was telling us to stop, so I figured it was ok.

Then suddenly we heard a LOUD cheer and saw a ball hit the 18th green. It almost rolled right into the hole! Then we heard people yelling Tiger’s name and realized that we had just watched Tiger Woods’ ball almost roll into the hole!


That right there is Tiger Woods’ golf ball that he almost made a hole in one with. You can touch the screen if you want to.

Then he showed up with his compadres and evaluated the situation.



He putted and missed a put that he shouldn’t have missed! And had to mark his ball once again to wait for his turn to finish.


He finished the hole with more support than we had heard the crowd bestow on any other golfer and offered his good sportsmanship to his fellow golfers.


And thus concludes my coverage of the Open. I wish we could have made it out there on Sunday for the final ceremony, but we had more important things to do. Tiger didn’t win anyway, so I wouldn’t have gotten any pictures of anyone famous :) Just kidding Mr. Oosthuizen! You’re famous now too, and I most definitely would have taken your picture if we had been there!

And now, I must confess. All of those pictures I took from the grandstand were ILLEGAL!!! I feel really guilty about it, so I am confessing to the internet. I did not know. I did not know I wasn’t supposed to be taking pictures, and I took pictures, and I am not deleting them. So I guess I am only a little bit sorry. Plus, you really should have told me with a sign or something, am I right?

The end.

A Weekend In Review: Written by one who knows nothing for lovers of golf everywhere, My apologies

The Open! 150 years! It happened!

We walked down to the course on Wednesday afternoon to see what we could see. There was supposed to have been a little game played that afternoon by past Open champions, but alas, it was cancelled due to weather. Can’t imagine why?


So we meandered and hoped we might see someone famous* when I noticed a small gathering of people, so naturally started snapping photos just in case.

*Anytime you see this phrase, you can just assume I’m talking about Tiger because, well, obviously.


As I was snapping, I came across this little booger


He was less than impressed by the whole situation, but managed a little half smile nonetheless.

We started speculating about where Tiger might be staying while he was in town for the Open. Naturally, I assumed he’d be staying somewhere posh and obvious, like the Old Course Hotel. Ian, however, figured he’d be staying somewhere small and out of town to avoid people like me. Then I noticed this little setup..


And I’m pretty sure that’s where he was staying. A great view of the 18th fairway so he could get his game on. (Actually, it turns out that’s where the news people were.. go figure)

Anyway, back to the crowd.. I asked the guy standing next to me why the crowd was there and who those two guys were


He looked down at me (he was tall) with a look of seriously?? and informed me that it was Padraig Harrington and Paul Lawrie, something something something. The rest of what he said is fuzzy, I’m just proud of myself for managing to remember who the two guys were. They were doing some kind of promotion that involved those golf bags and some giant umbrellas they pulled out later, which was rather comical in the wind. I’m sure their photos will be stunning.

About this time, Aed made it clear that he was done with all of this and ready to eat, so we carried on homeward. As we waited to cross the road, I snapped a photo of the big pedestrian crossing they built over the road to avoid holding up traffic. I thought it was cool. It would have been really cool if we could have walked over it, but it only had stairs. So inconsiderate.


Also, say hi to another of our nomads! Hi Hannah! She is gone now and on her way traveling around the UK until she settles in London in a few weeks. We actually acquired another nomad last Friday as well, Señor Donald, but I failed to get any photos of him before he left yesterday. Nomad count rises to three for the summer!

Right, back to the golf.

We went out again on Thursday afternoon with much higher hopes of seeing someone famous. Aed was so excited to be attending his first professional sporting event!


There were lots of golfers and just as we got there we spotted someone famous!


Or so we thought. Turned out it was some other guy wearing a very similar shirt to Tiger’s. Sigh. So I kept snapping photos, because you never know, right? And I have no idea who anyone is, so I figured I might get a few famous faces if I stuck with it.

So there’s this guy..


These guys..


I don’t know if this will help..



Look at all the people! This crosswalk across the first and 18th holes was like a river with dams on both sides. The people would crowd and crowd and crowd until the golfers were through, the dams would break, people would flood across, and they’d close them back up again.

So then there was this guy..


And this guy..


Notice the guy in the background is still putting..


Guy in front: marching to the beat of his own drum. Guy in back: Still putting. I hope he made that put.

This guy was getting ready..


And if that wasn’t exciting enough, look what we found!


USA supporters! :)

Here’s an update:


And LOOK! Look who’s on hole 13.. the one we’ve been waiting for. The only face we will recognize..

We consider hanging around til he makes his way to the 18th.


We watch a few more guys..





And then it comes to pass that Aed needs to eat again (sheesh! Always needing to eat!) and so we leave, missing our chance to get a picture of someone famous, but knowing we’ll have another chance tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It’s official. We have been successfully married for five years. Five years! A miniscule number compared to some, and a seemingly impossible number compared to others.

But actually, we have been in one another’s lives for 11 years. And been involved in a romantical way for 9 years.

Let’s take a little stroll shall we?

We met when I was a young whippersnapper of 15. I remember the fateful night to this day. Youth group Bible study. John Cordray’s house. Drew Gilliam brought a friend along. Ian was his name, hotness was his game. Well.. at least cuteness. I definitely thought he was cute.

Fortunately, he kept coming. Then he came to church camp and gave his tenderized heart to Jesus. And he got so much cuter! I have little recollection of our pre-dating game. The few things I do remember involve trying to shyly hint at him that I liked him. I made him a journal.. tried to make sure we were hanging out in the same groups.. He was older you know (one year!) and I wasn’t sure I’d make the cut. We spent a lot of time in the church parking lot after events talking (and maybe flirting here and there). We were usually the last two left to go home.

Then, January (January!) of my junior year, after some embarrassing moments brought about by my beloved sister, Ian asked me to prom with great fear in his heart that someone else might ask me first. I said yes (ummm.. yes please?).

Two months later, we took a little drive down to one Taco Bell on McGalliard and made it official. He finally asked me to be his girlfriend. Whew! Then came the big courting vs. dating debate. Then the question of whether we should kiss or not. If my memory serves me correctly, we decided that we were, in fact, courting, but quickly got tired of explaining what that meant to everyone, so relinquished and called it dating. And, I think we made it about four months before the first kiss. (Though there was a scandalous rumor that went around church that we had been spotted kissing in the parking lot. It was not true. Just to be clear.)

That May, we went to my prom and his prom (two nights in a row!) as an official couple, and both nights were amazing. I felt gorgeous, and he was so handsome.

Ian’s Senior prom, Muncie Central High School, 2002

See? Told you. Hi Shea and Drew! Incidentally they’re married now too and expecting their first bambino! :)

We even did it again the next year for my senior prom!

Corrie’s Senior Prom, Frankton Jr/Sr High School, 2003

I was a runner and a tennis player and a skinny-minnie whose hips had yet to meet any children. I don’t know how he kept his hands off me :) but he did.. He was very respectful of yours truly.

After great debate, I decided to attend Taylor University. I really wanted to go to Wheaton to put some distance between Ian and myself. We never broke up, but I was beginning to feel a bit, how shall we say, overwhelmed by our relationship. Fortunately, God knew that Taylor would actually be far enough and that everything would be just fine.

Talk of rings started to come up every now and then. We knew we wanted to get married, the question was only a matter of when. Initially I thought we should wait.. then I thought it should be as soon as possible. Then Ian came to Upland for a late night visit after work on Labor Day of 2004. Little did I know the plans he had in store.

We went for a walk, and the story of our engagement is really quite a funny one thanks to well, me, who actually had no idea what was going on until he was down on his knee. But, he got me to shut my mouth for a few seconds so he could ask me to be his wife under a hazy, light drizzle, and placed a perfect solitaire on the finger that most needed decorating.

We set the date on the way back to Muncie that night because my sister had to see us :) July 16 would do nicely, we thought. Ian would be done with school, and it gave me plenty of time to work on my tan (I promise that didn’t actually come up in the decision-making process).

Those next 10 months dragged on for ages. But we made it with our virginity and dignity intact, solemnly swearing to never suggest a long engagement to anyone. We had a whirlwind wedding day, capped off with our favorite, Thai Smile :)

July 16, 2005

Doesn’t the poor scan quality on this image make it look like we were married in 1932?

We honeymooned in romantic Ohio, and if we got to do it all over again, I think we’d do the exact same thing. Except we’d remember to bring Ian’s tennis shoes so we could actually do the hiking we had planned on.

Since then, it’s been one adventure after another. We found out we liked each other more than we ever thought we did, and that we are both quite quirky. We got some birds, let our dishes grow mold in the sink, learned that some ovens have a space below the burners that you really need to clean out on a regular basis, and made more than a few trips to Ivanhoe’s. We saw each other through some tough days in Upland, danced through some fabulous days, but overall we couldn’t believe how much fun it was to be married.

I graduated, we moved to Scotland. I cried a lot. We took pictures with photobooth because we literally had nothing else to do.

Sometime in our first week of being in St Andrews, 2007

We took a trip to Amsterdam and watched a 3D movie in Dutch about cells.

Amsterdam, January 2008

We carved pumpkins with friends.

The Tallon's House, October 2008

We celebrated American holidays even though no one else was.

Our flat, Thanksgiving 2008

We danced on a beach in Panama City, FL.

Christmas/New Year's at Gma and Gpa's House, 2009 (Aed is here too, in a very tiny, unborn state!)

Our last anniversary we found ourselves in the midst of preparing our external selves to move house, and our internal selves to welcome our first babe.

July 16, 2009 (Aed is here again, but now he is over 35 weeks in utero!)

The last year of our marriage has been filled with change and struggle and blessing. We still randomly break into song and dance around the living room, but now it’s usually to hear the giggles of our baby boy. We still hold hands while we walk around town, but now one hand is being held and the other is pushing the buggy. We still enjoy waking up to one another in the morning, but now it’s accompanied by the sound of babbling in the room across the hall.

God is so good to have given me such a life. He is so good to have given me such a husband. I have been blessed beyond belief by my marriage, and I pray that it will only continue to flourish as the years go on. Thank you, Ian, for five spectacular years. Happy Anniversary!

Big Boy Pajamas

Aed is moving on up in his outerwear and now hangs out in a lot of 12 month clothes. He seems to grow really quickly (don't they all, though?), so I feel like all I ever do is go through clothes and take them up to and down from the attic. In my most recent sorting fest, I found that we have a pair of 12 month pajamas that are - get this - TWO pieces! They don't even have feet! He seems like such a big boy when he wears them and I think it's so cute!


If that doesn't make you want to plant a raspberry right on that newly-accessible-while-wearing-pajamas little tummy, I don't know what will :)

It Is Imminent

I went for a walk in the rain on Sunday, this is what I found:





The Old Course has been converted into a stadium and the spectators are flooding St Andrews’ tiny streets!

Also on that walk I learned that ponchos are synonymous with an American accent :)

We will certainly be stocking up on groceries before the hordes arrive! An estimated 50,000 people will join us each day and it has been said that they will eat all our food.

I hope we survive!