Metal Meredith

...not to mention that he is he best in the world.

I had a 24 hour stomach thing yesterday which didn’t allow me to keep any food or liquids down at all. Seeing as how this, compounded with sick kid, doctor visit and tossing chunks in the car all the way down the front of me, I was in no mood to deal with life last night.

Phil came home and immediately went into super husband mode. Not only did he deal with a whiney and increasingly overtired Vivienne, but when I woke up this morning, the house was 100 times cleaner than when I went to bed.

However, this just makes Phil good. What makes him sparkle with the brilliance of 1000 stars is the fact that he crushed ice for me. When I was unable to keep any liquids own, Phil took a meat mallet to a plastic bag of ice cubes and made ice chips for me to suck on. *Swoon* Not only once even, but twice.

My dear husband, all that, a bag of chips and a chocolate milkshake. 

Just to make sure everyone knows that we are keeping with Phil’s family’s long time “I grew up on a farm” theme, Phil allowed Vivienne to drive from the Hertzler house in Williamsburg down the dirt road to Grammy and Papa’s house nearby. The entire road is on their property, so it wasn’t as if we were putting ourselves or anyone else in danger.

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Still, it is really cute.

I just realized that it has been almost one month since I updated. I am feeling bad about that for no other reason than I do read other’s blogs daily and realize that they all have been so good about posting on a frequent basis. In my absence, I have missed Halloween, a trip to DC, lots of Birthdays and now Thanksgiving. So maybe this will be a quick update on how all those things played out.

First: Halloween

Ms Vivienne was a sad sight on Halloween. The weekend before she had a fever and a bad cold. I had kept her home from school the Friday before only to need to keep her Monday just in case. She ended up missing her Halloween party at school. We didn’t carve pumpkins or make it to a real pumpkin patch (although she went to pick out some with her dad at a local church and thinks she went to a patch...so shhhhh). On Halloween afternoon, she came down with a 101.5 fever as I watched her lay on the sofa all pitiful-like and whine for her Dad. He came home and we went around in circles on whether or not to take her out. Her begging broke both of our hearts in about 12 pieces and finally, we took her to about a dozen houses. Phil took her to the door, she smiled while she waited for her treats, then tore down the walk or driveway to show me that “someone put candy in my bucket!!!”. Amazing how that works. By the time we were done, she was hopped up on sugar and forgot she was sick altogether.

Second: Barenaked Ladies

I am still not sure why I thought it a good idea to drive to DC and see a concert at 7 months pregnant, but it turned out ok. We got there a bit late and missed a few songs, but our Outback dinner was so good that we were having problems tearing ourselves away. The show was good, they are always amusing and make us laugh. A few short videos can be seen here. Kym and I had a nice visit, which was more important than the concert in the grand scheme. We were lucky enough (again) to get to say hello and catch up with the members of the band. After the initial pleasantries, we talked about family and kids and how time flies. When you have known people for 13 years but only see them every 2 or so, it is amazing how time just blows by. Kids seem to age five times faster than in real life and you age 3 years for every one that seems to pass. It was a nice treat and a welcome distraction from the pregnancy.

Third: Birthdays

November is always a tough time for me to budget money and time for everyone’s birthdays. I have to not only remember to acknowledge the day, but to get cards, gifts and have everything shipped by a certain date. In a one week span, I have 2 close friends, Phil and my mother to celebrate. In that week lies Thanksgiving as well. The one bright spot was my mother’s 60th birthday. She might be upset with me for sharing that number, but I am as proud as I can be that she has reached that milestone (relatively sane). My sister and I came up with the idea to get a portrait done of us and Vivienne, as well as making the hour and a half trek out to her house to surprise her. It was a raving success complete with tears and squeals and a super lunch of seafood kabobs (BONUS!). For the curious and the bored, videos can be seen here.

Phil shared his birthday with Thanksgiving, so after 3 days of ‘Is it Daddy’s Birthday yet?’, finally we could wake him up with a card and a big kiss, followed by a honey bun breakfast cake (complete with candles and singing), a few measly gifts and some hugs. While shopping for a gift, Vivienne wanted to buy him a hairdryer. I am sure anyone who knows Phil, sees the complete irony there (see photo at top of entry.) He is now a grown up 31 year old. Too bad the same can’t be said for Vivienne and I…

Fourth and Final: Thanksgiving

We spent our Thanksgiving in Williamsburg with Phil’s family. I was so looking forward to eating all that food that I don’t really remember much more. I know I did a lot of sitting on my butt and nothing else. Vivienne had a great time playing with the cousins and the tiny kitten, keeping busy with crafts and grandparents. I also caught more than one trip to the dessert table to steal some marshmallows before dinner. The worst part of the whole day was that this tiny human inside me was keeping me from really eating my fill in one sitting and I found myself heading back a few times for tiny refills on things I like rather than the traditional “pile of food on a plate”.

All in all November has been a busy month that just flew by. That is ok with me, because I only have about a month to go (a month and a half if I am being punished by the ‘this pregnancy isn’t that bad’ gods.) My next ultrasound is scheduled for December 22nd, which seems so far away. With Christmas shopping, decorating and keeping myself sane, I am sure the time will pass quickly and I will wish I had a few more quiet moments before a newborn crashes this party.

This morning, Vivienne cried when Phil went to work. Big, sad tears rolled down her face as she quietly announced, “Daddy, I don’t want you to go to work. I want you to stay home and play with me.” Her eyes welled up and fat tears popped out of each eye and rolled down her cheek, one at a time. Oscar worthy, I tell you. Demi Moore has nothing on my child. Phil ended up leaving after we promised Vivienne we would take her to Panera for dinner when he got home. Vivienne loves her some Panera (which she calls “The Nera").

Every Saturday morning, Phil and Vivienne head up to Panera where she gets an “orange thing” (scone), dad gets a bear claw and mom gets a chocolate ‘sant (croissant). She gets a chocolate milk which she proudly clutches the entire ride home. About 15 minutes after they leave, she bounces into the house and says “Mom, we are back and I got you your ‘sant!” Then, she doesn’t shut up again until she falls asleep at night.

I love this relationship that Vivienne and Phil have, because it reminds me of my own Dad and the Saturday mornings that we would get up before everyone else, head out of Dunkin Donuts on Midlothian Tnpk and get a dozen donuts and on a good day, a box of munchkins. I would sit up front with Dad (in the days before child seats) holding the box of treats and watch his coffee cup perched right in the middle of the bench seat. How did that thing never spill? I would almost die waiting to get home to eat my donut, one I always got to choose myself.

On Sundays, I would wake up to the smell of bacon and hash browns. That was big breakfast day. Dad would be in the kitchen making some wonderfully disgusting greasy breakfast for the whole family. Since I became pregnant, Phil has found himself in charge of waffles or pancakes and sausage on Sunday mornings. I won’t go as far as saying that he likes to cook them, but I know he does enjoy eating them. Vivienne enjoys it too, as she is perched up on her stool stirring the pancake mix or watching Phil turn sausages on the griddle.

Hopefully, Phil enjoys all of his (albeit brief) rock star like attention. If patterns are to repeat, this phase will not last forever.